The Shire Oak School is a coeducational comprehensive school

Comprehensive school

A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...

 (age range 11–18) in Walsall Wood

Walsall Wood

Walsall Wood is a settlement located in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, UK, between Aldridge and Brownhills.-History:In the late-18th century and early-19th century, the workers of Walsall Wood were primarily involved in the mining of limestone...

, 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...

. More recently, the name was changed to Shire Oak Academy.http://www.shire-oak.walsall.sch.uk/

Originally a leading grammar school

Grammar school

A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...

, along with many other secondary schools in the West Midlands Shire Oak became a comprehensive school in 1970, merging at the time with Walsall Wood Secondary Modern School.

Features

It is one of two secondary schools providing services for the pupils of Brownhills

Brownhills

Brownhills is a town in the West Midlands, England. Located on the edge of Cannock Chase near the large artificial lake Chasewater, it is north-east of Walsall and a similar distance south-west of Lichfield. It is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall and the Aldridge-Brownhills...

, although it is in the adjacent town of Walsall Wood

Walsall Wood

Walsall Wood is a settlement located in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, UK, between Aldridge and Brownhills.-History:In the late-18th century and early-19th century, the workers of Walsall Wood were primarily involved in the mining of limestone...

.

Threat of closure

In the late 1980s, it was faced with the threat of closure, but remained open following a campaign by the local community.

Notable alumni and staff

• Steve Biggins
  Steve Biggins
  Steven James Biggins is an English former footballer, who played as a forward in a fifteen year career in the Football League....
  
  , footballer.
• Craig Thomas (author)
  Craig Thomas (author)
  David Craig Owen Thomas was a Welsh author of thrillers, most notably the Mitchell Gant series.-Background:...
  
  , novelist
• Professor Steve Green, tropical doctor and "New Faces
  New Faces
  New Faces was a British television talent show popular in the 1970s and 1980s, presented originally by Derek Hobson. It was produced by ATV Network Limited for the ITV Network. The first run of the show was from 29 September 1973 to 2 April 1978 and was recorded at the ATV Centre, Birmingham...
  
  " pianist