The name of the school was not consistently defined in this period.  It was usually referred to as the Boys’ Day School although its activities were often simply recorded in the Polytechnic Magazine as ‘Quintinians’. The first official name was conferred in 1946 when it was rechristened The Quintin School.

During World War Two the School was evacuated to Minehead in Somerset.  The central London location of the Poly meant that the threat of bombing was very real and the Queen’s Hall across Regent Street was destroyed by bombs in 1941.  In Minehead they shared the county school’s premises and the boys lived both with families and in hostel accommodation.  For city boys, living in the Somerset countryside was a unique and novel experience

The School remained evacuated for the duration of the war and afterwards was unable to return to 309 Regent Street due to lack of space.  The Poly Governors were unable to provide the school with the premises required by law and the school came under the direct control of the London County Council.  In 1956 it moved to St John’s Wood and in 1969 merged with the Kynaston Technical School to become the Quintin Kynaston School (now Harris Academy, St John’s Wood).