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State secondary schools in Croydon

23 schools · London · 2024/25 Department for Education figures

Croydon has 23 state secondaries, 19 of them with sixth forms. 71.2% of families got their first choice last year, worse than most of England. Results run from 22.9% to 62.4% passing English and maths, a spread of 40 points, with a middle school at 43.5%, almost exactly England's 45.4%.

Of those Ofsted has graded, 2 rated Outstanding, 12 Good, 3 Requires improvement. 6 schools carry no overall grade at all — either inspected since Ofsted stopped issuing one in September 2024, or never inspected.

23 schools in Croydon. Tap one, or see the full list.
23% 62% passed English & maths

Croydon against England

State-funded schools, 2024/25

42%

Passed English & maths grade 5 or above

3% below England

England 45%

44.5

Attainment 8 average score

1.6 below England

England 46.1

21%

Persistently absent missed 10% of sessions

in line with England

England 21%

Getting a place

2026/27 secondary admissions round, across Croydon

71.2%

Got their first choiceof those who applied

England 84%

91%

Got one of their threefirst, second or third

0%

Got no offer at allfrom any preference

5%

Appeals upheld2 of 39 heard

These are figures for Croydon as a whole. A popular school can be much harder to get into than the average suggests, and the criteria that decide it are set by each school's own admission authority rather than centrally. How applying works

How much the choice matters here

Across Croydon's 23 schools, the share passing English and maths runs from 23% to 62%. That is a spread of 40 percentage points, about typical.

The typical council spans about 48 points. Where schools are close together the school a child gets matters less; where they are far apart it matters a great deal. The widest spreads are all selective areas, where grammar schools sit at one end and everything else at the other.

Croydon schools, subject by subject

The share reaching grade 4 or above, among schools entering at least 20 pupils. Which pupils take a subject differs a lot between schools, so read this as what happened rather than as a ranking of teaching.

mathshistorygeographyenglish literatureenglish languagecombined sciencespanishfrenchreligious studiesbiologyartphysicscomputer sciencechemistrybusiness studiessociologydesign technologymedia studies
  1. 1 Coloma Convent Girls' School Croydon · 50 entries 80%
  2. 2 Harris City Academy Crystal Palace London · 116 entries 76%
  3. 3 Coombe Wood School South Croydon · 79 entries 75%
  4. 4 Ark Blake Academy Croydon · 55 entries 75%
  5. 5 Woodcote High School Coulsdon · 70 entries 73%
  6. 6 Riddlesdown Collegiate Purley · 177 entries 72%
  7. 7 Harris Academy South Norwood London · 107 entries 70%
  8. 8 Harris Invictus Academy Croydon Croydon · 48 entries 69%
  9. 9 Harris Academy Purley South Croydon · 129 entries 65%
  10. 10 Norbury High School for Girls Thornton Heath · 109 entries 62%
  11. 11 The Archbishop Lanfranc Academy Croydon · 80 entries 60%
  12. 12 Archbishop Tenison's CofE High School Croydon · 58 entries 59%
  13. 13 Harris Academy Beulah Hill London · 68 entries 56%
  14. 14 Orchard Park High School Croydon · 79 entries 53%
  15. 15 Shirley High School Performing Arts College Croydon · 27 entries 52%
  16. 16 Thomas More Catholic School Purley · 36 entries 50%
  17. 17 Oasis Academy Coulsdon Croydon · 28 entries 50%
  18. 18 The Quest Academy South Croydon · 41 entries 41%
  19. 19 St Joseph's College London · 67 entries 37%
  20. 20 St Mary's Catholic High School Croydon · 45 entries 36%
  21. 21 Meridian High School Croydon · 45 entries 29%
  22. 22 Oasis Academy Arena London · 28 entries 29%
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Every school in Croydon

Schools in neighbouring authorities are not in this list, because admissions run per authority. See bordering areas.

1 of 23 have no spare places. Sort the list, or narrow it first.

Pick up to 4 schools to see them side by side in the comparison tool, subject by subject.

Sixth form · Key stage 5·2024/25

A levels in Croydon

14 of Croydon's 19 sixth forms publish A level results. Ranked on the share reaching AAB or better in at least two of the subjects universities name, which is the measure the steepest entry requirements are written in.

Sixth form Grade AAB+

A level results only. A sixth form running mostly BTECs and other applied courses will show a dash here and can still be the right one — those are graded on their own scale, where a distinction and an A grade carry the same points and mean different things.

Bordering Croydon

Near a boundary, schools on both sides are usually in reach. Whether a child can apply is set by each school's admission criteria, not by the border.

Bromley 19 schools · 54% passed English & mathsLambeth 16 schools · 41% passed English & mathsMerton 9 schools · 56% passed English & mathsSurrey 57 schools · 55% passed English & mathsSutton 15 schools · 68% passed English & maths

What these mean

Attainment 8
The average pupil's total score across eight GCSE-equivalent subjects, with English and maths counting double. It is scored out of 90. A score of 50 is roughly equivalent to achieving a grade 5 across eight subjects.
Grades 4 and 5
GCSEs are graded from 9 down to 1. Grade 4 is a standard pass and broadly corresponds to the old grade C; grade 5 is what the government calls a strong pass. Grade 7 is broadly equivalent to an old grade A.
Persistent absence
The share of pupils who miss at least 10% of their possible sessions during the school year. This includes both authorised and unauthorised absence, so illness and other authorised reasons are included. Persistent absence has remained substantially higher than its pre-pandemic level.
First preference
The share of families who were offered the school they ranked first on their application, on national offer day in March. This figure is calculated across the relevant schools or admissions authority, so a high overall figure does not necessarily mean that every individual school is easy to get into.
Spare places
The amount of available capacity a school has compared with the number of pupils on roll. This is different from oversubscription: spare places measure whether a school has capacity, whereas oversubscription describes demand for places exceeding the number available. A school with no spare places may be popular, but a small school can also be full without receiving a large number of applications.
Average A-level grade
The average grade achieved across students' A-level entries. This is different from measures such as the proportion achieving AAB or better in two or more facilitating subjects, which are sometimes used to indicate higher attainment and university-entry performance.
Covers state-funded schools in England; independent schools are not included, and neither the list nor the subject figures above take account of them.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Key stage 4 performance and school characteristics: Department for Education, 2024/25. Inspection outcomes: Ofsted.