Dormston School - Timeline

Timeline

1935 - Dormston Secondary School opened, consisting of one building containing 19 classrooms, an administration area, library, two playgrounds, a playing field, gynmasium and dining hall.
c. 1970 - 'B' and 'C' Blocks (Science, Technology and Art) are opened.
September 1972 - The school's entry age is increased from 11 to 12 as part of a reorganisation of schools in Dudley, Sedgley, Coseley and Brierley Hill, which is sparked by the Raising of school leaving age in England and Wales.
September 1975 - The school's status changes from secondary modern to comprehensive.
September 1983 - Mrs Barbara O'Connor is appointed head teacher.
September 1986 - computing becomes part of the school's curriculum. A computing department is established, and the first head of computing is Mr Alan Bradford.
September 1990 - Dormston re-opens to 11-year-olds after 18 years as a 12-16 school, coinciding with the introduction of "continuous" year group numbers. A fourth classroom block, D Block, is completed during the 1990/91 academic year and includes a new administration area, new music studio, the school's first drama and dance studios, as well as seven new classrooms.
July 1993 - Mr Alan Bradford and his wife celebrate the birth of their third daughter.
December 1994 - Pupil Neil Skidmore (aged 15) collapses and dies from a blood clot while playing in a football match for Brierley Hill Bullets.
July 1996 - the National Lottery awards a £4 million grant to Dormston School, and contributes towards the cost of a £5.5 million sports/arts centre which is anticipated to be open by the end of the decade.
September 1996 - Dudley College opens a new sixth-form centre at Dormston, in a new temporary building on the school's playing fields.
January 1998 - construction of the Dormston Centre begins, with a targeted completion date of September 1999.
March 1999 - The school excludes or removes 41 girls from lessons for wearing short skirts which were more than 2 inches (51 mm) above the knee. This action was taken after several complaints from various sources, including members of the local community, who had expressed their concern about the way some of the girls were dressing.
September 1999 - A substantial refurbishment programme is completed which sees the conversion of the boys' changing rooms and an adjoining office into an ICT suite, while the girls' changing rooms and former careers office are converted into offices for the Year Heads.
March 2000 - the Dormston Centre opens six months behind schedule. The complex includes a theatre, sports hall, art gallery, gymnasium and bar.
December 2000 - the Dormston Centre is officially opened and Mrs Barbara O'Connor retires after 17 years as head teacher.
January 2001 - Miss Stephanie Sherwood is appointed head teacher.
September 2001 - the Dormston Youth Club closes following a string of attacks by vandals, which had left the buildings unusable.
December 2001 - The school raises more than £1,000 for Birmingham Children's Hospital's cancer unit, where 14-year-old pupil Luke Edwards is receiving treatment.
July 2002 - Founder of ICT at Dormston School, Mr Alan Bradford, leaves the school to begin training as a minister at St.John's College Nottingham.
September 2002 - the Dormston sixth-form is expanded by Dudley College to include a site at nearby High Arcal, in a bid to gain more popularity among post-GCSE students who up till now were choosing other establishments including Halesowen College as their post-GCSE destination. The school suffers a tragedy with the death of Luke Edwards, who loses his year-long fight against cancer at the age of 15.
September 2003 - 'E' Block is opened, housing a Science laboratory and an Art room.
January 2005 - Pupil Thomas Walker (aged 14) dies in tragic and sudden circumstances at home.
April 2004 - The Dormston Youth Club is re-opened following a major refurbishment project which saw one building totally rebuilt.
July 2005 - Mr John Hope, deputy head, retires after 24 years teaching at the school.
September 2005 - Mr John Hopson, the long-serving school caretaker, dies aged 63 after collapsing in school grounds from a brain tumour.
December 2005 - Mr John Turner retires after 21 years as deputy head.
July 2006 - The school is awarded specialist mathematics and computing college status.
September 2006 - Mrs Pat Turton, former Head of R.E (who taught at the school for nearly 30 years until her retirement in July 2005), dies of heart failure aged 52. The school is closed as a mark of respect on the day of her funeral.
October 2006 - Miss Sherwood bans the school's pupils from lunching out at local food outlets including Subway - a decision which proves largely unpopular with pupils, parents and the local community; including one local person who criticised the policy as a "dictatorship" in a letter to the Express and Star.
November 2006 - Mr Laurence Tozeland, Technology technician, dies of cancer aged 60.
January 2007 - Mr Andrew Turner, who was Head of Foreign Languages at the school for 21 years until his retirement in July 2002, dies of cancer aged 58.
August 2007 - Mr Peter Hughes, former Science teacher, dies aged 43 in a Cornwall hotel fire which claims the life of two other people including his elderly mother.
September 2007 - A new blue and purple school uniform is launched, signalling the end for the red, white and black uniform which had been in place for more than 20 years.
October 2008 - The Personal Learning Centre (which incorporates the new library) is opened, the new building incorporating the E Block classrooms as part of its ground floor.
August 2012 - The school saw a significant fall in the percentage of pupils to achieve A* - C at GCSE including Englsh and Maths.