EYFS and Year 6 Buddy Event
Early Years and Year 6 buddy up for a festive session.
Read MoreWeekly News
Early Years was buzzing this week with the second official Buddy meet up. This time, the Early Years and Year 6 girls took turns to sing to each other, they choose some of their favourite Christmas songs from the recent performances. During the session, they each enjoyed a festive biscuit, swapped Christmas cards, and took part in a game of pass-the-parcel where everyone received a prize. It was wonderful to watch the bond between the buddies develop, we look forward to our next meet up.
Mrs Amanda-Jane D’Aranjo
Reception Class Teacher
Early Years Leader
On Tuesday 12 December, Year 3-6 had their Christmas performance this week.
Read MoreYears 3 – 6 have had a joyous and festive few weeks rehearsing for their KS2 Christmas Performance. Through poetry, song and beautiful orchestral sounds, they have entertained audiences with tales of reindeer, kings, stars and snowmen and even celebrating Christmas on a Hawaiian beach! The girls were especially delighted to receive a magical message from The Snowman’s very own Aled Jones who wished them good luck with their performance of ‘Walking In The Air’.
Thank you to Florence and Mr & Mrs Goldsbrough for organising the message!
Well done to everyone involved and thank you to the staff for their support.
Merry Christmas!
Ms Kirkby and Miss Delany
Year 5 pupil run a stall to help raise funds for Winston's Wish.
Read MoreTwo groups of girls from Year 5 took the initiative to purchase, set up and run stalls at the weekends Willy Wonka Winter Fair. They had lots of appealing items on sale such as slime, hairbands, fidget toys, lipsticks, bracelets, and sweets. Lots of new skills were learnt and they showed huge entrepreneurial skills as well as developing people skills throughout their time on the stalls.
The two stalls raised a combined total of £250, of which, £100 will be donated to Winston’s Wish and £40 to Palestine.
The girls consisted of, Georgia, Alisia, Vahini, Evelyn, Maggie, Layla and Sanaa all from 5M.
Mrs Amanda-Jane D’Aranjo
Reception Class Teacher
Early Years Leader
The Junior School take part in a winter competition.
Read MoreThe Junior School Modern Foreign Languages Christmas / winter competition has proved very popular again this year, with an impressive range of creative entries in an interesting selection of languages, from Korean to Swedish! Well done to all the girls who took part.
Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année!
Madame Mannooch
Teacher of Languages
Well done Annabelle on winning the Runner Up prize.
Read MoreCongratulations to Annabelle from Year 3 for winning the Runner Up prize in the Purple Mash Festive Card Competition 2023.
We hope you enjoy the goody bag from PurpleMash!
Annabelle’s Festive Card Design
Mrs Maya Krishnamurthy
Head of Junior School Enterprise Technology
As part of 3D Design, Year 7 pupils take a trip to The Building Centre.
Read MoreWith a propelling trip to The Building Centre, the Design Future London team took their next steps in developing a sustainable plan for the future of South Croydon.
Design Future London is a regional competition organised by the Mayor of London that asks young people how they would like the future of their city to be so it works for everyone. With our chosen focus on South Croydon, the challenge has prompted us to make a site appraisal and think though the workings of our area (are our streetlights LEDs? How many different types of housing are there? Where can children and young people get together?). It’s also presented us with difficult decisions when we have to prioritise considerations such as increasing accessibility (e.g. wheelchair ramps and wide pavements) and clean air solutions (e.g. wind turbines) with other important things such as developing different types of housing and outdoor recreational spaces for all ages.
During our trip to The Building Centre, we took part in a range of workshops and discussed our ideas with architects and members of the London Planning Office. Our favourite workshops were a cardboard modelling one where we constructed models to make our ideas for Croydon come to life. This gave us visual ideas of what we were trying to achieve and the practice was similar to how designers would start off their work (such as how the Shard building in London was a model and now is a famous London tourist destination). We also enjoyed a City Bingo activity as this allowed us, as young people, to express our ideas on what we think more and less important for a city.
