Oldbury Grammar School
Oldbury Grammar School originally opened as Oldbury County High School in 1926, situated next to Barnford Hill Park in Langley Green following the transfer of Oldbury Secondary School, founded in 1904, from Flash Road, Oldbury. In 1944, following the new Education Act, the County High, originally co-opting its location within Worcestershire, became Oldbury Grammar School.
In 1929, local glass artists Tom Stokes and Bill Pardoe created a window for Oldbury Grammar's main school hall as a memorial to the Old Boys of the school who died in the 1914 war. It consists of eight lights with the allegorical figures of Justice, Courage and Fortitude and with extracts from the story of the Peloponnesian War, specially selected by Mr Willis Bond, that great figure in Worcestershire education of those days. Around the same time, money was raised for a multi-pipe church-style organ. "I Vow To Thee My Country" became a regular fixture of morning assembly.
The school motto was Cresco (I Grow) and former Grammar school pupils are known as "Old Cresconians".
Serving a mainly working class area, the school acted as a bridge to University education and a career in the professions. A thriving Sixth Form, lost when the school changed to a comprehensive in 1974, saw many pupils attain sufficient quality A levels to attend Russell Group universities and gain social mobility.
A history of Oldbury Grammar School 1904-1974 was written by former history teacher at the school Mr A.A.L Pearce and published in 1979.
As a selective Grammar with open entry dictated only by academic ability at 11+ rather than the ability to afford school fees, the school not only promoted similar levels of academic excellence to that of private schools but adopted many of their trappings including a House system, winter and summer school uniform (which included distinctive striped blazers and straw boater hats for girls) and a school song which drew on the working class roots of the area.
Read more about this topic: Langley High School (Oldbury), History
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—John Simon (b. 1925)
“There is nothing intrinsically better about a child who happily bounces off to school the first day and a child who is wary, watchful, and takes a longer time to separate from his parents and join the group. Neither one nor the other is smarter, better adjusted, or destined for a better life.”
—Ellen Galinsky (20th century)