Oxford Spires Academy

Oxford Spires Academy

Motto	To Be the Best You Can Be
Established	January 2011
Type	Secondary Academy
Principal	Sue Croft
Specialism	English language, Business and Enterprise College
Location	Glanville Road Oxford Oxfordshire OX4 2AU England
Local authority	Oxfordshire
DfE URN	123252
Ofsted	Reports
Students	1243
Gender	Coeducational
Ages	11–18
Website	Home page

Coordinates: 51°44′36″N 1°13′16″W / 51.74327°N 1.22119°W / 51.74327; -1.22119

Oxford Spires Academy is a state funded secondary school for children aged 11–18 in Glanville Road, East Oxford, England formerly known as Oxford Community School and The Oxford School. It is sponsored by the CfBT Education Trust.^[1]

The school has a co-educational student body of 1,110, and has specialist Business and Enterprise College status. The student body is drawn from across the city, though the majority of pupils are from the Cowley, Rose Hill, East Oxford, Donnington, and Blackbird Leys areas of the city.

The school has long had a very varied and multicultural student body, reflecting the community in which it is based, and can claim to be the city's most "international" school. The school's work with refugee children and those for whom English is not their first language has been notable.

History

The school was originally established in 1966, following a merger between Southfield Grammar School and the City of Oxford High School for Boys, taking over Southfield Grammar School's Glanville Road site. The school was a single-sex grammar school for boys until around 1976, when it became fully comprehensive. A reform of the educational system in the City of Oxford in the 1990s saw the school become coeducational. In 2003 the school changed from a 14-19 Upper School to an 11-19 Secondary School due to the City of Oxford Reorganisation. In 2005 the school gained Business and Enterprise status, providing extra funding for a state of the art conference centre. In 2006, the school recorded its best ever GCSE results. At the beginning of 2008 Oxford Community School became a Foundation School. The school has achieved Green Flag Eco-School Status. In 2011 the school reopened as Oxford Spires Academy.

Notable alumni

Notable former pupils include Gary Parker (professional footballer with Nottingham Forest and Leicester City), and Jermaine McSporran (professional footballer with Wycombe Wanderers, Doncaster Rovers, and Chester City).

Notable alumni of the former City of Oxford High School for Boys include Lawrence of Arabia^[2] and Ronnie Barker.

Notable alumni of the former Southfield Grammar School include actor Patrick Mower.^[3]

References

1. ^ Liam Sloan, New academy pledges to be best school in the city, Oxford Mail, 7th January 2011.
2. ^ BBC - T.E. Lawrence, To Arabia and back
3. ^ Daily Mail: "I don’t need to act in Emmerdale - I’m just reliving my own past, says Patrick Mower"

External links

• School website
• OCS Student Forum