Cllr Ray Puddifoot, Leader of the Council for Hillingdon, and Boris Johnson, MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, unveil a plaque for the opening of Oak Wood School.
The original school, Abbotsfield School for Boys, was established on Clifton Gardens in 1953. The Abbotsfield and Swakeleys schools consisted of fourteen one- to two-storey blocks dating from the 1950s to 2005 and shared one site.
The old school was renamed on 20 July 2018 and was relaunched as co-educational under the name Oak Wood School.[2] The original closing date was put as 2016, though this was delayed in order to allow building works to be completed on the site. The old school buildings were used until the new facility was opened, at which point the old buildings were demolished, with the same happening to Swakeleys School's buildings. The new building works for both Abbotsfield and Swakeleys were funded by the London Borough of Hillingdon. The reason cited for Abbotsfield's re-opening as co-ed was due to the school's low admission rates and performance.[3]
The school moved into its new building in January 2018. On 2 February 2018, Ray Puddifoot, Leader of the Hillingon Council, and Boris Johnson, MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip attended[4] alongside headteacher Mark Bland. The pair unveiled a plaque in the school's entrance hall. Cllr Ray Puddifoot was a former pupil of the school.
The new school building has purpose-built drama and music areas, 4-court sports hall and external sports courts, dance studio, increasing the number of school places by 375. A vocaThe school has specially resourced provision for pupils with SEND.
The school has now reached 'Good' status in 2022 under the current headteacher, Daniel Cowling.[5]
