The school's history dates back to September 1958, when Willingsworth Secondary Modern School to serve the Ocker Hill and Princes End areas of Tipton, replacing a smaller secondary modern at Ocker Hill and gaining comprehensive status in September 1969, when it became Willingsworth High.

It was one of the seven schools in the RSA Family of Academies, all in the West Midlands, of the Royal Society of Arts.

A new block, located to the rear of the existing building, was constructed to house additional students the academy would be taking on following the closure of a local school nearby.

The Academy takes part in the Birmingham area Debatemate.

Luckily nobody was hurt in the incident, and the police believed it may have been committed by the same arsonists who started a fire hours later at Wilkinson Primary School in nearby Bilston.