Archbishop Tenison's Church of England High School, Croydon
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Archbishop Tenison's Church of England High School, commonly known as Tenison's, is a co-educational 11-18, voluntary aided,
school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...
in the
London Borough of Croydon The London Borough of Croydon () is a London borough in south London, part of Outer London. It covers an area of . It is the southernmost borough of London. At its centre is the historic town of Croydon from which the borough takes its name; ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, part of the educational provision of the
Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
Diocese of Southwark The Diocese of Southwark is one of the 42 dioceses of the Church of England, part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The diocese forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. It was created on 1 May 1905 from part of the ancient Dio ...
and Croydon Council. It is a specialist Mathematics and Computing College.


History

Several schools were founded by
Thomas Tenison Thomas Tenison (29 September 163614 December 1715) was an English church leader, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1694 until his death. During his primacy, he crowned two British monarchs. Life He was born at Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, the son a ...
, an educational philanthropist, in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. In 1714, Tenison, by then
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
, founded a school for some “ten poor boys and ten poor girls” on a site which is now close to
Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
’s shopping centre. Just over 300 years and three sites later, it is thought that the School is the oldest surviving mixed-sex school in the world. Due to the hostilities of the Second World War, the School was moved away from the dangers of the Blitz in
South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...
and relocated to Craigmore Hall in the countryside near
Crowborough Crowborough is a town and civil parish in East Sussex, England, in the Weald at the edge of Ashdown Forest in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, 7 miles (11 km) south-west of Royal Tunbridge Wells and 33 miles (53 ...
,
East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...
, with pupils evacuated and billeted with the local populace. After the War, the School returned to Croydon and Craigmore Hall returned to private use. The School now occupies a site established almost 50 years ago in a leafy residential area of Croydon – Park Hill, ten minutes' walk from
East Croydon station East Croydon is a railway station and tram stop in Croydon, Greater London, England, and is located in Travelcard Zone 5. At from , it is one of the busiest non-terminal stations in London, and in the United Kingdom as a whole. It is one of th ...
. It caters for around 800 pupils, of whom approximately 270 are in the
Sixth Form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...
. Since 1959, the facilities have been augmented by the building of a Sixth Form Centre, an Art block, and Geography and Technology Centres. In it
Ofsted report
from February 2008, the Lower School and Sixth Form were both described as being "Outstanding", receiving the highest inspection grades available.


Founder’s Day

A Tenisonian tradition is that once a year, usually the morning of the first Friday in May, the entire school gathers to celebrate the anniversary of its foundation in 1714, the life of the founder Thomas Tenison and the achievements of the past academic year. The event is attended by pupils, the governors and representatives from the Diocese of
Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...
. The annual report is read by the headmaster and a short speech is given. After the service pupils do not have to return to lessons.


School armorials

The badges of both the surviving schools founded by Thomas Tenison are based on his personal
coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...
, which consist of the arms of the
see of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
impaled with the Tenison family arms. The former, placed on the
dexter Dexter may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Dexter, the main character of the American animated series ''Dexter's Laboratory'' that aired from 1996 to 2003 * Dexter, a fictional character in the British Diary of a Bad Man#Main, web series ''Diar ...
side of honour, are
blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The vis ...
ed as: '' Azure, an archiepiscopal cross in pale or surmounted by a
pall Pall may refer to: * Pall (funeral), a cloth used to cover a coffin * Pall (heraldry), a Y-shaped heraldic charge * Pall (liturgy), a piece of stiffened linen used to cover the chalice at the Eucharist * Pall Corporation, a global business * Pall. ...
proper charged with four crosses patee fitchee
sable The sable (''Martes zibellina'') is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kaza ...
''. The arms of Tenison, placed on the
sinister Sinister commonly refers to: * Evil * Ominous Sinister may also refer to: Left side * Sinister, Latin for the direction " left" * Sinister, in heraldry, is the bearer's true left side (viewers' right side) of an escutcheon or coat of arms; see ...
side of the escutcheon are blazoned as: ''
Gules In heraldry, gules () is the tincture with the colour red. It is one of the class of five dark tinctures called "colours", the others being azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green) and purpure (purple). In engraving, it is sometimes depict ...
, a bend engrailed argent voided azure, between three
leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...
's faces or
jessant-de-lys Jessant-de-lys is a heraldic term denoting a fleur-de-lys issuing out of any object. It is most frequently seen in conjunction with a leopard's face, meaning in heraldic language the face of a lion. Description Charles Boutell (1863) described t ...
azure''. In standard English: a red field bearing a white (or silver) diagonal band with scalloped edges, and a narrower blue band running down its centre. This lies between three gold heraldic lion's faces, each of which is pierced by a
fleur-de-lys The fleur-de-lis, also spelled fleur-de-lys (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a lily (in French, and mean 'flower' and 'lily' respectively) that is used as a decorative design or symbol. The fleur-de-lis has been used in the ...
entering through the mouth.


