E-ACT Crest Academy

The Crest Girls' Academy, formerly known as John Kelly Girls' Technology College, was a girls' secondary school with academy status located in Neasden, Brent, North West London. The school was situated next to Crest Boys' Academy; the schools shared a sixth form. All three schools were amalgamated into E-ACT Crest Academy, which opened in September 2014. The Crest Girls' Academy was sponsored by E-ACT. The school was one of the first to gain a specialism in the specialist schools movement. Crest Girls had three specialisms: Technology (1998) Languages (2004) and Training Schools. An Ofsted report in June 2013 judged the school as having serious weakness and offering an inadequate standard of education. The Academy underwent a restructure with new teaching and leadership appointments to drive forward standards. The Academy sought consultation over plans to merge Crest Girls' Academy and Crest Boys' Academy into one school, retaining single sex education. The Academy was due to merge in September 2014 and set to move into its new £40 million building also. GCSE headline figures for the school had risen in recent years. In 2011 43% of students attending Crest Girls' Academy achieved 5 A*-C grades at GCSE including English and Maths. This rose to 51% 5A*-C grades at GCSE including English and Maths in 2012 and 56% in 2013.

The Crest Boys' Academy (formerly John Kelly Boys' Technology College) was a secondary school with academy status located in Neasden in the London Borough of Brent. The school was founded as John Kelly Boys' School in 1958 and was set in pleasant and extensive grounds. The school was served by a number of bus routes (332, 245, 182, 16) and was close to Neasden and Dollis Hill Underground stations. John Kelly Boys' Technology College turned into an academy on 1 September 2009, and became Crest Boys' Academy (sponsored by E-ACT). The school was situated next to Crest Girls' Academy; the schools shared a sixth form. Due to concerns regarding the quality of education at both Crest Boys’ Academy and Crest Girls’ Academy following a grading of Satisfactory by Ofsted, an Executive Principal Phil Hearne was appointed to lead both schools. An Ofsted report in June 2013 placed the school in special measures, stating that it offered an inadequate standard of education. In October 2013 Billy O’Keeffe, the Head of School resigned. In April 2014 a new Principal Director Elroy Cahill was appointed. The Academy underwent a restructure with new teaching and leadership appointments to drive forward standards. The Crest Boys' Academy merged with the Crest Girls' Academy and Crest Sixth Form to become E-ACT Crest Academy, which moved into a new £40,000,000 building in September 2014.

Paddock is the codeword for an alternative Cabinet War Room bunker for Winston Churchill's World War II government, located at 109 Brook Road, Dollis Hill, northwest London, NW2 7DZ; under a corner of the Post Office Research Station site. The name derives from the nearby Paddock Road NW2, in turn named after a nineteenth-century stud farm, the Willesden Paddocks, situated nearby.The bombproof bunker was constructed 40 feet (12 metres) underground from reinforced concrete in total secrecy in 1939, but only rarely used during the war, with only two meetings of the War Cabinet being held there. It was abandoned in 1944.It comprises some forty rooms on two floors, is semi-derelict, with original equipment abandoned and rusted, and a certain amount of water ingress which is kept at bay by an electric extraction pump. Paddock was used after World War II by the Post Office for research and development and by the Post Office Research Laboratories Sports and Social Club. Paddock lay unused from when the Post Office moved to Martlesham Heath (Suffolk) and vacated the site in 1976, until Network Homes purchased the site (including Paddock) in 1997. The bunker is now owned by Network Homes, an affordable housing association which is responsible for the properties now occupying part of the former research station site above. It used to be open to the public two or three times a year, with free guided tours provided by volunteers from the Subterranea Britannica organisation. It featured on the Channel 5 programme, Underground Britain.

The Post Office Research Station was first established as a separate section of the General Post Office in 1909.In 1921, the Research Station moved to Dollis Hill, north west London, initially in ex-army huts.The main permanent buildings at Dollis Hill were opened in 1933 by Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald.In 1968 it was announced that the station would be relocated to a new centre to be built at Martlesham Heath in Suffolk. This was formally opened on 21 November 1975 by Queen Elizabeth and is today known as Adastral Park. The old Dollis Hill site was released for housing, with the main building converted into a block of luxury flats and an access road named Flowers Close, in honour of Tommy Flowers. Much of the rest of the site contains affordable housing administered by Network Housing. Paddock, a World War II concrete two-level underground bunker, was built in secret in 1939 as an alternative Cabinet War Room underneath a corner of the Dollis Hill site. Its surface building was demolished after the war.

Dollis Hill House was an early 19th-century farmhouse located in the north London suburb of Dollis Hill, on the northern boundary of Gladstone Park. Noteworthy guests such as William Ewart Gladstone and Mark Twain were once entertained there. By the 21st century, the house was derelict, having been all but destroyed by fire in the 1990s; the building was finally demolished in 2012. Dollis Hill House was a Grade II listed building and listed as grade A on the English Heritage Buildings at Risk Register.

