Chiswick School is an English secondary school with academy status in

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district in West London, split between the London Borough of Hounslow, London Boroughs of Hounslow and London Borough of Ealing, Ealing. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist Wi ...

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: Central London, N ...

. It educates more than 1,300 pupils, aged 11 to 18 years. This number includes 200 pupils studying at the upper school

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 ...

within the school grounds. The current headteacher is Laura Ellener. The school operates a very wide curriculum, mainly focusing on Science and the Arts, and has many extracurricular activities.

Admissions

The school has a wide catchment, encompassing its native borough of Hounslow, but also areas including Kensington and Chelsea,

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

, and

Hammersmith and Fulham Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

. As of 2004, the school's intake was almost 60 percent male, explained by the number of girls' schools nearby. Half of the school's students are of minority ethnic backgrounds, and 44% are from ‘disadvantaged’ backgrounds. 50% have English as their second language. The percentage of disadvantaged students receiving help from the

pupil premium The pupil premium is a grant given by the government to schools in England to decrease the attainment gap for the most disadvantaged children, whether by income or by family upheaval. For each pupil who is eligible for free school meals, or has cl ...

is also above average.

History

Chiswick County School for Girls opened in 1916 in Burlington Lane, and Chiswick County School for Boys opened in 1926 beside the girls' school. Rory K. Hands was appointed head of the boys school in 1963, and in 1966, he oversaw a merger of the two institutions, to form the co-educational Chiswick County Grammar School. Shortly thereafter, the Borough proposed that Hands' grammar school should be merged with two nearby

secondary modern school A secondary modern school () is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Secondary modern schools accommodated the majority (70–75%) of pupil ...

s to form a

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 ...

, following Circular 10/65. This amalgamation created Chiswick Comprehensive School, which opened in 1968. The new school operated across two sites, with the lower school (for ages 11 to 14) occupying what had been the secondary modern school's buildings at Staveley Road, and the upper school operating on the old grammar school site at Burlington Lane. In 1973, some of the buildings at Staveley Road had to be closed as they were made of brittle high alumina cement. The school was forced to operate with a "village of huts"; Hands maintained school morale with a production of ''

The Gondoliers ''The Gondoliers; or, The King of Barataria'' is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 7 December 1889 and ran for a very successful 554 performances (at that time t ...

'' by

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen com ...

. He retired the headship in 1975 after suffering a series of heart attacks. Dame Helen Metcalf was the school's headteacher from 1988 to 2001, providing strong and emotionally intelligent leadership. Sometime after 1978 the school was renamed Chiswick Community School; the name reverted to Chiswick School when it became an academy on 1 March 2012.

Notable pupils

John Stuart Archer John Stuart Archer (15 June 1943 – 9 December 2007) was vice-chancellor and principal of Heriot-Watt University from 1997 to 2006. Life Archer was born in London on 15 June 1943 and went to Chiswick County Grammar School. ...

– petroleum engineer, president of the

Institution of Chemical Engineers The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) is a global professional engineering institution with 30,000 members in 114 countries. It was founded in 1922 and awarded a Royal Charter in 1957. The Institution has offices in Rugby, Warwickshire, ...

Frost's Scottish Who's Who
John Stuart Archer (accessed 7 March 2009) * Henry Badowski - musician *

Carlton Cole Carlton Michael George Cole (born 12 October 1983) is an English football coach and former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. He scored 52 goals in 288 Premier League appearanc ...

– footballer *

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and later became the lead singer of the rock band Genesis (band), Genesis and had a successful solo career, ac ...

– lead singer of

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

and solo artist *

Phoebe Fox Phoebe Fox (born 16 April 1987) is an English actress, who was nominated for Olivier and Evening Standard awards for work in theatre. She has appeared in the ''Black Mirror'' episode " The Entire History of You" (2011), '' The Woman in Black: An ...

– actor *

Kenneth Holmes Kenneth Charles Holmes FRS (19 November 1934 – 2 November 2021) was a British molecular biologist and a pioneer in using synchrotron X-ray radiation to study biology. Education and career Holmes was born on 19 November 1934 in Hammersmith, ...

- molecular biologist * John Neville – actor * Nana Ofori-Twumasi – footballer * Natalie Sawyer – TV presenter * Kyle Simmons – keyboard player for Bastille * James Stevenson, guitarist *

Allegra Stratton Allegra Elizabeth Jane Stratton (born 10 April 1980) is a British former political aide, journalist, and writer who served as Downing Street Press Secretary under Boris Johnson from November 2020 to April 2021. Stratton worked for ''The Guardi ...

– journalist, political aide * Don Taylor – director and playwright *

Brian Tesler Brian Tesler, (19 February 1929 – 30 October 2024) was a British television entertainment producer and senior executive. His career encompassed British television's post-war evolution from a single-channel BBC to the arrival of multiple terre ...

– chairman of

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT; now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00&nbs ...

References

External links

Official site

Official Twitter

National Archives: minutes of the School Board 1872-1903

Visit Gallery
{{authority control Academies in the London Borough of Hounslow Educational institutions established in 1968 Secondary schools in the London Borough of Hounslow 1968 establishments in England Chiswick Buildings and structures in Chiswick