The School
Castle High School is one of the most recently formed schools in the Dudley area, although its buildings are some of the oldest. It was formed in September 1989 on a merger between The Dudley School and The Blue Coat School, and gave education for pupils aged from 12 to 18 years. It also took in some of the pupils from the closing Sir Gilbert Claughton School. The Dudley School had been established in 1975 by the merger of the selective highly regarded Dudley Grammar School and Dudley Girls High School, 'The Old Dudleians' of The Grammar School for boys at St James's Road making way for the establishment of 'The Dudleians', for former students of Dudley Grammar School and Dudley Girls High School in 2005 with the organisation of the first official joint reunion for 30 years.
The Castle High School name was chosen in a poll by the Dudley School pupils, who also chose the design of the new school's logo.
There had been talk of a merger between the Dudley School and at least one of the other smaller secondary schools in Dudley since 1985 (which would have formed a school called The Ednam School), but the merger between Dudley School and Blue Coat was not confirmed until October 1988. The new school's name was confirmed the following spring.
After a year, the school opened to 11 year olds following the local authority's decision to reduce the primary school leaving age; at the same time, the sixth form centre was closed and the leaving age for pupils fell to 16. The former sixth form facilities were used as classrooms to accommodate the new younger pupils.
September 1990 also saw the school take in approximately 50% of pupils from Mons Hill School, which closed due to falling pupil numbers. Several teachers at these schools were also recruited to Castle High School.
Unlike the Blue Coat School, however, Castle High School never used the Mons Hill buildings as these were taken over by Dudley College.
For the first year of its existence, Castle High School also incorporated the Blue Coat School buildings on Kates Hill where the final two academic year groups of that school's pupils remained for a year. Sir Gilbert Claughton School (formerly the Sir Gilbert Claughton Grammar Technical School), however, remained a separate school as the final year of that school's pupils completed their education.
A new three-storey classroom block was opened in the 1991 summer term, the first in several phases of expansion which were completed in 1995. The expansion also saw the demolition of the school swimming pool which had been in the Dudley Grammar School buildings. Mobile classrooms were on the site until the permanent buildings were opened.
The expanded Castle High School was officially opened on 20 October 1995 by George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury.
Castle High School is situated in St James's Road, near Dudley town centre, mostly within the buildings of the former Dudley Grammar School (which date back to 1897, the original school being established in 1562). An extension was completed in 1995 and the adjoining buildings in Priory Road (formerly Dudley Girls High School) were demolished at the beginning of the following year.
The school's current head teacher is Mrs Michelle King. The previous headteacher was Mr Trevor Johnson, and for the first 13 years of the school's existence the head teacher was Mr Geoff Cresswell.
Plans were unveiled in June 2008 for Castle High School to receive Academy status, sponsored by the Oasis Community Learning Trust, possibly in time for the 2009/2010 academic year. However, these plans were thrown into doubt five months later due to doubts over the availability of adequate funding. In March 2009, it was confirmed the academy plans would not go ahead.
28% of the pupils leaving Castle High School in summer 2009 gained 5 or more GCSEs at grade C or above, making it the second lowest ranking secondary school in the borough, despite high pass rates (A-C GCSE) in previous years.
The school is set for a new board of governors and a new head teacher with effect from September 2010, along with a £650,000 refurbishment of the older school buildings.
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