Sydenham School

Community school in Sydenham, Greater London, England

51°26′03″N 0°03′32″W / 51.434167°N 0.058889°W / 51.434167; -0.058889InformationTypeCommunity SchoolMottoAim high, Achieve Higher.Established1917Local authorityLewishamDepartment for Education URN100741 TablesOfstedReportsHeadteacherEmma WijnbergGenderGirlsAge11 to 18Enrolment4 (capacity 7.8)Colour(s)BlueWebsitehttp://www.sydenham.lewisham.sch.uk

2km
1.2miles

Sydenham Girls

Sydenham School is a comprehensive girls' school located on Dartmouth Road (A2216) in Sydenham, London.

History

The school was founded in 1917 as a girls' grammar school, known as Sydenham County Grammar School for Girls. London County Council commissioned Basil Spence & 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.^[1]

In 2003 Sydenham School was granted Specialist Science College status and in 2008 it was granted Specialist in Mathematics by the DfES. 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 Emma Wijnberg. 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, Olivier Award Winner 2015 and 2023 Best Actress in a Musical.
Sarah Jane Crawford, television and radio presenter.
Tasha Danvers, 400 metre hurdler, bronze in the Beijing 2008 Olympics.^[2]^[3]
Mia Goth, actress

Sydenham County Grammar School for Girls

Eva Crane, researcher into bees^[4]
Linda Ludgrove, swimmer
Elsie Widdowson, dietitian

References

^ "Sydenham School - Sir Basil Spence". Canmore. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
^ "Sydenham Olympian Tasha Danvers goes back to school". News Shopper. 17 November 2008. Archived from the original on 8 June 2023. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
^ Chaudry, Ziad (1 June 2009). "Danvers beats Olympic champion". Your Local Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 June 2023. Retrieved 8 June 2023. "It was a good performance for me," said Danvers, a former St Leonards Streatham and Sydenham school pupil and the daughter of Brixton's former English Schools sprint hurdles champion Don Danvers.
^ Marren, Peter (14 September 2007), "Eva Crane: Authority on the history of beekeeping and honey-hunting who travelled the world in pursuit of bees", The Independent, archived from the original on 5 September 2008, retrieved 28 October 2018