Holly Lodge High School
Encyclopedia
Holly Lodge High School College of Science is a secondary school located in Smethwick
, West Midlands
, England
.
, near West Smethwick Park and West Park Road less than a mile from the M5
. There is also an entrance on Marshall Streetand Forster Street. The school has a large percentage (65%) of pupils from Sikh
, Hindu
and Islam
ic communities, as it is situated in the western part of the town where mass immigration from the Commonwealth
was concentrated during the 1950s and 1960s. 23% of the school population are white. Recently since 2004, there have been a number of Polish immigrants at the school. There are now more immigrants coming from Eastern Europe
.
The school was expanded in September 1992 when it took in the pupils of Smethwick Hall Boys School, which had closed at the end of the school year that July.
The current headteacher is Ahson Mohammed. He started in September 2009 to oversee the remodelling work and to raise standards.
Between September 2009 and August 2011, extensive refurbishment and some new build occured on the site as part of the 'Building Schools of the Future' programme. A total of 23 million pounds was spent to enhance the facilities.
program.
Holly Lodge became a specialist
College of Science
in the summer of 2004. In 1997, Geoff Hampton
received a knighthood for helping turn the school around as headteacher.
In 2010 the school has received a lot of press coverage due to the remodeling and refurbishing of their building which was provided by BSF 'Building Schools For The Future' and has also received attention when Atlantic R&B Singer Lloyd Polite visited during one of their yearly talent shows where he had a session with a year 11 group giving them tips and advice for the music industry.
The school has gone from strength to strength, in the summer examinations in 2010; 39% of the students gained five A*-C grades including English and mathematics. This rose again in 2011; to 50% gaining 5x A*-C grades including English and mathematics.
Smethwick
Smethwick is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, in the West Midlands of England. It is situated on the edge of the city of Birmingham, within the historic boundaries of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire....
, West Midlands
West Midlands (county)
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Admissions
It is located on Holly Lane on the middle point between Smethwick and OldburyOldbury, West Midlands
Oldbury is a town in the West Midlands in England. It is a part of the Black Country and the administrative centre of the borough of Sandwell.-Local government:...
, near West Smethwick Park and West Park Road less than a mile from the M5
M5 motorway
The M5 is a motorway in England. It runs from a junction with the M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Bromwich and west of Birmingham through Sandwell Valley...
. There is also an entrance on Marshall Streetand Forster Street. The school has a large percentage (65%) of pupils from Sikh
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
, Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
and Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic communities, as it is situated in the western part of the town where mass immigration from the Commonwealth
Commonwealth
Commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has sometimes been synonymous with "republic."More recently it has been used for fraternal associations of some sovereign nations...
was concentrated during the 1950s and 1960s. 23% of the school population are white. Recently since 2004, there have been a number of Polish immigrants at the school. There are now more immigrants coming from Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
.
The school was expanded in September 1992 when it took in the pupils of Smethwick Hall Boys School, which had closed at the end of the school year that July.
The current headteacher is Ahson Mohammed. He started in September 2009 to oversee the remodelling work and to raise standards.
Between September 2009 and August 2011, extensive refurbishment and some new build occured on the site as part of the 'Building Schools of the Future' programme. A total of 23 million pounds was spent to enhance the facilities.
History
It was originally a girls' and boys' grammar school. The girls' grammar school at Holly Lodge opened in 1922, moving to a new building in 1927. The boys' grammar school opened in Holly Lodge, moving to a new building next door to the girls' school in 1932. In 1967, the boys' school was joined with the James Watt Technical School (a boys' school) on Crockett's Lane. The girls' and boys' school were united in 1972 as a high school admitting children of all abilities on the two original sites. A Science and Technology block was built in 1970 prior to the amalgamation of the boys' and girls' schools. In September 1992, Holly Lodge officially began when three schools in West Smethwick merged. Since then, there has been no real development. It was built in about 1900 and has been expanded considerably since then. The school is due to be rebuilt due to the Building Schools for the FutureBuilding Schools for the Future
Building Schools for the Future is the name of the previous UK Government's investment programme in secondary school buildings in England. The program is very ambitious in its costs, timescales and objectives, with politicians from all English political parties supportive of the principle but...
program.
Holly Lodge became a specialist
Specialist school
The specialist schools programme was a UK government initiative which encouraged secondary schools in England to specialise in certain areas of the curriculum to boost achievement. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust was responsible for the delivery of the programme...
College of Science
Science College
Science Colleges were introduced in 2002 as part of the now defunct Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, science and mathematics...
in the summer of 2004. In 1997, Geoff Hampton
Geoff Hampton
Sir Leslie Geoffrey Hampton is the British head teacher who gained notability in March 1998 when he received a knighthood in recognition for his achievements as head teacher of Northicote School in Wolverhampton, West Midlands...
received a knighthood for helping turn the school around as headteacher.
In 2010 the school has received a lot of press coverage due to the remodeling and refurbishing of their building which was provided by BSF 'Building Schools For The Future' and has also received attention when Atlantic R&B Singer Lloyd Polite visited during one of their yearly talent shows where he had a session with a year 11 group giving them tips and advice for the music industry.
Academic performance
In 2009, 27% of students gained five GCSEs at grades A* - C including English and mathematics. This was, however, a 12% improvement on 2008 results. The science specialism is working exceptionally well with 65% of the students gaining grades A* to C. This is above the national average. This was acknowledged by Ofsted in June 2010.The school has gone from strength to strength, in the summer examinations in 2010; 39% of the students gained five A*-C grades including English and mathematics. This rose again in 2011; to 50% gaining 5x A*-C grades including English and mathematics.
Holly Lodge Grammar School
- Adrian Coles OBE, Director General of the Building Societies AssociationBuilding Societies AssociationThe Building Societies Association is the trade organisation of the building societies in the United Kingdom. In 2011 the 48 building societies in the UK had total assets of over £317 billion. 15 million adults have building society saving accounts and over 2.9 million adults are currently buying...
since 1993 - Robin Corbett, Baron Corbett of Castle ValeRobin Corbett, Baron Corbett of Castle ValeRobin Corbett, Lord Corbett of Castle Vale is a British Labour Party politician.Born in Fremantle, Australia he attended Holly Lodge Grammar School in Smethwick but did not attend university. He was called up for two years' national service into the Royal Air Force in 1951...
, Labour MP for Hemel HempsteadHemel Hempstead (UK Parliament constituency)Hemel Hempstead is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...
from 1974-9, and Birmingham Erdington from 1983–2001 - Philip Davis, Leader (Labour) of Telford & Wrekin Council from 2000-4
- Alan Jones OBE, Managing Director of TNT UKTNT N.V.TNT N.V., more commonly known as TNT, is an international express and mail delivery services company with headquarters in Hoofddorp, Netherlands. In the Netherlands, TNT operates the national postal service under the name TNT Post. The group also offers postal services in eight other European...
from 1984–99 - Julie WaltersJulie WaltersJulie Walters, CBE is an English actress and novelist. She came to international prominence in 1983 for Educating Rita, performing in the title role opposite Michael Caine. It was a role she had created on the West End stage and it won her BAFTA and Golden Globe awards for Best Actress...
, actress