Trinity School of John Whitgift

Trinity School
Trinity School
Location
	Shirley, Greater London, CR9 7AT; England
Coordinates	51°22′26″N 0°03′35″W / 51.37386°N 0.05967°W
Information
Type	Independent (from 1968); Grammar school (1945-1968)
Motto	Vincit qui patitur; ("Who perseveres, conquers")
Established	1882; 142 years ago
Founder	John Whitgift
Local authority	Croydon
Department for Education URN	101842 Tables
Chairman of the Court of Governors	C J Houlding
Head teacher	Alasdair Kennedy
Staff	240
Gender	Boys, with coeducational Sixth Form
Age	10 to 18
Enrolment	1048
Colour(s)	Yellow and Blue
Former pupils	Trinity Mid-Whitgiftians
Website	http://www.trinity-school.org/

The Trinity School of John Whitgift, usually referred to as Trinity School, is a independent boys' day school with a co-educational sixth form, located in Shirley Park, Croydon. Part of the Whitgift Foundation, it was established in 1882 as Whitgift Middle School and was a direct grant grammar school from 1945 until 1968, when it left the scheme. The present name was adopted in 1954, to avoid confusion with Whitgift School. The school's head is now a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC).

The school's first home was in Church Road, central Croydon, and then from 1931 to 1965 it was at North End, Croydon, in the old premises of Whitgift School, which moved to Haling Park, South Croydon. The "romantic Gothic towers and verdant lawns" at North End, a building of historical significance, dominated the area, but in 1968 the whole edifice was torn down for redevelopment, despite public opposition. Today, the Whitgift Centre stands on the site, in a modernist contrast to the old building.

The school was built in 1965 on the site of the former Shirley Park Hotel.

History

The school is part of the Whitgift Foundation, alongside Whitgift School and the Old Palace School for Girls. The Whitgift Foundation was founded in 1596 by John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury. His legacy allows the School to provide facilities and a range of bursaries and scholarships.

Trinity School was founded in 1882 as Whitgift Middle School. Its original site was in Church Road in central Croydon, occupying the modest buildings of the Croydon Poor School which dated from 1858. In 1931 it moved to its second site in North End in Croydon. After years of confusion with Whitgift School, in 1954 Whitgift Middle School was renamed Trinity School of John Whitgift. However the school's Old Boys' Club was still known as the Old Mid-Whitgiftians until early 2010, when a vote was taken to change the name to the Trinity Mid-Whitgiftian Association.

The school was a direct grant grammar school from 1945 until 1968, when it left the scheme but continued to take LEA-funded pupils until the late 1970s.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Trinity School moved to its present and third home in Shirley in 1965, built on the site of the Shirley Park Hotel, which itself was a redevelopment of a large Georgian house called Shirley House, built in 1720, once a home of the third Earl of Eldon.

The school today

Many of Trinity's pupils come from local schools and so join aged 10 or 11, but there is also a large intake of prep school boys at 10, 11 and 13+. A traditional curriculum is studied by all pupils, with optional subjects at GCSE such as Mandarin Chinese becoming more popular.

The school has a co-educational Sixth Form, a feature that was implemented in September 2012. For this change, a new state-of-the-art Sixth Form Centre was built, and opened by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

Trinity has enjoyed regional and national success in its main school sports of rugby union, field hockey, cricket, and water polo, and also in other sports as diverse as swimming, athletics, and squash. The school has a climbing wall, two large astro-turf pitches and four hard tennis courts, along with pitches for rugby, cricket, soccer, and athletics, as well as the school's nearby field, Sandilands, and an indoor sports centre, with two large halls, several squash courts, a gymnasium, and an accompanying weights-room.^{[citation needed]}

The school offers over 100 clubs and societies. The school’s music facilities include a recording suite and a dedicated choir room. Trinity became the first All Steinway School in London in 2012 and now has 25 pianos, including two model D concert grand pianos and five further grand pianos.

The Trinity School chess club has achieved great success over the years. One of its members, Laurence D. Marks, won the under-21 British championship in 1973,^[5] and its teams were in the finals of the British Schools Chess Championship in 1967, 1969, and 1972.

Trinity Boys Choir

Trinity Boys Choir, led for many years by David Squibb,^[6] is well known for its outstanding musical achievements,^[7] especially through its choristers under the direction of Director of Music, David Swinson.

