Croydon High School

If your daughter will thrive on being known as an individual rather than blending into a large crowd, Croydon High is an independent day school for girls in Selsdon, South Croydon, and one of the founding members of the Girls' Day School Trust. It opened in 1874, with Dorinda Neligan as its first headmistress, and educates girls from nursery age through to the sixth form. Neligan was a campaigner for women's equality, and a sense of girls being encouraged to stand out has run through the school from the start.

That history still shapes daily life. At the first GDST prizegiving in 1874, Neligan told her girls to wear ivy in their hair so they would celebrate their successes with pride, and the ivy remains part of the school's identity today. The current head, Annabel Davies, describes a community "where people matter, where every voice is important," with the aim of helping each girl break down any barrier she perceives and reach her own potential. The Good Schools Guide notes that Croydon High is good value, costing at least 15 per cent less than non-Trust schools nearby, which matters to families weighing up the independent sector.

Led since September 2022 by headmistress Annabel Davies, Croydon High suits a girl ready to make the most of a close, supportive community, the kind who will respond to being encouraged to be confident in herself and to celebrate what she achieves with pride.