Newstead Wood School

Newstead Wood School
Address
Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap
Avebury Road Orpington , Greater London , BR6 9SA England
Coordinates	51°22′01″N 0°04′37″E / 51.367°N 0.077°E / 51.367; 0.077Coordinates: 51°22′01″N 0°04′37″E / 51.367°N 0.077°E / 51.367; 0.077
Information
Type	Grammar Academy
Motto	Fortitudine Crescamus ('May We Grow in Strength')
Established	1957
Trust	United Learning
Department for Education URN	136551 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Head teacher	Mr Alan Blount
Gender	Girls (mixed in the sixth form)
Age	11 to 18
Enrolment	987
Houses	Nightingale  , Wren  , Swift  , Falcon  , Griffin  , Phoenix
Website	https://www.newsteadwood.co.uk
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Newstead Wood School is a state selective girls' grammar school in Avebury Road, Orpington, Greater London, England.^[1][2]

Admissions[]

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The school specialises in engineering and psychology. The current head teacher is Alan Blount. The school's motto is Fortitudine Crescamus (Latin for: 'May we grow in strength'). The school has recently begun admitting boys into the sixth form.

It is in the Crofton area of Orpington, not far from the A21 and next to Darrick Wood. Darrick Wood School and the Princess Royal University Hospital are the other side of Darrick Wood, to the west. The London Outer Orbital Path passes adjacent to the playing fields. It lies in the parish of St Paul's, Crofton.

History[]

It was founded as the Orpington Grammar School for Girls in 1957,^[3] when administered by the Kent Education Committee. It became part of Bromley in 1965. There were firm plans for the school to become comprehensive in 1978. Nearby Bullers Wood School went comprehensive in the late 1970s.

In 1997, a survey in the Sunday Times found that the school was the best value in England for each A or B grade achieved at A-level, second to St Olave's school; Bromley was a low spender (per pupil) comparative to other LEAs. In 2004, a pupil gained the best result at Maths GCSE in England. In 2009 the headteacher told the conference in Harrogate of the Girls' Schools Association^[4] that schools were not concentrating on brighter pupils, instead trying to raise average pupils' grades from D to C, and that girls in mixed-sex schools can have their ambitions crushed and be held back in male-dominated professions (girls from single-sex schools are statistically more successful in science-based professions than from mixed schools). She also criticised a government scheme to give one-to-one tuition to less able pupils, and not more-able students, when considering the lack of women in traditionally-male occupations, and she claimed there was a 'huge reluctance' to concentrate on top students.

On 1 April 2011, the school gained academy status and is now sponsored by United Learning.

Headteachers[]

• Alan Blount 2018–present
• Nicholas Webb 2015–2018
• Alison Ross 2014-2015
• Elizabeth Allen CBE (technically Mrs E Bennett) 2001–2013 (Headteacher from 1993 to 2001 of Altwood Church of England School, and a former Religious Studies teacher)
• Barbara Gibbs FRSA 1994–2001 (later Headteacher from 2001 to 2006 of the British School in the Netherlands, and a former Chemistry teacher)
• Valerie Smith 1980–1994
• Hilda M. Pipe 1957–1980 (The school's first headmistress. Opened the school in temporary quarters, before the move to the Avebury Road site. Former student of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Miss Pipe died in 2006. The Pipe Partridge Building at Lady Margaret Hall was partially funded by her legacy and was named in her honour.)

Academic performance[]

At its last full inspection in 2014, Newstead Wood was rated by Ofsted as Outstanding,^[5] and a more recent visit did not result in an inspection judgement.^[6] The school has a large catchment area, from which pupils are selected on the basis of tests in verbal and non-verbal reasoning. Around 900 girls sit the entrance tests annually.^{[citation needed]}

The school was ranked third amongst secondary schools in Bromley based on overall performance at end of key stage 4 in 2019 - all pupils on the Progress 8 benchmark.^[7]

Times Parent Power ^[8] has ranked the School's A-level 2019 results 121st in the country (previous year 161st) and GCSE 2019 results 11th (previous year 15th) and also ranks it 11th amongst all secondary schools in Greater London.^[9]

Houses[]

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Initially the school had no house system but when it was introduced there were only three houses: Nightingale, Wren and Swift. The first letters of each house came from the initials of Newstead Wood School, and the name of the house was both a bird, and a notable historical figure (Florence Nightingale, Christopher Wren and Jonathan Swift). Each year group had three classes, one from each house. As the school expanded, each year group grew to 4 classes, and a fourth house, Griffin, was founded. The school continued to expand, growing to 5 classes in each year, and so the Falcon house was founded. It expanded still, having six classes since the September 2013 intake.

The school now consists of six houses: Nightingale, Wren, Swift, Falcon, Griffin and Phoenix. The first five house names come from the school's initials NWSFG (Newstead Wood School For Girls), the sixth house, Phoenix was added in 2017 and celebrates the school reaching six forms for all years in the school. The September 2017 intake was the first year group to include Phoenix.

Entrance examinations[]

There are currently two examinations required to gain a place at the school: verbal and non-verbal reasoning.^[10]

Notable former pupils[]

This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (August 2018)

Josie Long at the Green Man Festival (Brecon Beacons) in August 2010

• Dina Asher-Smith, athlete who won a team bronze medal in the women's 4 × 100 m relay at the 2016 Rio Olympics and 3 medals at the Athletic Championships 2019
• Gemma Chan, actress known for her role as Astrid in Crazy Rich Asians, and as Anita/Mia on the television drama Humans
• Samantha Baines, actress and comedian
• Suzi Brent, blogger and author
• Leela Bunce
• Libby Jackson, space exploration expert, author and former controller and flight director for the Columbus Module, the European module of the International Space Station.
• Emma Johnson MBE, clarinettist, winner of the 1984 BBC Young Musician of the Year, and Bronze in the Eurovision Young Musicians 1984
• Liv Little, Editor in Chief and Founder of gal dem magazine
• Josie Long, comedian
• Kim Medcalf, actress who played Sam Mitchell (EastEnders) from 2002 to 2005
• Emma Raducanu, British tennis player ^[11]
• Josephine Vander Gucht - part of the duet Oh Wonder
• Barbara Harriss-White,^[12] Professor of Development Studies at the University of Oxford

Orpington Grammar School for Girls[]

• Christine Hancock, general secretary from 1989 to 2001 of the Royal College of Nursing

References[]

External links[]

• Newstead Wood School website
• Alumni
• EduBase^{[permanent dead link]}