Harris Academy St John's Wood

Harris Academy St John's Wood (formerly Quintin Kynaston) is a secondary school in St John's Wood, North London), that was re-named in 2017. It is a 7 form-entry (210 students) non-selective co-educational academy. Its predecessor Quintin Kynaston was founded in 1969 by the merger of Quintin Grammar School and Kynaston School. The earlier schools, which were built on the same site, opened in September 1956. It has been an academy school since November 2011. The school was rated as "Outstanding" in 2008 and 2011 by Ofsted, the English schools' inspectorate; however, in 2014 it was rated "Requires Improvement", and in April 2017 it was rated "Inadequate" and as a consequence was placed in special measures. It joined the Harris Federation Multi-Academy Trust in September 2017.

Harris Academy St John's Wood
Address
Marlborough Hill

St John's Wood
,
Greater London
,
NW8 0NL

England
Coordinates51.5378°N 0.1770°W / 51.5378; -0.1770
Information
TypeAcademy
MottoDedication, Determination and Destiny
Established1969 (1969) (community school)
2011 (2011) (academy)
2017 (2017) (Harris Academy, new name)
TrustHarris Federation
Department for Education URN145126 Tables
OfstedReports
Executive PrincipalNick Soar
HeadteacherGraeme Smith
GenderMixed
Age11 to 18
Enrolment1266
Colour(s)Pale blue
Websitehttps://www.harrisstjohnswood.org.uk/

History

Original foundations

Quintin School was founded in 1886 by Quintin Hogg[1] (grandfather of the mid-20th century politician of the same name) as the Polytechnic Secondary School, part of Regent Street Polytechnic. Named the Polytechnic Boys' Day School from 1886 to 1919, it was a voluntary aided school. Prior to 1956, in a different location, Kynaston had been known as Paddington Secondary Technical School.

Grammar and comprehensive schools

Quintin became a grammar school in 1944, and in 1946 was renamed the Quintin School after Quintin Hogg, who founded the Polytechnic at Regent Street in 1882 building on the legacy of the Royal Polytechnic Institution. It was a voluntary controlled school. A new building was built in 1956 in St John's Wood. It had around 550 boys.

In September 1956, Quintin's next-door neighbour, Kynaston School, opened as a county comprehensive, named after Kynaston Studd, a former president of the Royal Polytechnic at Regent Street and Lord Mayor of London. Kynaston School was among the small number of early comprehensive schools in the UK, which combined a non-restrictive admissions policy with, in essence, three kinds of education – roughly matching those found in grammar, secondary modern and technical schools. Kynaston was equipped with extensive technical laboratories, in part financed by corporate donations.

The Quintin School,1956

Merged school

Quintin and Kynaston merged in 1969 as a new comprehensive school named Quintin Kynaston School, and became co-educational in 1976. During the 1990s the school had issues usually associated with problem schools in inner city areas. It became a Specialist Technology College in 2001.[2] In 2002, Joanna Shuter was appointed head teacher. The prime minister, Tony Blair, launched the "Extended Schools" scheme at Quintin Kynaston in September 2003[3] (Tony Blair visited the school again in 2006). It became a Foundation School in 2008,[4] and an Academy in November 2011,[5] keeping its name throughout as Quintin Kynaston School until 2015, when the school moved into new premises and renamed itself Quintin Kynaston.[6]

Requires improvement to joining Harris Federation

The school lost its "outstanding" rating during the Ofsted inspection in September 2014. The school was judged as "requires improvement" because standards were not consistently in line with or above the national average in all subjects. The majority of the individual judgements were "good", including leadership and management, behaviour and safety and sixth form. [5] In January 2017 Quintin Kynaston was inspected by Ofsted; the report published in April 2017 showed the school to be "Inadequate" in all areas apart from the Sixth Form which was deemed to be "Good". As a consequence of the failings Her Majesty's Chief Inspector was of the opinion that the school needed to be placed in special measures.[7] It became part of the Harris Federation chain of academies which took over as sponsor in September 2017; the Quintin Kynaston name was lost and it became Harris Academy St John's Wood[8]

Buildings

A new building, designed by van Heyningen and Haward Architects, opened on 12 January 2015. It is situated on Marlborough Hill next to the west side of the A41 in the north of the borough of Westminster in St John's Wood, close to the boundary with the Borough of Camden, and just south of South Hampstead railway station and the junction with the B509.

