Springwest Academy, formerly Feltham Community College, is a Secondary school in Feltham in the London Borough of Hounslow.
Overview
In addition to the mainstream school, FCC incorporates two specialist units: the Autism Resource Centre (ARC), and the PD Centre for students with physical disabilities.
History
In the 1960s three schools, Tudor Grammar, De Brome (Boys Secondary Modern) School and Lafone (Girls Secondary Modern) School, were amalgamated to form Feltham Comprehensive School, known as "The Feltham School". The school ran from three sites, Upper School, Browells Lane (former Tudor Grammar site), and East and West Buildings located in Boundaries Road on the opposite side of the busy A312 Uxbridge Road. The Boundaries Road buildings were the former De Brome and Lafone sites respectively.
When Feltham School opened, the former Lafone building had 12-form entry at age 11,("Lower School") with pupils transferring to the De Brome building ("Middle School") for what were then known as the third and fourth years of secondary school (years 9 and 10 under the current year name system). In later years, prior to the move to a single site, both these buildings accommodated 11-14 year olds, i.e. present school years 7-10, with an equal number of forms in each building.
During the late 1970s the school had a poor reputation. The first head teacher of Feltham School, Percy Bambury, encountered many difficulties related to the adjustment to a non-selective comprehensive system while trying to retain many of the high standards of achievement of the former Tudor Grammar, of which he had also been Head Teacher. Separate Deputy Heads for each of the individual buildings attempted to encourage pupils to aim high and "seize the day" (the English translation of the new school's motto, still in use today). The catchment area for the school is often described by media commentators as a tough working class suburb of London, though in reality children at the school come from a wide range of backgrounds in an area with Heathrow Airport as the principal employer, but many other service, IT and retail industries operating in the area too.
The poor reputation may not have been entirely justified, however. The school achieved considerable success with musical productions and individual achievers such as Michael Collins and Wilfred Penny-Worth-Smythe. Also during this period, starting in November 1975, Deputy Head Brian Tyler (later featured in a BBC TV series about another comprehensive of which he became head) instituted what became a regular exchange programme for a number of years between students in the upper years of the school and Eton College in nearby Windsor. Feltham students stayed in the Eton College houses, went to lessons and generally entered into Eton's extra-curricular activities, while their Eton counterparts of similar age attended classes and social activities at Feltham while staying with the families of their exchanges.
The appointment of Paul M. Grant as Head Teacher on the retirement of Percy Bambury in 1976 led to improvements in both discipline and standards. There was also a large investment in the school by the London Borough of Hounslow. A sixth form centre and additional facilities for pupils of 15–16 years, necessitated by the raising of the school leaving age in 1973, had led to the construction of what became known as the ROSLA block on the Browells Lane site. This was followed with the opening in 1983 of the Art, Design and Technology Building, and the construction of the first astroturf pitches in the borough.
With the completion of this building, the former Lafone Girls School site (by now known as Lower West) was closed, with the exception of the separate gymnasium building. The main school building had been diagnosed with concrete cancer and was scheduled for demolition, which was completed by 1985.
Through the mid to late 1980s, the school became more involved in community education, no longer restricting use of the school for those between the ages 11 to 19. This led to the school changing its name to Feltham Community School. Popular evening classes even enabled former less successful students of the school to re-take A Levels in adult life and in many cases to go on to mature age entry to higher education.