The Link Academy, formerly known as the Hillcrest School and Community College, is a secondary school located in the Netherton area of

Dudley Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of 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 ...

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 ...

History

The school was first opened in 1958 as one of two new secondary schools in Netherton, the other being the Saltwells Secondary School. Both schools replaced a smaller pre-fabricated school in Halesowen Road, known locally as "The Iron School". Saltwells School closed in 1986, with pupils and staff transferred to an expanded Hillcrest, though due to a lack of capacity some pupils had to attend other nearby schools. In January 2019, Mrs Emma Edwards-Morgan was appointed the new Principal of The Link Academy by Dudley Academies Trust. Previous Headteachers of The Link Academy have included: April Garratt, who took over in Easter 2007. Her predecessor, Dame Maureen Brennan, was appointed a

Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in December 2005, in recognition of her services to local education after turning around the formerly struggling school. However, allegations of fraud involving doctoring attendance records emerged after her departure from the school in 2007. In February 2017, plans were announced for the school to become part of a new academy sponsored by

Dudley College Dudley College of Technology is a further and higher education college based in Dudley, England. The college's history dates to 1862, when the Dudley Public Hall and Mechanics Institute was first built. Since that date the college has continued ...

, alongside Castle High School, Holly Hall School, and

High Arcal School Beacon Hill Academy, formerly known as The High Arcal School, is a secondary school in the Sedgley area of Dudley, in the English West Midlands. Originally opened as a grammar school in 1961, the school became a comprehensive in 1975. It adop ...

. The academy opened in September 2017, with the school's name officially changing a year later.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Link Academy Secondary schools in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley Academies in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley