History

In 1946, Hillcrest School, a small boys boarding preparatory school which had evacuated from Frinton-on-Sea to Wales during the war years, moved to Akeley Wood and soon took on the name of its new home.  In 1972 the school was reorganised to provide a genuinely co-educational environment in which boys and girls could flourish together academically and also combine their complementary qualities in Art and Music, Drama and Sport.

The emphasis was now firmly on an up-to-date day education, with the last of the boarders leaving in 1980. A Junior department was quickly introduced and in 1976 provision was also made for those who wanted to remain at Akeley Wood to take their Ordinary Level (subsequently GCSE) examinations. A Sixth Form was added in 1987.

The rapid growth of the school meant that additional premises were needed. Wicken Park was acquired in 1988 and provides an ideal home for the Junior School; ten years later the acquisition of Tile House Mansion enabled the creation of a Lower School to meet the needs of nine and ten year olds. In 2009 the school population was reorganised across the three school sites to reflect the current structure.

Today Akeley Wood has about nine hundred pupils and an outstanding reputation, but each site retains the secure, family atmosphere of a small school. We are very proud of our achievements, but prouder still that through all the changes and the remarkable growth, Akeley Wood has remained a very happy place.