Whitgift, founded in 1596, is an independent day-school with high academic standards for 1100 boys aged 10 to 18. It has a great sense of history and a clear sense of purpose about its future. It enjoys an extensive and beautiful parkland site of 45 acres, yet is easily from Victoria, Waterloo, London Bridge and Clapham Junction stations. Boys come to the school from Surrey and Sussex, as well as from the Croydon area, Central and South London. The facilities are of outstanding quality.
Academic achievement has placed Whitgift amongst the leading independent schools with the percentage of grades A/B at A level improving steadily from 48% to 72% over a five year period. Twenty one boys were offered places at Oxford and Cambridge Universities this year. Record A level results showed Whitgift to be the twelfth best boys school in the country on points per candidate. It has an extremely advanced curriculum with Japanese being one of the six modern languages on offer. Latin and Greek are also areas of excellence in the school and it has just become a centre of excellence for Design and Technology. This department has many industrial links with firms like IKEA and Nokia.
The exchanges programme is extensive with trips to many European countries taking place as well as a tradition of music exchanges with Germany and mathematics exchanges to Russia. The school has formed an official link with the Urawa Senior High School in Saitama Province, Japan. Last year, Urawa celebrated its centenary and a party from the Croydon School took part in an exchange in Japan.
Excellent standards are also achieved in sport with over a dozen boys achieving national honours over the last two years. Whitgift is a civilised community with music, drama and other activities having a high profile in the school. An agreement has just been signed with the London Mozart Players who are Whitgift School Associate Musicians.
Much care is given at every stage to a boy's individual needs and all-round development with the pastoral system being based upon a house structure. A very large number of scholarships or Government Assisted Places is available, and a generous bursary scheme is provided by the Whitgift Foundation.
Alumni - Barron Wedderburn of Charlton; Baron (Reg) Prentice of Daventry; Baron Tope of Sutton, Baron Bowness of Woldingham; The Hon Lord Justice Mann; Prof Sir Robert Boyd; Sir David Hancock; Sir Peter Michael; Sir Peter Wallis, Prof Sir John Knill; Rt Hon Roger Freeman MP; Ian Beer (Former Headmaster of Harrow); Raman Subba Row (Test Selector); Gp Capt John Cunningham; Martin Jarvis (Actor); Mark Shivas (TV & Film Producer); Guy Woolfenden (Director of Music, RSC).
