Q3 Academy Langley 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 t ...

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

located in the Langley Green area of Oldbury in the

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 ...

of England. There has been a school located at this site since 1926, firstly named Oldbury County High School and then Oldbury Grammar School, Oldbury High School, Langley High School, Oldbury College of Sport and prior to demolition, Oldbury Academy. The current Q3 Academy school opened in 2016 following site clearance and the development of an entirely new school.

History

Grammar school

Oldbury County High School (a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

) opened in 1926, on Moat Road across from Barnford Hill Park in Langley Green. This was after the transfer of Oldbury Secondary School, founded in 1904, from Flash Road, Oldbury. In 1944, following the new Education Act, the County High, originally co-opting its location within Worcestershire, became Oldbury Grammar School. In 1929, local glass artists Tom Stokes and Bill Pardoe created a window for Oldbury Grammar's main school hall as a memorial to the Old Boys of the school who died in the 1914-18 First World War. It consists of eight lights with the allegorical figures of Justice, Courage and Fortitude and with extracts from the story of the Peloponnesian War, specially selected by Mr Willis Bond, that great figure in Worcestershire education of those days. Around the same time, money was raised for a multi-pipe church-style organ. "I Vow To Thee My Country" became a regular fixture of morning assembly. The school motto was ''Cresco'' ("I Grow"). Former grammar school pupils are known as "Old Cresconians". Serving a mainly working class area, the school acted as a bridge to University education and a career in the professions. A thriving sixth form, lost when the school changed to a comprehensive in 1974, saw many pupils attain sufficient quality A-levels (Advanced levels) to attend major British universities and gain social mobility. A history of Oldbury Grammar School from 1904 to 1974 was written by former history teacher at the school Mr A.A.L Pearce and published in 1979. "Farewell to Oldbury Grammar School", a poem written to commemorate the last grammar school intake to leave the school in the summer of 1978, appeared in ''The Blackcountryman'', the quarterly publication of The Black Country Society. As a selective grammar with open entry dictated only by academic ability at 11+ rather than the ability to afford school fees, the school not only promoted similar levels of academic excellence to that of private schools but adopted many of their trappings including a House system (Queens; Kings; Trinity; School), winter and summer school uniform (which included distinctive green, blue and white striped blazers and straw boater hats for girls), the teaching of Latin and a school song which drew on the working-class roots of the area.

Comprehensive school

The school became a non-selective 11–16

comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is res ...

in September 1977 when many of the former Grammar School teaching staff retired or left for posts in other schools and pupils seeking A-level education left to continue education at new Sixth Form Colleges established at the premises of the former Holly Lodge Grammar School for Boys (renamed West Park College) in Smethwick and

Rowley Regis Grammar School Rowley may refer to: Places Canada * Rowley, Alberta * Rowley Island, Nunavut United Kingdom * Rowley railway station (England), Rowley, County Durham, a hamlet * Rowley, East Riding of Yorkshire, England * Rowley, Shropshire, a List of United Ki ...

in Rowley Regis. On becoming a comprehensive, the school marked the move away from selective intakes with a name change to Oldbury High School and a smaller, more localised, catchment area. The name change coincided with the Warley (which included the school and Oldbury,

Smethwick Smethwick () is an industrial town in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It lies west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire. In 2019, the ward of Smethwick had an estimated population of 15,246, while the wider bu ...

and

Rowley Regis Rowley Regis ( ) is a town and former municipal borough in Sandwell in the county of the West Midlands, England. It encompasses the three Sandwell council wards of Blackheath, Cradley Heath and Old Hill, and Rowley. At the 2011 census, the comb ...

) and West Bromwich county boroughs merging to become known as

Sandwell Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the 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 Metropolitan Borough Council, t ...

. Oldbury High School merged with comprehensive Albright High School in September 1983 to become Langley High School. Plans were announced in 2006 to merge Langley High with nearby

Bristnall Hall Technology College Bristnall Hall Academy (formerly Bristnall Hall Technology College and Bristnall Hall High School) is a secondary school with academy status located in Oldbury, West Midlands, England. History The school was opened in 1929 to serve the exp ...

. These plans coincided with the school finishing lowest of 18 secondary schools in

, when a mere 16% of

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 ...

students attained five or more 'A' to 'C' grades compared to 95%+ of pupils gaining five or more 'O' Levels at grades 1–5 (A-C) when the school held Grammar status and a majority successfully passing eight 'O' Levels. However, the school later merged with nearby

Warley High School This article details a number of defunct schools that were once located in Sandwell in the West Midlands of England. For details of currently operating schools in Sandwell, please see: ''List of schools in Sandwell''. Albright Secondary Modern Sc ...

(Oldbury Tech), becoming

Oldbury College of Sport Oldbury Academy (formerly Oldbury College of Sport) is a Mixed-sex education, mixed secondary school and former sixth form located in Oldbury, West Midlands, Oldbury, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It opened as a merger of Warle ...

