Capital City Academy

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Capital City Academy
Motto	Success Breeds Success
Established	2003
Type	Academy
Principal	Mr Alex Thomas
Location	Doyle Gardens Willesden Greater London) NW10 3ST England Coordinates: 51°32′25″N 0°13′58″W / 51.54016°N 0.23282°W / 51.54016; -0.23282
Local authority	Brent
DfE URN	134226 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Students	1112
Gender	Mixed
Ages	11–18
Website	CCA

Capital City Academy (commonly abbreviated to CCA) is a specialist Sports and Arts Academy in Willesden, North West London, in the borough of Brent, UK.

Design

The School was designed by renowned architect, Sir Norman Foster and engineers Buro Happold, and is sponsored by Sir Frank Lowe. Capital City Academy was built to replace its predecessor Willesden High School, with its construction on the old school's playing fields opening in 2003. It was officially opened on 12 June 2003

Location

It is situated near Willesden Sports Stadium and King Edward VII Sports Ground. Although near Willesden Green, the school is in the parish of All Souls, Willesden. The school is also located not far from Roundwood park.

History

The school began as Willesden County Grammar School on Uffington Road (off Doyle Gardens) in 1924, and was extended in 1932. There were five grammar schools run by the Willesden Education Committee from 1947. In September 1940, a bomb destroyed four classrooms, and a V-1 flying bomb landed nearby in 1944 at the junction of Doyle Gardens and All Souls Avenue. For one year in 1966 it became Willesden Grammar-Technical School when it amalgamated with Leopold Road Secondary Modern School on Leopold Road This became Willesden High School when it went comprehensive in September 1967 when it joined with Pound Lane School on Pound Lane. It became an academy in 2003. It was the first of three academies in the UK, with the aim of attempting to overcome educational underachievement in deprived areas. At the time, Willesden High School had some of the worst GCSE results in the UK.^[1]

Uniform

The school is not strict about shoes they must be black and smart with no converses. Sports uniform is different and students must wear their house colour. All uniform can be purchased at Rumbles on Wembley High Street. Each year group has a different colour shirt. The jumper is royal blue, or less popular navy jackets can be worn. Trousers must be navy-not black, students get detention for wearing black trousers. Year 7 students wear a turquoise shirt or polo shirt Year 8 students wear a white shirt or polo shirt Year 9 students wear a sky blue shirt or polo shirt Year 10 students wear a royal blue shirt or polo shirt Year 11 students wear a navy blue shirt or polo shirt ^[2]

Sports Hall

The Academy's main sports hall is home to the London Capital basketball team, one of the leading clubs based in the capital city. Having recently featured in the British Basketball League for three years, the Caps currently compete in Division 1 of the English Basketball League.

Notable visits

Tony Blair - opened the Academy, and at the time of the visit, was Prime Minister for Great Britain.

Frank McCourt the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Angela's Ashes visited and signed copies of his books for the Gifted education CILIP group of students, reviewing the Carnegie Medal and Kate Greenaway Medal nominations of the year.^[3]

CCA in media

The children

The Children was a TV Mini Series aired on ITV in September 2008. The main character was a headteacher played by Morse actor, Kevin Whately. The scenes set at his school were filmed in the academy, with students acting as extras.

Teachers TV

The Academy has been filmed for Teachers TV a number of times most notably in its first two years.^[4] where it goes into depth about the school on the original site of the Academy, Willesden High School.

Murderland

Scenes from an episode of Murderland, an ITV drama, were also filmed in the school. The series, starring actor Robbie Coltrane, on his return to ITV Dramas, received over a quarter of the audience share in Britain for the first episode in the three-part series.^[5]

Pot Noodle

A high school pot noodle advert was filmed in the canteen and sports hall of CCA in 2009.

Alumni

Willesden County Grammar School

Gerry Anderson, renowned animator and creator of Thunderbirds (TV series)
Carl Cushnie, first black entrepreneur to enter Britain's richest 500 people (number 312) in 1998, becoming Britain's richest black businessman, sentenced for six years for Fraud in 2004
Ron Goodwin (briefly), renowned composer of soundtracks such as Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines and 633 Squadron
Eric Lomas, Managing Director from 1994-7 of London Gatwick Airport, and from 1989-94 of London Stansted Airport
John Neville CM OBE, actor who starred in Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Prof Graham Warren, Professor of Cell Biology from 1999-2007 at Yale School of Medicine
Molly Parkin, fashion writer and novelist

Former teachers

Max Morris, headteacher from 1966-78 of Willesden High School and President of the NUT from 1973-4

References

External links

v t e Schools and colleges in Brent

Primary schools	Islamia Primary School Preston Manor School Sinai school Torah Temimah Primary School

Secondary schools	Alperton Community School Capital City Academy Claremont High School Convent of Jesus and Mary Language College Copland Science Specialist College Crest Boys' Academy Crest Girls' Academy JFS Kingsbury High School Newman Catholic College Preston Manor School Queens Park Community School Wembley High Technology College

Independent schools	Brondesbury College London Welsh School The Swaminarayan School

Further education colleges	College of North West London

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