Alderwood Senior School

Heron Wood County Secondary School for Boys c1970

Alderwood Senior School started life as Heron Wood County Secondary School for Boys in 1964, changing its name to The Connaught School in 1987 and making the decision to become a mixed gender institution with the closure of nearby Manor Park Girls' School. In 2017 the school was renamed Alderwood Senior School.

The current Executive Headteacher is Clare de Sausmarez.

Alderwood Senior School in 2018

In June 2013 an Ofsted inspection was made of English and Literacy across the school, the outcome of which was ‘Good’ with outstanding features. Ofsted remarked on the “excellent provision” for pupils and also on “commitment across the curriculum” to raising standards. It was also noted in the report that “pupils across the school are making good progress.” A further Ofsted inspection of the school in 2015 rated it as "Requires Improvement".[2] Recent years have seen a large increase in numbers of students with English as an additional language (EAL) with 30% of students being EAL in 2019 compared to a national average of 16.9%.[3]

Young Sherlock Holmes author Andrew Lane meeting students of Alderwood Senior School in December 2018

Actor Gerald Dickens performing A Christmas Carol at the school (2019)

In 2017, as a result of these Ofsted reports and considering that The Connaught School had "performed relatively weakly on attainment measures for the previous three years" (in 2015 29% of students attained 5 good GCSEs including English and mathematics compared to a national average of 57% placing the school well below the minimum Government Floor Standard of 40%) Hampshire County Council decided to merge The Connaught School with the Federation of Newport Junior School and Belle Vue Infant School from September 2017, to create a single all-through (age 4 to 16) school to collectively be called Alderwood School.[4] A further Ofsted inspection across all three sites in January 2020 rated the school as "Good".

Alderwood Senior School is a partner school of the Sixth Form College in nearby Farnborough.[5] Since 2018 the school has been home to Aldershot Town F.C. Academy which has the use of classrooms in the school in addition to the 24-hour astroturf and gymnasium.[6]

In 2018 Young Sherlock Holmes author Andrew Lane gave a talk to students at the school while in 2019 the actor Gerald Charles Dickens, the great-great grandson of Charles Dickens, performed his one-man show of A Christmas Carol in the school hall.

Recent visits in support of learning include: the Natural History Museum; the Imperial War Museum; the Old Operating Theatre Museum and St Thomas' Hospital; Portsmouth Dockyard, the Mary Rose and HMS Victory while theatre trips include Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare's Globe, The Tempest and An Inspector Calls at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford. In addition, the Physical Education department organises an annual sporting tour of Europe during which students play matches against local teams while at the same time experiencing local culture and customs.

Students at the secondary school are involved in an annual performance in the school hall. These include the musicals School of Rock (2018), The Addams Family (2019), and Grease (2020).

All pupils are affiliated to one of the four houses:

• Marlborough
• Montgomery
• Stanhope
• Wellington

Given the town's strong military connection, the houses have been named after former barracks in Aldershot which in turn were named after great military leaders and a Secretary of State for War.

• Amelle Berrabah of the girl group the Sugababes
• Alex Reid, mixed martial artist and former husband of English model Katie Price

In 2011 The Connaught School, in partnership with Aldershot Town FC won the National LiteracyActionNet Award for Double Club, an after school provision for pupils and parents that teaches skills in both Literacy and Sport.[7]

• Alderwood School
• Homerton College Visit
• Aldershot Town Football Club
• LiteracyActionNet Awards