Participating in the Design Future London challenge has raised our awareness on the practicalities of a space. It’s taught us about the Global Goals and encouraged us to design inclusively and innovatively.
From members of our team:
“This is our and the next generation’s future city so we have to make it nice for them.”
Mahi, Year 7“I feel really inspired and now that everyone can see what young people think it means that we have a chance of making South Croydon a place which everyone loves.”
Eshal, Year 7
We’re excited to complete our model and submit our competition entry to the London Planning Office in January, 2024!
Ms Jade Greaves
Teacher of 3D Design and Art
30 pupils studying French and/or German set off to Strasbourg to experience the Christmas markets.
Read MoreOn Saturday 2 December we travelled to Les Secrets du Chocolat in Strasbourg, France. We got to see the many different chocolate displays and were shown a demonstration of how the chocolate is made. The staff gave us little boxes to put our favourite chocolates in and many of us even tried a cocoa bean! There was lots of information about the chocolate and at the end we went to a gift shop and bought lots of chocolates for family and friends.
After the chocolate factory we went to Flam’s where we got to eat lots of different types of Flammkuchen! And after a delicious lunch we went to the Christmas market. There were so many stalls and it was quite busy but we had a great time. We also bought lots of souvenirs and saw the beautiful Christmas lights!
Hannah H
Year 9
On Sunday 3 December, 30 students studying French and/or German visited the Fortwenger – a gingerbread factory in Strasbourg. We left our accommodation at around 9am, and reached the gingerbread factory at around 10am. Everyone was extremely excited and we all couldn’t wait to try some gingerbread.
The building was beautifully decorated, inside and out, and (we could all agree), smelled amazing. After taking a few photos at the entrance, we went through the first of many doors. The first room was decorated like an old antique shop, with pictures of little gingerbread houses and people scattered around the walls. The next room was decorated like a snowy winter wonderland – there were snowmen and of course…more gingerbread men!
The third (and probably my favourite) was full of lights – lit Christmas trees framed the room, and realistic fur animals and igloos were placed together in the midst of decorations, such as fake snow, mist machines, hanging garlands, and so much more!
While we were walking to the final room (the shop), we all noticed the many pieces of artwork on the walls, made of 100% gingerbread. Each painting was uniquely and intricately decorated, it was such a fun thing to see.
After eating some complementary gingerbread, we made our way into the shop. The shop was a large area filled with any gingerbread-themed items you could ever imagine! There were plushies, biscuits, mugs, bags… and of course, lots and lots of gingerbread!
After returning to the coach with bags full of souvenirs and yummy treats, we started to drive to our next destination, Baden-Baden in Germany. As Strasbourg is close to the border of France, the journey only ended up being one and a half hours long. When we arrived at the location that held all the markets, we all split into groups and started to explore. There was such a wide variety of stalls, for example, there were food stalls selling authentic German and French food, jewellery stalls, and stalls that hold handmade products, to name a few. It was unbelievably cold, but so much fun! After a good two hours of looking around the stalls, we all met back up so that we could make our way to the indoor ice skating rink.
We all put on our skates and made our way to the ice rink. It was the first time skating properly for some – it was such an exciting experience despite all the times we fell over! We skated for around an hour, and although we were all cold and tired, no one wanted to leave!
Satisfied after a full day of adventure and activities, we made our way back to the coach to head back to our accommodation in Strasbourg.
We all had such a nice time that day, thank you to Madame Paris, Frau Brierly and Frau Sigusch for making this possible!
Ahaana P R
Year 9
I really enjoyed going ice skating in Germany because I love to skate and it was fun to do it with people, but my favourite thing was practising French in France with French people and just generally being surrounded by the language I want to learn because I think it was really helpful and I understand both the language and culture much better. I really liked Germany even though I don’t study German and I think the culture was even more interesting since I didn’t know much, if anything beforehand.
Shriya S
Year 10
Alumna Rhea Dillon showcases her artwork at Tate Britain to Year 10 and Lower Sixth art pupils.
