Northwood School is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

and

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

located in the Northwood area of the

London Borough of Hillingdon The London Borough of Hillingdon () is the largest and westernmost borough in West London, England. It was formed from the districts of Hayes and Harlington, Ruislip-Northwood, Uxbridge, and Yiewsley and West Drayton in the ceremonial county ...

, England. .

History

The school was originally opened in January 1934 as ''Potter Street Senior Council School'' with an age range from 11 to 14. The original headmaster was Mr. A. T. Smith, who had previously headed a school in

Ruislip Ruislip ( ) is an area in the London Borough of Hillingdon in West London, and in the historic county of Middlesex. Ruislip lies west-north-west of Charing Cross, London. The manor of Ruislip appears in the Domesday Book, and some of the ear ...

. The name Northwood School was adopted in the late 1970s. In September 2009, Northwood was federated with

Queensmead School Queensmead School is a co-educational secondary school with academy status located on Queens Walk, South Ruislip, in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England. In 2009, Queensmead established a federation with Northwood School. It offers a wide ...

, located in

South Ruislip South Ruislip is an area of west London in the London Borough of Hillingdon, south-east of Ruislip, south of Eastcote, north-west of Northolt, and west of South Harrow. A 2017 estimation put the population of South Ruislip ward as 13,150 resident ...

. Graeme Atkins became the new principal and the school improved with 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 all culminating with the best GCSE results in the school's history. The school has now become among the best in the London Borough of Hillingdon, and among the 100 most improved schools in Britain. A-Level results also continued to rise for Post-16 students since the federation in 2009, with substantial emphasis on progression to higher education. Although a smaller school compared with several other local secondary schools, it was praised for its environment in which every student was made to feel safe noted in the 2011

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 ...

report. Previously a

foundation school In England and Wales, a foundation school is a state-funded school in which the governing body has greater freedom in the running of the school than in community schools. Foundation schools were set up under the School Standards and Framework A ...

administered by

Hillingdon London Borough Council Hillingdon London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Hillingdon in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. Hillingdon is divided into 22 wards, elect ...

, in February 2012 Northwood School converted to academy status. The school is now sponsored by the QED Academy Trust. The school was then selected as the site of a brand new aviation college in association with

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...

and

Brunel University Brunel University London is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It was founded in 1966 and named after the Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In June 1 ...

. Demolition work of the old buildings began in September 2013 and the new complex, named 'Heathrow Aviation Engineering University Technical College' (

Heathrow Aviation Engineering UTC UTC Heathrow (formerly Heathrow Aviation Engineering UTC) is a University Technical College located in Northwood, in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England. It opened in September 2014 and is located next door to Northwood School. History ...

), was officially opened in May 2015. 2013 marked the fifth successive year where the school broke its record for GCSE attainment with 97% of students achieving five A*'s to C grades, and 73% achieved this with passes in the core subjects. 2014 was also a record breaking year for the school. Principal Graeme Atkins departed the school in the summer of 2014 after five years at the helm to become Headteacher at

Queen Elizabeth High School, Hexham Queen Elizabeth High School (QEHS) is a coeducational high school and sixth form located in Hexham, Northumberland, England. History The school was founded in 1599. Thomas Stackhouse, afterwards an Anglican clergyman and theologian, was headma ...

. Mark Anderson became Principal from April 2015. In 2014, it was confirmed that Northwood School had received the go ahead of a £28 million project to re-build the entire school with modern, state of the art facilities, with scheduled completion of the new complex in September 2016.

Notable former pupils

The Olympic boxer

Audley Harrison Audley Hugh Harrison, (born 26 October 1971) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2013. As an amateur he represented Great Britain at the 2000 Olympics, winning a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division and be ...

and

Big Brother Big Brother may refer to: * Big Brother (''Nineteen Eighty-Four''), a character from George Orwell's novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' ** Authoritarian personality, any omnipresent figure representing oppressive control ** Big Brother Awards, a sat ...

contestant

Nikki Grahame Nicola Rachele-Beth Grahame (28 April 1982 – 9 April 2021) was an English television personality, model and author. She was a contestant on the seventh series of ''Big Brother UK'' in 2006, in which she finished in fifth place, and later st ...

are all

alumni Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

of the school.

References

External links

Northwood School websiteNorthwood School BBC report 2017
{{authority control Academies in the London Borough of Hillingdon Secondary schools in the London Borough of Hillingdon