Oasis Academy, Wintringham

Oasis Academy Wintringham

Established	2007 (formerly 1933)
Principal	Miss Jane Bowman
Founder	Oasis Trust
Location	Weelsby Avenue Grimsby North East Lincolnshire DN32 0AZ England
Local authority	North East Lincolnshire
DfE URN	135209
Ofsted	Reports
Students	683
Gender	Coeducational
Ages	11–18
Former name	Wintringham Grammar School
Website	Oasis Academy Wintringham

Coordinates: 53°32′58″N 0°04′43″W / 53.54934°N 0.07873°W / 53.54934; -0.07873

Oasis Academy Wintringham is a secondary school (academy) on Weelsby Avenue in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, England. It is just off the A16 Peaks Parkway just south-west of the A46 crossroads next to the Lisle Marsden CE primary school in Wellow and on the Grimsby/Cleethorpes boundary (the A16). The school is of a religious foundation, and lies in the ecclesiastical parish of St Augustine of Hippo.

History

It began in 1933 as Wintringham Secondary School on Eleanor Street.

Grammar school

The current school buildings in Weelsby Avenue, Grimsby, were opened in 1953^{[citation needed]} as Wintringham Grammar School to replace the former school on Eleanor Street, Grimsby. The school was first divided into a boys' and girls' grammar school on a combined site, with around 750 boys and girls. The boys' school was only the Weelsby Avenue side of the site, and the girls' school was on the west side of the site, next to the tennis courts. The Highfields School was next door, to the north, which is now the Lisle Marsden CE primary school. The school was administered by the County Borough of Grimsby Education Committee, which had its offices on Eleanor Street. The headmaster of the boys' school in the 1950s was Ronald Gill. The schools were separate up to 16 but there were some mixed classes in the sixth form. It shared the playing field, as were out-of-school activities. From September 1969 a sixth form block was built between the two sites, which was then co-educational with a size of 200. From the late 1960s until 1974 it was administered (but not taught) as the single-entity Grimsby Wintringham Grammar School for ages 11 to 18.

Comprehensive

It became the comprehensive Wintringham School in September 1974. The school name comes from the Wintringham family, specifically John Wintringham. Also in 1974 administration was transferred over the Humber to Beverley, and Humberside County Council, in the Grimsby Division. The school became a comprehensive (incrementally) year by year, with the first all-ability year composed of ten forms. It also became an upper school with ages 12-18, as Grimsby became part of the three tier system. In 1996 administration passed back to Grimsby under North East Lincolnshire.

Oasis Academy Wintringham

Since September 2007, the School has been transformed into an Academy run by the Oasis Trust, and the new state-of-the-art buildings has replaced the current ones with a cost of £25 million. Construction started on 30 August 2007, being undertaken by Clugston Construction of Scunthorpe who finished in January 2009. The start of construction work was marked by a groundbreaking ceremony on 30 August 2007, where Steve Chalke MBE and students from the new Academy drove the first spades into the ground where the Academy and community facilities would be built.

This is one of the 200 schools in England to be transformed into a 'Super School' by private funding and central government^{[citation needed]}.

The old school (Wintringham School) closed in August 2007 and opened as Oasis Academy Wintringham in the existing buildings in Sept 2007. The Academy transferred across to the brand new buildings during the academic year 2008-09 in February 2009. The sports hall is sponsored by Stagecoach. The Dean Suite is named after Dorothy Dean, the headteacher of the school from 1953-75, who died on 23rd October, 2011 aged 96.

Admissions

It used to serve secondary school students aged between 11 and 16, until a new sixth form college for 16-18 year olds opened in September 2009. The old building is currently being demolished. Today, Franklin College is the local preferred option for a strong education after 16.

Academic performance

Before becoming an academy, it was slightly one of the better schools in Grimsby^{[citation needed]}, but nonetheless had low results. In 2008, the GCSE results were the third lowest in North East Lincolnshire, and well under the minimum for comprehensive schools with similar results to Nunsthorpe's St Mary's Catholic High School. The Oasis Academy Immingham came the lowest in the LEA. In 2010 results were still low. At GCSE only schools on the outskirts of Grimsby gain results above average, with markedly better results.

Alumni

Wintringham School

• Philip Gladwin, TV screen writer
• Julie Peasgood, actress, TV presenter, author
• Thomas Turgoose, actor

Grimsby Wintringham Boys' Grammar School

• Sir Arthur Binns CBE MC, Chief Education Officer of the West Riding of Yorkshire from 1936-45
• Prof George Edward Briggs, Professor of Botany at the University of Cambridge from 1948-60
• John Edward Brown, Bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf 1987-96
• Ian Cawsey, Labour MP for Brigg and Goole
• The Grimsby Chums
• Quentin Cooper, Radio 4 science presenter
• Prof Brian Cox CBE, John Edward Taylor Professor of English Literature from 1976-93 at the University of Manchester
• John Dale, Editor of Take A Break since 1991
• Derek Gladwin (later Lord Gladwin of Clee)
• Ian Halliday, Chief Executive in 1980 of the National Enterprise Board (privatised in 1981 to become BTG)
• Sir William Harpham OBE CMG, UK Ambassador to Bulgaria from 1964-6
• Duncan McKenzie, footballer
• Tony Millson, UK Ambassador to Macedonia from 1993-7 and High Commissioner to The Gambia from 1998-2000
• Allan Percival LVO, press secretary from 1993-6 to the Prince of Wales
• Adrian Royle, runner
• John Sellars CBE, Chief Executive from 1983-94 of the Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC)
• Roger Sykes OBE, High Commissioner to Fiji from 2006-9
• David Tarttelin, artist
• Prof Michael Tilmouth, Tovey Professor of Music at the University of Edinburgh from 1971-87, and Director of Scottish Opera from 1975-87
• Patrick Wymark (born Patrick Carl Cheeseman), Shakespearian and film actor (portrayed AVM Trafford Leigh-Mallory in the 1969 film Battle of Britain)

Grimsby Wintringham Girls' Grammar School

• Dame Janet Baker CH, mezzo-soprano opera singer.
• Patricia Hodge, actress (took her A levels elsewhere)
• Julie Peasgood, actress, mother of actress Kate McEnery
• Norma Procter, contralto opera singer
• Prof Jill Rubery, Professor of Contemporary Politics at the University of Manchester

See also

• Oasis Academy Immingham (formerly The Immingham School)

External links

• Oasis Academy Wintringham
• Grammar school alumni website
• EduBase

News items

• Memories in October 2009
• Academy building opens in February 2009
• Installing CCTV in 2005
• Academy plan in 2005
• Death of schoolgirl in 1999