This was my school from 1971 until 1976. It changed from Grammar status in 1974 and became Oldbury High School, then became Langley High, now sadly closed and is soon to be a housing estate. These photographs below were taken on our last day. Behind are the gym and tennis courts. The school was to the right and science block to the left.
l-r: Steve Norgrove, Tim Price, Ken Summers, Paul Cox, Dave Hill, Pete Murthwaite
Here we are below at Plas Gwynant in July 1976, almost our last trip from school. This was an outward bound course during the summer heatwave, where we did rock climbing, abseiling, walking, camping, swimming, canoeing. One of those unforgettable holidays.
l-r Sandra Hickman, Dianne, Sue, Jo, Peggy, Jackie, Steve, can't remember the last guy's name at the front. Adrian? Behind the camera:me!
This one was taken in Cornwall in August 1976. A really hot summer, this chappy here was in our party and was wearing all of these heavy clothes, playing his air guitar!
Paul
Cox
1971 was the year I started here. Our class was 1D, Mr Dennisons class. What a nice bloke he was! A superb maths teacher and very funny, he injected loads of humour into his lessons. All of the folks who "passed" the Warley test (which was a joke) were all in the same class and I think we remained so throughout the school.
Next in line was 2J, teacher MA Jones whose husband was a chemistry teacher at the same school, PA Jones. haha. She wasn't anywhere near as friendly as Rupert Dennison and kept a screen between herself and the pupils. I think I saw her smile once but it took a lot to make that stern face crack. I certainly didn't miss her when we moved on to 3B, Mr Benson in 1973. He was another pretty decent bloke but I think he left at Christmas and we were then given a real short tempered moron whose veins stood out when he lost his rag and his temper tantrums were astonishing. I can't remember his name which is a good thing as I don't want to be done for libel. A very dislikeable man who I am sure would be an unsuitable teacher these days.
Then we chose our subjects so the class fragmented a bit...we became 4D and had the same loveable Mr Dennison. At this point the school lost its grammar school status and became Oldbury High, this is when it started going downhill. Although when we started in 1971 it was underfunded, crumbling everything at least the teaching was a high standard and it had a good reputation. Then in 1974 the decline began, there was more money around for structural improvement s but the teaching standard plummeted and the pupils didn't need any entry qualifications so everything else dropped.
4D became 4X, the teachers lost their identity with the classes - not particularly important but it's one thing I remember.
The last year we became 5X in the drive to our O levels. I had repeatedly performed badly all through school but somehow pulled the stops out for a better O level result than most of my classmates. Don't really know how that happened but there we go. I miserably failed French which I put down 100% to the poor teaching. We had a brilliant teacher in the first 3 years, Mr Quarterman who hated me but nonetheless was good at his job and drilled French well into everybody. Then we had the deputy headteacher in the last 2 years who seemed unable to attend our classes, normally turning up to a double lesson with 10 minutes left, he was more interested in the running of the school than teaching. Another failing of the system at the time. Nobody complained, thus I failed with a "U", I have no idea how anybody else faired with this but guess I wasn't alone in my failure. It had a good ending though because when I went to 6th form college I retook French and had my original teacher again, the honky-tonk, flower-power, long-haired, flowery tie, flaired trousered Mr Quarterman. Guess what? I passed this time!