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Location: Peterborough Road, London, England, United Kingdom.
Phone: +44 20 7731 2581
Hurlingham & Chelsea School:
Hurlingham and Chelsea School is located in the south of the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It is a fully comprehensive community school able to cater for 500-700 students between ages 11 & 16. The school does not currently have a sixth form although approval was given for this in 2009. In 2011 the school entered into a hard federation with a local primary school, Langford. The schools are independent of each other, however do share a governing body and Dr Phil Cross is the Executive Head of both schools. Dr Phil Cross is the Headteacher of Hurlingham and Chelsea.
History of Hurlingham & Chelsea School:
The school’s original buildings were constructed in 1956 by Sheppard Robson & Partners for the London County Council. It opened in 1956 and originally housed the 500 girls of Hurlingham School from Hugon Road in Fulham. The school became a mixed school in 1982 when it merged with a boys’ school called Chelsea School. The school is now one of nine schools in the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham serving secondary aged children, of which there are three academies, three foundation schools, one voluntary-aided school, one free school, with Hurlingham & Chelsea being the sole community school.
The school has had a turbulent history. It was described as a ‘failing school’ in the pilot Ofsted inspections in 1994, which prompted discussions of closure. Provision, however, was judged ‘good’ by Ofsted in 1997 and the school was highlighted for its improvement in HMCI’s 1999 Annual Report. Because results were consistently below government floor targets, however, the school was designated as a ‘school facing challenging circumstances’ in 2003. In March 2004 the school was placed under special measures. In November 2005 the school emerged from special measures and results have improved ever since. A proposal to close the school made in September 2006 was withdrawn in April 2007.
In January 2008, the school was highlighted as the most improved school in London (for the proportion of students achieving at least 5 A*-C grades at GCSE) and in July 2011 was judged to be ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted. The federation with Langford Primary School was established in February 2012 to raise standards in both schools through collaborative work and to provide for the first time the prospect of an enhanced and integrated educational, youth and community provision across the Sands End ward., and in 2005 Ofsted reported that the school was rapidly improving. In October 2006 the Local Authority proposed to close the school, but the school campaigned against this, and before adjudication, the council withdrew the proposal. In 2009, the school was given appropriations to expand and improve its facilities and to consider adding a sixth form program.
