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28/03/24

Well done everyone 💪

27/03/24

A huge congratulations to all of our students that took part in the bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award expedition. In spite of the inclement weather, their perseverance throughout the expedition was truly inspiring.  pic.twitter.com/ffHkwcgNLj

27/03/24

Mr Manners kicks off this term’s Rewards and Celebrations Evening, along with our four Head Students! pic.twitter.com/wQHPnvfjkH

27/03/24

Our Year 8s have been completing a project called My Croydon, exploring the history and amazing architecture in Croydon. They also looked at the work of local signwriter, Lionel Stanhope. See pictures below, completed for Homework. Well done Year 8! pic.twitter.com/3NI2I9UrcD

25/03/24

Year 7 have been making their own imagined Dragon eye out of air drying clay. They have used their colour blending skills to add paint to show the scales pic.twitter.com/s7Sp4KHLpk

22/03/24

We are thrilled to have Mr Nunes, Captain of the London U18 Volleyball Team, with working with us moving forward, as our Associate Sports Coach across all key stages. Fantastic opportunity for our students! pic.twitter.com/ACWfaaONNx

22/03/24

We are thrilled to have Levi, Captain of the London Volleyball Team, with working with us moving forward and our Year 10 and 11 students. Fantastic opportunity for our students! pic.twitter.com/FqAMe7g0nA

22/03/24

Each week we have reading buddies from come to read with our Year 2s. This is part of our primary/secondary links and the children love meeting the older Harris children! pic.twitter.com/MQDDOPoEbw

18/03/24

The Great Big Footy & Booky Quiz. Our students did really well on the quiz, with 5 students who got 9 out of 10 questions right! We also held a 'Book Tasting', with different extracts from various books. Students really enjoyed this and championed their favourite book choices. pic.twitter.com/cFhxsHrjsG

15/03/24

This week we also celebrated 🧪Activities spanned across lessons, lunchtimes, and after school! We had demos, fun experiments, and a quiz for all students to take part in!Thank you to Ms Salmon and the whole science team for such a fun filled week! pic.twitter.com/2byOxERD3G

15/03/24

Fantastic recital this afternoon! With our first place winner reciting a whopping 263 digits of Pi!!!Fantastic effort by all of our participants and Happy Pi Day once again! Thank you to Ms Lee and her Maths team for organising pic.twitter.com/KVT1RsctXM

14/03/24

Happy Pi Day! It’s been fantastic wishing all of our students happy Pi day today! Here’s some of teachers in their Pi tees! Tomorrow, is our annual Pi Recital comp and we can’t wait! Last year’s winner, a former Y11 recited 177 digits of Pi!!! pic.twitter.com/53pK63TXoN

14/03/24

Historian Isaac Crichlow visited our Year 8s and Year 10s today to discuss his research on African and Caribbean cultures during and after transatlantic enslavement. They asked some great questions. Thanks Isaac for your time and energy.Truly inspirational! pic.twitter.com/62yHFTTAK9

13/03/24

🎶 We’re so lucky to have not one but TWO MiSST Together days happening today in different parts of the UK. 🙌 Students from a total of 6 of our partner schools are making music together in Oldham and Peckham! We can’t wait to hear them play! 🎺🎻#MusicEducation… pic.twitter.com/s4ULZIZO0x

13/03/24

Do you live in Croydon but attend a school outside of Croydon? You can request a voucher from the council through the voucher request form ~ https://t.co/LuKR0LwNY7 |

11/03/24

Last week our Student Voice baked and decorated an amazing rainbow cake to celebrate LGBTQ+ History Month. Delicious! pic.twitter.com/W0by5ZIX03

07/03/24

Happy World Book Day from us to you! We hope you had a fantastic day celebrating reading and we look forward to next year! pic.twitter.com/7IRI0nczrH

07/03/24

The start of World Book Day today! Students were greeted by staff dressed in an array of character costumes! Here some of the Senior Team this morning! pic.twitter.com/XdghTQFVxm

04/03/24

Today is the final day of the tailored talks on Stop & Search for all students. have been fantastic in sharing with students on the rules and their rights of Stop & Search. Our final session was for Year 7 this morning. Thank you to the Mentivity team pic.twitter.com/4gDj9S9LIW

02/03/24

Thanks all! A great game and a great way to end the week! https://t.co/vEOYWZVdXY

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Latest News

Posted on November 6th 2019

New Shopping Centre - Our Students Investigate

By Tamjid, with support from other Invictus Scroll journalists.

