St. Mary's Roman Catholic High School is a co-educational, 11-19 secondary school in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

History

The school is one of the longest established schools in Croydon, having been founded on 2 September 1851, situated next to

St Mary's Church, Croydon St Mary's Church or Our Lady of Reparation Church is a Catholic Church, Catholic Parish church, Parish church building, church in Croydon. It was built from 1863 to 1864 and designed by E. W. Pugin and Frederick Walters. It is architecturally in th ...

. It has expanded over the years and now caters for about 750 boys and girls, the majority of whom are

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

but the school is attended by pupils of other faiths. The head teacher is Patrick Shields.

Academics

It is the 9th most improved school in the country for

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

exam passes and the percentages are increasing every year. It is placed as the top third school for progress after last years' results which were the best in school's history with 55% of the pupils achieving 5 A*-C in English and Maths compared to only 41% in 2015. 20% of the students achieved A*-A and 40% of students achieving A*-B grades. The school's progress 8 score is 0.45. The school's Attainment 8 score is 47.7. The percentage of students who achieved the EBACC was 20%. The school is the top Catholic state school for pupil's progress in Croydon. The school has moved from a mid range satisfactory rating to a good rating with the Local Education Authorities. This is based on the Ofsted's last inspection that took place between the 1st and 3 February. The school consistently performs well in science, allowing students to develop and clearly understand basic and advanced theoretical ideas. The school was also recently awarded the "Secondary School of 2016" by Croydon Council - the first time the school has won one. The school had a sixth form up until 2015 however due to operational reasons the sixth form is temporarily suspended for the years to come.

Facilities

The Computing and Mathematics Specialism's has enabled the school to develop its computer suites and now has one of the highest pupils to computer ratios. The recent implementation of web accessed MLE is further indication of the progressive and modern attitude within the school. The school has succeeded in implementing a refurbishment program for the design and technology block to allow a new computer suite for Art, a revised and improved working area for Design and Technology and completely modernised classrooms for RE.

Alumni

Luol Deng Luol Ajou Deng (born 16 April 1985) is a South Sudanese–British former professional basketball player. He was a two-time NBA All-Star and was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team in 2012. Born in South Sudan that was then part of Republ ...

OBE (b. 1985) - professional basketball player Catholic secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Southwark Secondary schools in the London Borough of Croydon Voluntary aided schools in London {{London-school-stub