Sydenham School is a comprehensive

Comprehensive school

A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...

 girls' school located on Dartmouth Road (A2216

A2216 road

The A2216 is an A road in South London. It runs from Denmark Hill to Sydenham. Part of the road is an ancient thoroughfare, Lordship Lane. In Dulwich the road runs via the South Circular Road....

) in Sydenham

Sydenham

Sydenham is an area and electoral ward in the London Borough of Lewisham; although some streets towards Crystal Palace Park, Forest Hill and Penge are outside the ward and in the London Borough of Bromley, and some streets off Sydenham Hill are in the London Borough of Southwark. Sydenham was in...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

History

The school was founded in 1917 as a girls' grammar school, known as Sydenham County Grammar School for Girls and in 1956 it expanded to become a comprehensive school when it merged with Shackleton School. In 2003 Sydenham School was granted Specialist Science College

Science College

Science Colleges were introduced in 2002 as part of the now defunct Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, science and mathematics...

 status and in 2008 it was granted specialis in Mathematics by the DfES. Sydenham School has close ties to Forest Hill School

Forest Hill School

Forest Hill School is a comprehensive boys school located on Dacres Road, Forest Hill in the London Borough of Lewisham. It opened in 1956. The school has very close ties with the girls' secondary, Sydenham School, which is located close by...

 a nearby boys' comprehensive school.

Form system

In each year there are 9 tutor groups, each beginning with the year number they are in e.g. 7 with the letters S,Y,D,E,N,H,A,M,G attached to each form. In years ten and eleven the forms are mixed during lessons intermingling students from the different tutor groups for lessons. Every year, the set groups of S,Y and D, E,N and H and A,M and G share the same Modern Foreign Language. The tutor groups SYD learn French, ENH learn Spanish and AMG learn German. However, Not as many pupils as previous years applied-so the students who joined in 2010 and 2009 have only the tutor groups S,Y,D,E,N,H,A,M. Also, in 2010, the students who had joined in 2009 had their classess re-organised, so that only tutor groups S,Y,D,E,N,H,A,M remained, as there were few pupils and problems in one paticular tutor group.

Uniform

In Key Stage 3 (years 7 and 8) students wear blue shirts, and in the first year of key stage 4(year 9-the school has a two year key stage 3), while in the second and third years of Key Stage 4 (years 10 and 11) wear white shirts. Because of this difference, there exists the nicknames 'White Shirts' and 'Blue Shirts' to distinguish the students' years. The sixth form (a mix of Forest Hill Boys school and Sydenham school since 2010) are not required to wear any uniform.

Admissions

The current headmistress is Ms Carolyn Unsted. It has always been a girls' school. Forest Hill Pools

Forest Hill Pools

Forest Hill Pools is a small local leisure centre in Forest Hill, London. It contains two Victorian swimming baths and is located on the same road as Forest Hill railway station, and is located next to Sydenham School and Forest Hill Library.- Timeline :...

 and Forest Hill library is next door.

Academic performance

In the last OFSTED inspection, Sydenham School was graded as 'good'. It gets GCSEs and A levels at and upbove the England average.

Staff

English
Curriculum Leader: Alison Lister
Staff: Nadine Watson, Joanna Dennis, Elizabeth Buck, Janet Emmanuel, David Frost, Sylvia Iyeke,Carys Stubbs, Rob Unterhalter,Juliet Brown.

Humanities
Geography
Curriculum Leader: Ian Miles
Staff:Estelle Dickinson, Simon Glendinning, Alan Farr.

History
Curriculum Leader: Stuart Pickford
Staff: Josephine Carr, Stacey Meaney, Erika Podmore, Eleanor Richards.

Science
Curriculum Leader: Daniel Watson
Staff:Johan Viljoen, Kalvinder Bajwa, Amy Vickers, Fiona Evans, Sandy Callacher, Johanna Kambuka, Abimbola Bakare, Stephen Cope, Simon Faulkner, Phillipa Gaut, Sarah Heasman, Andre Lewis, Matthew Rees, Tim Shepherd, Prasad Sothinathan

Maths
Curriculum leader:Simon Young
Staff: Mark Freakes, Daljeet Sandhu, Marylynne Lolley, William Akaje - Macauley, Michael Harris - Brown, Anna Mastihi, Ganiyat Ottun, Wendy Smith, Gloria Harris, Barbara Willis, Rupert Stock, Aldrica Smart.

Notable alumnae

• Tasha Danvers
  Tasha Danvers
  Tasha De'Anka Danvers is a British Olympic bronze medallist, who finished in third place in the 400m Hurdles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics...
  
  , 400 metre hurdler, bronze in the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

See also

• Sydenham High School (UK)
  Sydenham High School (UK)
  Sydenham High School is an Independent school for 4-18 year old girls located in London, England. Sydenham High School was founded by the Girls’ Public Day School Trust in 1887. Since then, the original school of 20 pupils has been transformed into a school of 700 girls...
  
  , nearby girls independent school for ages 4–18, and part of the Girls' Day School Trust
  Girls' Day School Trust
  The Girls' Day School Trust is a group of 26 independent schools - 24 schools and two Academies - in England and Wales, catering for pupils aged 3 to 18. It is the largest group of independent schools in the UK, and educates 20,000 girls each year...
  
  (GPSDT)

External links

• Sydenham School
• EduBase