Oasis Academy Wintringham

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

The school began in 1933 as Wintringham Secondary School on Eleanor Street.

Grammar school

The current school buildings in Weelsby Avenue, Grimsby, were opened in 1953 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 a similar number of girls. The boys' school was only the Weelsby Avenue side of the site, and the girls' school (now demolished) was on the west side of the site, accessed via Park Avenue 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 headmistress of the girls' school until the late 1960s was Dorothy Dean. The schools were separate up to 1969 when a mixed 6th form was the start of a gradual merger. 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 and pupils from the new Academy drove the first spades into the ground where the Academy and community facilities would be built.

The old school (Wintringham School) closed in August 2007 and opened as Oasis Academy Wintringham in the existing buildings in September 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 23 October 2011 aged 96.

Alumni

Wintringham School

• 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
• Dennis Brown (academic), Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA
• Ian Cawsey, former Labour MP for Brigg and Goole
• The Grimsby Chums
• Quentin Cooper, Radio 4 science presenter
• John Edward Taylor Professor of English Literature from 1976-93 at the University of Manchester
• Professor Leslie Bell, Emeritus Professor of Educational Leadership, University of Leicester, Professor of Educational Leadership, University of Lincoln.
• 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
• Professor Peter F Rawson PhD, Department of Geological Sciences, University College, London.
• 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
• Professor C Rowel Twidale PhD, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Geology and Geophysics, University of Adelaide, South Australia.
• Professor Peter Worsley DSc, Postgraduate Research Institute for Sedimentology, University of Reading.
• 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.
• Pamela Reed, American actress, spent 3 years at the School (1962-1965)
• 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
• Sheila Foulkes, Member of the Legislative Council, Parliament of Western Australia 2005-2009

See also

• Oasis Academy Immingham (formerly The Immingham School)

References

External links

• Oasis Academy Wintringham