Origin

These arms are a
difference Difference, The Difference, Differences or Differently may refer to: Music * ''Difference'' (album), by Dreamtale, 2005 * ''Differently'' (album), by Cassie Davis, 2009 ** "Differently" (song), by Cassie Davis, 2009 * ''The Difference'' (al ...
, or variant, of the mediaeval arms of the family of Denys of
Siston Siston (pronounced "sizeton") is a small village in South Gloucestershire, England. It is east of Bristol at the confluence of the two sources of the Siston Brook, a tributary of the River Avon. The village consists of a number of cottages ...
, Gloucestershire, and may have been adopted by the Tenison family because its name signifies "Denys's or Denis's son". The arms were originally those of the Norman de Cantilupe family, whose feudal tenants the Denys family probably were in connection with
Candleston Castle Candleston Castle (historically sometimes Candlestone Castle) is a 14th-century fortified manor house, in ruins since the 19th century. It is southwest of Merthyr Mawr, former Glamorgan, Wales, now Bridgend County Borough and just northwest of ...
in
Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...
. St Thomas Cantilupe(d.1282), bishop of Hereford, gave a reversed (i.e. upside down) version of the Cantilupe arms to the
see of Hereford The Diocese of Hereford is a Church of England diocese based in Hereford, covering Herefordshire, southern Shropshire and a few parishes within Worcestershire in England, and a few parishes within Powys and Monmouthshire in Wales. The cathedral i ...
, which uses them to this day. A version of the Denys arms was also adopted by the family of the
poet laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...
Alfred, Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
, not known to have been a descendant of Archbishop Thomas Tenison.


Houses

Pupils at Tenison's are organised in a manner typical of
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
schools - they are sorted into a
house system The house system is a traditional feature of schools in the United Kingdom. The practice has since spread to Commonwealth countries and the United States. The school is divided into subunits called "houses" and each student is allocated to o ...
. These houses determine the colour of a pupil's mitres on their school tie. Pupils are actively a part of the house system from years 7 to 10, and compete annually for the House Points Cup and the Inter-House Cup (a sporting competition). Involvement within the house system lessens in year 11; however, there have been calls to put greater emphasis on the house system, and inter-house competitions, for all year groups. The houses at Tenison's are named after famous Archbishops of Canterbury, and include: *
Fisher Fisher is an archaic term for a fisherman, revived as gender-neutral. Fisher, Fishers or The Fisher may also refer to: Places Australia *Division of Fisher, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in Queensland *Elect ...
*
Ramsey Ramsey may refer to: Geography British Isles * Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, a small market town in England * Ramsey, Essex, a village near Harwich, England ** Ramsey and Parkeston, a civil parish formerly called just "Ramsey" * Ramsey, Isle of Man, t ...
*
Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
*
Becket ''Becket or The Honour of God'' (french: Becket ou l'honneur de Dieu) is a 1959 play written in French by Jean Anouilh. It is a depiction of the conflict between Thomas Becket and King Henry II of England leading to Becket's assassination in 117 ...
*
Wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...


Sport

The school has no on-site grass playing fields but has the use of nearby Lloyd Park and facilities at nearby Coombe Lodge, providing pitches for both football and cricket. In 2002 the school opened an all-weather surface on the School site which enables the provision of tennis, basketball, netball and five-a-side football, as well as four other on-site tennis courts. The school also has a sports hall


Sixth form

The sixth form was established jointly with St Andrew's High School, Croydon in 1978 but resides on Tenison's premises.


Old Tenisonians

Notable Old Tenisonians include: *
Joshua Buatsi Joshua Buatsi (born 14 March 1993) is a British professional boxer who held the British light-heavyweight title in 2019, and the WBA International light-heavyweight title between 2018 and 2021. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal in the light ...
, Olympic boxing medallist * Graham Butcher, first-class cricketer *
Mark Butcher Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fin ...
, Test cricketer *
Lynne Owens Dame Lynne Gillian Owens, (born 29 January 1969) is a senior law enforcement officer in the United Kingdom. She served as Director-General of the National Crime Agency from 2016 to 2021, making her one of the most senior law enforcement chiefs ...
, Director General of the
National Crime Agency The National Crime Agency (NCA) is a national law enforcement agency in the United Kingdom. It is the UK's lead agency against organised crime; human, weapon and drug trafficking; cybercrime; and economic crime that goes across regional and in ...


See also

*
Archbishop Tenison's School Archbishop Tenison's School, commonly known as Tenison's, is a Church of England mixed secondary school located in the London Borough of Lambeth. Admissions Tenison's is an 11–16 boys and girls comprehensive school, part of the educationa ...
in
Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...


References


External links


Archbishop Tenison's School
{{Authority control Secondary schools in the London Borough of Croydon Educational institutions established in 1714 1714 establishments in England * Church of England secondary schools in the Diocese of Southwark Voluntary aided schools in London