Oakwood Technology College - History

History

Oakwood began life as two separate single-sex 11–18 secondary technical schools. Oakwood Technical High School for Boys, occupying what is now the Oaklands end of the school building, opened on 8 September 1952 with 192 first year students. In 1953, it was joined by Oakwood Technical High School for Girls in what is now the Woodlands area of the building. The schools shared catering facilities, making the dining room the divide between the boys' and girls' schools.

The two technical schools were part of central Rotherham's tripartite system of secondary education. Students leaving primary school would take the Eleven plus exam. Those who showed strong academic ability would go to either Rotherham Grammar School if they were male or Rotherham Girls' High School if they were female. Those showing an aptitude for technology would attend one of the Oakwood Technical High Schools. The remainder would attend South Grove Secondary Modern School or Spurley Hey Secondary Modern School. Rotherham was unusual in that it fully implemented the tripartite system; many areas did not build technical schools, making grammar schools or secondary modern schools the only options available.

In 1960, Rotherham scrapped technical schools. Therefore, the Oakwood schools dropped their 'Technical High' tags and became known as Oakwood School for Boys and Oakwood School for Girls. The schools were now semi-comprehensive and took students from the immediate area, rather than those with an aptitude for technology from the whole of Rotherham. The top 12% of students, however, still went to the grammar schools.

In the mid-1960s, Rotherham moved to a fully comprehensive system, with everyone attending their local school, which was now fully mixed in terms of both ability and gender. As a result of this, the Oakwood boys' and girls' schools amalgamated and became simply Oakwood School on 1 February 1967. As part of the reforms, the school lost its sixth form to the new Thomas Rotherham College, which occupies the former Rotherham Grammar School's buildings. There was much controversy about the loss of the sixth form and some staff resigned from the school as a result. Rotherham Girls' High School also lost its sixth form and became Clifton Comprehensive School. South Grove and Spurley Hey secondary moderns, which were already 11–16 schools, also became comprehensives, though both have since closed.

The school was renamed Oakwood Comprehensive School in 1975. For many years, it had separate uniforms for boys and girls, though a single uniform was introduced in the 1970s.

In 1987, the neighbouring South Grove Comprehensive School closed, which extended Oakwood's catchment area further towards the town centre.

In 1991, the school shortened its name to become simply Oakwood School again (though the word 'Comprehensive' remained in its official title) and introduced a more modern uniform consisting of shirts based on the new school colours of red and blue. A separate long-sleeved black shirt for Year 11s was introduced much later.

The school was awarded Technology College status in 2001 and changed its name to Oakwood Technology College on 1 September of that year.

The new Science Department, which looks out onto the main road, was completed in 2002. The rest of the school was set to be re-built and for construction to begin in the summer of 2011 but this was abandoned after government spending cuts. However, the school was also confirmed as one of the first schools in the country and one of only two in Rotherham to be included in the government's new Priority Schools Building Programme in 2012. This should see the school either re-built or substantially refurbished.

At the beginning of the school's 2012–2013 academic year on 25 June 2012, Oakwood Technology College rebranded itself Oakwood High School. The school's colours were changed from red and blue to blue and grey. In addition, a new school logo was introduced, dropping the oak tree that had been used for 21 years. A new uniform, consisting of grey (black for Year 11) jumpers/cardigans, white shirts and house ties, was also phased in. The name officially changed on 1 September 2012.