Our History

In October 2016 Beechwood School and Herschel Grammar School joined together forming a Multi Academy Trust.

Beechwood School is a coeducational secondary school located in the Britwell area of Slough and was established in 1982 when the former Haymill and Warren Field Secondary schools merged on the Warren Field site. The current school was built under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) scheme and completed in 2007. The school was constructed within the Beechwood School playing fields and the existing school was demolished once the new school was completed.

Herschel Grammar School is a selective coeducational secondary school first established in William Street, Slough in 1952.  In 1958, the school moved to a purpose-built site on Northampton Avenue, occupying land that had been used as a ‘Timbertown’, an area of temporary houses. The school has remained at Northampton Avenue, although for the 1988/89 academic year it temporarily moved to the site of the former Orchard Secondary Modern School while the permanent buildings were refurbished after damage to the roof in the storms of 1987.

Within its present buildings, the school has had the following names:-

• Slough Technical School (1943 to 1958);
• Slough Technical High School (1958 to 1971);
• Herschel High School (1971 to April 1984);
• Sir William Herschel Grammar School (April 1984 to May 1989);
• Herschel Grammar School (May 1989 to current);

In 2004, the school completed a sports centre, full-size astroturf pitches, a hockey pitch, four tennis courts, six indoor badminton courts, a dance studio and changing facilities, all with the aid of Sports Lottery funding.  This facility now serves as Herschel Sports Centre to the public when out of school hours.