Sneyd Comprehensive School was a secondary school located in

Bloxwich Bloxwich is a historic market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. It is located between the towns of Walsall, Cannock, Willenhall and Brownhills. Early history Bloxwich has its origins at least as early as th ...

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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The building of the school started in 1978, to serve the western part of the town and the northern part of

Willenhall Willenhall is a market town situated in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands, England, with a population taken at the 2011 census of 28,480. It is situated between Wolverhampton and Walsall, historically in the county of St ...

, with students moving into the School at the start of the new academic year in September 1979. The school was situated on Vernon Way in the shadow of the

M6 motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 and the western end of the A14 at t ...

, and is just over the border from Willenhall. Sneyd Reservoir is adjacent to the former school site. The Sneyd School Choir performed at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

, at an event called 'The Magic of Music', organised by the Opal Foundation. They were one of two school choirs to win that night, and have won the opportunity to represent Great Britain at the 2008 Choir Olympics in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

The school entered special measures in 2005, but managed to get out of these by 2006. In 2009, it was the joint lowest ranking secondary school in the Walsall borough with 27% of students achieving five or more GCSEs at grade C or above.

Notable former pupils

* Lee Naylor, footballer who began his career at

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

and last played for

Derby County F.C. Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

Closure

The school was closed in August 2011 due to continuously falling behind in exam results and

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 ...

reports. However a new specialist engineering

university technical college A university technical college (UTC) is a type of specialist secondary school in England that is led by a sponsor university and has close ties to local business and industry. These university and industry partners support the curriculum developm ...

(UTC) was established on the former school site straight after the closure. The Black Country UTC was a joint run project between

Walsall College Walsall College is a further education college in Walsall, West Midlands, England. The college is the largest provider of qualifications for 14- to 19-year-olds in the Borough of Walsall. In addition, Walsall College provides education and ...

and

Wolverhampton University The University of Wolverhampton is a public university located on four campuses across the West Midlands, Shropshire and Staffordshire in England. The roots of the university lie in the Wolverhampton Tradesmen's and Mechanics' Institute found ...

which closed in August 2015. There was no automatic transfer of pupils from old to the new school.

References

{{Coord, 52.62023, -2.030067, region:GB-WLL_type:edu, display=title Defunct schools in Walsall Educational institutions established in 1980 1980 establishments in England Educational institutions disestablished in 2011 2011 disestablishments in England