Phoenix Academy 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 ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

and

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

located in White City area of

Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Bush is a suburb of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, its ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England.

History

Prior to 1982 there were two schools on the current site of Phoenix High School: Christopher Wren Boys' School and Hammersmith County Girls' School. In 1982, these two single-sex schools were merged into one co-educational

comprehensive school A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...

on a single campus. This school was named Hammersmith School, with the two major wings named Wren Wing and County Wing to denote the previous school buildings. At the time of merging, the combined pupil population was 2,200. By the early 1990s, both the pupil population and educational standards at Hammersmith School had fallen and it was judged by

OFSTED The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

to be a failing school. A relaunching and rebranding of the school to The Hammersmith School failed to improve standards, and in November 1991 a major fire started by pupils in Wren Wing building caused extensive damage. In 1994 the school had been placed in

special measures Special measures is a status applied by regulators of public services in Britain to providers who fall short of acceptable standards. In education (England and Wales) Ofsted, the schools inspection agency for England and some British Overseas Ter ...

and was listed as one of the eight most challenging schools in England and the school population had fallen to 500 pupils. 'Superhead' William Atkinson was appointed as headteacher to attempt to turn around the school's fortunes, and it was relaunched as Phoenix High School. In 2003 it had 759 students, of whom 429 were boys. In 2007 it was reported by

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

to be the "most improved school" in the United Kingdom, judged by "league tables" of results. Headmaster Atkinson was

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

ed in the 2008

Queen's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the King's Official Birthday, reigning monarch's official birthday in each realm by granting various individuals appointment into Order (honour), national or Dynastic order of knighthood, dy ...

for "services to education and community relations". Following Sir William's departure, the school once again declined into special measures, in May 2016. Following this, Michael Taylor took over the leadership of the school. the school became an

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

in September 2016 and was renamed Phoenix Academy. Michael Taylor left at the end of the 2017 academic year, making way for a new leadership team for 2017/18.

Description

This is a small academy that is managed by Future Academies Trust, who strongly believe in a knowledge centred curriculum, and one that is focused on the classics normally only taught in private schools. As such all

Key Stage 3 Key Stage 3 (commonly abbreviated as KS3) is the legal term for the three years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9, when pupils are aged between 11 and 14. In Northern Ireland the ...

pupils are taught

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, though this is not offered in

Key Stage 4 Key Stage 4 (KS4) is the legal term for the two years of school education which incorporate GCSEs, and other examinations, in maintained schools in England normally known as Year 10 and Year 11, when pupils are aged between 14 and 16 by August 31 ...

. In the sixth form students can study Ancient History and Latin. The cohort of student contains a higher than average number from disadvantaged backgrounds and a higher than average number who speak English as a second language, while the number of students with Special Education Needs is broadly the same as in other English schools.

Notable former pupils

* Wes Foderingham (b. 1991), professional footballer * Chris Moore (footballer, born 1980)

Christopher Wren Boys' School

* Vigen Boyadjian (b. 1949), founder of the information technology company ''

Viglen Viglen Ltd provides IT products and services, including storage systems, servers, workstations and data/voice communications equipment and services. History The company was formed in 1975, by Vigen Boyadjian. During the 1980s, the company ...

'' *

Jeff Chandler Jeff Chandler (born Ira Grossel; December 15, 1918 – June 17, 1961) was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Cochise in '' Broken Arrow'' (1950), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting ...

(b. 1959), professional footballer *

Paul Cook Paul Thomas Cook (born 20 July 1956) is an English musician, best known as the drummer and a founding member of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. He is nicknamed "Cookie" by friends in the punk music scene. Early life and career Cook was ...

(b. 1956), punk music drummer *

Les Ferdinand Leslie Ferdinand (born 8 December 1966) is an English football coach, former professional footballer and television pundit. A striker, his playing career included notable spells in the Premier League with Queens Park Rangers, Newcastle United, ...

(b.1966-), former professional footballer, director at Queens Park Rangers, F.C. * Tony Goodgame (1946-2022), professional footballer * Steve Jones (b.1955–), punk music guitarist * Jeffery Kissoon (b. 1947), actor * George Lawrence (b. 1962) former professional footballer * Wally Nightingale (1956–1996), founder of the band that went on to become

The Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became culturally influential in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Ki ...

* Steve Parsons (b 1957), former professional footballer * Don Shanks (b 1952), professional footballer * Alex Stewart (1964–2016), professional boxer * Very Rev Victor Stock (b. 1944), clergyman * '' Stray'', pop music band *

Mike Trim Mike Trim is a British artist and miniature model-maker known for his design work on the TV and film productions of AP Films in the 1960s. He is also remembered for illustrating the cover of '' Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Wor ...

(b. 1945), artist *

John Weider John Weider (21 April 1947 – 6 November 2023) was an English rock music, rock musician who played guitar, bass guitar, bass, and violin. He is best remembered as the guitarist for the Animals from 1966 to 1968. He was also the bass player for ...

(b. 1947), pop musician * Kevin McGrath DL OBE (b.1963) High Sheriff of Greater London 2014/15 *

Dennis Wise Dennis Frank Wise (born 16 December 1966) is an English former professional football player and manager who played as a central midfielder. He spent the majority of his career at Chelsea, from 1990 to 2001. Beginning his career at Wimbledon, ...

(b. 1966), professional footballer

Hammersmith County Girls' School

Mo Abudu Mosunmola "Mo" Abudu (born 11 September 1964) is a Nigerian Media proprietor, media mogul, Philanthropy, philanthropist, and former human resources management consultant. Biography Early life Mo Abudu was born in Hammersmith, West London ...

(b. 1964), television presenter * Sheyla Bonnick, singer *

Heather Small Heather Marguerita Small (born 20 January 1965) is an English soul music, soul singer and lead vocalist of the band M People. Her subsequent debut solo studio album, ''Proud (Heather Small album), Proud'', was released in 2000. Her second and ...

(b. 1965) singer

Hammersmith School (co-educational)

Betty Boo Alison Moira Clarkson (born 6 March 1970), better known as Betty Boo, is a British Singing, singer, songwriter and Rapping, rapper. She first came to mainstream prominence in the late 1980s following a collaboration with the Beatmasters on th ...

(b. 1970) singer

References

{{authority control Secondary schools in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham 1974 establishments in England Educational institutions established in 1974 Academies in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham White City, London