Many readers may have heard that a brand-new shopping centre is set to appear in the heart of our community. Invictus Scroll journalists wanted to know more, so this term we invited in Hannah Durling, Head of Community (pictured centre) for the new development, to find out more. 

Westfield

The new shopping centre (commonly known as Westfield, although technically we can’t call it that yet!*) will replace our beloved Whitgift Centre and run from the Marks & Spencers to the Whitgift Alms Houses. We learnt that this incredible new development will bring in a whopping 7,000 jobs, 200 new shops and £1.4bn investment into our community.   

Although it has not been confirmed yet, developers are apparently pushing for there to be a new Apple Store in the middle of the development. This is something that there is likely to be a lot of excitement about!  


"Croydon pound in the Croydon purse"

“There are many advantages to the new development”, says Ms Durling. “South London will get a range of new shops and entertainment…. I am a local resident myself and I am looking forward to shopping in Croydon more, which will keep the Croydon pound in the Croydon purse.”

Ms Durling says that a target of 25% of the new jobs in construction, retail, cleaning and management will be reserved for local people.  

The development is also expected to contain a number of “anchor stores” which are the main attractions to the centre. This will include a new Marks and Spencers, John Lewis and Waitrose. The other shops are yet to be confirmed, but Ms Durling said they should be shops like All Saints and Ted Baker. These shops are glamorous but there are some worries that they could be more expensive and less affordable than the ones we already have.  

“Croydon has already undergone rapid change and the transformation is set to continue,” says Ms Durling, who believes that the development will bring in “wider regeneration benefits to the area.”

Our student journalists raised other concerns with the development too. Some were worried about the loss of the Whitgift Centre that has been a big part of the community for many families. Ms Durling reassured students that Whitgift shops could be relocated in Centrale (opposite the main development) whilst building works are carried out, although some may well disappear.  

“Of course there will be some disruption” says Ms Durling, “especially during demolition and construction, but our job is to minimise this and ensure Croydon continues to keep trading throughout this time.”


Multi-cultural

One other concern raised by students was whether the shops would be diverse enough to cater for our wonderful multi-cultural area. Ms Durling said: “We do have Arabic restaurants in other Westfield sites and we employ people who speak other languages…. We encourage small shopholders to try out a stall in our main centre rather than going for a full shop straight away. This allows them to test the market without taking too much risk.”  

Ms Durling also said they also try to engage the community in other ways, for example through their Pop-Up Business school project. This has run for the past three years, which includes a two-week training course on how to start a new business from scratch.

The redevelopment should provide housing as well as shops. As part of the new development there are expected to be up to 1,000 residential units being built along Wellesley Road. However, house prices may well go up as more people want to move to our area with a sparkling new shopping centre.  

On top of this, the redevelopment should also provide a corridor from Wellesley Road to North End that allows people to walk through 24 hours a day. At the moment you can walk through Whitgift, but it can close and feel unsafe at night. This Galleria should really help connect our communities.  


Reviewing plans

There have been rumours that the new shopping centre may not go ahead especially with all the uncertainty surrounding Brexit. Ms Durling says that the Croydon Partnership is “committed to Croydon” and is currently reviewing the plans to make sure they suit “changing consumer and retail needs”.

Finally, this development is part of a whole bigger picture of investment in Croydon. According to Ms Durling, the government has classified the CR0 postcode a Growth Zone and they are investing £5.25bn in transport and construction in the wider area.  

By Tamjid, with support from other Invictus Scroll journalists  


*The Centrale and Whitgift Shopping centres are owned by the Croydon Partnership which is the joint venture between Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and Hammerson.