Dollis Hill is an area in northwest London, which consists of the streets surrounding the 35 hectares (86 acres) Gladstone Park. It is served by a London Underground station, Dollis Hill, on the Jubilee line, providing good links to central London. It is in the London Borough of Brent, close to Willesden Green, Neasden and Cricklewood, and is in the postal districts of NW2 and NW10. The area is mainly residential (Edwardian terraced and 1920s/30s semi-detached houses) with a restaurant, greengrocer and convenience stores near the underground station. The Dollis Hill ward has the highest Irish population in London.Dollis Hill played a part in the Second World War as the code-breaking computer used at Bletchley Park was built at the Post Office Research Station in Dollis Hill and the rarely used alternative Cabinet War Room bunker for Winston Churchill's government was dug underground here.

Gladstone Park is situated in the Dollis Hill area of north-west London. It is about 35 hectares (86 acres) in area.Dollis Hill House was an early 19th-century farmhouse, located within the northern boundary of the park.

The Brent Reservoir (popularly called the Welsh Harp) is a reservoir in North West London. It straddles the boundary between the boroughs of Brent and Barnet and is owned by the Canal & River Trust. The reservoir takes its informal name from a public house called The Welsh Harp, which stood nearby until the early 1970s. It is a 68.6-hectare (170-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), the only SSSI in either borough and among more than 30 SSSIs in Greater London. The reservoir is fed by the Silk Stream and the River Brent. Its main outflow is the River Brent. Its smaller outflow is a feeder channel to the canal system. It holds an estimated 1,600,000 m3 (57,000,000 cu ft). In 1994 when the reservoir was drained more than 3,000 kg (6,700 lb) of fish were captured, 95% of which were roach. However, fishing is prohibited. The reservoir has a sailing centre, home to Welsh Harp Sailing Club, Wembley Sailing Club, the Sea Cadets, and the University of London Sailing club. In 1960, it also hosted the Women's European Rowing Championships. The reservoir also hosts the Phoenix canoe club and outdoor centre.

St. Andrew's Hospital was a general hospital situated in Dollis Hill in north west London.

Dudding Hill railway station was a station in Neasden, London NW2 on the Dudding Hill Line. The station was opened in 1875 by the Midland Railway, originally as "Dudding Hill, for Willesden & Neasden". It closed to passengers in 1902, despite providing access to the neighbouring new Gladstone Park, and goods services ceased in 1964. Although the platforms were demolished, the station building survived into the 1980s, when the land was used for housing (Cornmow Drive was built on the site). The Dudding Hill Line offers a connection between the North London Line at Acton and the Midland Main Line at Brent Cross and Cricklewood. It is now only used for freight, but has recently been incorporated into the proposed West London Orbital railway.

Neasden is a suburban area in northwest London, England. It is located around the centre of the London Borough of Brent and is within the NW2 (Cricklewood) and NW10 (Willesden) postal districts. Neasden is near Wembley Stadium, the Welsh Harp, and Gladstone Park; the reservoir and River Brent marks its boundaries with Kingsbury and Wembley, while Gladstone Park and the Dudding Hill line separates it from Dollis Hill and Church End respectively. The A406 North Circular Road runs through the middle of Neasden; to the west is the Neasden Underground Depot, Brent Park retail area and the St Raphael's Estate; on the east is Neasden tube station, the large Neasden Temple, and former Neasden Power Station. The area is known as the place where Bob Marley lived after moving from Jamaica, living at a house in The Circle; the house was honoured with a blue plaque in 2012.

Dollis Brook runs through the London Borough of Barnet in north London. It is a tributary of the River Brent, which is itself a tributary of the River Thames. The Dollis Valley Greenwalk follows almost all of Dollis Brook, apart from a short section at the beginning which passes through private land, and the London Loop follows it as far as Barnet Lane. The name Dollis is probably derived from the Middle English word 'dole', meaning the shares of land in the common field. Dollis Brook rises at two points, one on Mote End Farm and the other on the London Loop and Dollis Valley Greenwalk at TQ 21714 94551 – the latter only has water after heavy rain. The brook then flows through private land under Hendon Wood Lane. Its course is eastwards through Totteridge Fields, a Site of Metropolitan Importance, and then through fields and open spaces to King George V Playing Fields in Totteridge. The brook then turns southwards and forms the eastern boundary of Totteridge. It passes through Wyatts Farm Open Space and Brook Farm Open Space to Totteridge Lane near Totteridge and Whetstone Underground station, and then continues south through Woodside Park (where it merges with Folly Brook) and West Finchley, before passing under the Dollis Brook Viaduct which carries the Northern line between Finchley Central and Mill Hill East Underground stations. Until 1965 Dollis Brook formed the boundary between the municipal boroughs of Finchley and Hendon. Dollis Brook then passes under Dollis Road and through Windsor Open Space to the Great North Way (A1). Near Bridge Lane in Hendon it merges with Mutton Brook to form the River Brent. Upper Dollis Brook between Mill Hill and Woodside Park, including neighbouring open spaces, is a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade I. It is too shaded for aquatic plants, but plants such as yellow iris and water-pepper grow along its banks and kingfishers, grey wagtails, and moorhens can be seen along the stream.Lower Dollis Brook is a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade II. It starts at Woodside Park and includes Brent Park and the River Brent until it passes under the Northern line near Brent Cross Flyover. It is less ecologically rich than Upper Dollis Brook, but nevertheless forms a valuable green corridor through suburban areas.