Whitley Bay High School

Whitley Bay High School is a mixed upper school and sixth form located in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, England.

Admissions

It is a school with around 1600 pupils, 500 of these being in the school's sixth form. In 2006, the school was awarded Specialist College Status in Science & Humanities. The school has successful sports teams and extensive sporting facilities. They have also been successful in the Bar Mock Trial competitions with the sixth form team winning the national bar finals and the year nine team reaching the national finals.

It is situated next to Monkseaton Drive (A1148), towards the north of Monkseaton. There is a subway for access under the main road. It is in the parish of St Peter, Monkseaton.

In 2010 the school was branded 'Outstanding' by Ofsted, achieving a clean sweep of 'outstanding' grades in each and every one of the assessment areas. This makes it the first secondary school in England to do so since the launch of Ofsted's new and rigorous inspection framework in 2009. According to the school website this affirms Whitley Bay High School in the 'top flight of high performing schools nationally.'

Intake

The majority of students live in the surrounding area of Whitley Bay, Tynemouth and Monkseaton. However significant numbers of students travel via Metro from various other parts of Tyne and Wear. The majority of students join the school from one of four middle schools: Valley Gardens Middle School, Wellfield Middle School Monkseaton Middle School and Marden Bridge Middle School. Many students remain at the school, from year 9 to year 13, taking A levels in the sixth-form (year 12-13).

Exams

The school has consistently performed above average during exam season. The exams that Whitley Bay High School currently cover are GCSEs and A/AS levels. The school consistently secures one of the top two places in the North Tyneside school league tables, however, this is partially due to the fact that the other schools within the local area typically perform substantially below average. In addition it regularly features as one of the top performing state schools in the country, appearing in national newspapers: The Times and The Daily Telegraph. Whitley Bay High School regularly sends significant numbers of its more academically able students to Oxbridge, Durham University and other Russell Group universities. For example, out of the 300 overpopulated year 13 students in 2012, 2 people gained a place at Oxford respectively.

History

Grammar school

The school was originally built as a grammar school in 1963, and was originally known as Whitley Bay and Monkseaton Grammar School. The buildings were officially opened on 7 December 1963, by Edward Boyle, Baron Boyle of Handsworth. It was formerly housed in what is now the Marden Bridge Middle School. The original buildings on site were A Block, B Block and C Block.

Comprehensive

In 1973, it became a high school. In 1995, the biology class of Elizabeth Pollock featured in the Radio 4 programme Six of the Best, looking at how the human eye worked.

Buildings

It has four main buildings, with several other outlying blocks around them. They are:

• A-Block: English, Modern Foreign Languages (French and German), Science (predominately Chemistry), the school gym, canteen, main hall and various offices.
• B-Block: Mathematics, Geography, Philosophy and Ethics, ICT and an additional sports hall (known as B-Block Hall).
• C-Block: Childcare, Design and Technology, Media Studies, Food Technology, Healthcare, Science (predominately Biology) and Textiles.
• D-Block (built 2003): Art, Drama, Music, Science (predominately Physics), the School Library, a music recording studio and a drama studio.
• E-Block (built 2008): Art and Textiles.
• H-Block: History and a Reprographics office.
• L-Block: Business Studies and Economics.
• P-Block: Psychology.

Renovation

As well as this there is a block which contains the Physical Education offices, changing rooms, and main sports hall — it was refurbished in 2003. In 2006, major renovation took place for the 6th form facilities. The very small common room was emptied out, and extended into a new 2-storey block in between blocks A and B. This new block provides 6th form students with a 24 unit ICT facility, predominantly for their use, as well as a new 6th form canteen. The ground floor of this block consists of specialised IT rooms built. These rooms feature computers, projectors, interactive white boards and comfortable chairs. This is referred to as the ACL Block and features classrooms "SX1" and "SX2".

Also in mid-2006 a major renovation of C-Block and the science laboratories on its first floor was completed. The new building work included two observation classrooms (one a laboratory and the other a normal classroom), with one way mirrors allowing people in a small room in between the two observation classrooms to sit and observe lessons without being seen.

The school also offers use of their facilities and are available to rent. Facilities to rent include their 3 multi-purpose outdoor courts, their school Gym, their IT rooms and general classrooms.

Student TV Station

Whitley Bay High School also offers students the opportunity to become involved in its student television station, Bay TV, conceived in 2006, through a student-teacher partnership. All programmes are broadcast through its own website. The mainstay of the station's broadcasts are 'Jam Today,' a popular music show, and 'It's Baytime!' a news & current affairs programme. The station recently received favorable critical appreciation from the likes of BBC News readers Huw Edwards and Sophie Raworth, and Channel 4's Alex Thomson. In addition, an article about Bay TV appeared in the north-east's Evening Chronicle.

The student TV station is helping to promote special needs awareness, and will base future issues around this theme.

Uniform

• White school polo shirt
• Navy school sweatshirt and/or
• Navy school hoodie
• Black school trousers or skirt
• Black trainers or shoes

Notable former pupils

• Rudolf Abel, aka Vilyam Genrikhovich Fisher - KGB spy, born in Benwell.
• Alan Campbell - MP for Tynemouth, taught History at the school from 1980-9, and married a former pupil.
• Frank Collins - SAS Soldier, first to enter the building in the Iranian Embassy Siege. Later ordained as a Church of England minister. Committed suicide in 1998 a year after the publication of his book 'Baptism of Fire'.
• Dan Ellis - Prime Ministers Points Of Light Awardee, youngest cinema founder in Europe
• Graham Fenton - footballer who formerly played for Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers and Leicester City.
• Prof Sir Lawrence Freedman CBE, Professor of War Studies since 1982 at King's College London, and one of the inquirers of The Iraq Inquiry
• John Thomas Young Gilroy - English artist and illustrator, best known for his advertising posters for Guinness, the Irish stout.
• Paul Noble - artist, creator of Nobson Newtown, an ongoing series of drawings of an imaginary surrealist city.
• Edward Olive - photographer & screen actor (based in Madrid).
• Joyce Quin - Baroness Quin of Gateshead, former MP for Gateshead East, also former prisons minister and deputy agriculture minister.
• Peter Ramage - professional footballer
• Lucy Ratcliffe - model and Britain's Next Top Model, Cycle 1 winner.
• Andrea Rea, aka Huffty - presenter of The Word (TV series).
• Greg Rutherford, professional footballer
• Michael Shanks - British archaeologist who taught Latin, Greek and Ancient History 1983-1988.
• Ben Smith - current Rochdale goalkeeper.
• Steven Tupling - former Middlesbrough, Hartlepool United and Cardiff City player, currently teaches PE at the school.
• Roger Uttley - former English rugby union player. Taught PE in the 1970s.
• Dame Ethel Wormald, Labour councillor and Lord Mayor of Liverpool