Newstead Wood School

Newstead Wood School is a state selective girls' grammar school in Avebury Road, Orpington, London, England.[1][2]

Newstead Wood School
Address
Avebury Road

Orpington
,
London
,
BR6 9SA

England
Coordinates51.367°N 0.077°E / 51.367; 0.077
Information
TypeGrammar Academy
MottoFortitudine Crescamus ('May We Grow in Strength')
Established1957
Department for Education URN136551 Tables
OfstedReports
Head teacherMr Alan Blount
GenderGirls (mixed in the sixth form)
Age11 to 18
Enrolment987
HousesNightingale     , Wren     , Swift     , Falcon     , Griffin     , Phoenix     
Websitehttps://www.newsteadwood.co.uk

Admissions

The school specialises in engineering and languages, and has a strong rivalry with nearby St Olave's Grammar School. 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.

Headteachers
  • Alan Blount 2018-present
  • Nicholas Webb 2015–2018
  • 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

In 2003 Newstead Wood was described by Ofsted as "an outstandingly successful school". 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 and competition is intense. In 2004 there were eight applicants per place. Amongst leavers in 2005, 25 students gained places at Oxford and Cambridge universities.

It gets the second best A-level results in Bromley, after the St Olave's school – Bromley's parallel selective school for boys – and around the tenth best in Greater London.

In both 2010 and 2011, the school achieved the second best GCSE results in the country.[5]

Houses

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.

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

Orpington Grammar School for Girls
gollark: The Wooden Hoe Generator!
gollark: In extreme hills.
gollark: Stone brick/cobble monster eggs.
gollark: I mean completely. They spawn naturally and hide in monster eggs, you know.
gollark: Anyone know a good way to totally disable silverfish?

References
  1. Read, Peter. "Grammar School 11 plus review, plus statistics for Headteacher Assessment, out of county passes, and Medway out of county". Kent Independent Education Advice. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  2. John Clare (9 April 2003). "Any questions?". The Daily Telegraph.
  3. National Archives
  4. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/6590063/Schools-reluctant-to-push-brightest-pupils.html The Daily Telegraph November 2009
  5. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12162495
  6. "Barbara Harriss-White". Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
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