Dinnington High School's logo U-turn after more than 1,000 sign petition

More than 1,000 people signed a petition demanding Dinnington High School reverse the move to scrap the traditional quartered shield in favour of a new three-coloured badge.

And the groundswell of opposition forced the academy trust which manages the school to ditch the plans.

Angry supporters of the petition said the change — which had been due to come into use in September, along with major changes to the uniform — failed to respect tradition and should not have been carried out with consultation.

The long-standing badge previously used by Dinnington Comprehensive and then Dinnington High School is divided into red, yellow, green and blue quarters.

Each bears the family motif of one of four historic local families — Athorpe, Hatfield, Osborne and Seagrave —  after which the school’s four “houses” are named, and beneath the crest is the school moto, “One and All”.

The proposed new badge, which was in use on the school website this week, was a simpler shield design, divided into pale green, navy blue and red sections with the school name alongside and the new motto “Achieving Excellence”.

Brinsworth Academy, which is part of the Learner Engagement Achievement Partnership (LEAP) Multi Academy Trust with Dinnington, has the same new motto.

Petition founder Rachael Normandale, whose daughter Lauren (14) is in Year 9, said: “We’ve had ‘One and All’ for many years — it means something to the community.

“It means something other than just a badge. It’s the heritage of our village.”

Another former pupil, who asked not to be named, said: “The new badge is meaningless —what a waste of school money changing it.”

Ex-pupil Joe York wrote on the Dinnington Forum Facebook group page: “Seems being part of an academy means the old school traditions are gone forever.”

Rachael said her daughter was not embarrassed but proud of her, adding: “She wants to wear the old badge, too.”

But in a surprise change of heart, the Learner Engagement Achievement Partnership (LEAP) Multi-Academy Trust, which manages Dinnington High, announced yesterday that the traditional badge was here to stay.

The academy said in a statement: “Having had useful discussions with parents, students and former students, the principal, chair of governors and leaders of LEAP, have agreed that Dinnington High School will keep the original school badge to reflect the heritage not just of the school but of the local area.”