Read MoreRhea Dillon: An Alterable Terrain brings together new and existing sculptures as a conceptual fragmentation of a Black woman’s body. Examining material and colonial histories, theories of minimalism and abstraction, and Black feminist epistemologies. Dillon’s works evoke elements – including the eyes, mouth, soul and hands – of an amorphous, conceptual body that considers the formation of Caribbean and British identities.
On at Tate Britain until 1 January 2024.
Mrs Palmer and I had the pleasure of taking our Year 10 and Lower Sixth pupils to Tate Britain on Tuesday 12 December, we were warmly greeted by Rhea Dillon who invited us to see her solo exhibition An Alterable Terrain.
Rhea was an incredible Art student here at Croydon High which both Mrs Palmer and I had the pleasure in teaching. Rhea went on to study an Art foundation at Central St Martins and then continued there to complete her degree in Fashion Communication.
We are all incredibly proud of what she has achieved so far and it was fascinating to hear about her inspiration for the exhibition, she discussed each piece in length with us from their conception to realisation. It is a moment in our teaching career that we will never forget. Rhea said she was only going to show one group around her exhibition and that was always going to be the group from Croydon High. We are so grateful to her for giving us this opportunity, Rhea has just come back from Vienna and Miami exhibiting work and is off to Berlin next week!
We are proud of all of our pupils, past and present. This term we have been so impressed with the development Year 7 have made with their still life drawings and paintings, the progress has been incredible. Year 8 have demonstrated passion and excitement for their self-portrait and identity project and Year 9 have really flourished with their ceramics, what a term for KS3!
Year 10 and Lower Sixth have been busy experimenting with new materials and techniques and we are looking forward to seeing what they create with their personal projects. Year 11 & 13 have been busy preparing for their mocks and we hope you have enjoyed seeing some of their work, their 8 week examination preparation starts soon after Christmas, but we know they are completely ready for this challenge. It has been such an exciting and busy term for both Art & 3D Design and we cannot wait to see what the new year brings for our department. We look forward to sharing their work with you with our Work of the Week and One to Watch next year, but in the meantime have a very Merry Christmas.
Mrs Elizabeth Smith
Head of Art & 3D Design
Director of Teaching & Learning
Hearing from Rhea herself was an incredible experience as it allowed to me understand the complex message behind her more abstract, conspecisional art. I found it very clever how Rhea’s work always had a strong underlying meaning within in each piece, which linked across the entire exhibition. After hearing her thought process behind the work, each piece took on a new significance making it a more impactful piece. I enjoyed how passionate she was towards her work and how each piece was visibly well thought out – from the materials used, to the composition of the structures, and even to the smell of certain materials.
Milly
Lower Sixth
Fine Art pupil
Going to see an ex-pupil’s exhibition in Tate Britain was very inspiring, but I think seeing a young black woman and her exhibition beautifully putting her identity and history into the space to start a conversation was awe-inspiring. The room itself had a ceiling that she pointed out looks like the hull of a ship and also a human spine and no where does this comparison come together as ‘viciously’ (as she put) as in the slave trade. This was too perfect as she brought up conversations of this violence and cruelty she has in her ancestry in an exhibition of a museum created by a man that used money from the sugar industry to fund.
Rhea Dillon perfectly brought us on a journey through the eyes, body, lungs, hands and feet, soul and uterus of a black woman which historically has been constantly violated paired with the frequent interruption of alarms from visitors getting too close was a cruel irony that almost added to the meaning. Every detail that was a part of each piece was filled with such raw passion and pain that is integral to the significance and intention for each piece that after discovery was immediately translated to the observer.
India
Year 10
Fine Art pupil
50 hours of pure hard work - take a look at our very talented art pupils.
Read MoreYear 11 and Upper Sixth Art & 3D Design pupils have had in total 50 hours of practical examinations last week, the department was buzzing with creativity! Pupils have been using a variety of materials in Art including painting, printmaking, textiles, mixed media, drawing and sculpture while in 3D Design students have been constructing furniture, working with timber, glass, wire mesh, textiles and our new laser cutter.
