The school is named after the air balloon pioneer Ernest Willows who had his airfield on the site.

[11] The site proposed originally included St. Alban's Primary School, which was slated to close.

[15][16] Starting in 2015, Willows participated in the South Wales Challenge (SWC) Initiative, sharing best-practice in education with Tonyrefail School, Rhondda Cynon Taf.

The inspectors reported that, although pupils often had unsatisfactory English grammar and literacy skills, leadership was "adequate" and there were real prospects of improvement.

[21][22] However, the more recent 2018 has found there are still many aspects of school life that could be improved, particularly in the methods of teaching and leadership.