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Croydon School Board was first elected on 1 March 1871, following Forsters Elementary Education Act of 1870, which instituted school boards to provide schools. Prior to this Act, education had been the responsibility of the parish council. The boards first meeting was held on 16 March 1871 and elections to the Board were subsequently usually held triennially.

The schools in existence in Croydon at the date of the foundation of the board were endowed schools, a ragged school, industrial schools, parochial schools, National Schools (Church of England), British Schools (Nonconformist), private schools and dame schools. It was the responsibility of the board to supervise the running of all schools, bringing existing schools up to the standard set by the Board of Education and building new schools as required.

By the Education Act of 1902, the School Board was abolished and an Education Committee was set up in its place.

A church school had been established at St Andrews Church by 1861, possibly in Southbridge Road. On 5 December 1861, the managers of the school applied for aid in building new premises. (Source: Library of the National Society). This explains why St Andrews Mixed Infants and Girls School (opening log book entry 29 December 1862) and St Andrews Post-Infant Boys School (opening log book entry 5 January 1863), in Southbridge Road, are both described as having reopened. In 1866, the latter school closed and the former was split to form St Andrews Girls School [Upper] and St Andrews Mixed Infants School [Lower].

There is a reference also in 1861 to the existence of a small, dirty, ragged school in Old Town, Croydon. On 26 August 1872, an all-age Ragged School had opened there. From 1 February 1893 to 1903, there was a separate infants department. From 1907, the school was known as St Andrews Old Town School. From August 1913, the senior pupils were sent elsewhere and the school became a combined infants and junior school.

In 1894 St Andrews Boys School [Upper] had opened in a new building.

On 31 March 1921, the schools were reorganised. Senior children from St Andrews Old Town School were transferred to St Andrews Girls School [Upper, Senior and Junior] and St Andrews Boys School [Upper, Senior and Junior]. The infants from the main school (St Andrews Mixed Infants School [Lower]), were transferred to the Old Town school, which became St Andrews Old Town Infants School.

On 27 August 1927, the boys and girls schools were amalgamated to form St Andrews Mixed School [Senior and Junior]. On 1 September 1930, the Old Town infants school was merged with the main school and the senior pupils (age 11 and above) were transferred to other schools, which resulted in the formation of St Andrews Junior Mixed and Infants School. On 8 September 1933, senior pupils were readmitted and the school became St Andrews All Age School. On 1 September 1951, the infants and juniors were sent elsewhere and the school became a Secondary Modern, and in 1971, a comprehensive. It remains a Church of England school.

The school was opened in January 1925 at Winterbourne Roas as a school for Physically Defective Children. About 1928 the school took the name St Giles and on 09 January 1933 was transferred to Featherbed Lane in Addington where an extension for delicate children was opened on 18 Oct 1937.

During WWII the children were evacuated and the building housed New Addington Senior School.

Although a new block was opened in 1952, the rest of the buildings became very dilapidated, was condemned by the Inspectorate and was replaced by new purpose built premises in Pampisford Road in 1977 where it remains open as St Giles Special School, a school for children with physical disabilities from the age of 3 -16. Its catchment area extends beyond the London Borough of Croydon to include neighbouring London Boroughs. The Featherbed Lane buildings are now occupied by the Jehovahs Witnesses.

In 1834 a dame school came into existence in a cottage that was later altered and enlarged to become the present sextons cottage, on the corner of Spring Park and Shurley Church Roads. The school was held on weekdays; on Sundahys a curate from Croydon Parish Church conducted a service there. A Cof E Chapel of Ease was built there in 1836.

The first Dame recorded is Mrs Eliza Pestell. She was married to the coachman of the Revd. Matthew Farrer, who became Perpetual Curate of Shirley in 1841. The Pestells were already living in Shirley, however, in 1838 when their second daughter Anne was buried while still an infant (two later daughters would also die before reaching majority). The Farrers were connected with the Earl of Eldon whose house stood where the grounds of Trinity School are now, so Thomas Pestell, Elizas husband, may earlier have been in the Earls service.