Headmasters

The current headmaster is Alasdair Kennedy, previously Deputy Master at Dulwich College, who joined the school in September 2016 on the retirement of Mark Bishop.^[1]

From 1882 to present

1882-1908: William Ingrams
1905-1919: Rev G A Jones
1919-1951: Horace Clayton
1952-1972: Oliver Berthoud
1972-1994: Robin Wilson
1995-1999: Barnaby Lenon
1999-2006: Christopher Tarrant
2006–2016: Mark Bishop^[1]
2016–Present: Alasdair Kennedy^[1]

Combined Cadet Force

The Combined Cadet Force (CCF) at Trinity consists of the three sections (Army, RAF and RN). Pupils have the opportunity of joining the CCF in the Spring Term of the Third Form and the minimum length of service is four terms. Cadets then follow a common recruits' syllabus for two terms before choosing which of the three sections they wish to join. At the end of the Summer Term all cadets have the option to attend a UK Central Camp.

Notable former pupils

Former pupils of Trinity School of John Whitgift are known as Old Mid Whitgiftians.

Arts

Andrew Barnabas, video game music composer
Dane Bowers, former singer from band Another Level
Stephen Bryant, violinist, leader of the BBC Symphony Orchestra
Ken Burton, composer and conductor
Malcolm Douglas, illustrator
Mark Fleming, tenor in Cantabile - The London Quartet
William Gao, actor
Andrew Gowers, former editor Financial Times
Stanley William Hayter, painter and print-maker
E G Handel Lucas (1861-1936), artist
Karl Lutchmayer, pianist
Alexander Molony, actor
Mark Porter, designer
David Scarboro, actor
Colin Sell, pianist
Malcolm Sinclair, stage and television actor

Business

Stephen Haddrill, Director General, ABI
Ian Marchant, former CEO of SSE plc, chair of Thames Water

Military

Correlli Barnett, military historian
John Stacey, Air Chief Marshal
Paul Godfrey (RAF officer) OBE, Air Commodore, Commander United Kingdom Space Command

Politics and public service

Matthew David Baggott CBE QPM, Chief Constable of Northern Ireland
Gavin Barwell, Member of Parliament for Croydon Central (2010–17) and Assistant Whip to the Conservative Party; Downing Street Chief of Staff from 2017 to 2019. He was made Baron Barwell of Croydon in October 2019.
Jack Dunnett, former Member of Parliament (1964–83) for Nottingham Central and then Nottingham East
Andrew Pelling, politician, former MP for Croydon Central
Daniel Zeichner, politician, Member of Parliament for Cambridge (2015-)

Science

Ross John Angel, mineralogist
Tim Broyd, civil engineer
Ian Craib, sociologist
Laurence D. Marks, material scientist
Geoff Smith MBE, mathematician
Mike Stroud, doctor, adventurer and educator
Graham Stewart, bacteriologist
Nicholas Wareham, epidemiologist

Sports

Gary Butcher, former Surrey and Glamorgan cricketer
Mark Butcher, former England and Surrey cricketer
George Chuter, England rugby union player
Alex Codling, former England rugby union Player
Lewis Grabban, Nottingham Forest F.C. striker
Sean King, Olympic Water Polo player
Imani-Lara Lansiquot, GB sprinter, Olympic bronze medalist
Scott Newman, Surrey cricketer
Richard Nowell, former Surrey cricketer
Geoffrey Paish, English Davis Cup tennis star
Kieran Roche, rugby union player
Shane Roiser, rugby union player
Ian Watmore, former Chief Executive, FA (The Football Association)
Gabriel Ibitoye, England rugby union player

Other

Jeremy Sheehy, Anglican priest and academic

Notable ex staff members

Laurie Fishlock, cricketer
Phil Keith-Roach, forwards Rugby coach with England 2003 World Cup winners
Barnaby Lenon, former headmaster Harrow School
Peter Smith, union leader
David Squibb, director of music
Ian Salisbury, cricketer

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d New Headmaster appointed at Trinity dated 30/11/15, at whitgiftfoundation.co.uk, accessed 25 July 2019
^ "History of School". Trinity School of John Whitgift. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
^ "Outline History Of The Whitgift Foundation". The Friends Of The Old Palace. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
^ Donnison, David, ed. (1970). Report on independent day schools and direct grant grammar schools. Public Schools Commission, Second Report. Vol. 1. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. p. 49. ISBN 0-11-270170-1.
^ "British Champions 1904 – present". The English Chess Federation. Archived from the original on 26 June 2018. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
^ "Squibb obit in Times". Timesonline.co.uk. 13 March 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
^ "BCSD - Trinity Boys Choir, Croydon". Boysoloist.com. 1 January 2004. Retrieved 1 September 2012.