Sedgehill School

The school opened in 1957 as a flagship campus for the new comprehensive education strategy, intended to replace the existing grammar, central and secondary modern schools. Much of the interior and fittings were avant garde and included specially designed 'Sedgehill furniture' that was later adopted by other schools run by the London County Council education department.

In 1971 the joint head of science at the school, Donnahadh O'Shea, was jailed for 12 months for possessing explosives after an explosion on a train injured a woman. He was convicted of possessing 2 lb. of nitrocellulose powder and 3,454 priming caps.[2][3][4]

An assistant headteacher, Patrick Stack, was found hanged in an outbuilding in the school grounds in 2001. He had been suffering from depression. He had been awarded the MBE for his outstanding contribution to education in the Queen's birthday honours for 2000.[5][6]

In 2008, the School had over 1,800 pupils with over half from ethnic minorities. The school was re-built in 15 months (while the old school was still open) by the London Borough of Lewisham to create a state-of-the-art learning environment. The project cost £6.3m and was carried out by Costain. The students moved into the new building in January 2009.

Lewisham Council and the parents of the pupils were concerned in 2014 about suitable interventions to improve pupils' results, and support was offered from Bethnal Green Academy and Hayes School.[7]

By September 2017 the school had contracted to under 1,000 students. The United Learning academy trust became a 'school improvement partner',[8] to address the longstanding criticism from Ofsted.[9] The school then became a sister school to Lambeth Academy. This was to be for a three-year period and the school was governed by an interim executive body. Sister schools are financially connected and can have joint social activities for students.[8] The partnership was successful from the interim board's point of view and parents have been told that this arrangement will become permanent. In September 2020 the school formally converted to academy status and is now sponsored by United Learning.

The mastery curriculum is based on four principles:

• Stephen "Sledge" Armstrong, bassist in the Neville Staple Band
• Django Bates, composer, multi-instrumentalist, band leader and educator[11]
• Nicholas Bennett, politician[12]
• Denis Bond, writer
• Jim Dowd, politician[13]
• Aminata Kabba, singer and songwriter
• Chris Kibble, pianist and keyboard player
• Alan Lancaster, co-founder, bassist and vocalist in Status Quo
• Moses Odubajo, professional footballer[14]
• Francis Rossi, co-founder, lead guitarist and vocalist in Status Quo[15]
• Ken Scott, record producer and engineer
• Steve Sutherland, DJ
• Kieron Toner, economist and author[16][17]
• Moses Boyd, British jazz drummer, composer, producer, amazing all round musician
• Theon Cross, Tubist, Sons of Kemet

• Official website