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Dormston School is a secondary school located in Sedgley, a town in the West Midlands of England between Dudley and Wolverhampton.

History

Dormston School was established in 1935 as one large building which still exists today, although it has undergone substantial refurbishment and a ground floor extension since then. Science and technology blocks were added about 30 years later, they in turn have also been expanded in the last 20 years. A fourth block, housing music, drama, dance and English classrooms was built in 1990. Two science laboratories were added in 2003, as was a Sixth Form Centre (owned by Dudley College) in 1997.

An estimated 224 pupils per year enroll at Dormston. The main three primary schools whose pupils enroll at Dormston are Cotwall End, Queen Victoria and Alder Coppice. Other less significant feeder schools include St Chad's, Hurst Hill, Foxyards, Hill Avenue and Roberts. GCSE pass rates are regularly over the 50% mark at Dormston since the early 1990's.

In July 1996, the National Lottery granted the Dormston School with £4million to build an Arts and Sports Centre, which was completed three-and-half years later.

In March 1999, the school made headlines when almost 50 girls were either sent home or isolated from lessons for wearing short skirts.

The school's current headteacher is Mrs Stephanie Sherwood, who was appointed in January 2001 on the retirement of Mrs Barbara O'Connor. Her deputies are Mr Stephen Dixon, Mr Peter Davies and Mr Simon Carroll. In spite of a great staff turnover in recent years, there are still a great deal of teachers at the school who have been there since the 1970s and 1980s.

In 2000, just before Mrs O'Connor's retirement, Dormston School was credited with the Charter Mark in recognition of its excellent standards. Mrs O'Connor's last day was marked with a farewell assembly, presented by her long-serving deputy Mr Wally Francis - who himself retired four years later.

The school has five year groups, each of which contain eight classes of approximately 28 children. The tutor groups are split into 'X' and 'Y' populations who are educated separately for all lessons until at least GCSE level.

Timeline

• 1935: Dormston Secondary School opened, consisting of one main building
  
• c1970: Science and Technology blocks completed, bringing total number of school buildings to three
  
• 1983: Mrs Barbara O'Connor is appointed Headteacher
  
• 1990: 'D' Block opened (fourth school building), containing the English department, Music studio, Drama studio and Dance studio as well as senior management offices, along with two new Art classrooms. These extensions help accommodate extra pupils following the local authority's decision to lower the primary school leaving age from 12 to 11
  
• 1996: National Lottery awards a £4million grant to Dormston School, and contributes towards the cost of a £5.5million sports/arts centre
• 1998: Construction of the Dormston Centre begins.
• 2000: Dormston Centre opened.
  
• 2003: Two new Science laboratories are completed to form a new 'E' Block
• 2006: Dormston School receives specialist Mathematics and Computing college status
  

School buildings

A Block

The original part of the school. It was built in 1935 and accommodates a sports hall, dining hall, learning resources centre, smoking lounge and office for the Careers staff.

The offices for the Heads of Year and Isolation Room were added in 1999 after a remodelling of the former girls changing rooms and the Careers office.

A Block originally contained the offices for the senior management, but on the relocation of these facilities to D Block this area was converted into the Individual Needs department as well as a Resources centre.

Classrooms in A Block are used for the teaching of Mathematics, Humanities (Geography, History and Religious Education) and Modern Languages.

A Block included changing rooms until 1999. The boys' changing rooms were knocked through into an office to create an ICT suite. The girls' changing rooms were knocked through into an office to allow space for the offices for the Heads of Year and the Isolation Room.

B Block

B Block is the second oldest part of the school, built by the early 1970s. It houses six science laboratories as well as two Food Technology suites. Two further B Block classrooms - actually within C Block - were added in 1990 and house the art department.

It has not been substantially altered since its construction, although all of the laboratories have been refurbished, as have both of the Food Technology suites - now known as the Brian Gibbons Technology Rooms. On the construction of a new Art department in 1990, the former Art suites were converted into Science laboratories.

C Block

C Block was built at the same time as B Block. The downstairs of the building includes two Science laboratories, a CAD/CAM centre as well as laboratories for Graphic Design, Resistant Materials and Systems & Control. The upstairs of the block is given over to a Textiles suite and two computer suites.

The two Science laboratories were refurbished in 2001. The Graphic Design and Systems & Control laboratories remain virtually identical to how they were on their completion, but the Resistant Materials laboratory was built in 1990 and has yet to merit refurbishment.

D Block

D Block houses the senior management offices, reception area, nurse's office, music studio, drama studio, dance studio, one music classroom and five English classrooms. It was built in 1990 and was detached from the rest of the school until the Dormston Centre was added in 2000.

Being a modern structure, no substantial alterations have yet been made to D Block, although carpets have been replaced and some of the walls have been re-painted or even re-plastered. A combination of wear and tear and vandalism contributed to these refurbishments.

D Block was officially opened by local councillor John T. Wilson, a former member of Dudley MBC.

E Block

E Block was completed in September 2003 and houses two extra science laboratories.

Dormston Centre

The Dormston Centre includes a sports hall, gymnasium, fitness centre, art gallery, theatre and cafe. It cost nearly £6 million to build, £4 million of which was provided by a grant from the National Lottery. The go-ahead for the centre was given in July 1996 when the Lottery grant was given, and the facilities were in use by March 2000 - six months behind schedule. The official opening took place on December 1st, 2000. At the time, these facilities were virtually unmatched anywhere in the West Midlands.

The staff room for Dormston School is located in the ground floor of the Dormston Centre.

Youth Club

There is a long-running youth club on the grounds of Dormston School, which is run by volunteers several evenings a week and had to close in 2001 due to vandalism. It was re-opened in 2004 following a substantial refurbishment and one of the mobile buildings had to be replaced as part of these improvements.

Notable alumni

• Phil Parkes - former West Ham goalkeeper, attended from 1961 to 1966
• Chris Marsh - former Walsall defender, attended from 1982 to 1986
• - Radio Broadcaster (Now on WCR Wolverhampton)

School uniform

• Black trousers or skirts
• White shirts
• Black blazers
• Red/grey striped ties
• Grey pullovers (optional)

• Schools in the West Midlands