Riddlesdown High School
Riddlesdown
Nearest train station: Kenley or Riddlesdown
is a school of about 1500 boys and girls. There is also a Sixth Form Centre with over 250 post-16 students on the campus. The School is situated near Purley and takes its pupils mainly from the Sanderstead, Selsdon, Purley, South Croydon and Tandridge areas. The site, with its excellent level playing fields, extends to some 25 acres and is almost completely surrounded by fields and woodland. The School moved to its present site from Selsdon in 1957.
Since 1992, when Riddlesdown became the first school in Croydon to be awarded Grant Maintained status by the Secretary of State for Education, the teaching facilities have been greatly improved. All sixteen of the fully-equipped Science laboratories have been refurbished as have all the classrooms in the main teaching blocks.
In 1993 the School built a new Sports Hall and in 1994 the new Arts Centre, with facilites for Music, Drama and Art teaching, was opened. A new Technology Building, containing six computer rooms and bases for Design Technology and Food Technology teaching, was completed in 1995.
Improvements continued with additional classrooms in 1996, and both a Gymnasium and a new School Reference Library in 1997. Five new tennis courts were added in 1998. The main School Hall was extended in 2002 and further classrooms and Technology rooms added in 2003.