In 1854 the school room was enlarged and on 10 January of that year the Pestells eldest daughter, by then 21, took charge of the Girls and infants, and, apparently, her mother continued to be responsible for the Boys. These met in the Reading Room (presumably the Chapel) but in 1869 moved to a new building between the cottages and the churchyard gate in Spring Park Road. Meanwhile in 1856, the chapel had been replaced with the present church; the new Boys School was adjacent to its graveyard. There is a painting of the first Boys School by W.H.Mills, a former pupil.

Both the previous schools were replaced by a further new building, erected in only three months, which was opened by the Vicar, the Revd W. Wilks on 17 September 1885. This also stood on the Spring Park frontage.

On 09 January 1903 the schools were reorganised and combined under the Headmaster of the Boys School with effect, apparently, from 01 November 1904.

On 09 January 1933 the school was again reorganised. This was to implement the 1931 Education Act but also because numbers had suddenly become unmanageable because of the vast number of houses being built locally. All Seniors were transferred to Davidson Senior Boys and Girls Schools and travelled there by Corporation bus. It was at this time that the name St.Johns School was first used.

At 2.30pm on Wednesday 26 July 1944 a V1 flying bomb fell in the Infant playground and the blast destroyed the school buildings. Twenty four children and three teachers were in a shelter in the playground and, although the shelter filled with fumes and the doors were shattered, no one was injured. The children were evacuated safely to another shelter in the nearby recreation ground until the all clear was sounded.

For the next ten years the school was lodged at nearby Benson Primary School until the current pemises were opened by the Archbishop of Canterbury on 03 June 1954.

Atwood Primary School opened on 13 June 1960. On 31 August 1994 the school became Grant Maintained and ceased to have a Local Authority responsibility until 1999 when it became a Foundation School.

When the foundations for the School were being dug in 1960, the site was examined by archaeologists. The Sanderstead Archaeological Group, under the leadership of Roger Little, investigated the area and discovered Iron Age and Romano British occupation material, 500 BC to 200AD. Subsequent excavations by Gillian Batchelor, when the school was extended in the late 1980s, revealed an extensive early Roman area of occupation and resulted in the recovery of over 5000 pieces of 1st and 2nd century pottery.

Opened June 1930 at Thornton Heath Polytechnic, as a special school for myopic and partially blind children. Moved to Winterborne schools on 9 January 1933 and opened in its own building on that site on 3 September 1937. Evacuated to the Open Air School, Beechy Avenue, Eastbourne, 4 September 1939 and closed 14 June 1940, when invasion seemed imminent. Reopened 29 March 1946 at Fairchildes and returned to Winterbourne in 1954. Closed in July 1981, the pupils being transferred to Oval Junior and Infants School.

St. Marys School was started at 8 Broad Green (the old Presbytery) in 1851, the first Chatelaine of the school arriving from the Convent of the Faithful Virgin (Virgo Fidelis), Norwood, on a cart drawn by a donkey. In the first week it had eight pupils. Shortly, it moved into an adjoining cottage.

The school was entirely voluntary until 1862, in which year it received State recognition; the following year it also received its first State aid.

On 3 July 1864 the school transferred to its present site and from January 1888 passed into the care of the Sisters of Mercy. From 1904, there was a separate Infants Department, perhaps until 1936. In 1939, the school was evacuated to Latcham, Sussex and then after Dunkirk, to Addlestone, Surrey, and later to Withiel, Cornwall. In 1955 pupils over the age of 11 were transferred to a new and separate Secondary School which became ST MARYS (RC) HIGH SCHOOL).

In 1968, the Primary children moved into a new building, separate Infants and Junior Schools being created at that point.

The school was a Church of England School throughout its history. Existed before 1877 probably as Good Shepherd Junior Girls and Infants School. A separate infants school, Good Shepherd Infants School was opened on 24 October 1884. Also on 24 October 1884, it seems that junior boys joined the junior girls to form Good Shepherd Junior Mixed School. On 30 September 1896, the infants and junior schools were reunited to form Good Shepherd Primary School. On 24 August 1908 the school was reorganised for girls, juniors and infants in new buildings in St Jamess Road and the name of the school was changed to form St Michaels Girls and Mixed Primary School. On 3 October 1927, the school was reorganised for senior girls only and became St Michaels Senior Girls School. On 1 September 1930, the school became St Michaels Girls Central School, in a further reorganisation. The school was evacuated to Whitehawk School, Brighton, Sussex on 4 September 1939 and closed circa January 1944, at which time it was located in three different Croydon school buildings. In 1948 the school was revived as St Michaels Infant School and on 3 November 1948 it received the staff, children and records of the closed Tavistock Infants School in Grenaby Road. The school closed in July 1976, because of low numbers and the inadequacy of the site.

