Shirley High School

Shirley High School is a successful, oversubscribed, mixed, 6 form entry, 11-18 comprehensive school, set in a pleasant residential suburb of Croydon on a site exceeding 13 acres. We have a school roll of approximately 1000.

We are very proud of our Performing Arts School Specialist status. To achieve this we had to show excellence in all areas of the curriculum and have the ability to pass on those skills to other schools.

The school has a Christian tradition and we are very proud of our school and the students that study here. Their achievements, supported by our hard-working and committed staff, makes us the successful school that we are. The school aims to develop students for the future as they learn to achieve the highest standards of excellence in academic work and other areas of school life. The school's examination results have shown a consistent improvement and we are continually above the national average.

The school has a reputation of being a well-ordered, happy, caring community, popular with our students and their parents/carers and is over-subscribed in the first choices from local primary schools with over 700 applications for the 180 places in Year 7. We are committed to working closely with parents/carers in the education of our students. We believe students develop best in a well-ordered environment where expectations are made clear. There are a number of co-curricular (extra-curricular) activities provided for students to ensure a broad and balanced education.

Shirley High School has received a whole host of national accolades in recent years demonstrating the wide range of learning experiences available to our students. In June 2012 we were placed in the top 10% performing academies and schools by the SSAT (Specialist Schools and Academy Trust) based on Key Stage 4 value-added scores for students achieving 5x A*-C including English and Maths this achievement highlighted the steady improvement made at the school as we were placed 20% in 2010 and then in the top 15% 2011. (Value-added scores show the progress students in a school have made between their test results at age 11 and at age 16). Similarly at Key Stage 5 we were placed by the DfE third in the country for all schools and colleges for our vocational progress score results in summer 2014 and then second in summer 2015 and in the final DfE tables for 2016 we were placed top school in the country for progression on ‘Applied General’ courses. These are achievements we are justifiable very proud of.

Our excellent staff are dedicated to helping our students develop their interests and skills so they can take their rightful place within our society as confident young adults.