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School History

Queens’ School was formed in 1969 as a result of the amalgamation of Alexandra School, founded in 1901, and Bushey Grammar School, founded in 1950. Bushey Grammar school, originally called Watford Central School, was established in 1912. Both schools vacated sites in Watford, Judge Street and Derby Road respectively. In 1985, Grange Park School became part of Queens’.

The original Bushey Grammar School occupied the Northwest side of the Aldenham Road and Alexandra School occupied the Southeast side. A pedestrian underpass connected the two schools.

Queens’ derives its name from three queens. Bushey Grammar School had a strong connection with The Queen’s College, Oxford. Alexandra School was named after Queen Alexandra, the consort of King Edward VII. Our Queen Elizabeth II was on the throne at the time of the amalgamation.

A house based pastoral system was inherited from Bushey Grammar School with Auden and Sutherland located on the South Side and Newton and Drake on the North side. In 2018, the school moved to a year based pastoral system. The Houses remain important and students wear their House colours with pride. In 2019, to mark our 50th birthday, the Houses were renamed by students to be more representative of our school community. The new Houses are Attenborough, Franklin, Seacole and Turing.

Our school was successfully awarded grant-maintained status in 1993 and became a foundation school in 1999. In 2003, Queens’ became a Specialist Sports College and in 2007 recognised as a High Performing School. In 2008, Queens’ achieved Science College status. Desiring greater freedom and autonomy, Queens’ converted to an academy in 2011.