The Archbishop Lanfranc Academy is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

located in the

Thornton Heath Thornton Heath is a district of Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon. It is around north of the town of Croydon, and south of Charing Cross. Prior to the creation of Greater London in 1965, Thornton Heath was in the Co ...

area of

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 ...

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 ...

, named after

Lanfranc Lanfranc, OSB (1005 1010 – 24 May 1089) was a celebrated Italian jurist who renounced his career to become a Benedictine monk at Bec in Normandy. He served successively as prior of Bec Abbey and abbot of St Stephen in Normandy and 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 ...

from 1070 to 1089.

History

The school was founded in 1931 as a boys' school in Thornton Road, Thornton Heath, near the junction with Mitcham Road and is close to

Mitcham Common Mitcham Common is 182 hectares (460 acres) of common land situated in south London. It is predominantly in the London borough of Merton, with parts straddling the borders of Croydon and Sutton. It is designated a Site of Metropolita ...

. In 1953 work began on a new school nearby in Mitcham Road, being opened in 1956 by the then Archbishop of Canterbury,

Geoffrey Fisher Geoffrey Francis Fisher, Baron Fisher of Lambeth, (5 May 1887 – 15 September 1972) was an English Anglican priest, and 99th Archbishop of Canterbury, serving from 1945 to 1961. From a long line of parish priests, Fisher was educated at Marlb ...

. On 9 August 1961, 34 boys and 2 members of staff from the school were killed when their plane crashed near

Stavanger Airport, Sola Stavanger Airport ( no, Stavanger lufthavn; ), commonly just known as Sola, is an international airport located in Rogaland county, Norway. The airport is located southwest of the centre of the city of Stavanger inside the neighboring munici ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The fiftieth anniversary was marked by a book published in summer 2011, ''The Lanfranc Boys'' by Rosalind Jones, sister of Quentin Green, one of the victims. The school converted from

secondary modern A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Schools of this type continue in Northern Ireland, where they are usually ...

status to comprehensive in 1970, merging at the same time with the girl's school of the same name. It became a comprehensive

foundation school In England and Wales, a foundation school is a state-funded school in which the governing body has greater freedom in the running of the school than in community schools. Foundation schools were set up under the School Standards and Framework A ...

in 1998, administered by

Croydon London Borough Council Croydon London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Croydon in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. Croydon is divided into 28 wards, electing 70 cou ...

. The Archbishop Lanfranc School converted to academy status in September 2014 and was renamed The Archbishop Lanfranc Academy. However, the school continues to coordinate with Croydon London Borough Council for admissions. The Archbishop Lanfranc Academy featured in the 2014

fly-on-the-wall Fly on the wall is a style of documentary-making used in film and television production. The name derived from the idea that events are seen candidly, as a fly on a wall might see them. In the purest form of fly-on-the-wall documentary-making, t ...

documentary, ''

Tough Young Teachers ''Tough Young Teachers'' is a British documentary television series that was first broadcast on BBC Three on 9 January 2014. The six graduate teachers featured in the series are Charles Wallendahl (University of Oxford), Chloe Shaw ( Royal Hollow ...

''.

Description

The

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

report of June 2009 states that the school "is a specialist sports college serving a part of Croydon of considerable ethnic and cultural diversity. The school is average in size and has a significantly higher proportion of boys than girls. The proportion of pupils who have learning difficulties and/or disabilities, including those with a statement of special educational need, is above average. The school holds several national and local awards including the National Association for Able Children in Education (NACE) Award and the Investors in People standard."OFSTED report on 2009 inspection, retrieved 2 August 2009
/ref> There is a Nursery overseen by the governing body, and judgements about its effectiveness were included in this report. The privately run Lanfranc Pre-school was inspected and reported on separately. The report stated that the quality of education provided by the school was at least satisfactory in all respects with some key aspects as good and others outstanding.

Notable former pupils

Paul Oakenfold Paul Mark Oakenfold (born 30 August 1963), formerly known mononymously as Oakenfold, is an English record producer, remixer and trance DJ. He has provided over 100 remixes for over 100 artists including U2, Moby, Madonna, Britney Spears, Mass ...

, record producer, DJ, remixer * Wayne Alexander, boxer * Hannah Barrett, '' The X Factor 2013'' contestant, 2007–2012 *

Wayne Routledge Wayne Neville Anthony Routledge (born 7 January 1985) is an English former professional footballer who played as a winger. He represented England at under-16, under-19 and under-21 level. Routledge began his career in London with Crystal Pala ...

, footballer, 1996–2001 * Moses Swaibu, footballer, 2000-2005 *

Fuse ODG Nana Richard Abiona (born 2 December 1988), better known by his stage name Fuse ODG, is a British singer, songwriter and rapper. He is best known for his singles "Antenna" and " Dangerous Love", and for featuring on Major Lazer's " Light It Up ...

, rapper, 1999–2004 * Jermaine McGlashan, footballer 2007–present * Carmaine Walker, England footballer, 2003–2004 *

Stuart Humphryes Stuart Humphryes (born 10 December 1969) is an English multimedia artist for print, film and television, and a social media content creator, chiefly known for his work enhancing early colour photography. He first rose to prominence colourising ...

, film and video colouriser, 1981–1986 * Dale Jasper, footballer

Headteachers

*James Harper (?–1977 *Ronald Blackman (?–1983) *Robert Pope (1983–1994) *David Clark (1994–2014) *Michael del Río (2014–2021) *Simon Trehearn (2021-Present)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Archbishop Lanfranc School Secondary schools in the London Borough of Croydon Educational institutions established in 1931 1931 establishments in England Academies in the London Borough of Croydon Thornton Heath