Each pupil works on their personal projects for the whole term, they select their artists and designers and respond to their chosen stimuli, each project is deeply personal and we are so incredibly proud of them all.
We are unable to show you their completed work but you are warmly invited to the annual Art & 3D Design Summer Exhibition, where you will be able to see their work in its entirety.
A private viewing will be on the 12 June 4.00 – 7.00pm in the main school hall and we would love to see as many of you there to celebrate.
Mrs Elizabeth Smith
Head of Art & 3D Design
Director of Teaching & Learning
Three Upper Sixth Form art pupils delivered a presentation about a work of art, architecture or an artefact of their choice, in hope of representing Croydon High at the National Gallery for the ARTiculation Prize.
Read MoreThe annual ARTiculation Prize invites those aged 16-19 to deliver a 10-minute presentation to an audience about a work of art, architecture or an artefact in a museum or gallery setting.
Pupils are invited to each deliver a 10-minute presentation to an audience about a work of art, architecture or an artefact of their choice. Adjudicators then assess each presentation as a whole, looking at content, structure, delivery and the speaker’s original approach and unique potential.
Schools are required to hold internal school heats to select a pupil to represent their school at regional heats or regional finals which take place at museums and galleries across the country.
On Tuesday 12 December, we held the internal heats for the national ARTiculation competition in the Sixth Form centre with Lower and Upper Sixth as the audience. One of the Upper Sixth’s will go on to present their 10-minute presentation at the Photography Gallery in late January. We had Ms Gilmour, Mrs Gower, Ms James and Mrs Palmer as our judges.
Maddie W
Sarah Meyers-Brent: The fascination behind decay
Judges feedback
Calm, clear voice, confident delivery and sophisticated language. Spoke with good timing and good use of images – idea was interesting and original.
Lili R
The Male Gaze Through Time
Judges feedback
Good opposing views and engages the audience and did not need to look at their notes. Clarity and clear progress, good to discuss Mulvey essay.
Nur-Aleena H
Exploring how traditional Middle Eastern Architecture is used in modern day society
Judges feedback
Great use of flashcards, clear introduction with original presentation and good summative conclusion.
Congratulations to Maddie W who has won the internal heats and will go on to represent Croydon High at the ARTiculation Prize competition in January!
Mrs Elizabeth Smith
Head of Art & 3D Design
Director of Teaching & Learning
The 10X Enterprise Challenge at Croydon High School proved to be a transformative and enriching experience for its pupils. Over four weeks, the program cultivated a range of valuable skills, enhancing the students’ entrepreneurial acumen. The Year 10 pupils developed critical thinking and decision-making abilities by navigating real-world business scenarios, fostering adaptability and strategic analysis.
The emphasis on team collaboration strengthened their communication skills and showcased the power of leveraging diverse talents for collective success. Moreover, the enterprise challenge instilled a goal-oriented mindset among our pupils, prompting pupils to articulate clear objectives and create actionable plans to achieve them.
As they faced setbacks, the experience nurtured resilience and perseverance, crucial attributes for future success.
Ultimately, the 10X Enterprise Challenge at Croydon High School prepared our Year 10 pupils for future endeavours, providing them with a solid foundation of skills and lessons that will serve them well in their personal and professional journeys.
The five finalists at the Enterprise Finals included:
Congratulations to the overall winners for the following awards.
A sincere thank you to our Year 10 Enterprise judges at the finals, Mrs. Krishnamurthy, Mrs. Chris Southam, and Mr. Southam, for their invaluable contributions.
We also extend our gratitude to Mr Patel and Mr Sumaria for their support in assisting our pupils during the Trade Stall event held last month.
All five finalists will be enterprising in to the National 10X Enterprise Competition next year.
Mrs Tooke and Mrs Serradilla
The Amnesty International and Activism Group learn more about human rights and how to be advocates and activists.
