| Established | 1948 |
|---|---|
| Headteacher | Mr Jonathan White |
| Location | Rein Road, Tingley Wakefield West Yorkshire WF3 1JQ England |
| Local authority | City of Leeds |
| DfE URN | 108082 |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Staff | 225 |
| Students | 1841 |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Ages | 11–19 |
| Colours | Royal Blue and Yellow |
| Website | Woodkirk Academy |
Woodkirk Academy is an academy located on Rein Road in Tingley, West Yorkshire, England. The school was opened in September 1948 and has over 1,800 students, over 300 sixth form students, and over 250 members of staff. The Headteacher is former assistant headteacher, Mr. Jonathan White, who replaced Bill Bailey in 2005, and the Assistant Head is Mrs. Joyce Ford, who took over from the departing Ian Cunliffe, and Jackie McDermott also, in 2006.
In 2003, the school gained specialist science status. To mark this they built a new data logging suite; although the capacity of this suite to actually log data is hotly debated amongst students and teachers alike. They also changed their school logo to include an atom and the Pi (π) symbol. The name then became Woodkirk High Specialist Science School.
In September 2011, the school officially became an academy, and the name changed to Woodkirk Academy.[1]
Currently, the school uniform includes a royal blue jumper with a coloured collar. Each year of students have their own colour. Sixthform years 12 and 13 wear black, white and grey clothing. The current lower school colours are :
White
Light Blue
Green
Red
Black
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In 2003 Woodkirk saw the completion of its new Learning Resource Centre and teaching block, called the Green Block. In November 2006 the school had folding tiered seating installed in the main hall to be used for the annual shows as well as assemblies. Also in March 2007 the new administration block was completed which included separate entrances for students and visitors as well as much needed extra space for the office staff. In July 2008 a shelter was built for eating lunch outside. This is informally known by the students as 'The Mosque' as it had many similarities to a Mosque during the building process. In early 2010 the conversion of the minibus garages was completed. This was intended to be used by Sixth Formers but has yet to be permitted access. It has been used, however, for meetings with the Labour representative of Morley and Outwood Mr Ed Balls, during the recent General and Local Elections. New construction areas were also completed for Year 10 & 11 students of BTEC's.
In 2010, the school banned memory sticks and USB devices by preventing the school's networked computers from recognising such devices. The purpose of this is believed to be preventing students from infecting the school computer network with viruses brought in on memory sticks and other USB storage devices. Despite its virus-preventing benefits, many students are displeased at the inconvenience caused by this change, and are not convinced of the reliability of the e-mail system that is encouraged as a substitute.
In 2010/2011, the school's Learning Resource Centre had an additional room built into it that has since been used for things such as presentations by visitors. The computers in the LRC were also upgraded to Windows 7 with Microsoft Office 2010 software. The updated computer software pleased students, who had been growing tired of the school's outdated technology for a long time.
In 2011, shortly after the school acquired Academy status, a total of eight flatscreen televisions were bracketed to various walls throughout the school, including one in the library, two in the main hall, and one in the sixth form common room. Most of these televisions show a slideshow of photographs of students and/or graphs of the school's examination to result, although the televisions in the common rooms normally show news channels. The benefit of these televisions to the students' education has been questioned, and many students suspect that the televisions were merely purchased to act as a display for the parents. There are also rumours of Kindle e-readers being purchased for the English department and iPad tablets being purchased for the Music department. These purchases have met similar scepticism from students.
Every year since the early sixties, the school puts on a production for the general public. Past shows include: Joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat Back to the 80s Les Miserables, Fame, Grease and The Sound of Music In 1999, following the March production, the cast of 'Grease' travelled to the London Palladium to represent the North-East as part of an afternoon performance celebrating the 100th anniversary of N.O.D.A. The cast performed a 10 minute excerpt of 'Myth!', written by, then student, Lee Spink and teacher, Cathy Bowen.
In 2007, as well as the show in March, they put on a show called "Summer Nights". This was student led, by sixth formers Oliver McCarthy and Becky Emms, and celebrated the excellent talent that was leaving the school that year. It was held on the evenings of the 12 and 13 July, and featured songs from Wicked, Phantom Of The Opera and Grease; as well as many more relatively unknown musicals, such as Side Show and The Last 5 Years. It was almost a sell out on both nights.
For 2008 the show was Chess and was performed solely by students of the school. Unlike previous years a 'Gala Night' was organized by the Business and Enterprise group for specially invited guests and staff. In March 2009, the school put on Seussical as the annual school show. This show celebrated the works of Dr. Seuss, famous for his creation of the "Grinch" and "Green Eggs and Ham". The 2010 production was Hairspray. Woodkirk was the first school to perform the musical, the amateur license having only just come out. Show week gained excellent reviews and gained the school lots of much needed money. Familiar faces of old teachers attended like previous heads Mr Bailey and Mr Tarpey. For 2011 the production was the musical "We Will Rock You", based on a tribute to Queen usng purely their songs. The 2012 production has been announced as Beauty and the Beast.
On top of the productions, the music department organizes many performances at venues such as Woodkirk Church and Morley Town Hall. Head of Music department Mrs Kathryn Clarke is quoted to be "very pleased at the effort the students will put in to be in the play and help out backstage".
Woodkirk Academy has a large sixth form with many courses available for study at AS/A2 level, including some subjects unavailable at GCSE level, such as Psychology. The sixth form use many of the same classrooms as the rest of the school, but they do have many sections of the school to themselves, including many work rooms and two common rooms. The sixth form dress code states that all sixth form students must wear clothes that are gray and/or black and/or white. No large images or text are allowed on sixth form student's clothing, and they must wear an identity badge at all times.