Windsor High School (Halesowen)

Windsor High School
Motto Excellence for All
Type Comprehensive Foundation School
Headmaster Keith Sorrell
Specialism Sports College
Location Richmond Street
Halesowen
West Midlands
B63 4BB
England
Local authority Dudley
DfE URN 103874
Ofsted Reports
Students 1,369
Gender Co-Educational
Ages 11–18
Colours Silver, Blue and Yellow
Website Windsor High School

Windsor High School is a Secondary School located on Richmond Street, Halesowen, in England.

Contents

The School

Windsor High School is a comprehensive school in Halesowen, West Midlands. It is a large school, catering for 1,369 pupils aged 11 to 16[1] and is heavily over-subscribed[2]. The number of admissions for the year commencing 1 September 2007 was 280, which became the approved admissions number. The school has been awarded Artsmark Gold and Sportsmark Gold. as well as the National Achievement Award for Improvement in Examinations in recent years.

Windsor High School is currently one of the top schools in Dudley LEA. It is currently ranked 3rd in Dudley, behind Old Swinford Hospital and Bishop Milner Catholic School. In 2005 65% of pupils at the school achieved 5 A*-C grades in their GCSEs. This was topped further by the following year of students in 2006/2007, where 90% of students achieved an A* grade, this is yet to be achieved by any other academic college, and boosts Windsor's positioning in the Midland school ranking into number 2.[1]

The school was erected during the 1930s by Worcestershire County Council as Halesowen County Secondary Modern Boys School - a secondary modern school. Girls living in the local area attended nearby Halesowen County Secondary Modern Girls School.

In September 1972, the schools became "Richmond Boys School" and "Walton Girls School", initially as secondary modern schools providing education for pupils aged 13–18 years following a reorganisation of education in Halesowen which saw a switch to three-tier schooling. A reorganisation 11 years later saw both schools convert to 11-16 age range, with the sixth form being abolished in favour of a move to tertiary education which saw all of Halesowen's post 16 education facilities incorporated into Halesowen College.

In September 1983, the first "Windsor High School" pupils joined, co-existing with the pupils from last two years of Richmond High School for Boys. Windsor High School came into full existence in September 1985 when the two single-sex schools fully merged into one mixed comprehensive, after this period of dual-school name. This marked the end of single sex state schools in the Dudley borough; all the other remaining single sex schools had been axed in July 1975 to make way for mixed comprehensives from September of that year.

The new school existed entirely on the site of the boys school, though with substantial extensions. In the 1990s Windsor High became a Grant Maintained school. The Walton site on Bundle Hill was taken over by Halesowen College, who used it as an annexe until July 2003. It was demolished shortly afterwards and replaced by a housing estate.

A sixth form centre opened at Windsor High in September 2010 - marking a return of sixth form facilities in Halesowen secondary schools after an absence of nearly 30 years.

The Library

Windsor's library enables students to study, with necessary resources for each academic subject including recent authors such as J.K.Rowling.

The Careers Library

The careers library is a resource which aims to provide careers opportunities, ideas, inspirations for all students.

Physical Education

The school is currently inputing funding into its physical education department with the aim of promoting a healthy lifestyle to students within the school. The funding has allowed the department to expand its horizons to out of school activities such as squash and swimming, which are done at the local leisure centre. Dance is taught in the schools own dance studio. There are many extra curricular clubs for everyone.

References