Summerhill School is a mixed

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

located in

Kingswinford Kingswinford is a town of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the English West Midlands (county), West Midlands, situated west-southwest of central Dudley. In 2011 the area had a population of 25,191, down from 25,808 at the 2001 Census. T ...

, West Midlands, England.

History

The school was built by Brierley Hill Urban District Council in 1961, and serves an area of Kingswinford which was mostly developed after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The catchment for the school is bounded in the south by Lawnswood Road (Wordsley), in the east by Stream Road and Moss Grove (Kingswinford) and in the north and west by the county boundary between West Midlands and

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

. The 1961 buildings became increasingly dilapidated during the 1990s but by September 2003 the entire school had been rebuilt. One remaining building from the old complex, built in 1993 and known as C Block remained after the demolition of the old school and was the subject of a bid to save it from demolition and reopen as a community arts centre. The plan was developed but opposition from

Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, also known as Dudley Council, is the local authority for the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England. The town of Dudley had been a borough since the thirteenth century, being reformed ...

prevented the plans from going ahead. C Block remained standing for five years until 5 November 2008, when the roof was destroyed in an

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

attack. The building was finally demolished in 2011 and now acts as a parking area. Positioning of the county boundary sign on the A4101 in the early 1980s gave the impression that half of the tennis/netball courts and 2/3 of one of the football pitches were in the county of Staffordshire rather than West Midlands. The sign was moved sometime in the 1990s, aligning it with the west edge of the school grounds. Had this not happened, it would have meant that the new school building would have appeared to be in two counties. The school had a

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

until July 1991.

Performance

It is among the best performing secondary schools in the Dudley borough, with 78% of

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

students gaining 5 or more A*-C grades in 2010. This placed it higher than any other state school in the borough, only exceeded by

Old Swinford Hospital Old Swinford Hospital is a Secondary school, secondary boarding school in Oldswinford, Stourbridge, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England that has been in continuous operation since the 17th century. It is one of 36 state boarding sch ...

state boarding school.

References

External links

Summerhill School official website
{{authority control Secondary schools in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley Educational institutions established in 1961 1961 establishments in England Community schools in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley