Wheatley Park School
Encyclopedia
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
of around 1150 pupils situated in Holton
Holton, Oxfordshire
Holton is a village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire about east of Oxford. The parish is bounded to the southeast by the River Thame, to the east and north by the Thame's tributary Holton Brook, to the south by London Road and to the west by field boundaries with the parishes of Forest Hill...
, about 8 miles (12.9 km) southeast of Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
. Its current headteacher is Kate Curtis who was promoted to the position in 2005 to replace Nicholas Young.
History
The school site is steeped in history including a GeorgianGeorgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
Manor House
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
, a natural spring supplying a moat and island, and a venison house. The site was used as a US hospital (specialising in brain damage related injuries) during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
but the huts housing the hospital were removed from the site in 2006.
There is also a tree behind the building that was recorded in the Domesday book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
.
Used as a base during the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
of the 1640s, it is believed that one of Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
's daughters was married on the moat, and is rumoured that a passageway links this site with the nearby village of Wheatley
Wheatley, Oxfordshire
Wheatley is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about east of Oxford.-Archaeology:There was a Roman villa on Castle Hill, about southeast of the parish church. It was excavated in 1845, when Roman coins dating from AD 260 to 378 and fragments of Roman pottery and Roman tiles were...
. The history at Wheatley Park is argued to be the most extensive for any state school. Recently historians have been exploring the history of the manor house and its inhabitants, and the wine cellar beneath the island.
Grounds
Wheatley Park, when described, often is assumed to be a private school with its extensive grounds, superb history and subjects on offer including Latin, philosophy and politics. The school is currently improving facilities on its site. A new mathematics block was opened in 2004, and a building for the John WatsonJohn Watson
John Watson may refer to:In politics:* John Christian Watson , known as Chris Watson, Australia's third Prime Minister* John Bertrand Watson , British Member of Parliament for Stockton-on-Tees, 1917–1923* John S...
school, with which Wheatley Park School is affiliated, was opened in September 2006. The school has recently opened its technological and eco-friendly John Milton English and Media Centre, and the English classrooms left vacant by it are being redecorated and will be reopened after Easter for the Languages department to use. This, it is hoped, will remove all need for temporary buildings within the school.
Special measures
In September 2009 an OfstedOfsted
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England ....
inspection placed the school in special measures. The school was taken out of special measures after a 'very successful' OFSTED inspection in January 2011. Headteacher Kate Curtis said: "Particular strengths were noted in Safeguarding procedures and in helping students to feel safe at school. Behaviour was judged to be good overall and the inspectors praised our work on Care, Guidance and Support. The large majority of lessons seen were graded good or outstanding. There was praise for the Leadership and management of the Sixth Form and for leadership across the school."
Academics
WPS provides after-school and extracurricular activities, including rock climbingRock climbing
Rock climbing also lightly called 'The Gravity Game', is a sport in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling...
and sailing
Sailing
Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
. Sixth form student Justin Visser recently won the 2005 29er Youth World Championship for sailing in San Francisco. The school produces a musical every year: recent shows include Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast (musical)
Beauty and the Beast is a musical with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice and a book by Linda Woolverton, based on the 1991 Disney film of the same name. Seven new songs were written for the stage musical...
(2010), Guys and Dolls
Guys and Dolls
Guys and Dolls is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood Pressure", two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon stories, most notably...
(2009), South Pacific
South Pacific (musical)
South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its...
(2008) Bugsy Malone
Bugsy Malone
Bugsy Malone is a 1976 musical film, very loosely based on events in New York City in the Prohibition era, specifically the exploits of gangsters like Al Capone and Bugs Moran, as dramatized in cinema...
(2007),Grease
Grease (musical)
Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...
(2006), Sweeney Todd (2005), Little Shop of Horrors
Little Shop of Horrors (musical)
Little Shop of Horrors is a rock musical, by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood. The musical is based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman...
(2004) and West Side Story
West Side Story
West Side Story is an American musical with a script by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreographed by Jerome Robbins...
(2003). Other arts connections include holding an annual Sixth Form fashion show in aid of charity, hosting the Oxford branch of Sands Theatre Arts School and hosting an annual film festival. The school consistently achieves art A-level results within the top 5 in the country. In 2010 GCSE results were their highest ever with 59% receiving at least 5 A*-Cs.
The school prides itself on the number of foreign trips it offers including annual excursions to Italy, Spain, France and Germany. Popular trips also include those to Russia, China, Iceland and the US. Wheatley Park also participates in the World Challenge
World Challenge
World Challenge is British worldwide expeditionary branch of Thomson Holidays with businesses in the UK, Asia Pacific, The United States and the Middle East, founded in 1987...
programme - in July 2010, a team went to Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Previous destinations include Vietnam, Morocco, Brazil, Tanzania and Peru.
Notable alumni
Notable alumni include SupergrassSupergrass
Supergrass was an English alternative rock band from Oxford. The band consisted of brothers Gaz and Rob Coombes , Mick Quinn and Danny Goffey ....
. It welcomes a number of notable visitors, recently including Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British journalist and Conservative Party politician, who has been the elected Mayor of London since 2008...
and Vice Admiral
Vice Admiral
Vice admiral is a senior naval rank of a three-star flag officer, which is equivalent to lieutenant general in the other uniformed services. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral...
Gretton. Motorcycle racer Bradley Smith
Bradley Smith (motorcyclist)
Bradley Smith is an English motorcycle racer, currently competing in the Moto2 Grand Prix World Championship. He was a regular frontrunner in the 125cc class, recording three wins, twenty podium finishes as well as nine pole positions in his five seasons in the class...
attended Wheatley Park School. Local television presenter Wesley Smith, formerly of ITV News
ITV News
ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British television network ITV. Since 1955, ITV's news bulletins have been produced by Independent Television News . The channel's news coverage has won awards from the Royal Television Society, Emmy Awards and BAFTAs. Between 2004 and 2008, the...
, recently visited Wheatley Park.
Theresa May
Theresa May
Theresa Mary May is a British Conservative politician who is Home Secretary in the Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition government. She was elected to Parliament in 1997 as the Member of Parliament for Maidenhead, and served as the Chairman of the Conservative Party, 2003–04...
(appointed Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equality on 12 May 2010 in David Cameron's cabinet) attended Holton Park Girls' Grammar School which became Wheatley Park Comprehensive School.