Old Palace School of John Whitgift is an independent school for 850 girls aged 4 to 18 and is a Whitgift Foundation School. Old Palace School has recently benefited from an extensive redevelopment programme on its highly accessible site in central Croydon.

The new Prepparatory School building - recently given an Award, is designed so that it has the classrooms surrounding three sides of an enclosed courtyard, which provides a secure play area for the pre-preparatory pupils. Well-equipped ICT, library, laboratory and music rooms ensure that the needs of 21st century

children are well met.

In contrast to the historic Chapel, Great Hall and Library which are features of this English Heritage site, the Senior Schools purpose built facilities include seven laboratories, a heated indoor swimming pool, opened in 1999 and an Art and Technology building.

The newest accommodation, opened in September 2001 comprises an indoor sports area, a large dining room and a sixth form suite which includes teaching rooms, ICT facilities, a careers room and a large

common room. The building of a block of six large modern classrooms began in January 2002.

The school regularly gains a high rating in the League Tables. Last year one pupil was awarded one of the top five marks in the country in five of her GCSE subjects. The A level pass rate was 100% and there is a strong Oxbridge tradition at the school.

National Science year was marked in a variety of ways, including a masterclass from Dr John Scholler from the University of London teaching sixth formers how to extract their own DNA. In the recent Royal Society of Chemistry Schools Analysts Competition, three Old Palace pupils emerged victorious and will be representing the school at the United Kingdom finals in Belfast.

Another prestigious award was recently achieved by a sixth form Art student when she won First Prize in the London Insitute - Young at Art Awards Competition - Students of Italian are regular winners in Italian National Essay Competitions. Ten pupils have achieve 1st, 2nd and runner up prizes in the past two years with two pupils winning the top prize of all expenses paid study trips to Italy.

Music and Drama at the school are greatly valued. The schools impressive adaptation of Mozarts acclaimed Opera The Magic Flute and John Gays The Beggars Opera were described as

extraordinary and magical by a member of the local press. The schools recent productions of Macbeth, and The Pied Piper of Hamelin and The Factory Children both produced as operatic

musicals were equally impressive. The Music and Drama departments regularly join forces with the two other Foundation schools, Whitgift and Trinity and a successful yearly musicfest is fully committed to community involvement both in and out of school. The recent production of Taming of the Shrew with Whitgift boys and Old Palace girls was outstanding, as was the joint musical production of Carmina Burana at Westminster Hall in London.

Trips abroad this year include a Ski Trip to Canada and a World Challenge Trip to Thailand and several foreign language exchanges to France, Spain, Italy and Germany usually with work experience programmes in the target language countries.

July 15, 2002 16:00