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Defunct schools in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley
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Defunct schools in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley
This article details a number of defunct schools that were once located in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. For details of currently operating schools in the area, please see: List of schools in Dudley.
Dudley Boys Grammar School (image) was a selective higher education school for boys aged from 11 to 18 years. Founded in 1562, it was located in Dudley, Worcestershire, and opened in July 1898 on its final site in St James's Road. 12 years later Dudley Girls High School opened in nearby buildings in Priory Road. The pupils of the two single-sex schools regularly held drama productions together, and a number of teachers taught at both establishments and the pupils of the two schools mixed on occasions for sixth form Physics lessons.
In 1966, plans were unveiled for the grammar and high schools to merge and form a mixed comprehensive school, but these took almost a decade to become reality. In September 1972, the age range had changed from 11-18 to 12-18 as part of a re-organisation by Dudley council which saw the entry age for secondary school increased in the towns of Dudley, Sedgley, Coseley and Brierley Hill. Dudley Grammar School closed in July 1975 after 413 years, when it merged with the Girls High School to form The Dudley School with effect from September 1975. The merger also included the smaller Park Secondary School, which was located near the town's Grange Park, the buildings of which were briefly used as an annex to the new school until 1977.
After more than a century the buildings of Dudley Grammar School are still in existence; they now house Castle High School, which was formed in September 1989 on the merger of The Dudley School and The Blue Coat School. The grammar school buildings were expanded between 1990 and 1995 as the old High School building was gradually emptied and eventually demolished at the start of 1996. However, the grammar school swimming pool was closed and demolished in 1990 to make way for part of the expansion. The pool had opened in 1951 as a memorial to the former grammar school pupils who had died in the First World War and Second World War. Former pupils of the school were known as Old Dudleians.
Notable former pupils of Dudley Grammar School include Lionel Harry Butler (Principal Royal Holloway College 1973-81), Ian Serraillier (children's author who was an English teacher at the school 1939-1946), Martin Dunn (newspaper editor), Roger Cashmore, David Tristram and Hugh Walters.[citation needed]
The Dudley School was a mixed comprehensive school in Dudley, West Midlands, England. It was founded in 1975 on the merger on the town's two single-sex grammar schools, Dudley Grammar School and Dudley Girls High School, was located on the two sites near Dudley town centre. The formation of the school also involved a merger with Park Secondary Modern School, the buildings of which were annexed into the Dudley School for two years until the buildings were closed and demolished to make way for the new Jessons Middle School.
The Dudley School catered for pupils aged from 12–18 years. In 1985, just ten years after the Dudley School's formation, Dudley council unveiled plans for it to merge with at least one smaller secondary school to create The Ednam School. One plan put forward at this time was for the Priory Road buildings (formerly the Girls High School) to be developed as a school for children aged up to 16 years, with the former Boys Grammar School buildings being converted into a sixth form college. By 1988, it had been decided that the Dudley School would merge with The Blue Coat School on Kates Hill with effect from September 1989. The school's pupils voted for the new school to be called Castle High, a name which was selected in the spring of 1989. The plan was for Castle High to exist solely at the Dudley School site, but for the first year it also incorporated the Blue Coat buildings for that school's oldest two year groups as sufficient space was not available at the Dudley School site until new buildings were completed and the sixth form was closed due to falling pupil numbers and a decision by the local authority to relocate most of the borough's sixth form facilities from schools to further education colleges. The last intake of sixth form students began their studies at the school in September 1988 and remained there until the sixth form closed in July 1990; there were no admissions to the sixth form at the new school in September 1989. The new school also took in some of the Sir Gilbert Claughton School pupils, with all but the oldest year group in that school being transferred to new schools before it closed completely in July 1990.
The school's final head teacher was Mr Joseph Kenneth "Ken" West, who was head for the final four years until the merger following the retirement of Mr Alfred "Fred" Austin (born Fredi Stiller as a Jew in Czechoslovakia in 1928; and who became Fred Austin upon his adoption by a British family at the outbreak of World War II). Mr Austin had been head since the formation of the Dudley School in 1975 and Mr West was a teacher of Mathematics at the school.