Academics

At a time when virtually all maintained schools and academies follow the National Curriculum, and are inspected by Ofsted on how well they succeed in delivering a 'broad and balanced curriculum'.,[9] schools also endeavour to get all students to achieve the English Baccalaureate (EBACC) qualification. This must include core subjects a modern foreign language, and either History or Geography. The EBacc includes subjects which are considered "essential to many degrees and open up lots of doors".[10]

"Learning represents a change in long term memory. Teaching is therefore understood as the active pedagogy that brings about that change."[11]

The academy challenges the concept of an imposed curriculum citing Dylan William's education research.[12]

"Every teacher is expected to know and be passionate about their subject. They are expected to know and prioritise their students, and to be committed to be the best teachers they possibly can be, which takes experience, reflection, self-awareness and training."[11]

To achieve these goals, the academy runs a three-year Key Stage 3 including years 7 to 9, and a two-year Key Stage 4 for years 10 and 11.

Key Stage 3 Curriculum

All subjects are taken by all students in Years 7 and 8. The languages studied are French and Spanish. In year 9 there is a degree of specialism, with student having a guided choice of two options which they may continue as exam subjects in years 10 and 11. These are studied in addition to the core subjects of English, maths, science, languages, humanities, PSHE and physical education.[13]

Key Stage 4 Curriculum

In 2020, all students will study the core curriculum offer of English, maths, science, languages, humanities, PSHE and physical education. They choose to continue studying two subjects they chose in Year 9 or they may opt for different ones. They choose the further options from a list that offers a mixture of practical and academic subjects from all areas of the curriculum (including new subjects they will not have studied before). Arabic will be on offer. Students have access to a wide range of progression routes to the next of their education and of course an EBacc certificate.[13]

Media coverage

In May 2005, the school featured in a 30-minute BBC documentary, Head on the Block, made by the headteacher's sister Debbie Shuter. It was not broadcast as planned, because the BBC decided that the film broke its rules on objectivity.[14][15]

After being named Headteacher of the Year in a Secondary School in 2007,[16] and receiving a CBE in 2010, Shuter resigned in May 2013 and was replaced by Alex Atherton. In May 2014 Shuter was banned for life from the classroom by the National College for Teaching and Leadership after admitting the misuse of public funds on various personal expenses during her tenure.[17] After an appeal, the decision was revised in November 2014 to allow Shuter to challenge the prohibition order, after two years.[18] Early in 2017 the ban was overturned, leaving Shuter free to return to teaching.[19]

In March 2015 Quintin Kynaston received unwelcome publicity with the revelation that Mohammed Emwazi, the ISIL killer who was portrayed in the media as "Jihadi John", had been a student at the school, leaving it in 2006.[20] Three former students were involved in ISIL. Mohammed Sakr was killed by a US drone strike in Somalia in 2012 and Choukri Ellekhlifi was killed in Syria in 2013 fighting alongside fellow ISIS members. The Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, ordered an investigation into the school.[21]

Quintin Kynaston School alumni

A new website[22] was launched in 2017, covering the period from 1956 to 1975. There is an annual Kynaston / Quintin Kynaston school reunion,[23]


