Springwest Academy

Springwest Academy, formerly Feltham Community College, is a secondary school in Feltham in the London Borough of Hounslow.OverviewIn addition to the mainstream school, FCC also has two specialist units incorporated into it. These units are an Autism Resource Centre, (ARC) and a centre for students with physical disabilities (PD Centre).HistoryIn the 1960s three schools, Tudor Grammar, De Brome School and Lafone School, were amalgamated to form Feltham Comprehensive School, known as "The Feltham School". The school ran from three sites, Upper School, Browells Lane, 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, with pupils transferring to the De Brome building for what were then known as the third and fourth years of secondary school . 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 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.