Preston Manor School
| Preston Manor School | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Address | |
 | |
Carlton Avenue East , , HA9 8NA England | |
| Information | |
| Type | All-through academy |
| Established | 1938 |
| Specialist | Science |
| Department for Education URN | 139319 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Age | 4 to 18 |
| Enrollment | 1590 |
| Former names | Preston Manor County Grammar School, Preston Manor High School & Sixth Form |
| High Performance Leading Options | Leading Edge |
| Website | http://www.pmanor.brent.sch.uk |
Preston Manor School is an all-through school within the London Borough of Brent, located in the Preston area. It educates primary and secondary school-age children and has a sixth form.
History
Grammar school
It was founded in 1938 as Preston Manor County Grammar School and its first headteacher was Mr W.P. Bannister, who recruited excellent staff and maintained high standards throughout the War .. He remained headmaster until his death in 1963. Other long serving teachers were Mr Clarke, Miss Cave, Mr Kernutt, Mr & Mrs Kent and Miss Mullins. It provided a traditional grammar school curriculum with science and languages streams. The school motto was "Munas prae jure" which may be translated as "Duty before rights".
Comprehensive
It became a Technology College in 1993.
Preston Manor as a Science College
Preston Manor was amongst the first cohort of schools nationally to become a specialist Science College in 2002 with Mathematics as an additional specialism.
Science and Maths achievement have increased dramatically and continue to improve since becoming a specialist college. Results for both subjects are significantly above the National Average across all key stages.
It has four local primary partner schools in the borough that it works with throughout the year as part of its specialist science community work. Pupils at Ark Academy, Oakington Manor, Byron Court, Preston Park and Wembley Manor pay regular visits to its laboratories or receive outreach lessons from its trained science teachers. It also works closely with its secondary community partners, JFS and the KS3 Pupil Referral Unit pupil to provide an enriched and motivating curriculum for their students. It is continuing to develop its community work, offering workshops to parents and members of the local community on Science and Health related issues.
Academy
The school converted to academy status in February 2013.
Academic results
Over the past five years, achievement of students at Key Stage 3 have been consistently above the national average in all three core subjects. At Key Stage 4 the percentage of students achieving 5 or more A* to C grades at GCSE has risen steadily over the past 3 years (from 70% in 2004 to 74% in 2006). The percentage of students achieving 5 or more A* to G grades has remained steady over the same period (at 98% or 99%).
In summer 2006 it achieved its highest ever examination successes at GCSE and Post 16, putting Preston Manor in the top 25% of schools nationally. As a result of the innovative practice within the school, it hosted over ten visits for educationalists from the Department for Education and Skills (including the Secretary of State) and other schools to showcase good practice in raising achievement with African, African-Caribbean boys, whole school literacy and most importantly the personalisation of education.
It gets the second best GCSE and A-level results in Brent, with well-above average results, although the GCSE results are better than those at A-level. The best in Brent is JFS, which gets results similar to a grammar school.
Ofsted Reports
In November 2005, Ofsted judged the school to be outstanding overall, recognising Preston Manor as a forward-thinking school, whose commitment and level of care to students is outstanding. In recognition of its consistently high standards, it gained High Performing Specialist School status and was asked to take on a second specialism, which will add to its already extensive collaborative work with local primary and secondary schools.
Preston Manor has now started to teach food technology and DT. These options will be available to choose from GSCE options in many more years to come.
Expansion
As of September 2008 Preston Manor began admitting forty more students into its cohort. In order to facilitate this the school needed to expand. Work began in January 2008 on a £4.5 million project which will see a new teaching block and a 4 court sports hall built, amongst other new facilities.
Notable former pupils
- Ayesha Asantewaa, presenter on BBC Radio 1Xtra
- Darren Currie - footballer with a number of professional and non-League clubs in England
- Michelle Griffith - triple jumper
- Junior Lewis - footballer and coach with a number of professional and non-League clubs in England
- Una Padel (1956-2006) - criminal justice reformer, known for her work in penal reform
- Lady Sovereign - musician (expelled)
- Kapil Trivedi - drummer for the British Indie Group Mystery Jets
Preston Manor County Grammar School
- Bob Blackman - Conservative MP since 2010 for Harrow East
- Simon Bond, author of 101 Uses for a Dead Cat
- Barbara Bray née Jacobs, distinguished scholar of French literature and a well-known literary translator,[1] partner of Samuel Beckett
- Michael Cole, former forthright BBC journalist until 1988, and later spokesman for Mohamed Al-Fayed, and frequently seen after the Death of Diana, Princess of Wales
- Mike Ellis (athlete), hammer thrower who competed in the Rome 1960 Summer Olympics, and won gold for England at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff
- Mark Goodfellow, Ambassador to Gabon from 1986–90
- Prof Raymond Gosling, worked with the DNA team at King's College London in the early 1950s, and took the infamous Photo 51 in May 1952, that enabled Watson and Crick to deduce the structure of DNA was a double helix
- John Hosier CBE - Head of schools music broadcasts at the BBC from 1960–73 and Principal of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama from 1978–89
- Andrew Pryce Jackman, keyboardist in The Syn who arranged the arranged Peter Skellern song 1972 You're a Lady, and whose father Bill Jackman played the clarinet on When I'm Sixty-Four, and his son is the film composer Henry Jackman, notably for Big Hero 6
- Jeffrey Kenner, Professor of Law since 2005 at the University of Nottingham
- Vivian Liff, known for The Record of Singing
- Derek Milton, High Commissioner to Jamaica from 1989–95
- Derek Partridge CMG, High Commissioner of Sierra Leone from 1986–91
- Brenda Polan, fashion journalist
- Prof Gary Slapper, Professor of Law at the Open University - writes the Case Notes column for The Times
- Jim Slater, private investor who started Slater Walker in the 1960s, and the Really Essential Financial Statistics (REFS) company financial information system in 1994, and who wrote The Zulu Principle
- Jeffrey Sterling, Baron Sterling of Plaistow CBE, Chairman from 1983-2005 of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O), owns the Swan Hellenic cruise line, and founded Motability in 1977
- Rosemary Thew, Chief Executive from 2005-13 of the Driving Standards Agency,[2] who arranged its merger with VOSA
- Mari Wilson, singer
References
- ^ Andrew Todd Obituary: Barbara Bray, The Guardian, 4 March 2010
- ^ Rosemary Thew