Q3 Academy Great Barr (formerly Dartmouth High School) is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

secondary school located on ''Wilderness Lane'' in

Great Barr Great Barr is now a large and loosely defined area to the north-west of Birmingham, England. The area was historically in Staffordshire, and the parts now in Birmingham were once known as Perry Barr, which is still the name of an adjacent Bir ...

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 ...

, England, near the border with

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

. It comes within the borders of

Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county in England. The borough is named after the Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of the West Midlands conurbation. According to Sandwell Metropo ...

History

Dartmouth High School opened in September 1964 as a

secondary modern school A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Schools of this type continue in Northern Ireland, where they are usuall ...

, becoming comprehensive in September 1969. The original motto, suggested by the Classics Teacher (later a drama teacher) Mr Bruce Graham was, "Gaudet, Tentamine et Virtus" (Strength rejoices in challenge). The School originally had 8 houses, four in the A half and four in the B half. The A half houses were Churchill, Elgar, Sutherland and Nuffield. The B half houses were Hillary, Curie, Kennedy and Fleming. In the 1980s Nuffield and Hillary stopped taking pupils, leaving three active Houses in each half of the school. It became Q3 Academy in September 2008, although it initially existed in the old Dartmouth buildings. In August 2008, the project to rebuild the school began. It took 21 months to build, and was ready for students in April 2010, straight after the Easter Holiday. The old building was demolished and the final landscaping phase took place over the summer of 2010, ready for students to start in September of that year. As an

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

, it is independent, with limited power remaining with the local authority. On 11 November 2010, HRH the Earl of Wessex officially opened the Academy. As

Q3 Academy Langley Q3 Academy Langley is a coeducational secondary school located in the Langley Green area of Oldbury in the West Midlands of England. There has been a school located at this site since 1926, firstly named Oldbury County High School and then ...

and Q3 Academy Tipton have since been established by the Multi-Academy Trust, the original Q3 Academy has been renamed Q3 Academy Great Barr.

School Fires

In 1985 the western edge of the School, including the main Churchill block and Sutherland (including the school kitchens) were seriously damaged in a fire believed to be caused by arson. First year (now called year 7) pupils were allocated form rooms in temporary buildings on the tennis courts and the Maths and English departments used Temporary huts well into the 1990s whilst large sections of the School was rebuilt. In the five years before the creation of the academy, the original school was damaged by fire on two further occasions. The school's science block was destroyed by fire on 17 November 2003 and had to be completely rebuilt. It needed about 100 firefighters to bring the blaze under control. Around 200 pupils lost their coursework in the blaze. There was also a blaze in June 2006 in the first year block. The cause of the fire was ruled as arson.

Notable former pupils

* John Bainbridge, author and countryside campaigner * John Constandinou, athlete *

Cat Deeley Catherine Elizabeth Deeley (born 23 October 1976) is an English television presenter and actress. From 1998 to 2002, she hosted the ITV children's show '' SMTV Live,'' for which she won a BAFTA Children's Award, and its spin-off chart show '' ...

, television personality * Matt Goodwin, managing director of architecture initiative * James Holmes, actor *

Matthew Marsden Matthew David Marsden (born 3 March 1973) is an English-American actor, producer, singer and former model. He has appeared in films such as '' Helen of Troy'', '' Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid'', '' Tamara'', '' Resident Evil: Extinct ...

, actor
Arun Singh
Professional Trader and coach *

Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel H ...

, footballer *

Gillian Wearing Gillian Wearing CBE, RA (born 10 December 1963) is an English conceptual artist, one of the Young British Artists, and winner of the 1997 Turner Prize. In 2007 Wearing was elected as lifetime member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. He ...

, artist *

Steve Webb Sir Steven John Webb (born 18 July 1965) is a British pensions commentator who was previously Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament (MP) for Northavon from 1997 to 2010 and for Thornbury and Yate from 2010 to 2015. He was the Minister of St ...

, Liberal Democrat MP * Rob Young, author * Tim Jones, Olympian

References

External links

School performance in 2007

EduBase

Ofsted report for Q3 Academy

Great Barr £30 million Q3 Academy opens its doors to students

News items

Arson attack in June 2006

Lessons resume after blaze in November 2003
{{authority control Academies in Sandwell West Bromwich Secondary schools in Sandwell School buildings in the United Kingdom destroyed by arson Great Barr Educational institutions established in 1964 1964 establishments in England