The Change from Girls High School to Redhill

The prospect of change can evoke a variety of feelings - enthusiasm, apprehension, reluctance, resistance etc..  I was offered the post of Head of the Girls' High School knowing that plans for the reorganisation of secondary education in Stourbridge had been submitted to the Department of Education.  Challenging times lay ahead, which began the day after my interview when I was asked to join the staff and answer questions!  If the staff were apprehensive, what about the Head elect, who was wondering how to sound positive although she had no real answers to their questions?

Discussion went ahead although the final plans were not approved until the middle of the Spring Term '76, leaving only 6 months to plan the intricate details of amalgamating Lye Secondary and the High School, to form an 11-16 co-educational comprehensive.  Staffing had to be finalised (Mr Harris & Dr Beale, respective Heads had done a lot of the spade-work) and hard decisions made about staffing structure.  Some staff also faced losing 6th Form teaching, a great disappointment to them. Parents had to be reassured that the Upper 6th would be properly taught: that pupils already in the school would be able to continue their studies; that pupils at Lye would not be deprived of the facilities available at the High School - and would we really be ready to receive boys?

It was obvious that we would be working on two sites 1.5 miles apart for the first few years.  Timetabling involved staff movement between buildings and some pupil movement tested ingenuity to the full - how do you get from points A to B 1.5 miles apart in a 2 minute lesson change-over? No problem!! Another important question - what should the new school be called.   Junction Road school was rejected.  I would refused to shout "Up the Junction" when supporting sports teams!  Redhill was the name finally and sensibly chosen. The uniform had to be distinctive but recognise the past history of both schools - hence the pear tree and anvils on the badge.

As the school grew so internal changes occurred together with new buildings - "C" Block, on the "best hockey pitch in the county"; "B" Block, on the lawn by the pond; the staff moved into the 6th Form Common Room; mobile classrooms arrived etc., etc..   In Sept. ;78 we were all on one site and in 1980 fully comprehensive.  We were beginning to develop our own identity and also appreciate the foundations we had inherited from those on the site since 1928/9.  "A change is as good as a rest?"  Those early days were certainly not restful.  Testing?   Yes, and traumatic at times but we survived because we were determined not to fail the new school, and I don't think we did.

Miss B Fisher (Headteacher 1975 - 1983)                                                                                                            more  

Stability and Progress

I had never head of Stourbridge when I stuck a pin in the Times Educational Supplement's job adverts and applied for the Headship of Redhill School.  I was appointed on a cold, wet day in the early part of 1983 and I remember driving home to Essex on the M6/M1 motorways in a total daze, wondering what I had done!  As I near the end of the second year of my 'retirement' (the wrong word, I think!) and look back, I know that I made the right decision by moving to Redhill.  I am proud to have played some part in the on-going development of the development of the school.

I recall being met on the first morning in September 1983 by the person who really ran the school - Dave Smith, the caretaker (or is it Site Manager?)!  A few minutes later Beryl Millinchamp popped her head round the door and gave me her 'royal' welcome.  From those moments onwards, I knew I was in safe hand!

The next 14 years are now history, but hopefully some of the results live on.   As far as the wider educational scene was concerned, they were years of immense and rapid change - Local Management of Schools; that National Curriculum; Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) to name but a few.  There were times when we felt that we could not take on board any more developments.  However, the high quality staff, the growing number of well-motivated pupils, the supportive parents and committed governors kept the ship stable and afloat.   One of the most satisfying features as the school's increasing popularity as a place where parents wished to send their children.  We became heavily over-subscribed as the examination results improved year on year.  The children who passed through our hands were given the very best we could offer them and I am sure that many of them look back with pleasure on their days at Redhill.  Our success, was, I believe, built upon commitment and care.

I am sure the school will go on to achieve even greater heights in the years to come and I wish all involved the very best for the future.

Mr C T Lacey (Headteacher 1983 - 1977)                                                                                                                           more

The Future

The traditions upon which the school is built help point the direction for the future.   The twin qualities of care and standard form the foundation for all that we aim to do, and this will clearly be central to our future direction.   With the largest influx of computer technology that the school has ever seen, the role of the individual learner will become the cornerstone of education at Redhill.  Individual learning programmes, school as the facilitator of the learning process and the community involved in all aspects of our young peoples' development.  That is the future!

The school will lead from the front as it always has.  The school will grow into a technologically advanced learning centre, traditional subjects being delivered using the innovative and motivating forces of the computer world.  The Arts and Humanities will provide the cultural linkage with our heritage and traditions;  Languages will give access to the world;  Science and Technology will reflect our need for informed and creative people.  The future will reflect the past.   Young people will leave Redhill as rounded and caring individuals; flexible, skilled and motivated to become full participants in the society we all value so much.

Mr B Heavisides (Headteacher)                                                                                     

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