Kingsbury High School is a large two-site high school with academy status in Kingsbury, London, England.

Kingsbury County Grammar School was established on 15 September 1925 as Kingsbury County School. Prior to the establishment of the school, the area had been served by a number of schools, which, in keeping with the future history of Kingsbury County School, had been subjected to the prevailing changes in population and politics of the area. Although there are reports of a school being kept in the area in c. 1530, by John Bishop the curate of Kingsbury, there is no more evidence until the nineteenth century of schooling in Kingsbury. Schooling is mentioned in 1819, and in 1822 a day school was opened. This school was situated near the junction of Kingsbury Road and Roe Green, which itself is looked upon by the current Kingsbury High School. This school was closed in 1876. Other schools existed in the area as well, with nearly all children in Kingsbury said to have attended one school or another in 1847. Kingsbury School Board was set up in 1875 following a damning report as to the cramped premises of the British School at the Hyde end of Kingsbury Road, itself an 1870 replacement of an infant's school that had been built in 1861 to the Congregational chapel in Edgware Road. Kingsbury Board School on Kingsbury Road, opened by the Kingsbury School Board in 1876, was to accommodate 130 pupils. In 1903 this became Kingsbury Council School. In 1922 this became the first senior mixed school in the area after its infants had been transferred to the new Kenton Lane Council School in 1922. This school operated as a junior school after 1928 until it was bombed in the Second World War.

The establishment of Kingsbury County School

When Kingsbury County School was opened in 1925, it was originally housed in a building which once belonged to the Aircraft Manufacturing Company, (or Airco as it was also known) on the Edgware Road opposite Colindale Avenue (now a Jewish school). The building had been adapted to take 380 pupils. The school currently takes on more than 300 pupils a year culminating in just under 2,000 pupils (including sixth form).

The school became an academy on 14 February 2012.

Ofsted rating

Since academising in 2012, Kingsbury High School has received two full inspections, in 2014 and 2024, as well as an interim assessment in 2013 and a short inspection in 2018. All of these inspections rated the school as Good, the second-highest of Ofsted's four possible ratings.

2026 stabbing

On 10 February 2026, two pupils were stabbed, the high school was then placed on lockdown. Both were taken to hospital, and a 13-year-old was arrested.

School motto and badge

100px|left|Kingsbury County School Badge

The school's motto, Spectemur agendo (meaning Let us be Judged by Our Actions) has remained consistent from the school's foundation being that of the original Kingsbury County School in 1925. The badge has altered over time although there are still elements of consistency. Both the original and current badges have a crown in the centre of the badge. The original badge had the crown sitting atop three drawn sabres arranged horizontally on top of each other, reducing in size from top to bottom. The current badge has the crown sitting atop a triangle which has replaced the sabres but is representative of the shape the sabres formed. The current badge has also lost the top portion of the original badge which represented two turrets of a battlement.

97x97pxThis is the current badge, updated in 2018. The colours have been slightly adjusted with a few colour refinements to make it look more modern.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of the school include:

  • Dhiren Barot, terrorist, convicted terrorist for the organisation known as Al-Qaeda
  • Mutya Buena, pop singer, founding member of Sugababes
  • Keisha Buchanan, vocalist, founding member of Sugababes
  • Ekow Eshun, journalist and broadcaster, former Artistic Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts
  • George Michael, singer, member of Wham!
  • Courtney Pine, jazz saxophonist
  • Malcolm Press, Vice-Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University

Notable alumni from the previous schools include:

  • Shirley Eaton - actress
  • Steve Nardelli - singer and songwriter The Syn
  • Dennis H. Osborne -artist
  • Julie Rogers - singer
  • Charlie Watts, The Rolling Stones drummer
  • William Woollard - TV producer and presenter

References

  • Kingsbury High Site
  • Kingsbury High School Alumni & Old Scholars
  • Ofsted Report