Q3 Academy Langley
Q3 Academy Langley | |
---|---|
Address | |
Moat Road | |
Coordinates | 52°29′09″N 2°00′06″W / 52.4858°N 2.0017°W |
Information | |
Type | Academy |
Local authority | Sandwell |
Trust | Q3 Multi Academies Trust |
Department for Education URN | 141698 Tables |
Ofsted | Reports |
Head of School | Peter Lee |
Gender | Coeducational |
Age | 11 to 19 |
Website | http://www.q3langley.org.uk/ |
Q3 Academy Langley is a
There has been a school located at this site since 1926, firstly named Oldbury County High School and then Oldbury Grammar School, Oldbury High School, Langley High School, Oldbury College of Sport and prior to demolition, Oldbury Academy. The current Q3 Academy school opened in 2016 following site clearance and the development of an entirely new school.
History
Grammar school
Oldbury County High School (a grammar school) opened in 1926,[2] on Moat Road across from Barnford Hill Park in Langley Green. This was after the transfer of Oldbury Secondary School, founded in 1904, from Flash Road, Oldbury. In 1944, following the new Education Act, the County High, originally co-opting its location within Worcestershire, became Oldbury Grammar School.
In 1929, local glass artists Tom Stokes and Bill Pardoe created a window for Oldbury Grammar's main school hall as a memorial to the Old Boys of the school who died in the 1914-18 First World War. It consists of eight lights with the allegorical figures of Justice, Courage and Fortitude and with extracts from the story of the Peloponnesian War, specially selected by Mr Willis Bond, that great figure in Worcestershire education of those days. Around the same time, money was raised for a multi-pipe church-style organ. "I Vow To Thee My Country" became a regular fixture of morning assembly.
The school motto was Cresco ("I Grow"). Former grammar school pupils are known as "Old Cresconians".
Serving a mainly working class area, the school acted as a bridge to University education and a career in the professions. A thriving sixth form, lost when the school changed to a comprehensive in 1974, saw many pupils attain sufficient quality A-levels (Advanced levels) to attend major British universities and gain social mobility.
A history of Oldbury Grammar School from 1904 to 1974 was written by former history teacher at the school Mr A.A.L Pearce and published in 1979.[3] "Farewell to Oldbury Grammar School", a poem written to commemorate the last grammar school intake to leave the school in the summer of 1978, appeared in The Blackcountryman, the quarterly publication of The Black Country Society.[4]
As a selective grammar with open entry dictated only by academic ability at 11+ rather than the ability to afford school fees, the school not only promoted similar levels of academic excellence to that of private schools but adopted many of their trappings including a House system (Queens; Kings; Trinity; School), winter and summer school uniform (which included distinctive green, blue and white striped blazers and straw boater hats for girls), the teaching of Latin and a school song[5] which drew on the working-class roots of the area.
Comprehensive school
The school became a non-selective 11–16
Plans were announced in 2006 to merge Langley High with nearby
However, the school later merged with nearby
Q3 Academy Langley
Sandwell Council issued a prospectus with a view to an educational trust reopening the former Langley High School site as a new school.[9] The original school building was destroyed in 2015, when work began on redeveloping the site.
Q3 Academy Langley opened in new buildings on the site in September 2016.[10] It is an academy sponsored by the Q3 Multi Academies Trust.
The school today
Q3 Academy Langley offers
Notable former pupils
Oldbury Grammar School
- Allan Ahlberg(1938– ), children's book author; writer of contemporary children's classics including Each Peach, Pear, Plum, The Jolly Postman and Burglar Bill
- Mick Aston (1946–2013), archaeologist on Time Team
- Steve Bennett ( 1964- ) aka Quicko Mcbrain, session drummer live and recording artist.
- Judith Cutler (1946– ), author
- Martin Elliott (1946–2010), photographer best known for the iconic Athena Tennis Girl poster[12]
- Simon Fox (1949– ), drummer, Be-Bop Deluxe
- Sir Shell, 1987–97[13]
- Canon Ralph Stevens (1915–2006), Chaplain to the Queen[14]
- Lewis Stevens (1936– ), MBE, Conservative MP for Nuneaton, 1983–92
- Robin Stubbs (1941– ), Birmingham City and Torquay Utd footballer[15]
- John Bryan Taylor (1928– ), Fondren Professor of Plasma Theory at the University of Texas at Austin, 1989–94; Chief Physicist at the Culham Laboratory, 1981–89[16]
- Peter Withers (1946–2012), youngest Governor of Glasgow's notorious Barlinnie Jail, Europe's busiest prison; board member of the Scottish Prison Service and prison service reformer[17]
- Squadron Leader Bruce McDonald (1930-2018), jet fighter pilot who became one of the best-known instructors at the RAF's Central Flying School. Twice awarded the Air Force Cross for acts of exemplary gallantry while flying[18]
- Tom Price (1928-2021), Journalist, Fleet Street correspondent and founder and editor of a range of leading Warwickshire newspapers[19]
See also
References
- ^ "Home". q3langley.org.uk.
- ^ "Gallery 3 – Oldbury County High School". The Local History Societies of Langley, Oldbury and Warley. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
- ^ "Bibliography of Oldbury, Langley and Warley". The Local History Societies of Langley, Oldbury and Warley. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
- ^ "Farewell to Oldbury Grammar School", The Blackcountryman, Vol.11, No.1, Winter 1978, p.18.
- ^ Extract from Alan Arlberg's Autobiography: The Boyhood of Burglar Bill
- ^ "History of Oldbury Timeline". The Local History Societies of Langley, Oldbury and Warley. 2008. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
- ^ "Records of Oldbury High School, 1930–1976". Sandwell Community History and Archives Service.
- ^ "Historic Great War memorials moved to new Oldbury Academy site".
- ^ "Latest news | Sandwell Council".
- ^ "Welcome".
- ^ "Our Curriculum".
- ^ "Martin Elliott: Photographer whose iconic print adorned millions of bedroom walls". The Independent. 13 April 2010. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
- ^ "40th Anniversary - History - Chancellors". www.lboro.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 17 May 2006.
- ^ "Canon Ralph Stevens".
- ^ "Oldbury Grammar School's 'brilliant season'". Black Country Bugle. 30 July 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
- ^ "Oral History Transcript – Dr. J. B. Taylor". American Institute of Physics. 3 February 2007. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
- ^ URL: http://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-peter-withers-prison-governor-1-2532385.
- ^ URL:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2018/12/13/bruce-mcdonald-pilot-flew-combat-missions-mau-mau-uprising-later/.
- ^ URL:https://www.leamingtoncourier.co.uk/news/people/he-was-a-real-one-off-with-a-rebellious-streak-tributes-paid-to-persistent-journalist-and-former-assistant-editor-of-the-leamington-courier-tom-price-3268296.