Northwood School is an academy school of about 850 students, ages 11 to 18, located in the northern part of the Hillingdon.
History/Recent 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. In 2012, the school was selected as the site of a brand new aviation college in association with British Airways and Brunel University. Demolition work of the old buildings began in September 2013 and the new complex, named 'Heathrow Aviation Engineering University Technical College', was officially opened in May 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 expected in September 2016.
Federation with Queensmead
Since September 2009, Northwood has been federated with Queensmead School, located in South Ruislip. Graeme Atkins became the new principal and in the last couple of years the school has improved massively 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. In February 2012, the school upgraded to Academy status but it is believed the school will remain known as Northwood School, the name it adopted in the late 1970s. A-Level results have 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 has been praised for its environment in which every student is made to feel safe noted in the 2011 Ofsted report. A notable case of work from students of the school is a public arts project on display at the localNorthwood Hills Underground station. which coincided in the completion of a £2 million project to redecorate the local bridge. A plaque commemorating the completion of this project was opened by Mayor of London, and soon-to-be local MP, Boris Johnson. 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. Mark Anderson became Principal from April 2015.
