Sydenham School (known as Sydenham Girls by locals) is a comprehensive girls' school located on Dartmouth Road ( A2216) in

Sydenham, London Sydenham () is a district of south-east London, England, which is shared between the London boroughs of Lewisham, Bromley and Southwark. Prior to the creation of the County of London in 1889, Sydenham was located in Kent, bordering Surrey. Hist ...

History

The school was founded in 1917 as a girls' grammar school, known as Sydenham County Grammar School for Girls .

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kn ...

commissioned

Basil Spence Sir Basil Urwin Spence, (13 August 1907 – 19 November 1976) was a Scottish architect, most notably associated with Coventry Cathedral in England and the Beehive in New Zealand, but also responsible for numerous other buildings in the Moderni ...

& Partners, in the early 1950s, to design additional accommodation to allow the school to increase capacity from 600 to 1140 students and to merge with Shackleton School to become a comprehensive school. This took place in 1956 on completion of the new six-storey, E-shaped, classroom block, on which work had begun in 1954. The official opening ceremony took place on 28 February 1957. In 2003 Sydenham School was granted Specialist

Science College Science Colleges were introduced in 2002 as part of the now defunct Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, science and mathematics Mathemati ...

status and in 2008 it was granted Specialist in Mathematics by the

DfES The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) was a United Kingdom government department between 2001 and 2007, responsible for the education system (including higher education and adult learning) as well as children's services in England. Th ...

. Sydenham School has close ties to Forest Hill School, a nearby boys' comprehensive school.

Form system

In each year there are 8 tutor groups, named for the letters in SYDENHAM.

Admissions

The current headmistress is Ms Gloria Lowe. It has always been a girls' school. Forest Hill Pools and Forest Hill library is next door.

Academic performance

In the last OFSTED inspection, Sydenham School was graded as 'good with outstanding features '. It gets GCSEs and A levels above the England average.(64%)

Notable former pupils

Katie Brayben Katie Brayben (born 3 September) is an English actress and musician who has performed in stage plays, television and musicals and also as a singer and songwriter with her own music. She is presently best known for her portrayal of the title role of ...

, Olivier Award Winner 2015 Best Actress in a Musical. *

Sarah Jane Crawford Sarah-Jane Crawford is an English television and radio presenter, actress, voice-over artist, and DJ best known for her radio work with Hits Radio and formerly with BBC Radio 1Xtra, and television work with E! Network (which she is currentl ...

, television and radio presenter. *

Tasha Danvers Tasha De'Anka Danvers (born 19 September 1977) is a British Olympic bronze medallist, who finished in third place in the 400 metres hurdles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She was born in London to two athletes, Dorrett McKoy and Donald Danvers, ...

, 400 metre hurdler, bronze in the Beijing 2008 Olympics. *

Mia Goth Mia Gypsy Mello da Silva Goth (born 25 October 1993) is an English actress and model of Brazilian mother and Canadian father. She is best known for her work in the ongoing horror film franchise ''X'' (2022–present). Following a brief stint ...

, actress

Sydenham County Grammar School for Girls

Eva Crane Eva Crane born Ethel Eva Widdowson (12 June 1912 – 6 September 2007) was a researcher and author on the subjects of bees and beekeeping. Trained as a quantum mathematician, she changed her field of interest to bees, and spent decades rese ...

, researcher into bees * Linda Ludgrove, swimmer *

Elsie Widdowson Elsie Widdowson (21 October 1906 – 14 June 2000), was a British dietitian and nutritionist. She and Dr Robert McCance, a pediatrician, physiologist, biochemist, and nutritionist, were responsible for overseeing the government-mandated addit ...

, dietitian

References

https://sydenham.fluencycms.co.uk/science

External links

Sydenham School

EduBase
{{authority control Girls' schools in London Secondary schools in the London Borough of Lewisham Educational institutions established in 1917 1917 establishments in England Community schools in the London Borough of Lewisham Basil Spence buildings Sydenham, London