Washwood Heath Academy
| Established | 1967 |
|---|---|
| Type | Academy |
| Head Teacher | Mrs Beverley Mabey |
| Location |
Burney Lane Birmingham West Midlands B8 2AS England Coordinates: 52°29′25″N 1°49′09″W / 52.4904°N 1.8192°W |
| DfE number | 330/4084 |
| DfE URN | 139888 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports Pre-academy reports |
| Students | 1,400 (approx.) |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Ages | 11–19 |
| Houses |
Zephaniah Tolkien Chamberlain Benson Harewood |
| Colours | Yellow, White, Blue, Green, Purple |
| Website |
washwoodheath |
Washwood Heath Academy is a secondary school located in the Washwood Heath ward of Birmingham, England.[1] Originally known as Washwood Heath Comprehensive School, it opened in September 1967. It was extended in 1996 to make way for the Post-16 centre. The school became a specialist Technology College and was renamed Washwood Heath Technology College. It has the first year group in the country to have a portable laptop for each child in year 8, as part of a national pilot. Although this scheme is free parents have been asked to give a voluntary contribution as is the case at all schools that run this scheme.
The school uses the house system, there are five houses each containing students from all the school years. The school is one of the first to use the vertical tutoring system, this system places students in mixed age group forms, the intention of vertical tutoring is to create greater cohesion between the year groups and allow for peer mentoring. They have recently had David Harewood who made a documentary about how he attempts to turn a group of Washwood Heath pupils into accomplished Shakespearean actors in just five days. As of July 2013 Washwood Heath technology was converted into an academy and was renamed Washwood Heath Academy
Houses
Zephaniah- colour purple- Named after Benjamin Zephaniah. He was a poet he also had dyslexia
Chamberlain- colour red- Named after Joseph Chamberlain. He was the Mayor of Birmingham
Harewood- colour green- Name after former pupil David Harewood who is now a film star and his brother is a footballer
Benson- colour blue- Unknown name
Tolkien- colour yellow- Named after John Ronald Reul Tolkien. He was an English scholar
School Uniform
Boys
- school shirt
- a tie
- a navy jumper with the school logo and name of their house
- black or grey trousers
- school shoes
- School bag no pouches
- Blue polo shirt (summer)
Girls
- school shirt
- pinafore (optional)
- tie
- black skirt or black trousers
- plain black headscarf with no patterns on it
- navy jumper with the school logo and the name of their house
- school shoes
- school bag no pouches
Boys should not have any patterns in their hair and girls are only allowed to wear small studs. This will change as of September 2013
P.E Kit
Girls
- a gold rugby shirt (winter)
- short sleeved yellow polo shirt (summer)
- black plain jogging bottoms
- white nylon socks
- trainers
Boys
- royal blue football shirt (winter)
- white polo shirt or blue polo shirt (summer)
- black or white shorts
- black or blue jogging bottoms
- royal blue sock
- trainers
This will change as of September 2013
Controversy
- In 1996, maths teacher Israr Khan bought the school into national disrepute following his decision to interrupt a Christmas carol rehearsal performance, questioning the involvement of Muslim pupils professing to Christian theology in the festive songs.[2]
- In 2002, the school became the first in Britain to have its entire governing body sacked under new government powers after an 18-month row over race and religion created internal disagreements amongst staff. The board were replaced by a council team and subsequently received praise from Ofsted.[3][4][5][6]
- In 2010, following a General Teaching Council disciplinary hearing, teacher Jasbir Dhillon was suspended for three months for being late for class on 21 occasions. Action was taken after pupils complained about his punctuality.[7][8][9]
Alumni
- Terry Cooke, professional footballer[10][11]
- Stephen Duffy, singer songwriter[12]
- David Harewood, television and Hollywood actor[13]
- Lee Hendrie, professional footballer[14][15]
- Iqbal Khan, Theatre Director [16]
- Rashid Rauf, alleged Al-Qaeda operative [17]
- Ian Taylor, professional footballer[18]
- Adam Yosef, journalist and activist
References
- ↑ Office For Standards In Education: 3 August 2006 Inspection Report, Retrieved 16 November 2006
- ↑ Wayne Francis (30 September 2006). "Muslim teacher in carol concert tirade is made Ofsted inspector". Daily Mail. UK.
- ↑ Sarah Cassidy (10 August 2002). "School board to be sacked for 'Muslim only' agenda". The Independent. UK.
- ↑ "School's 'climate of intimidation'". BBC News. 22 July 2002.
- ↑ "YOU HAVE ALL BEEN SACKED; Governors at crisis-hit city school told'". Birmingham Post. 23 July 2002.
- ↑ "Praise for Washwood Heath School". Birmingham Post. 3 February 2005.
- ↑ "Washwood Heath teacher suspended – for being late to class". Birmingham Mail. 30 March 2010.
- ↑ "And your excuse today sir is? Science teacher suspended after pupils report him to head for being late". Daily Mail. UK. 6 February 2010.
- ↑ Murray Wardrop (6 February 2010). "Teacher suspended after pupils reported him for being late for school". The Daily Telegraph. UK.
- ↑ "Washwood FC Individual Honours". Washwood FC.
- ↑ "Rising star Wes boots out Villa!". Birmingham Post and Mail. 1998.
- ↑ "The Lilac Time, Lilac 6". CookingVinyl.com.
- ↑ Ben Hurst (10 September 2010). "Hollywood star David Harewood goes back to Washwood Heath School". Birmingham Mail.
- ↑ "Aston, Erdington and Saltley S.F.A.". FootieMag.net, Trilby Multimedia, Aston, Erdington, Saltley & Sutton Schools' Football Association.
- ↑ Andy Gardner (28 November 1998). "How machete gang drove England's baby-faced new hero out of school". Sunday Mirror.
- ↑ "Iqbal Khan back at Birmingham Rep for East Is East". Birmingham Post. 23 September 2009.
- ↑ Cobain, Ian (22 November 2008). "Rashid Rauf". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- ↑ "Villa star Taylor back at school". Birmingham Mail. 2010-09-27.
- Longmore, Andrew "Football: Hendrie caught in boy wonderland" FindArticles –
"The Independent (London)", 14 May 2000. Accessed 19 November 2007.