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Defunct schools in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley
This article details a number of defunct schools that were once located in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. For details of currently operating schools in the area, please see: List of schools in Dudley.
Dudley Boys Grammar School (image) was a selective higher education school for boys aged from 11 to 18 years. Founded in 1562, it was located in Dudley, Worcestershire, and opened in July 1898 on its final site in St James's Road. 12 years later Dudley Girls High School opened in nearby buildings in Priory Road. The pupils of the two single-sex schools regularly held drama productions together, and a number of teachers taught at both establishments and the pupils of the two schools mixed on occasions for sixth form Physics lessons.
In 1966, plans were unveiled for the grammar and high schools to merge and form a mixed comprehensive school, but these took almost a decade to become reality. In September 1972, the age range had changed from 11-18 to 12-18 as part of a re-organisation by Dudley council which saw the entry age for secondary school increased in the towns of Dudley, Sedgley, Coseley and Brierley Hill. Dudley Grammar School closed in July 1975 after 413 years, when it merged with the Girls High School to form The Dudley School with effect from September 1975. The merger also included the smaller Park Secondary School, which was located near the town's Grange Park, the buildings of which were briefly used as an annex to the new school until 1977.
After more than a century the buildings of Dudley Grammar School are still in existence; they now house Castle High School, which was formed in September 1989 on the merger of The Dudley School and The Blue Coat School. The grammar school buildings were expanded between 1990 and 1995 as the old High School building was gradually emptied and eventually demolished at the start of 1996. However, the grammar school swimming pool was closed and demolished in 1990 to make way for part of the expansion. The pool had opened in 1951 as a memorial to the former grammar school pupils who had died in the First World War and Second World War. Former pupils of the school were known as Old Dudleians.
Notable former pupils of Dudley Grammar School include Lionel Harry Butler (Principal Royal Holloway College 1973-81), Ian Serraillier (children's author who was an English teacher at the school 1939-1946), Martin Dunn (newspaper editor), Roger Cashmore, David Tristram and Hugh Walters.[citation needed]
The Dudley School was a mixed comprehensive school in Dudley, West Midlands, England. It was founded in 1975 on the merger on the town's two single-sex grammar schools, Dudley Grammar School and Dudley Girls High School, was located on the two sites near Dudley town centre. The formation of the school also involved a merger with Park Secondary Modern School, the buildings of which were annexed into the Dudley School for two years until the buildings were closed and demolished to make way for the new Jessons Middle School.
The Dudley School catered for pupils aged from 12–18 years. In 1985, just ten years after the Dudley School's formation, Dudley council unveiled plans for it to merge with at least one smaller secondary school to create The Ednam School. One plan put forward at this time was for the Priory Road buildings (formerly the Girls High School) to be developed as a school for children aged up to 16 years, with the former Boys Grammar School buildings being converted into a sixth form college. By 1988, it had been decided that the Dudley School would merge with The Blue Coat School on Kates Hill with effect from September 1989. The school's pupils voted for the new school to be called Castle High, a name which was selected in the spring of 1989. The plan was for Castle High to exist solely at the Dudley School site, but for the first year it also incorporated the Blue Coat buildings for that school's oldest two year groups as sufficient space was not available at the Dudley School site until new buildings were completed and the sixth form was closed due to falling pupil numbers and a decision by the local authority to relocate most of the borough's sixth form facilities from schools to further education colleges. The last intake of sixth form students began their studies at the school in September 1988 and remained there until the sixth form closed in July 1990; there were no admissions to the sixth form at the new school in September 1989. The new school also took in some of the Sir Gilbert Claughton School pupils, with all but the oldest year group in that school being transferred to new schools before it closed completely in July 1990.
The school's final head teacher was Mr Joseph Kenneth "Ken" West, who was head for the final four years until the merger following the retirement of Mr Alfred "Fred" Austin (born Fredi Stiller as a Jew in Czechoslovakia in 1928; and who became Fred Austin upon his adoption by a British family at the outbreak of World War II). Mr Austin had been head since the formation of the Dudley School in 1975 and Mr West was a teacher of Mathematics at the school.