Woodlands Academy, Coventry

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Woodlands Academy
Woodlands school in Coventry 26a07.JPG
Established 1954
Type Academy
Headteacher Dr Harris
Location Broad Lane
Coventry
West Midlands
CV5 7FF
England
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Local authority Coventry City Council
DfE URN 137165 Tables
Ofsted Reports
Students 1,011 (approx.)
Gender Boys only
Ages 11–18
Houses 5
Website Official website

Woodlands Academy (formerly The Woodlands School and Sports College) is a boys secondary school with academy status situated in west Coventry in the West Midlands, England. The school was purpose-built in 1954 as one of the first comprehensive schools in the country, by the collaboration of two local educational establishments, Templars School and Coventry Technical College. It opened on the morning of 21 September 1954.[1] Historic links to these two can be seen in The Woodlands School coat of arms. Pupils are aged between 11 to 18. It has remained a boys school; girls go to the nearby Tile Hill Wood School. In 2003, the school was awarded specialist status as a Sports College.[1]

In the main building there is a copy of the Guernica painting, which illustrates a stylised view of the 1937 Bombing of Guernica in Basque Spain by German and Italian bombers in the Spanish Civil War, in which the artist Pablo Picasso clearly expressed his abhorrence to the military suppression of the Spanish people.[2]

In 2003, Woodlands School adopted a new system where all the pupils take their SATs and GCSEs a year early compared to most other secondary schools in England. The percentage of pupils gaining five grade A*-C GCSEs rose from 36% in 2007 to 61.7% in 2008. This has led to them now being ranked the fifth most successful comprehensive in the city.[3]

Houses

The school makes use of the house system and every pupil being registered into one of them. They have assemblies and eat lunch in the house rooms, along with all of the other year groups in the house.[4] Initially a total of eight houses were established with another two following in 1956. They were named after famous citizens of Coventry. The school now has five houses. Out of the original ten houses, five of the houses were closed in the 1980s, and Thompson and West are additions named after two former head teachers of the school. In 2015, original house McLachlan was closed.[1]

File:WoodlandsSchoolLogo.png
School crest.

Sixth form

The schools shares its sixth form facilities with Tile Hill Wood Girls School and The Westwood Academy, forming The West Coventry Sixth Form. The original sixth form building was in the new drama studio but is now in the building where the house, cresswell was.[5]

Former pupils

  • Tony Clarke (born 1941, died 2010), one of music’s pioneering producers of the late sixties and seventies and known as ‘the sixth Moody Blue’ Perhaps his most famous creation was "Nights in White Satin".
  • Neil Back (born 1969), rugby union player who has played for the English national team.
  • John Gray, English cricketer, and rugby union, and rugby league footballer of the 1960s, '70s and '80s, playing for Warwickshire (cricket), and Marylebone Cricket Club, England 7s (RU), Coventry R.F.C., Great Britain (RL), England, Wigan, North Sydney Bears, and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
  • Danny Grewcock (born 1972), rugby union player who has played for the English national team.
  • David Moorcroft (born 1953), athlete .
  • Tom Wood (born 1986), rugby union player, currently playing for Northampton Saints and the English national team.
  • Cyrus Christie (born 1992), professional footballer, currently playing for Derby County in the English Football Championship.
  • Gordon Wardell (born 1953), convicted murderer, who went on to kill his wife at their home in nearby Nuneaton in 1994. In 1970, he was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm intent after stabbing the wife of a teacher at the school.

Head teachers

  • September 1954 - July 1962: Mr F. West
  • September 1962 - December 1980: Mr Donald Thompson
  • January 1981 - May 1996: Mr Walter Hogarth
  • June 1996 - December 1996: Mr Donald Wright (interim)
  • January 1997 - July 1999: Mr Graham Legg
  • September 1999 - December 1999: Mr Andrew Kerley (interim)
  • January 2000 - 2004: Mr David Hebden
  • September 2004 - January 2015 : Mr Neil Charlton
  • January 2015 - present : Dr Roger harris

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  5. ↑ [1]

External links

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