Founded as St Peters National Infants School in August 1858. Evacuated to Crowborough, Sussex, September 1939, later to Barnstaple. Became St Peters County Primary School in September 1951 and later St Peters Primary School.

St Saviours Infants and All-Age Girls School existed by 1874. St Saviours Post-Infants Boys School existed by 1884. In 1891 the infants separated from the post-infants girls school to form St Saviours Post-Infant Girls School and St Saviours Infants School, but the two schools were reunited in 1915. The post-infants boys school closed on 27 March 1923 to enable it to absorb 150 pupils from Christ Church School. It reopened on 1 May 1923. In 1930, the senior boys and girls were sent elsewhere and the remaining children formed St Saviours Junior Mixed and Infants School. The school was evacuated to Brighton in September 1939 and reopened in Croydon on 15 April 1940. The school closed in 1948 as it possesed insufficient funds to enlarge the playground or rebuild the school.

Opened in September 1904 as The Borough Secondary School for Boys in the Scarbrook Road premises occupied in the evenings by Croydon Polytechnic. The school moved to The Crescent, Selhurst in 1913, but returned to Scarbrook Road between 1915 and 1918 or 1919, while the school building was in use as a hospital. Renamed Selhurst Grammar School for Boys in 1922. The school became an age 14+ comprehensive from 1971, becoming known as Selhurst High School for Boys. It closed, because of falling rolls and reorganisation, in 1988.

The school originated in 1858 as part of the Asylum for Fatherless Children. From 1904 it was known as Reedham Orphanage and by 1917 there were 310 pupils on the roll.

Shortage of funds after World War 1 caused the school to be taken over by the LEA on 1 September 1920, the then Headmaster H.E. Clarke remaining in post.

Pupils were evacuated to Aspley, Nottingham, 18 July 1944 to 18 June 1945.

By 1950 numbers had dropped to approximately 200 and the school was opened to local children who increasingly outnumbered those from Reedham Orphanage.

The school transferred to a new building and opened as Beaumont Primary School on 1 September 1968. The school was finally closed and demolished in 1980.

Opened in September 1904 as The Borough Secondary School for Girls in the premises of the South Norwood branch of Croydon Polytechnic. The school moved to The Crescent, Selhurst in 1910, but returned to its earlier location during Wold War One, while the new school building was in use as a hospital. Renamed Selhurst Grammar School for Girls in 1922. In 1939, the school was evacuated to Hove, moved to Virginia Water in 1940 and later to The Beeches at Guildford. The school became an age 14+ comprehensive from 1971, becoming known as Selhurst High School for Girls. It closed, because of falling rolls and reorganisation, in 1988.

Opened 31 August 1931. Later known as Selsdon County Secondary School. Closed August 1965.

The School opened as Monks Hill High School on 8 September 1970. It is a Mixed Comprehensive for the 11-16 age range.

In August 1988 the School changed its name to Selsdon High School.

Selsdon Primary School opened on 7 May 1928 as Selsdon Temporary School also know as the Tin School with a roll of 69 pupils, 36 of the pupils being from the closed Sanderstead (now Gresham) School. The school was held in a temporary building and in the Baptist Church Hall until the present premises were ready on 31 August 1931.

Selsdon Central Secondary School occupied the first floor of the main building, with the primary school using the ground floor. After the closure of the secondary school in 1965, Selsdon Primary School has been the sole occupant of the buildings.

On 31 December 1993 the school became Grant Maintained and ceased to be a Local Authority responsibility until 1999 when it became a Foundation School.

Together with Riddlesdown High School and De Stafford College, the school became part of the Bourne Foundation in 1999 and Whyteleafe Primary School has since joined the Foundation.

