The Winston Churchill School, Woking

The Winston Churchill School received a score of "good" from OFSTED in April 2018,[2] with GCSE results above the national average. "The curriculum is a strength of the school ...teaching is good with aspects that are outstanding ...students behaviour both in and out of classrooms is good" and "students feel safe & secure".[2] However, the most recent short inspection by OFSTED found that "pupils who entered the school with high attainment in reading and mathematics made less progress overall than other pupils nationally with similar starting points." and that boys made less progress than girls. [3]

Teaching occurs during one-hour lessons with Physical Education (P.E.) lessons twice a week (more frequently for P.E. GCSE students). After school clubs provide extra sports and P.E., and other extra-curricular activities.

The Winston Churchill School is the first state school in the UK to have its own permanent planetarium on campus. It was opened on 10 December 2019 by the fifth incarnation of The Doctor and former Winston Churchill School student Peter Davison.[4] The planetarium is also open to the public out of school times, showing films on astronomy and holding lectures and space talks.[5]

The headteacher, Zoe Johnson-Walker, was criticised for ordering Year 8 girls to lift their shirts to staff to prove they were not smuggling mobile phones in their bras while working at a previous school.[6]

In May 2023, SurreyLive published a picture of a camera overlooking a girls' toilet cubicle at The Winston Churchill School and reported parents feeling furious, horrified and concerned as a result. SurreyLive reported that The Winston Churchill School disappointingly did not respond to their request to comment and were hanging up the phone on multiple occasions.[7]

A month earlier, The Mirror reported that maggots poured from the Winston Churchill School canteen ceiling onto kids' lunch as headteacher, Zoe Johnson-Walker, issued an apology. The pupils were warned that the school’s canteen would be closed and they should bring food from home.[8]

In 2022, shocked pupils managed to escape a classroom ceiling collapsing during a school day, as reported in SurreyLive. The headteacher, Zoe Johnson-Walker, described the event as "rare" and apologised. Local Councillor Rob Leach said he was alarmed by the collapsed roof and asked the school to check all other ceilings for the safety of all pupils and staff.[9]

Radio Woking is a UK community radio station owned and operated by the school, broadcasting on DAB in the boroughs of Woking and Rushmoor and throughout the world online. Students at the school are trained and get the opportunity to broadcast regularly on the station.[10]

Presenters on the station are volunteers and the station broadcasts a wide range of programmes featuring local guests, sports clubs and specialist music shows.[11]

• Major General Jonathan Cole OBE, CIO British Army[12]
• Sam Underwood, TV actor (Dexter, Homeland, The Following)[13]
• Peter Davison, TV actor[14]
• Philip Gould, Baron Gould of Brookwood, architect of New Labour[15]
• Robert Atkinson, footballer
• Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London[16]
• Deborah James, Journalist
• Pamela Motley Verrall, composer

• Official website
• Parent teachers association
• Radio Woking web site
• Planetarium web page