Drayton Manor High School, formerly Drayton Manor Grammar School, is an

academy school An academy school in England is a state-funded school which is directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local authority control. The terms of the arrangements are set out in individual Academy Funding Agreements. Most ...

located in

Hanwell Hanwell () is a town in the London Borough of Ealing, in the historic County of Middlesex, England. It is about 1.5 miles west of Ealing Broadway and had a population of 28,768 as of 2011. It is the westernmost location of the London post t ...

, west

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The school was granted academy status in August 2011. Its emblem is a phoenix rising from a crown with the legend 'Nec Aspera Terrent', which means 'hardships do not deter us'.

History

Drayton Manor High School was founded in 1930 as a county

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

serving local children. With the reorganisation of schools in the

London Borough of Ealing The London Borough of Ealing () is a London borough in West London. It comprises seven major towns: Acton (W3), Ealing (W5, W13, NW10), Greenford (UB6), Hanwell (W7), Northolt (UB5), Perivale (UB6) and Southall (UB1, UB2). With a population of 3 ...

and abolition of the

tripartite system The Tripartite System was the arrangement of state-funded secondary education between 1945 and the 1970s in England and Wales, and from 1947 to 2009 in Northern Ireland. It was an administrative implementation of the Education Act 1944 and the ...

, Drayton Manor received its first comprehensive intake in 1975 and changed its name to reflect this change in status. In more recent years, Drayton Manor has distinguished itself as one of the borough's top performing state schools. It was awarded

Beacon A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More mode ...

status in 2000 and won the School Achievement Award for Excellence three years in a row. In the 2012

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

inspection report, the school was rated outstanding. Students are presently allocated to one of four houses: * Caladrius - Blue *

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

- Red *

Griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late Latin, Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail ...

- Green *

Pegasus Pegasus ( grc-gre, Πήγασος, Pḗgasos; la, Pegasus, Pegasos) is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usually depicted as pure white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as hor ...

- Yellow

Court case

On 28 October 2008, Drayton Manor High School successfully contested a ruling in the High Court.

Ealing London Borough Council Ealing London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Ealing in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. History There have previously been a number of l ...

had accused the school of discriminating against children living in poorer areas by only admitting those that lived close to the school.

Notable alumni

* Kamal Ahmed,

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

Editorial Director (2019-) * Adebayo Bolaji, stage and screen actor,

Ghost the Musical ''Ghost'' is a musical with book and lyrics by Bruce Joel Rubin and music and lyrics by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard. Based on the hit 1990 romantic fantasy thriller film of the same name, the musical had its world premiere at the Manche ...

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. *

The Brand New Heavies The Brand New Heavies is an acid jazz and funk group formed in 1985 in Ealing in west London. Centered around songwriters/multi-instrumentalists Simon Bartholomew and Andrew Levy, the core members of the group since its founding, Brand New H ...

Music Ensemble *

Vernon Coaker Vernon Rodney Coaker, Baron Coaker (born 17 June 1953) is a British politician and life peer serving as Shadow Spokesperson for Home Affairs and Defence since 2021. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Gedling from ...

, life peer and former Labour MP for

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Peter Crouch Peter James Crouch (born 30 January 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was capped 42 times by the England national team between 2005 and 2010, scoring 22 goals for his country during that time, and ...

, footballer
Hannah J. Davies
Guardian journalist *

Holly Earl Holly Earl (born 31 August 1992) is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Zoe in ''Cuckoo'', Kela in '' Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands'', Agnes in the Channel 4 TV series ''Humans'' and Nita Clements in the BBC medical dram ...

, actress * The Revd Professor Paul Fiddes, DD, theologian *Sir Michael Fox,

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, actor * Ellie Harrison, artist * Shaparak "Shappi" Khorsandi, comedian *

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, politician *

Steve McQueen Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw for his films of the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1 ...

, artist and film director *

Alan Mehdizadeh Alan Mehdizadeh ( fa, الان مهدیزاده; born 4 September 1982) is a British-Iranian actor, appearing on stage and screen. He has recently played the role of Monk in Graham Moore's '' The Outfit''. He played the role of Don in the West ...

, West End actor,

Billy Elliot the Musical ''Billy Elliot: The Musical'' is a coming-of-age stage musical based on the 2000 film of the same name. The music is by Elton John, and the book and lyrics are by Lee Hall, who wrote the film's screenplay. The plot revolves around Billy, a m ...

, Kinky Boots *

Charles Palmer Charles Palmer may refer to: * Charles Palmer (1777–1851), Member of Parliament for Bath * Sir Charles Palmer, 1st Baronet (1822–1907), English shipbuilder, businessman and Liberal Member of Parliament, 1874–1907 * Sir Charles Palmer, 2nd Ba ...

OBE, President of the

International Judo Federation The International Judo Federation (IJF) was founded in July 1951. The IJF was originally composed of judo federations from Europe and Argentina. Countries from four continents were affiliated over the next ten years. Today the IJF has 200 National ...

from 1965–79 *

John Pencavel John H. Pencavel is a British economist and academic, currently serving as Levin Professor of Economics (Emeritus) at Stanford University, having been at the institution since 1969. He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society (1993), Fellow of Un ...

, economist *

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, rock musician * Nick Goolab, international distance runner

Head teachers

*Miss Lisa Mills (current Head Teacher, 1 Jan 2020 - now) *Sir Pritpal Singh (past Head Teacher, 1992 – 31 Dec 2019 ) *Christopher Everest (past Head Teacher)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drayton Manor High School Academies in the London Borough of Ealing Secondary schools in the London Borough of Ealing Hanwell Educational institutions established in 1930 1930 establishments in England