Leasowes Community College
Encyclopedia
Leasowes Community College (previously Leasowes High School) is a secondary school in Halesowen
Halesowen
Halesowen is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands, England.The population, as measured by the United Kingdom Census 2001, was 55,273...

, West Midlands
West Midlands (county)
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It was opened in 1972 to replace the nearby Hill & Cakemore Secondary School, and during the 1990s awarded Community College status.

It regularly performs well in the Dudley Borough's GCSE league tables; and there is a high application rate amongst primary school leavers, meaning that some local children have to attend schools further afield, such as Earls High School
Earls High School
The Earls High School is a secondary school on near the A458 in Halesowen, West Midlands.-Information:The School's history dates back to 1652 when a Free Grammar School was founded. There is, however, evidence that a school existed in 1632 as local men are recorded as being benefactors of a Free...

 and Windsor High School (Halesowen)
Windsor High School (Halesowen)
Windsor High School is a Secondary School located on Richmond Street, Halesowen, in England.- The School :Windsor High School is a comprehensive school in Halesowen, West Midlands. It is a large school, catering for 1,369 pupils aged 11 to 16 and is heavily over-subscribed...

.

Awards

In 2008 Leasowes Community College was awarded "Outstanding Winner 2008" at the 21st Century Learning Alliance Awards.

Specialist School status

In September 2004 Leasowes Community College was awarded Specialist school status, giving them the title of Business and Enterprise College. This has allowed the college to expanded by the addition of a new 2.5 million pound building to provide modern and well equipped ICT leaning and teaching equipment to accommodate its Status.

Halesowen Education Trust

The Halesowen Education Trust is the first of its kind in the UK.

Launched in late 2007, the area’s secondary schools, The Earls High School
Earls High School
The Earls High School is a secondary school on near the A458 in Halesowen, West Midlands.-Information:The School's history dates back to 1652 when a Free Grammar School was founded. There is, however, evidence that a school existed in 1632 as local men are recorded as being benefactors of a Free...

, Windsor High School
Windsor High School (Halesowen)
Windsor High School is a Secondary School located on Richmond Street, Halesowen, in England.- The School :Windsor High School is a comprehensive school in Halesowen, West Midlands. It is a large school, catering for 1,369 pupils aged 11 to 16 and is heavily over-subscribed...

 and Leasowes Community College, have formed a Trust federation with Halesowen College, with the support of the Wolverhampton University, Dudley Local Authority and business partners.

Its role is to provide opportunities for progression for students from the three schools and the college, with the University encouraging them to aspire to higher education.

The Trust was launched at The Earls High School on December 10, 2007 with a telephone conference with Schools Minister Jim Knight
Jim Knight
James Philip Knight, Baron Knight of Weymouth is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for South Dorset from 2001 until 2010, when he lost his seat. Knight held several ministerial posts during his time as an MP including Minister for the South West and Minister for...

. He talked about the opportunities the Trust would create and also spoke to students.

Officials from the Department for Children, Schools and Families’ City Challenges – a £160 million scheme to boost schools in the Black Country, London and Greater Manchester - met the heads of the schools and members of the Trust board, along with local MP Sylvia Heal.

Trilby Multimedia

Leasowes has a close working relationship with Trilby Multimedia
Trilby Multimedia
Trilby Multimedia is an established multimedia and Internet publishing company based in Birmingham, UK.Set up in 1993 by Tony Stanley the company has a mission to use technology to improve social and community development...

. In October 2004 Leasowes worked closely with Trilby to create the Mediaonics Fantasia. For two weeks The Ruskin Centre, Stourbridge
Stourbridge
Stourbridge is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands of England. Historically part of Worcestershire, Stourbridge was a centre of glass making, and today includes the suburbs of Amblecote, Lye, Norton, Oldswinford, Pedmore, Wollaston, Wollescote and Wordsley The...

, hosted Staff and Students from The Halesowen Education Trust and Industry Partners to create The Garden Of Imaginary Delights, a Mediaonics Fantasia installation on a large scale with influences from Hawkstone Park and Follies.

As of September 2008 Trilby Multimedia
Trilby Multimedia
Trilby Multimedia is an established multimedia and Internet publishing company based in Birmingham, UK.Set up in 1993 by Tony Stanley the company has a mission to use technology to improve social and community development...

 have a base 'in house' at Leasowes Community College in a newly fitted Apple Mac Suite.

As of September 2010 Trilby no longer works with the school.

History

The school was opened in September 1972 as a 13-16 mixed secondary school, as Halesowen borough council had abandoned the traditional 5-7 infant, 7-11 junior and 11-16/18 secondary schools in favour of a three-tier system of 5-9 first, 9-13 middle and 13-16/18 secondary schools. Leasowes High School effectively replaced Hill & Cakemore Secondary Modern Schools on Long Lane, with the old school becoming Greenhill Middle School.

Halesowen was absorbed by Dudley
Metropolitan Borough of Dudley
The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley is a metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It was created in 1974, and is made up of the towns of Dudley , Stourbridge , Halesowen, Brierley Hill, Amblecote, Sedgley and Coseley...

 (which had adopted 5-8 first and 8-12 middle schools in 1972) in April 1974, but as of September 1982 the first and middle school system in Halesowen was abolished in favour of the traditional infant and junior school system, although the remaining parts of Dudley did not revert to this system for another eight years. Leasowes became an 11-16 comprehensive as a result of this reorganisation, resulting in the closure of Greenhill Middle School. The three oldest year groups at Greenhill moved up to Leasowes, while the youngest year group were transferred to Olive Hill Primary School.

The Greenhill Middle School site remained in use until 1987, as an annexe to Leasowes until new buildings on the Kent Road site were opened to accommodate the sufficient pupil numbers. It was demolished soon after.
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