Built at a cost of £41, 000 on the site of Hanwell Park House, Drayton Manor was opened on 8th November 1930, by the Mayor of Ealing, Alderman H.J. Baker. The first Headmaster, Mr. S. Allenby, announced that the School's badge would be the crest of the Seal of the former Urban District Council of Hanwell. 127 pupils (three First Forms and one Second Form) joined with Mr. Allenby and his assistant staff on that first day and these were followed during the subsequent 43 years by a total of 5, 897 pupils.

Memories of the pre-war and war years are well recorded in the 21st Anniversary edition of "Phoenix" (1951): a dozen empty classrooms in the first two years; a Merit half holiday every term; the first General School Certificate examinations in 1935 with an average success rate of 85% in the pre-war years; the first University entrants, 1936; the long sequence, still maintained, of School and Staff plays; the annual concerts; the first visits abroad, not as commonplace then as in more recent times; the founding of the Phoenician Society (former pupils) 1935; the construction of the Pavilion 1937; the sudden expansion of numbers during the war through the admission of pupils not wishing to join in the evacuation of other schools (600 in a building designed for 450); Saturday morning school for 5th and 6th Forms and a day's holiday each week for all others to enable the building to be shared; air-raids (183 visits to the shelters in six weeks - lessons with rival teachers at opposite ends of the dim tunnel); evacuation to Torquay with the School running in two parts (1940-1943) and sharing the accommodation there with Greenford Grammar under the official title of the "Middlesex Grammar School", more familiarly known as Green Manor; fire-watching and the incendiaries extinguished by the School Keeper and two members of the Sixth Form; harvest camps with boys' work well supervised by a member of staff - and the rhubarb and raisin wine that followed each supervision!

In 1946 Mr. Allenby retired and Mr. C. Emmett, B.A. B.Litt., was appointed Headmaster at a time of change partly inspired by the 1944 Act. In 1950, the last School Certificate examinations were held, by which time Drayton Manor had obtained 539 Matriculation and 415 General Certificates. With the introduction of the General Certificate of Education at Ordinary and Advanced Levels in 1951, the School entered a period of considerable expansion and development under the leadership of Dr. R.T. Evans, his predecessor having been appointed to Halesowen Grammar School, Worcestershire.

In response to the greater flexibility encouraged by the new G.C.E. system, 30-40 pupils in two successive years (1952 and 1953) "by-passed" '0' Level and proceeded from 4th year to Lower Sixth, taking '0' Level in some subjects and 'A' Level in others after six years in the School. In 1954, however, this experiment was abandoned. More successful changes included the rise of Economics to a major 'A' Level subject, the development of Art, Woodwork and Music into G.C.E. subjects, the latter, in particular, becoming very strong, though housed in a rapidly constructed "temporary" wooden hut, later used by the Upper Sixth and still standing in June 1974. As was common throughout the Country, the number of pupils taking 'A' Level and of those going on to University increased considerably in the late 1950's and 1960's, the total Sixth Form roll rising to just under 150 in 1967. Towards the end of the 1950's Russian was introduced but had to be abandoned two years later! Geology and Spanish were added to the Sixth Form curriculum in the 1960's and there was a marked decline in the study of Latin. During this period many successful exchange visits were organised, at first to France and then later to Germany, and out-of-school activities, school games, etc., continued to flourish, with the 1st XI achieving an outstanding success by winning both the Middlesex Schools Football Cup and the Middlesex Schools League in the 1970-71 season. An active and successful Parents' Association was formed in 1960 and subsequently made a major contribution to the provision of an organ for the new School Hall. The old House system was abolished in the late 1960's and the whole of the Upper Sixth became responsible for the duties previously carried out by appointed Prefects.

Very little change took place in the fabric of the original School until the early sixties, when a major re-building was undertaken. This provided a gymnasium (for the first time), a new dining-hall, an Advanced Chemistry laboratory, a new Assembly Hall, a Music Room, a greatly enlarged library, several extra classrooms and new staff rooms. An interesting feature of this re-building was the division of the old Assembly Hall horizontally by a mezzanine floor upon which rested the new Art Room and two classrooms. Another advantage was the disappearance of the air-raid shelters which had marred the view of the field since September 1939. Not long after this, a Language Laboratory of sixteen booths was installed. In 1970, Dr. Evans retired and Mr. Wright (Deputy Head 1958-71) was Acting Head for a term before the appointment of the present Headmaster. Of the founder members of the Staff, Mr. Allenby retained close links with the School until his death in 1959; Miss Dutton retired in 1957; Miss Redman,the first Deputy Head, and Mr. Arnold in 1958, and Miss M. Scott, the first School Secretary, in 1973. Mr. J. Phillips was Deputy Head from 1971 to 1973.

The developments of the last few years, such as the introduction of the Certificate of Secondary Education, (C.S.E.), the expansion of the General Studies programme and the purchase of a video-tape recorder have been mentioned in recent editions of Phoenix. Some of the changes involved in the reorganisation of secondary education in Ealing are recorded in the article that follows. Any short history of a school is likely to be uncritical; the difficulties and the limitations are left on one side. In planning for future developments, however, it is encouraging, briefly, to look back on a record of problems largely overcome, of a fair measure of initiative in a tolerant atmosphere and of the willing and friendly co-operation of staff, pupils and parents through the forty-four years, 1930-1974.