Read More“I have really enjoyed being part of Amnesty this term, because I have learnt so much more about current issues in our world, and I feel like I have made a positive difference to our school community and to those who need our help.”
–Sophie C, 10B
It has certainly been a busy few weeks for our Amnesty International and Activism Group, which is one of the few cross-year co-curricular clubs. Our goal is to learn more about human rights and be advocates and activists. We admire Malala Yousafzai Mala and Greta Thunberg.
The rights of women in both Afghanistan and Iran; the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip; the death penalty in the USA; unchecked police brutality in Brazil are some of the Human Rights issues we have discussed during our weekly meetings this term. The students often lead our meeting by giving presentations on issues they are particularly interested in.
We explored making a difference by engaging with online activist communities, such as, ‘Global Citizen’ and ‘Assembly’ – a blog funded by Malala. Our group also delivered a school assembly where we urged the rest of the school to mark Human Rights Day by taking part in Amnesty International’s ‘Write For Rights’ campaign. We are pleased so many of our school community took the time to pen a letter of solidarity to someone campaigning to have their Human Rights recognised.
The term ended on a high when we attended the Amnesty International Youth Conference at their headquarters in Shoreditch at the beginning of December. We were able to meet like-minded students from other schools and take part in workshops exploring the history of protest; our right to peaceful protest; how to plan an effective campaign and posing questions such as should the voting age be abolished. It was incredibly inspiring to meet other youth members of Amnesty International and amazing to learn about all by the incredible work they are doing. Finally, on Tuesday we hosted a fundraiser with a range of different stalls, including our ever popular tombola, cookies and donuts, henna and decorate a tote bag. We are delighted to have raised £275; thank you to everyone for their support. This will go towards improving human rights and our exciting new idea for advocating human rights to the rest of our school community next term…
Mrs Tooke and Ms Yam
On Wednesday evening, we held our annual Carol Service at Croydon Minster. The historic church, with its rich architecture and storied past, provided the perfect backdrop for celebration and reflection.
The girls, ranging from the youngest in Year 5 and 6 to the Senior and Chamber Choirs, delivered wonderful renditions of traditional and modern carols, interspersed with beautifully read Bible passages by the girls, Ms. Davies and our Chair of Governors, Lesley Lipczynski, collectively retelling the Christmas story. Our gratitude goes out to Mrs. Webb for organising the whole event and Mr. Suranyi, Mr. Ting and Miss Delaney for their tireless efforts in orchestrating such exceptional music.
The service provided a heartfelt opportunity for us to gather and commemorate the memory of Emma and Lettie Pattison as the girls laid wreaths in their memory and one for our first Headmistress, Dorinda Neligan.
As we reflect on the evening, we recognise it not only as a wonderful musical spectacle but as a cherished tradition woven into the fabric of our community, leaving behind a legacy of harmony, unity, and the true essence of Christmas.
Mrs Lee
Marketing & Communications Manager
This week's Alumnae Spotlight focuses on class of 1950 alumna, Dr Mary Baines OBE.
Read More(29 October 1932 – 21 August 2020)
Palliative Care Physician
Mary Baines excelled at scientific subjects at Croydon High, winning a place in 1950 at Newnham College, Cambridge, to read natural sciences. She gained a first and continued clinical studies at St Thomas’ Hospital Medical School in London. At St Thomas’s, she met Dame Cicely Saunders, a former nurse and social worker studying medicine to pursue her radical vision of care for the dying.
Mary held a casualty post and was then a GP in Norwood, south London. In 1964, she heard a radio appeal by Cicely on behalf of the then-planned St Christopher’s, sent in a £3 donation, and was invited by Cicely to work at the hospice. Friends told her such a move would be professional suicide, and initially, she declined. But Cicely persisted, and in 1968, Mary eventually agreed, prompted by her strong Christian faith.
The first palliative home care team started work in October 1969, combining the skills of local GPs, district nurses and cancer nurses, who went into patients’ homes, advising on and administering pain relief and supporting families on a 24-hour basis. Dame Cicely gave Mary and her team two aims – to look after the people on the wards and at home and change the world’s view of dying. And she did just that.