Fox Cubs Nursery opened at Selsdon Primary School in the autumn of 2000.

Opened as Cane Hill Mission Room (Church of England) School in 1886. Its successor, Smitham Bottom School opened in new buildings in Malcolm Road in 1893. From 1905, when a new Smitham Bottom Mixed School was opened elsewhere, until reorganisation in 1932, only infants were accommodated. The school moved into new premises in 1991.

Station Road School opened 18 November 1872 and until 13 January 1873 took Infants and post Infants Girls. There was no Boys School at this time. From 13 January 1873 the Infants and Girls formed two separate schools.

The Girls and Infants moved into new buildings in May 1875 and this facilitated the opening on 24 May of a Senior Boys School and on 28 June of a Junior Mixed School. This closed on 10 September 1897 at which time, presumably, the Junior Boys and Girls were absorbed into the Senior Boys and Girl Schools, respectively. Throughout this period the schools were frequently expanded due to rising numbers.

In September 1931, the schools were reorganised, the Boys and Girls Schools thereafter only for Juniors of each sex and the Infants being combined with the Junior Girls. The Senior Girls and Boys were transferred elsewhere. From 01 September 1933 there was a temporary annexe in the Methodist Church Hall on Suffolk Road; this closed in the Summer of 1937 when new buildings were opened.

During WWII, the pupils were evacuated to Brighton and then, in July 1940, to New Haw, Chertsey, together with pupils from Gonville and Ingram Schools. They were later absorbed into local schools.

Rising numbers meant that separate Girls and Infants were set up again in 1953. This was followed in 1959 by the amalgamation of the Junior Boys and Junior Girls and in 1981 by the amalgamation of the Juniors with the Infants.

Opened as a primary school in 1949 for pupils aged 5 - 11. In August 1954, a separate infants school was opened. The infants and junior schools were amalgamated in 1998.

Opened in 1918 in Woodside Baptist Hall as an overflow school for either Woodside Infants School or Portland Road Infants School. Closed in 1921.

Founded 1 September 1974 as an 11-16 comprehensive school. Closed 31 August 1990, when it became a City Technology College (C. T. C.).

The Croydon British Schools opened in 1812 following a meeting held on 30 September of that year at the Crown Inn to establish a school to be run on Lancastrian principles (that is those established by Joseph Lancaster, using older children as monitors to teach the younger ones). The British Schools were non-conformist foundations, whereas Croydons National School, also set up in 1812, belonged to the Church of England. The schools were at first in Surrey Street, then in Mint Walk and after that in North End on the corner with Tamworth Road, (where the Railway Bell public house later stood). Following the extension of the London and Brighton Railway Companys line from West Croydon to Epsom, the schools moved to the south west end of Tamworth Road, where they opened in January 1847. A girls school opened in 1812 seems to have closed in 1903. An infants school also opened in 1812 closed permanently in 1906. The local education authority took over management of the schools on 18 October 1904 and the schools were renamed Tamworth Road, although the term British continued in use after that date. In 1915 the old buildings were replaced, the pupils being accomodated temporarily in the hall of Scarbrook Road Baths. The new buildings comprised a Senior Mixed School and a Junior Mixed and Infants [or Lower] School and opened on 24 October 1919. In January 1924 the schools were reorganised to take only seniors, with separate boys and girls departments. The boys school finally closed in August 1935 and the girls school on 27 July 1951.

Opened as Tavistock Grove Junior Mixed and Infants School on 1 November 1909. Renamed Tavistock Junior Mixed and Infants School, 1922. Closed 25 July 1930, the juniors being transferred to Sydenham [Broadmead] School and the infants to a new building in Grenaby Road. Tavistock Infants School opened at Grenaby Road on 22 September 1930. The school closed on 28 October 1948, when staff, children and records were transferred to St Michaels School, St Jamess Road.

Opened 3 September 1957. The school accommodated both infants and juniors throughout its history. Closed 18 July 1980, as a result of falling rolls.

The school was founded as a Primary School and opened on 16 June 1976. A Nursery Unit was created in September 1990. Tollgate Primary School was closed in July 2007.