Wath Comprehensive School

Wath Comprehensive School
A Language College

Motto	Latin: Meliora Spectare (Look to Better Things)
Established	17 September 1923 (1923-09-17)[1]
Type	Foundation school
Headteacher	Mr Jon Taylor
Deputy Headteachers	Mr Paul McIntosh Mr Rick Powell
Chair of Governors	Mrs Irene Hartley MBE
Location	Sandygate Wath-upon-Dearne Rotherham South Yorkshire S63 7NW England Coordinates: 53°29′48″N 1°20′31″W / 53.4967°N 1.3419°W / 53.4967; -1.3419
Local authority	Rotherham
DfE number	372/4017
DfE URN	106954 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Capacity	1,740
Students	1,876 as of November 2015
Gender	Mixed
Ages	11–18
Houses	Athens, Carthage, Rome, Sparta, Thebes and Troy
Colours	Maroon and gold
Publication	The Torch
Former names	Wath Secondary School (1923–1931) Wath-upon-Dearne Grammar School (1931–1974)
Website	School website

Wath Comprehensive School: A Language College is a mixed secondary school on Sandygate in Wath-upon-Dearne, in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England.

Admissions

The school is a specialist Language College, though it is non-selective. It has approximately 1,900 pupils between the ages of 11 and 18 on roll, including around 400 in the sixth form.

There is also a school council, which contributes to the decisions made by the head and speaks on behalf of all the students in all years.

History

Although the school has links to a seventeenth century school that existed in Wath, the current institution was founded in 1923 as Wath Secondary School. It was located on Park Road, sitting on the site of what is now Wath Central Primary School. The school was controlled by West Riding County Council.

Wath Secondary School rapidly outgrew its original building, which led to lessons taking place in a number of borrowed locations scattered throughout Wath. To rectify this, the school moved into new, purpose-built accommodation on Sandygate in 1930. The institution became known as Wath-upon-Dearne Grammar School in 1931. The school was expanded with many new buildings and extensions in the early 1950s.

In January 1964, with the scrapping of the eleven-plus exam in the area, the school absorbed the neighbouring Park Road Secondary Modern School, although it was some time before it was designated a comprehensive school in 1972 and renamed Wath Comprehensive School in 1974 (which coincided with the school coming under the control of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council).^[2] The secondary modern site became the first year wing of the school. Due to expansion, the school also reoccupied a corner of the Wath Central Primary School site for a period, making a total of three sites. The school was awarded language college status in 2001.

Over time, the school's buildings, on all three sites, aged badly. In its 1997 report on the school, Ofsted described the accommodation as 'quite appalling', 'debilitating' and 'some of the worst working conditions the inspection team has seen'. The Inspectors highlighted 'damp seeping through the walls and ceilings', 'decaying door and window fittings', 'areas of crumbling asphalt and potholes' and 'falling plaster', before going on to conclude:

Floors are bowing and lifting in the IT rooms. In the sixth form common room, which is insufficient for the number of students, roof slates are missing, causing ceilings to collapse during wet weather. The roof also leaks in the girls' changing rooms, where pupils often have to move clothing to keep it from getting wet. Changing accommodation overall is insufficient. Many paths and steps are in a dangerous state of repair. No pupils should be expected to endure such conditions.

— Ofsted, Inspection Report: Wath Comprehensive School (November 1997)^[3]

The school was rebuilt from 2003 to 2005, under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) initiative. A new building on Sandygate, opened after Easter 2005, now makes up the majority of the school accommodation. Some parts of the school dating back from the 1950s (such as the hall) survive, though none of the older 1930s buildings were retained. The loss of the oldest buildings was not without controversy, particularly the traditional 1930s part of the school which was set around two quadrangles. As a result of the rebuild, the school became single-site for the first time since the 1960s, though some of the school's playing fields are still on the old Park Road site. In 2008, the rebuilding was fully completed with the addition of a public leisure centre, including a swimming pool. The old caretaker's house on the school grounds is now used as the isolation block.

Only ten years after it was built, the school has already outgrown its new building. The school has an official capacity of 1,740 students, but numbers have grown to over 1,900. Plans have been drawn up for a 12 classroom overspill building, but the school has twice been denied the funds for construction. In 2014, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council chose not to fund the building because a third of Wath's students do not live within the local authority's boundaries, meaning the building would not, in the council's eyes, benefit the people of Rotherham enough. The funding therefore went to a similar building at Wickersley School and Sports College, which was not as overcapacity as Wath, but does draw all its students from the borough of Rotherham. In 2015, the school secured funding from the Department for Education for the building, but this was withdrawn as part of cuts in 2016.

The school transitioned from being a community school to a co-operative trust foundation school on 1 September 2013.

Traditions

The school's 1930s coat of arms, now used as the sixth form logo

The school's coat of arms, introduced in the 1940s, features a torch (in heraldry, this represents truth and knowledge) and a river (representing the River Dearne). The sixth form has its own coat of arms, which includes a miner's axe (representing Wath-upon-Dearne's major industry when the arms were designed), a book (representing learning) and the river. The sixth form coat of arms was used for the whole school from the 1930s until the 1940s. The school's motto, featured on both coats of arms, is Meliora Spectare, Latin for 'Look to Better Things'.

The school's colours are maroon and gold.

