John Willmott School is an 11–18 communitysecondary school located in Sutton Coldfield, England and is part of the BirminghamLocal Education Authority, and has been a specialist technology college since September 2001. There are 1,186 students on roll, of whom 230 are in the sixth form. Students from a White British background represent 82% of the school population. Although the school is located in the Falcon Lodge area of Sutton Coldfield, it also serves pupils from elsewhere in Birmingham such as Erdington and Castle Vale. In 2006 the proportions of students receiving free school meals and students who have special educational needs were reported as being above the national average.
History
John Willmott Grammar School was founded in the name of Alderman John Willmott. It was opened in 1958 as a co-educational grammar school in an award-winning building. The school's last year of selective intake, based on the 12+ test, was 1974. It became a comprehensive and changed its name to John Willmott School in 1975.
House system
In 2016, John Willmott re-introduced a house system. With new names. Spitfire, Lancaster, Hurricane and Wellington.
Curriculum
The school has been at the forefront of vocational education both locally and nationally. Sixth Form vocational courses have run since 1991, and currently include Art and Design, Business Studies, Childcare, Leisure and Tourism, and Sport and Leisure. In September 2006, the school introduced a range of vocational courses at GCSE level which are in addition to those already available in the sixth form. These vocational courses are intended to complement the traditional GCSE courses already available. The school has been awarded Lead Department status for Business Studies for the city of Birmingham.
Statistics
When Ofsted inspected the school in March 2006, it graded achievement and standards as Grade 3. The Sixth Form was graded as "Good". Since then, the overall results have improved at a rate faster than the national average, with 2009 results reaching a new high, and the best results in the school's history. The school received its highest GCSE achievement grades, with 70% of pupils getting 5 or more A*-C GCSE grades. The overall A Level pass rate shot up from 90% to 97% - the best A level results since the school was a grammar school. When Ofsted inspected the school in February 2016, the school was found to be "Inadequate and Requiring Improvement".
Extra-curricular activities
A wide range of activities are available for students in after-school clubs and societies. Each year group has an Achievement Group which runs additional activities including early morning Basketball and gardening. A number of foreign visits are organised by subject departments during the year; these include language exchange trips to France and Germany, skiing trips, RE trip to China, Geography trips to Sicily and Iceland, History trip to Paris and Sixth Form Art trip to Barcelona. The school holds an annual drama production. Recent productions have included Grease, The Boyfriend, Anything Goes, Calamity Jane, South Pacific, We Will Rock You, Back to the Eighties, Little Shop of Horrors and Bugsy Malone. Annual fund-raising events are organised by students, most notably Evening of Culture. An annual Art Exhibition of Sixth Form and GCSE artwork is also held.
Sixth Form
The school has an independent Sixth Form which is part of the Sutton Coldfield Consortium. This involves offering subjects unavailable elsewhere and allowing students to study certain subjects at other schools. The Sixth Form, run by Ms. Richards, offers both academic and vocational courses, and provides many opportunities for the students to engage in extra-curricular activities and many trips. One group of Sixth Formers raised funds to go to America and rebuild Ground Zero.
Sport
Football has been the main sport at John Willmott School for the later part of its history, overtaking rugby. Rugby started off as its predominant sport when John Willmott was a grammar school. It has become gradually less popular, but rugby is being re-introduced at the school and an effort is being made to create a new team to represent the school. Many other sports are offered, such as softball, tennis, badminton, trampolining, table tennis, volleyball, athletics, dancing and basketball.
