Darlaston Community Science College was a secondary school located in

Darlaston Darlaston is an industrial town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall in the West Midlands of England. It is located near Wednesbury and Willenhall. Topography Darlaston is situated between Wednesbury and Walsall in the valley of the River T ...

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

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. The school had Specialist Science College status, and since the closure of Kings Hill School during the 1980s, was the only secondary school in the town. It was founded in 1960, as a Grammar and Technical School, on the former premises of the Wednesbury County Commercial Secondary School (The Limes) in Wood Green Road, under the Headmastership of Mr W.C. Donithorn. It transferred to its present site in 1962, and adopted comprehensive status in 1965. Education was provided for pupils aged 11 to 18 years, from

Key Stage 3 Key Stage 3 (commonly abbreviated as KS3) is the legal term for the three years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9, when pupils are aged between 11 and 14. In Northern Ireland the ...

through

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

A-Level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

. There were typically around 1,100 pupils on the roll, as well as 100 full-time teachers and a further 50 support staff including learning support assistants.

OFSTED The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

inspections took place in 1997, 1999 and most recently in 2004. All of these inspections were successful. However in January 2008 the

Express and Star The ''Express & Star'' is a regional evening newspaper in Britain. Founded in 1889, it is based in Wolverhampton, England, and covers the West Midlands county and Staffordshire. Currently edited by Martin Wright, the ''Express & Star'' publish ...

newspaper reported the school had been placed in special measures Towards its later years lessons started at 8.45am and finished at 2.40pm to allow for extra-curricular activities which are not suitable for normal lesson time. Lessons were an hour each with 5 lessons per day. The school became the Grace Academy in September 2009, following approvals of plans to convert the school into an academy in November 2008. The school's final

head teacher A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. In som ...

was Mr Stephen Casey.

Closure

Darlaston Community Science College closed at the end of the school year in July 2009 and re-opened in September 2009 as the

Grace Academy, Darlaston Grace Academy is an Academy in Darlaston, Walsall, England. It is a non-selective co-educational secondary school. It was formerly Darlaston Community Science College which had been placed into special measures by OFSTED in January 2008 and fa ...

. No longer being in special measures. The consultation process has attracted a lot of local criticism for being a rushed and hurried process. Grace academy Solihull having taken 5 terms to implement and execute a transition procedure, Darlaston was given less than 2. In consultations meeting beforehand one governor even resigned and left the meeting after the board of governors had been accused of failing the school

School Buildings

The school consisted of dated buildings, It has its own sixth form centre, Art department and cennete. It also has its own Sports Hall, Swimming pool and Technology Block.

External links

School Website
{{Schools in Walsall Defunct schools in Walsall Educational institutions established in 1960 1960 establishments in England Educational institutions disestablished in 2009 2009 disestablishments in England