https://twitter.com/hinchleywschool/status/1785715817533092205

18:00 PM - 1 May 2024

Well done to the Year 7 & Year 8 Netball Teams who took part in the Surrey Netball finals last Friday at the Surrey Sports Park. Year 7s came 4th in Division 1 and Year 8s came 4th in Division 2, this was out of all the schools in the Surrey and Woking league! pic.twitter.com/D8zIjJiXoH

https://twitter.com/hinchleywschool/status/1784991035199778866

18:00 PM - 29 Apr 2024

Well done to the Year 10s who completed their Silver DofE qualifying expedition at the weekend. They fully embraced the very wet and windy conditions showing considerable determination throughout. pic.twitter.com/btnjFjxeJm

https://twitter.com/hinchleywschool/status/1783904371970846761

18:02 PM - 26 Apr 2024

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https://twitter.com/hinchleywschool/status/1782816705862889698

18:00 PM - 23 Apr 2024

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https://twitter.com/hinchleywschool/status/1782477469666222451

19:32 PM - 22 Apr 2024

Year 12 Art students are having a great time experimenting with professional oil bars for the first time. The aim is to create large scale abstract oil paintings of exotic fruit. They enjoyed the new experience of freeing up and going abstract! pic.twitter.com/LvtEEzZDv7

https://twitter.com/hinchleywschool/status/1782008126948135406

12:27 PM - 21 Apr 2024

See below the fantastic job opportunity at Hinchley Wood Primary School! pic.twitter.com/J5METFm1ks

https://twitter.com/hinchleywschool/status/1781352809440403897

17:03 PM - 19 Apr 2024

Phil Earle, author of 25 books, treated our Year 7s to a virtual author visit on Thursday this week. His latest novels are: When the Sky Falls and Until the Road Ends. His talk was rounded off by an entertaining Q&A session and Phil's novels are available to borrow from the LRC. pic.twitter.com/7ksO2iYkDz

18:00 PM - 28 Mar 2024

The HWS March Newsletter is now available - please click on the link below:https://t.co/Lllvev9KxP

https://twitter.com/hinchleywschool/status/1772690987250270337

18:24 PM - 26 Mar 2024

Year 12 students took part in a charity Colour Run in aid of the Grace Dear Trust. Students ran or walked around the school field getting showered with washable paint. Lots of fun in the sunshine and raising £260 for the charity, whose ethos is ‘It’s OK to not be OK’. pic.twitter.com/RlcifqbI7M

https://twitter.com/hinchleywschool/status/1768702704187318343

18:16 PM - 15 Mar 2024

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History & Alumni

Serving the Local Community for Over 70 years

Hinchley Wood School's Claygate Lane site originally housed two separate schools, the Kingston Day Commercial School and the Hinchley Wood Central Council School; the former being an existing school moved from its location in Kingston.

The Central Council School opened on 4 March 1940 with 360 children drawn from five different local schools in Thames Ditton, Claygate and Long Ditton; there was no primary school in Hinchley Wood until after the war.  The students were aged 10 - 14 years, the latter being the statutory minimum school leaving age at that time, and the school had nine forms of 40 children each.  Mr P N Halifax was the head teacher who had a team of 12 permanent teaching staff.

In 1947 the two schools were merged to form the Hinchley Wood County Secondary School, although the physical joining together of the buildings took place gradually over many years.

With the merger both head teachers, Mr Bray and Mr Halifax, left and were replaced with one head, Mr Harold Thorp.  Hinchley Wood County Secondary took over the two buildings as well as the commercial courses originally run by the Kingston school.  An extension was built between the two school buildings in the 1960s and it now forms the school administrative offices on the ground floor and the modern languages department on the first floor.

  • In the 1960s the school had around 1200 pupils on roll from the ages of 12 to18 years.
  • Esher Sixth Form College was established in 1977 on the Thames Ditton site of Esher County Grammar School - formerly the Surbiton County Grammar School which was relocated from the current Hollyfield School site.
  • As a result Hinchley Wood became a 12-16 years school and this subsequently changed to 11-16 years when middle and first schools were abolished in Surrey.  The number of pupils on roll in the early 1990s was 600; today the school has 1173 students on its roll.

The school site has been developed over the years to accommodate a range of changes:

  • In 1996 the school successfully bid to become an 11-18 years school.  The first purpose built sixth form centre, which was housed in the Thwaites Building, was opened in 2001 with around 30 students; there are now over 200 sixth form students who enjoy life in the newly built Sixth Form Centre completed on the northern end of the first floor of the main building in September 2014.
  • The art/technology building was completed in 1995 providing two art rooms, one graphics rooms, one food technology room, one resistant materials workshop and three classrooms now used for the teaching of Philosophy, Religion and Ethics.
  • A new purpose built indoor sports centre with fitness gym, dance studio and a dining room with kitchen was opened in September 2002. 
  • In 2005 a new science wing was built on the southern end of the first floor of the main building.
  • The library was amalgamated into a new music centre with recording studio and practice rooms in 2006.
  • At the same time a new learning resource centre was created from the former science labs. 
  • October 2012: two astro truf pitches were built on part of the playing fields.
  • September 2014: the Learning Support Centre was relocated to the refurbished Lower Thwaites Building.
  • April 2016: an NAS Cullum Centre at the school, one of just four such facilities in Outstanding Surrey schools.  The centre planned in conjunction with the National Autistic Society (NAS) employs specialist support staff to work with high functioning autistic students to enable them to flourish in the mainstream school environment.
  • September 2016: two new state-of-the-art Science labs built to cater for the growing number of students who opt for A level Sciences and a purpose built Drama studio.
  • Summer 2018: creation of a third tennis court in the area formerly known as 'the cage'.
  • Summer 2020: main hall refurbishment, new lighting and installation of retractable seating.

Helping the School

If you are a former student of Hinchley Wood School, we want to hear from you!  Your experiences since leaving could help to motivate and inspire our current students to feel more confident in making decisions about their future.  We would love you to stay connected with the school and please do let us know if you would like to return to the school for a visit.

We are fortunate that many former students are able to help the school, either financially or by offering work experience or careers advice. We organise a Careers Fair every year and Corporate Breakfast meetings in the summer term and are always keen to find people willing to offer advice and work experience, or speak to students in small groups.  Do get in touch if you are able to help.