The Wakeman School and Arts College (formerly Shrewsbury Technical High School) was a

co-educational 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 ...

comprehensive school located in Shrewsbury, the county town of

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

, England. The school was the only state secondary school in the town centre, located just to the east of the English Bridge. The school was awarded the ‘Artsmark Gold’ by Arts Council England, and a new ICT facility was completed during the summer holidays of 2008. In September 2008 the school was granted Specialist School status for Visual Art with Music and Drama in recognition of its particular strengths in these areas. The extra funding available was used to enhance and upgrade facilities for these subjects including setting up a state-of-the-art’ Multimedia Studio. In March 2011 inspection, Ofsted judged the school to be 'Good' with 'Outstanding' features. The report praised "the outstanding leadership of its headteacher" and wrote "This is a good school which has improved rapidly. All groups of students make at least good progress... Students, parents and carers repeatedly told inspectors that the school is one big, warm family." In 2011 the school progressed to 61.5% of students achieving at least 5 GCSEs at grades A* to C, including English and Maths. In September 2011 as part of its cuts,

Shropshire Council Shropshire Council is the local authority of Shropshire, in England, comprising the ceremonial county of Shropshire except Telford and Wrekin. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combi ...

decided that the school should close. Despite a ferocious 'Why Waste Wakeman' campaign by staff, students, parents, governors and the wider community the school formally closed on 19 July 2013. To mark its closure and celebrate its role in Shrewsbury the school created The Wakeman 'Look Up' Art Town Trail featuring the work of Wakeman students spanning over 30 years as a lasting legacy to the school. Following the school's closure, its former site is now used by Shrewsbury Sixth Form College.

Notable former pupils

Shrewsbury Technical High School

Wilfred Owen Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC (18 March 1893 – 4 November 1918) was an English poet and soldier. He was one of the leading poets of the First World War. His war poetry on the horrors of trenches and gas warfare was much influenced b ...

- poet

Wakeman Grammar School

* Duncan Perry - cricketer * Stephen Gale - cricketer

References

External links

School website
{{Schools in Shropshire Schools in Shrewsbury Defunct schools in Shropshire Educational institutions disestablished in 2013