In the early 1980s, the school's Yellow Block was completed to house the new English and Science departments on the lower two floors.

The upper floors house the relocated Maths and newly formed Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) departments.

This had long been a landmark for the school but no longer fit with regulations, so was replaced with a more energy and fuel-efficient system.

In 1999, following the March production, the cast of Grease travelled to the London Palladium to represent the North-East as part of an afternoon performance celebrating the 100th anniversary of N.O.D.A.

[citation needed] Performances have included The Phantom of the Opera (2013), Starlight Express (2014), The Addams Family (2015) and Ghost (2016).