. It was announced that Bristnall Hall Technology College (formerly Bristnall Hall Secondary School and now Bristnall Hall Academy) was to be rebuilt on the Moat Road site, with the relocation expected to take place during the early 2010s. Oldbury College of Sport was renamed

Oldbury Academy Oldbury Academy (formerly Oldbury College of Sport) is a mixed secondary school and former sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth ...

in 2011, with the school moving all activity to the former Oldbury Technical School site on Pound Road and abandoning the Grammar School site in Moat Road.

Q3 Academy Langley

Sandwell Council issued a prospectus with a view to an educational trust reopening the former Langley High School site as a new school. The original school building was destroyed in 2015, when work began on redeveloping the site. Q3 Academy Langley opened in new buildings on the site in September 2016. It is 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 philosophy ...

sponsored by the Q3 Multi Academies Trust.

The school today

Q3 Academy Langley offers

GCSEs 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 ...

and BTECs as programmes of study for pupils.

Notable former pupils

Oldbury Grammar School

Allan Ahlberg Janet Ahlberg (21 October 1944 – 15 November 1994; née Hall) and Allan Ahlberg (born 5 June 1938) were a British married couple who created many children's books, including picture books that regularly appear at the top of "most popular" lis ...

(1938– ), children's book author; writer of contemporary children's classics including ''Each Peach, Pear, Plum'', ''The Jolly Postman'' and ''Burglar Bill'' *

Mick Aston Michael Antony Aston (1 July 1946 – 24 June 2013) was an English archaeologist who specialised in Early Medieval landscape archaeology. Over the course of his career, he lectured at both the University of Bristol and University of Oxford and ...

(1946–2013), archaeologist on ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned online in 2022 for two episodes released on YouTube. Created by television producer Tim ...

'' * Steve Bennett ( 1964- ) aka Quicko Mcbrain, session drummer live and recording artist. *

Judith Cutler Judith Cutler is a writer of crime fiction whose novels are mostly in series: ten in the series about amateur sleuth and lecturer ''Sophie Rivers''; six about Detective Sergeant ''Kate Power''; six about antique restorer ''Lina Townend'' and fiv ...

(1946– ), author * Martin Elliott (1946–2010), photographer best known for the iconic Athena

Tennis Girl The Tennis Girl is a British poster of a female tennis player without underwear that has become a British pop icon. Creation The photograph was taken by then-30-year-old Martin Elliott in September 1976 and features 18-year-old Fiona Butler ( ...

poster *

Simon Fox Simon Andrew David Fox (born 12 July 1949) is an English rock drummer, who played in different rock bands during the 1970s and the 1980s, most notably the progressive rock group Be-Bop Deluxe. His earliest band was Hackensack, during the 19 ...

(1949– ), drummer, Be-Bop Deluxe * Sir

John Jennings John Jennings may refer to: Politicians * John Jenyns (1660–1717), MP * John Jennings (Burton MP) (1903–1990), British Conservative Party politician * John Jennings (American politician) (1880–1956), U.S. Representative from Tennessee, 1939 ...

(1937– ), CBE, Chancellor of

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

since 2003; managing director of

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...

, 1987–97 *

Canon Ralph Stevens Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western can ...

(1915–2006), Chaplain to the Queen *

Lewis Stevens Lewis David Stevens (13 April 1936 – 15 January 2023) was a British Conservative Party politician. Stevens was educated at Oldbury Grammar School, the University of Liverpool, and Lanchester College, Coventry. He carried out national serv ...

(1936– ), MBE, Conservative MP for

Nuneaton Nuneaton ( ) is a market town in the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth in northern Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire and West Midlands County.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Nuneaton's ...

, 1983–92 * Robin Stubbs (1941– ), Birmingham City and Torquay Utd footballer *

John Bryan Taylor John Bryan Taylor (born 26 December 1928) is a British physicist known for his contributions to plasma physics and their application in the field of fusion energy. Notable among these is the development of the "Taylor state", describing a minim ...

(1928– ), Fondren Professor of Plasma Theory at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, 1989–94; Chief Physicist at the

Culham Laboratory The Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE) is the UK's national laboratory for fusion research. It is located at the Culham Science Centre, near Culham, Oxfordshire, and is the site of the Joint European Torus (JET), Mega Ampere Spherical Tokamak ...

, 1981–89 *

Peter Withers Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

(1946–2012), youngest Governor of Glasgow's notorious Barlinnie Jail, Europe's busiest prison; board member of the Scottish Prison Service and prison service reformer * Squadron Leader Bruce McDonald (1930-2018), jet fighter pilot who became one of the best-known instructors at the RAF's Central Flying School. Twice awarded the Air Force Cross for acts of exemplary gallantry while flying * Tom Price (1928-2021), Journalist, Fleet Street correspondent and founder and editor of a range of leading Warwickshire newspapersURL:https://www.leamingtoncourier.co.uk/news/people/he-was-a-real-one-off-with-a-rebellious-streak-tributes-paid-to-persistent-journalist-and-former-assistant-editor-of-the-leamington-courier-tom-price-3268296.

References

External links

Q3 Academy Langley official website
{{Schools in Sandwell Secondary schools in Sandwell Oldbury, West Midlands Academies in Sandwell