Within six months, the team had discharged so many patients who could either benefit from life-extending treatment or receive pain relief at home that an outpatient clinic and home care service was set up. By the third year, the team included four specialist nurses and cared for 20 patients in the hospital and 40 outpatients. As the first team of its kind in the UK, they received many visitors and requests for advice from medics across the country.
Mary went on to support the team’s creation at St Thomas’ in 1977. At a celebration of 40 years of palliative care there, she explained how she learnt more about pain management and cancer treatments when she shadowed Dr Bates at St Thomas’ and realised that their combined knowledge greatly benefited patients. This led to Dr Bates starting the palliative care team at St Thomas’.
Mary described how Cicely handed her “one A4 sheet of paper, printed on both sides and said: “That is symptom control.” Since then, it has grown into the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine. Mary and Cicely Saunders co-wrote Living With Dying: The Management of Terminal Disease (published in 1983), the first textbook on palliative care, followed by numerous other textbook chapters.
By 1988, around 20 palliative care teams had been created in the UK. Without the initial team, the vital role of palliative care clinicians may never have been fully recognised and applied.
She was appointed OBE in 1991, and she received a European Women of Achievement Award in 2006, at which time she was noted to be the world’s longest-serving hospice physician.
It has been said of her that she was probably single-handedly more responsible for ensuring that a whole generation of palliative medicine doctors received an excellent clinical grounding than any other individual.
She spoke to audiences in Africa, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, and North and South America, gave the opening address at the first international hospice conference in India, and was an adviser to the World Health Organization. She once described herself as the “doctor with the longest experience of a hospice in the world”. She helped foster links with Eastern Europe and, in particular, supported staff from Romania, Serbia and Macedonia. She continued to be in demand as a speaker, and late in 2019, at the age of 86, she travelled to give an invited presentation at a conference in Buenos Aires.
Mary has helped to change the world’s view of dying. From such a small beginning, she was instrumental in seeing Dame Cicely’s vision develop into a worldwide movement (including resource-constrained countries) affecting the life and death of millions. As the Cicely Saunders Institute voiced, ‘You matter because you are you, and you matter all the days of your life’.
We had the privilege of welcoming Mary to several alumnae events at Croydon High; the Class of 1950 have been meeting annually since 1951
Mary died on 21 August 2020 at St Christopher’s Hospice from complications of Parkinson’s disease. Her death came as a result of complications from Parkinson’s disease and took place at St Christopher’s Hospice, to which she had contributed so much.
Thank you to Dr Mary Baines for her magnificent work that has changed lives at the end of life worldwide.
Mrs Karen Roe
Alumnae Relations Manager
Croydon Citadel Corps - The Salvation Army have sent Croydon High a thank you letter for providing food parcels to families.
Read MoreDear All
Re: Harvest Donations 2023
Once again, we write to thank all those involved in donating food to us this year.
This ongoing support helps us provide food parcels to families who are struggling to make ends meet. They are often referred to us by Social Services, G. P’s, and other such professional support agencies.
If any of the girls would like to come and see where and how their donations are distributed, we would be happy to arrange this. (We could facilitate 2 pupils)
We always like to give feedback and so far, this year we have distributed over 2,550 parcels. Once again, a heartfelt thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Mary Russell-Redman
Community Support
Our School Minibus service offers an efficient and flexible option designed to help families with journeys to and from school. Minibus travel is offered to pupils in Year 3 and up.
The service is managed on our behalf by Vectare, a specialist school transport management company. All bookings for our school bus routes are made via our online booking system, which can be accessed at croydonhigh.vectare.co.uk.
The website allows you to book travel 24/7 from anywhere, meaning that if you need to leave early for work one morning or are running late and you would like one of our students to travel on a school bus as a one off, you can make a booking right up until the route is due to depart. Payment for the school bus service is made at the time of booking, so there is no need for pupils to carry cash.