Pimlico Academy

Pimlico Academy (formerly Pimlico School) is a mixed sex education secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in the Pimlico area of Westminster in London.

After many years of underperformance, culminating with Ofsted's decision to place the school in special measures and the resignation of former head teacher Phil Barnard in December 2006, Westminster council controversially voted in March 2008 to transform Pimlico into an academy. During the process of Pimlico's change to an academy, the council argued that the borough's community education needs could be sufficiently served by preserving the existing community school status of Quintin Kynaston School. However, since then QK switched to a community foundation school, meaning that there were no longer any community schools in Westminster akin to the traditional inner city comprehensive. The charity Future, set up by John and Caroline Nash, was chosen as the academy’s sponsor in 2008. The chair of the trust, Nash was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for School System from January 2013 until September 2017. In 2010 the school received a Grade 1 ‘Outstanding’ rating from Ofsted. No further full inspection has been undertaken since. In 2015, a freedom of information request revealed that Pimlico Academy, Paddington Academy and Westminster Academy were given £2 million of extra non refundable funding to balance their budgets, 3 of 22 nationally sharing £12.6 million. Pimlico deficit funding between 2011 and 2013, was £1 million: schools are not allowed to run a deficit budget.

In 2013 Labour councillors called for an inquiry after the new Pimlico primary school where Nash was co chairman of the governors appointed an unqualified teacher as headmistress ahead of its opening with 60 pupils in September. Further criticism followed when she resigned after four weeks in the job. The school said that the headmistress had successfully set up the school and wished to pursue other opportunities. An Oxford University history graduate, Jo Nash had previously worked in the office of the Tory minister Iain Duncan Smith; she joined Future as an unqualified teacher and as an adviser to help design the trust's history curriculum and recruit teachers. Students expressed concern that the school's revised syllabus taught too little about Black history and that a strict appearance policy banning colourful hijabs and hairstyles which "block the view of others" was racist. A slogan was painted reading: "there is no black in the Union Jack". On 31 March, students staged a protest (which was falsely said to be a walkout) and gathered in the playground with those parents and teachers who supported them. The trust's chief executive, the headteacher and the vice principal met representatives of the students and agreed to all their demands. When Smith addressed the staff, the following day, he said he was using the Easter break to reflect on the changes: there were cries of "Leave". It was revealed that in the no confidence vote, 85 members of staff had voted for the motion which resulted in a 99% vote of no confidence, and 98% had voted to proceed to industrial action. To start the new term, Smith issued letters to students involved in the protest threatening them with expulsion. This followed a warning letter sent out to all parents, by Lord Nash, Chair of Future Academies the previous Wednesday: "We must particularly ensure that our students, your children, understand the consequences of any future disobedience, which will undoubtedly result in disciplinary action." 'They want to expel the students for speaking out' and 'Expel the Racist Headmaster' were graffitied in support of the students on the wall on Sunday night. Several MPs wrote a letter to the headteacher on 19 April, expressing their concern about possible action against children who had taken part in the protest. Sir Michael Wilshaw, the former chief inspector of schools in England (2012 2016), was drafted in by Future Academies to support Smith. Smith announced his resignation on 18 May 2021. Tony Oulton succeeded him on 31 May.

The school was rebuilt between 2008 and 2011 to a design by Architecture PLB as part of the Building Schools for the Future initiative. The design was for a school of total capacity of 1262, that is a Key Stage 3/ Key Stage 4 five form entry secondary school (1050), a 200 place sixth form and a 12 place special unit. It included a local library and a base for Westminster Adult Education Service. The contract with Westminster City Council was valued at £20m. It was constructed by Bouygues.

The previous school building was designed by John Bancroft of the Greater London Council's architecture department and was built in 1967–70. It was a noted example of brutalist architecture, constructed of concrete and glass without decorative claddings or ornament, and its appearance had been controversial since it opened. A contemporary critic likened it to a battleship, describing it as a "100 odd metre long, turreted, metallic grey thing lying in its own sunken rectangle". Over time, deterioration of the building's fabric and drawbacks of its glass construction led to complaints that the building was often excessively hot in the summer and very cold in winter. Council authorities also expressed concern that the building's seventeen exits and entrances made it difficult to secure the site, and that the site lacked disabled access. In the face of opposition from the Twentieth Century Society, and that of prominent architects and critics including Richard Rogers, and John McAslan, the last remaining part of the old building was demolished in summer 2010.