Ounsdale High School
| Established | 1958 |
|---|---|
| Type | Academy |
| Headteacher | Miss Christine Brown |
| Location | Ounsdale Road Wombourne Staffordshire WV5 8BJ England Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Local authority | Staffordshire |
| DfE number | 860/4010 |
| DfE URN | 141343 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports Pre-academy reports |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Colours | Navy and yellow |
| Website | School website |
Ounsdale High School is an 11-18 mixed comprehensive secondary school located in Wombourne, Staffordshire, England. It is situated on Ounsdale Road in the west of the village, and stands on an adjacent site to the local leisure centre. It also has a sixth form for 16- to 19-year-olds, which has a recently built 6th form centre which was opened by the pop star Beverley Knight.
The school has approximately 1,200 pupils and provides education at Key Stage 3, GCSE and sixth form. Its current head teacher is Ms Christine Brown who took over this position in September 2008 after Paul Jordan retired after 13 years service.
76% of the school's GCSE students gained 5 or more A*-C grades in 2010.[1]
History
The school opened in September 1956 as a secondary school with a GCE stream. It stood in eighteen acres of playing fields in a rural area five miles south west of Wolverhampton. The first stage of the building works was finished in 1957.[2]
As the school building programme progressed the three form entry was increased to four in 1957 and five in 1958, at which time the school became fully comprehensive with a non—selected intake. Ounsdale attracted children of all abilities from its catchment area from Pattingham and Patshull in the north to Enville in the south. It provided all secondary level education, grammar, technical and modern, without any clearly defined streaming of individual pupils.[2]
The second stage of building works was completed by September 1960. The school then consisted of three blocks; an administrative block with offices, dining hall, assembly hall, library, gymnasium, indoor heated swimming pool and changing rooms; a three storey block of 22 classrooms (including specialist rooms for history, geography and music); and a practical block consisting of laboratories for general science, physics, chemistry and biology along with rooms for arts, crafts, needlecraft, domestic science, woodwork, technical drawing and metalwork. Outside were six hard tennis courts, and a school garden with greenhouse, tool shed and potting shed. There were playing fields and hard areas which could be configured for various outdoor sports.[2]
The first headmaster was Harold Holroyde, MA. He retired in March 1975.[3]
In September 2002, the school was granted specialist school status as an Arts College. This has led to the addition of a slightly modified school motto: Pursuing excellence by developing the creativity of learners through and in the arts.
In March 2015 the school converted to academy status.
Notable former pupils
- Christopher Pincher, Conservative MP for Tamworth