Headteachers
Headteachers[24] Era School
Dr V. Butler-Smith1886–1892Polytechnic Day School for Boys
Charles Mitchell and David Woodhall1892–c.1918Polytechnic Commercial School and Polytechnic Technical School respectively
Percy Abbott1919–1934Polytechnic Secondary School
Frederick Wilkinson1934–1937Polytechnic Secondary School
Dr Bernard Worsnop1937–1958Polytechnic Secondary School and The Quintin School
A. J. Holt1958–1969The Quintin School
T. G. Jones1956–1959Kynaston School
G. H. Harmer1959–1969Kynaston School
A. J. Holt1969–1972Quintin Kynaston School
Peter Mitchell1972–1983Quintin Kynaston School
Laurie Goodhand1983–1986Quintin Kynaston School
Sheila Madgwick1987–1994Quintin Kynaston School
Nicholas Elliott-Kemp1994–2001Quintin Kynaston School
Jo Shuter2002–2013Quintin Kynaston School / Community Academy
Alex Atherton2014–2017Quintin Kynaston Academy
Liam McGillicuddy & Dr Chris Tomlinson [25]2017–2019Quintin Kynaston Academy / Harris Academy St John's Wood
Graeme Smith [26]2019-Harris Academy St John's Wood

Notable former pupils

Quintin School

Polytechnic Secondary School

References
  1. "School History". Quintin Kynaston School. Retrieved 12 June 2011.
  2. "More schools get specialist status". The BBC. 21 June 2001. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
  3. Teaching Awards Archived 8 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "History of the School | Quintin Kynaston". www.qk.org.uk. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  5. "Ofsted Report 2014". ofsted.gov.uk. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  6. "EduBase - Quintin Kynaston". www.education.gov.uk. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  7. "Quintin Kynaston Academy | School Inspection Report (January 2017)". ofsted.gov.uk. Ofsted. 19 January 2017. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  8. "Quintin Kynaston put in 'special measures' after Ofsted inspectors say it is inadequate". Camden New Journal. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  9. Roberts, Nerys. "The school curriculum in England Parliamentary Briefing Paper" (PDF). parliament.uk. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  10. "English Baccalaureate (EBacc)". GOV.UK. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  11. "Teaching and Learning Vision" (PDF). www.harrisstjohnswood.org.uk. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  12. Wiliam, Dylan (October 2013). Chambers, Peter (ed.). "Principled curriculum design" (PDF). Redesigning Schooling. SSAT (3). Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  13. "Curriculum Vision and Principles". www.harrisstjohnswood.org.uk. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  14. Alleyne, Richard (27 April 2005). "BBC drops film on 'inspirational teacher' – made by her sister". Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  15. Arnot, Chris (7 March 2006). "Superhead to the rescue (the director's cut)". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  16. "The Royal Air Force Award for Headteacher of the Year in a Secondary School". Teaching Awards. Archived from the original on 14 May 2014. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  17. "Head teacher Jo Shuter banned for life over personal expenses". BBC News. 13 May 2014. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  18. "Prohibition Order – Ms Joanna Shuter" (PDF). National College for Teaching and Leadership. 28 November 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  19. "'Superhead' Jo Shuter has teaching ban overturned". 3 February 2017.
  20. Randeep Ramesh. "Pictured – Mohammed Emwazi before he became Isis killer". the Guardian.
  21. "Jihadi John: first video of Mohammed Emwazi unmasked". Channel 4 News. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  22. "Kynaston School, St Johns Wood London Archive & Alumni". kynastonschool.com.
  23. "Kynaston School - Quintin Kynaston School ex Pupil & Teacher Reunions - Kynaston School". www.kynastonschool.com. held in St John's Wood, and attended by ex- pupils and teachers.
  24. "Head Teachers". Quintin Kynaston School. Retrieved 12 June 2011.
  25. https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Establishments/Establishment/Details/145126#school-dashboard
  26. https://www.harrisstjohnswood.org.uk/387/welcome-from-the-executive-principal-and-principal
  27. "What happened next?". The Guardian.
  28. "Michael Page". Super Fight League.
  29. "Fearless – Michael 'Venom' Page mini documentary". #WHOATV.
  30. Smithers, Rebecca. "Rebel with applause". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  31. http://www.bbl.org.uk/junior-williams-announced-as-london-city-royals-head-coach/
  • L. C. B. Seaman, The Quintin School 1886-1956, A Brief History.

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