Wheatley Park School
Wheatley Park School (WPS) is a co-educational state secondary school of approximately 1,150 pupils situated in Holton, Oxfordshire, England about 8 miles (13 km) east of Oxford. The school has been an academy since May 2014. The school is most notable for producing the United Kingdom's former Prime Minister, Theresa May.
| Wheatley Park School | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
| |
| , , OX33 1QH England | |
| Coordinates | 51°45′16″N 1°08′13″W |
| Information | |
| Type | Academy |
| Local authority | Oxfordshire |
| Department for Education URN | 140875 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Headteacher | Timothy Martin |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Age | 11 to 18 |
| Enrolment | 1,050 pupils |
| Website | http://www.wheatleypark.org/ |
The school
A grammar school for east Oxfordshire, Holton Park Girls' Grammar School, was founded on the site in 1949.[1] In 1971 Wheatley Park Comprehensive School was opened at two sites with senior and junior divisions, one of which was situated in Wheatley. These two divisions consolidated in the early 1980s on the present site at Holton Park, although the school retained the name Wheatley Park School. The main complex of modern school buildings is located in the former parkland of a Regency house[2] built about 1807.
History of the site
The site was used as a military hospital (specialising in brain damage related injuries) during the Second World War for the US and subsequently British military, but the huts housing the hospital were removed from the site in 2006. It was known as Holton Park Hospital or Wheatley Military Hospital. The US 97th General Hospital officially took command of the hospital on 22 April 1944 in preparation to treat casualties from D-Day and after. The first train of casualties arrived 6 days after D-Day. By 2 August 1944, 1,449 battle casualties had been treated at the hospital. The 97th departed Wheatley on 30 June 1945 and to set up a facility in France.[3]
Notable former pupils
- Laura Bailey, model
- Dominic Rowan, actor and model
- Bradley Smith, motorcycle racer
- Supergrass (band, previously the Jennifers)
- Theresa May (née Brasier), UK Prime Minister July 2016 to July 2019 and Conservative MP since 1997 for Maidenhead and Home Secretary from 2010-16[4]
Holton Park Girls' Grammar School
- Ann Mallalieu, Baroness Mallalieu, daughter of Sir J. P. W. Mallalieu, and first female President of the Cambridge Union Society in 1967, President since 1998 of the Countryside Alliance
References
- Chipperfield, Joh (8 June 2009). "Girls were taught in idyllic surroundings at Holton Park". Oxford Mail. Oxford.
- Holton Park Archive accessed 13 July 2016
- "USAREUR Units & Kasernes, 1945 - 1989". www.usarmygermany.com.
- Kite, Melissa (15 May 2011). "How clashes with Theresa May led Dame Pauline Neville Jones to quit".
