Overview
Hinchley Wood School admits pupils from the age of eleven to between sixteen and eighteen. The school has a Sixth Form which provides a total of 20 AS level/A level subjects: one year and two year non-workplace courses respectively.
Next to the grounds is Hinchley Wood Primary School, one of the three main contributing schools, the other equal status partnership schools being Long Ditton St Mary's Junior School and Thames Ditton Junior School. A lesser partner is Claygate Primary School as currently preference affecting half of Claygate applies foremost: a roughly eastern division, which is subject to removal under pending proposals to rely more on certain Claygate feeder schools as the secondary feeder schools. Regard is also had a to a geographical catchment based on homes. [5]
Hinchley Wood School has Music College specialism. Government statutory reports on the school praise its jazz band: Banda di Jazz and samba band which hold regular concerts, and overall variety of music taught and equipment.
Sustainability technology
The school's Sustainability Group supports for instance its Green Flag Award balancing trees, grass, wildlife, hardstanding/buildings and outdoor sports. Allowing for reduction in fossil fuel use and in daytime energy costs, the school has a large array of photovoltaic cells which also lowers carbon dioxide emissions.
History
Kingston Day Commercial School and the Hinchley Wood Central County Council School are its predecessors on the existing site, which merged in 1947.
The Central Council School opened on 4 March 1940 with 360 children drawn exclusively from five schools in Thames Ditton, Claygate and Long Ditton; there was no primary school in Hinchley Wood until after the war, which in itself was a breakaway area as was Claygate, from Thames Ditton. The students were aged 10 – 14 years reflecting the statutory minimum leaving age at that time and the school had nine forms of 40 children each.
In 1996 after an absence of many decades the school successfully bid for funds (based on local need and teaching experience) with Surrey County Council to resume education in a sixth form. [6]
Specialist needs
The school has a lower degree of speech, Language and Communications Needs ('SCLN') and SEN children than nearby schools. Children who struggle in these area receive extra support wherever achievable within the school's financial constraints and it is natural that these children are totally integrated into all aspects of the school community.
In 2012, 3.6% of pupils were supported by school action plus or with a statement of SEN, compared with the national average of 8.1%, an decrease of 0.4% on the previous year. [7] The school was in the news in 2021 due to a disability discrimination case where the school was accused of unfair treatment towards a student with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The school has also been accused of attempting to 'off role' students, excluding them with the aim of preserving the reputation of the school. [8]
Esher is a town in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole.
Elmbridge is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Esher, and other notable towns and villages include Cobham, Walton-on-Thames, Weybridge and Molesey. The borough lies just outside the administrative boundary of Greater London, but is mostly within the M25 motorway which encircles London. Many of the borough's urban areas form part of the wider Greater London Built-up Area.
Long Ditton is a residential suburb in the Borough of Elmbridge, Surrey, England on the boundary with the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, London. In medieval times it was a village, occupying a narrow strip of land. Neighbouring settlements include Hinchley Wood, Thames Ditton and Surbiton.
Thames Ditton is a suburban village on the River Thames, in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey, England. Apart from a large inhabited island in the river, it lies on the southern bank, centred 12.2 miles (19.6 km) southwest of Charing Cross in central London. Thames Ditton is just outside Greater London but within the Greater London Urban Area as defined by the Office for National Statistics. Its clustered village centre and shopping area on a winding High Street is surrounded by housing, schools and sports areas. Its riverside faces the Thames Path and Hampton Court Palace Gardens and golf course in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its most commercial area is spread throughout its conservation area and contains restaurants, cafés, shops and businesses.
Esher and Walton is a constituency in Surrey represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Since 2010, it has been represented by Dominic Raab of the Conservative Party, who served as deputy prime minister before resigning from that role in April 2023 due to bullying allegations. In May he announced he would be standing down as an MP at the next general election.
The Scilly Isles is a double roundabout in Hinchley Wood, Surrey, between the English towns of Esher and Kingston upon Thames on the traditional route of the Portsmouth Road. The name is a corruption of "silly islands", a nickname given to the road system when it was built in the 1930s.
Claygate is an affluent suburban village in Surrey, England, 14 miles southwest of central London. It is the only civil parish in the borough of Elmbridge. Adjoining Esher and Hinchley Wood to the west and north respectively, and bordered by green belt land to the south and east, Claygate lies within the Greater London Built-up Area.
Esher Sixth Form College is an open access, non-selective 16-19 Academy located in Thames Ditton, Surrey, England.
Broadwater School is a coeducational secondary school in the village of Farncombe, situated in the county of Surrey in England. Established as Broadwater County Secondary School the official opening was on Monday, 8 July 1968 [reference: Opening Programme]. The opening ceremony was performed by Chairman of Surrey County Council followed by a Prayer of Dedication by the Rector of Farncombe, Revd. E. R. Barnes. It has been a mixed comprehensive school since c.1970 and has approximately 600 students aged 11–16 years. Its main building has a multi-wing layout and between one and four floors. Elizabeth "Lizzi" Matthews succeeded Christopher Lee as Headteacher in 2017.
Gemma Bissix is an English actress. She has been acting since the age of 9. Her most prominent roles have been in soap operas, as Clare Bates in EastEnders and Clare Devine in Hollyoaks ; she was awarded with two British Soap Awards for the latter role. Away from soap opera, Bissix has appeared in various television programmes and she competed in the 2009 series of Dancing on Ice. She has appeared in various pantomimes. Bissix returned to Hollyoaks in 2013.
Esher was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. In the general elections during its 47-year lifetime it was won by three Conservatives successively. In area it shrank in 1974, then regrew in 1983 taking in four sparsely inhabited wards which proved to be temporary, as omitted from the successor seat, Esher and Walton.
Weston Green is a small suburban village and a ward in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey. This area was, until 1901, a part of Thames Ditton with which it remains contiguous and associated. Weston Green is also contiguous with Esher, which provides the village's closest railway station. The village forms a rough triangle of land along the west side of the midsection of the Hampton Court Branch Line next to Thames Ditton railway station and down to Esher railway station, with the split between the two being the part dual-carriageway, the A309.
Hinchley Wood is a suburb in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey, England, approximately 13 miles (21 km) south-west of Charing Cross in central London, and within the Greater London Urban Area. It developed largely around its railway station at its heart on the New Guildford Line — and many of its homes house at least one commuter to Central London. The suburb has one main parade of convenience shops, local services and a petrol station; throughout the area is a light smattering of small businesses.
The A309 is a mostly primary status A-road that runs in two sections, a short section in Twickenham and Teddington as a non-primary status A-road, as well as the much longer primary A- Road section that runs from Hampton Court to Hook.
Elmbridge Eagles RL are a rugby league club from Elmbridge in Surrey. They were one of the founding members of the Rugby League Conference as Kingston.
The Rythe is a tributary of the River Thames in north Surrey, England. It runs through woodland for approximately half of its course, but is also culverted and passes through suburban gardens. It joins the Thames between Thames Ditton and Long Ditton. Its longest branch is the Arbrook which drains Arbrook Common, a woodland area of Esher Commons.
The Elmbridge Guardian is a weekly free local newspaper covering the borough of Elmbridge, in Surrey. It is published once a week, on a Thursday, and is distributed free of charge.