The school has six houses, named after ancient cities: Athens, Carthage, Rome, Sparta, Troy and Thebes, which was a later addition to accommodate the rise in student numbers.

Since 1930, the school has elected a head boy and head girl from its Year 13 students. They are assisted by a team of deputy head boys and girls. In addition, Year 11 students can become prefects. Elected students receive a badge.

The school's uniform consists of a maroon blazer with a badge of the school coat of arms (a black blazer with a badge of the sixth form coat of arms for the sixth form), a white shirt/blouse, a school tie, black trousers/skirt and an optional v-neck jumper/cardigan. There are different ties for the main school, sixth form and prefects. Until the late 1990s, girls were forbidden from wearing trousers, though also did not have to wear blazers.

The school has its own student newspaper, originally known as The Wathovian, but latterly known as In Touch and, since 2014, The Torch.

Some of the school's terminology is quite specific. For example, Physical Education is referred to as 'Games' and mock examinations are referred to as 'prelims' (short for 'preliminary examinations').

The school is notable for its size. It opened with 77 students in 1923, though had 520 students by 1929 (making it the fourth largest school in the West Riding local education authority area). Numbers then grew gradually, though were boosted to around 1,500 in the 1960s due to the closing of Park Road Secondary Modern School. The school expanded again from the late 1970s, particularly boosted by the closure of the nearby Brampton Ellis Comprehensive School in 1985, and eventually reached 1,750 students.^[1] Numbers were at this level until as recently as 2007.^[4] However, further rises in student numbers (partially the sixth form, which has swelled from 300 to 400 students) have taken the total number of students to over 1,900:^[5] 300 students in each of Years 7 to 11, with 200 in each year of the sixth form. As of 2013, the school is the 24th largest in England.

Academic performance

There is quite a disparity between its GCSE and A level results. At GCSE, it gets results equal to the England average. At A level it gets the best results in Rotherham and the 21st best in the Yorkshire and the Humber region and well above the England average. There are also sporting facilities in the school grounds.

Ofsted inspections

Since the commencement of Ofsted inspections in September 1993, the school has undergone five full inspections:

Headteachers

• The Rev A T L Greer, September 1923 – July 1940 (left to be an Air Force chaplain)
• Dr J Richie, July 1940–???? (died in office)
• Dr C R T Saffell, 1955 – August 1972
• Mr A R H Murphy, September 1972–1977
• Mr John Brothwell, 1977–???? (died in office)
• Mr D E Kirby, July 1991–1997
• Mr Robert Godber, 1997 – August 2002
• Mr Eric Sampson, September 2002 – May 2003 (died in office)
• Mr Jim Chisholm, May 2003 – December 2003 (acting headteacher)
• Mrs Pat Ward, January 2004 – August 2016
• Mr Jon Taylor, September 2016–present

Notable former pupils

• Ollie Banks, footballer
• Lucy Clarkson, former Lara Croft model^[6]
• Comedian Toby Foster
• William Hague, MP, former Foreign Secretary^[7]
• Jonathan Holmes
• Kingsley James, footballer
• Josh Wale, British and Commonwealth title challenging boxer

Alan Dobie, actor

Ian McMillan, the Bard of Barnsley

Wath-upon-Dearne Grammar School

• International show business biographer David Bret,^[8]
• Prof Kenneth Burton FRS, Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Newcastle
• Sir Charles Curran, Director-General of the BBC from 1969–77 (1933–40)
• Rob Dawber, screenwriter, who wrote The Navigators
• Alan Dobie, actor known for Cribb, married to Rachel Roberts (actress)
• Prof E J H Ford, FRCVS, FRCPath, Professor of Veterinary Clinical Studies then Clinical Science from 1973–87 at the University of Liverpool (1931–1938)
• Prof John Goldthorpe CBE, UK important researcher (with David Lockwood) into social mobility at Nuffield College, Oxford and the Department of Social Policy and Intervention (1946–53)
• Bryan Gray MBE, Chairman from from 2002–08 of the Northwest Regional Development Agency, Pro-Chancellor from 2003– of Lancaster University (1964–71)
• Peter Hardy, Baron Hardy of Wath, Labour MP from 1970–83 for Rother Valley and from 1983–97 for Wentworth (1942–49)
• Brian Key, Labour MEP from 1979–84 for Yorkshire South (1959–66)
• Maj-Gen Harry Knutton CBE, Director-General from 1976–85 of the City and Guilds of London Institute (1932–39)
• Prof Alec Lazenby, Vice Chancellor from 1970–1977 of the University of New England (Australia), then Director from 1977–1982 of the Grassland Research Institute, Hurley (1938–1945).
• Dennis Maiden, Director-General from 1991–97 of the Federation of Master Builders, and Chief Executive from 1985–90 of the CITB (1943–50)
• Paul McCue, military historian, writer and author (1969–70)
• Poet and so-called Bard of Barnsley Ian McMillan,^[9]
• Prof Jonathan H. A. Nugent, Emeritus Professor of Plant Biochemistry, and Professor of Plant Biochemistry and Biophysics from at University College London (1964–71)
• Kenneth Steer CBE (1925–32)
• Johnny Wardle, Yorkshire and England cricketer (one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year in 1954) (1934–1938)
• Prof Kenneth Wallis, Professor of Econometrics from 1977–2001 at the University of Warwick (1949–56)

References

External links

• Wath Comprehensive School
• Former grammar school