Private Schools in Croydon

Most of Croydon's private schools sit in the south of the borough, in South Croydon, Purley, Sanderstead and along the Addington Hills. At senior level the choice comes down to four schools: Whitgift (boys, day and boarding), Trinity (boys now, co-educational from 2027), Croydon High (girls, part of the Girls' Day School Trust) and Royal Russell (co-educational, day and boarding, on a 110-acre site).

Whitgift and Trinity are both funded in part by the John Whitgift Foundation, which is why their bursary budgets are unusually large for south London. The Foundation's third school, Old Palace, announced its closure in September 2023 and shut completely in August 2025. Trinity says that closure is part of why it is opening its lower years to girls.

Croydon families also weigh the selective state grammars in neighbouring Sutton and Wallington. The prep schools here publish grammar offers alongside independent ones, so many children sit both sets of tests in Year 6.

Cumnor House Boys in South Croydon runs from Reception to Year 8, so boys can stay to 13 and move on at 13+. Its sister school, Cumnor House Girls, shares a Woodcote Lane site in Purley with the group's nursery and runs to Year 6. Both are single-sex and part of the Blenheim Schools group. The school's published offers list names Whitgift, Trinity and Dulwich for boys, and Croydon High, Caterham, Reigate Grammar and Sutton High among the girls' destinations. Entry is by visit and a taster day rather than a formal test, and fees run from about £16,200 a year in Reception to about £20,100 in the upper years, with lunch and enrichment charged on top.

Elmhurst, on South Park Hill Road and founded in 1869, is co-educational from six months to 11. It lists Whitgift and Trinity as its most frequent destinations, alongside Caterham, Dulwich, the Sutton and Wallington grammars and several girls' schools. Admission is by registration and a taster session, with academic and sports scholarships at 7+. Fees are from about £14,500 a year in Reception to about £16,700 from Year 3.

In Purley, St David's is a co-educational prep for ages 3 to 11 that joined the Royal Russell family of schools in November 2022 while keeping its own site and staff. It reports 61 independent school places, three grammar places and 48 scholarships and awards for its 2026 leavers. Fees are from about £15,000 to about £17,900 a year.

Laleham Lea, also in Purley, is a Catholic co-educational school for ages 3 to 11 and one of the lower-cost options locally, at about £12,700 to £13,000 a year from Year 1 with hot lunch and VAT included. It runs 11+ preparation from Year 3, and its leavers go to grammar schools, independent schools such as Whitgift, Royal Russell and Croydon High, and Catholic secondaries.

Croydon High and Royal Russell both have their own junior schools from nursery age. Fidelis College, a Catholic all-through school on Central Hill in Upper Norwood, takes children from Reception, with prep fees of about £14,600 to £15,800 a year.

Whitgift is a boys' school of about 1,500 pupils, with entry at 10+, 11+, 13+, 14+ and 16+. The 10+ and 11+ tests cover English, maths and reasoning, followed by an interview with senior staff for shortlisted boys. Day fees for 2026-27 are about £31,400 a year.

Trinity, at Shirley Park, is currently a boys' school with a co-educational sixth form that has admitted girls since 2011. From September 2027 girls join Year 6 and Year 7, and the school expects the whole school to be co-educational by 2031. For 2027 it plans 24 girls and 24 boys at 10+, and between 70 and 100 girls alongside about 100 boys at 11+. Assessment is computer-based plus written papers, followed by an academic interview. Fees are about £30,500 a year.

Croydon High is a girls' day school for ages 3 to 18, with main entry at Year 7, Year 9 and the sixth form. The Year 7 test is an adaptive online assessment, and the school says no special preparation is needed. Senior fees are about £24,600 to £25,500 a year, with compulsory lunch charged separately up to Year 10.

Royal Russell is co-educational from nursery to 18. Year 7 and Year 9 entrants sit online tests in English, maths and verbal and non-verbal reasoning, plus an interview and a group activity. Senior day fees are about £28,900 a year. Fidelis College is a smaller Catholic alternative, with senior fees of about £22,900 a year.

Many Croydon families also look just over the border. Caterham School, a co-educational day and boarding school with its own prep, and Sutton High, a GDST girls' school for ages 3 to 18, both appear on local prep schools' destination lists.

All four main senior schools take external sixth-form entrants. Trinity's 16+ entry involves four entrance assessments and an interview, and students usually start four A levels before dropping to three. Whitgift offers A level routes of two to five subjects, some combined with BTECs. The school reports ten Oxbridge offers in its most recent leavers' results, with nine taking up places, and eight leavers going to overseas universities including MIT and Princeton.

Royal Russell asks for 36 GCSE points across six subjects, including English and maths, with higher grades for some courses. It says its sixth form is oversubscribed by about four to one, and it offers BTECs in Business, Media and Sport alongside A levels. Croydon High asks for at least six GCSEs at grade 6 or above, plus a school reference and an interview.

Two Croydon schools take boarders. Whitgift's boarding house, Founder's House, offers full boarding and weekly boarding of four nights, and more than 70% of its boarders are full boarders. Weekly boarding costs about £52,000 a year and full boarding about £61,600 in 2026-27. Royal Russell boards from Year 7 in houses opened in 2017 for boys and 2020 for girls, at about £57,200 a year including meals, laundry and weekend activities.

Croydon has several independent specialist schools, most of them funded through local authority placements. Abingdon House School Purley, which opened in 2023, teaches neurodiverse pupils of secondary age alongside integrated therapy, with timetabled life skills, social skills and British Sign Language. The Write Time on Warrington Road works with pupils with autism, ADHD, dyslexia and related needs in small classes led by a teacher and a tutor, with speech and language, art and music therapy. It works with local authorities and EHC plans.

Maypole School focuses on social, emotional and mental health needs, often alongside autism, ADHD or trauma. It has two sites in Croydon, with a third for Key Stages 3 and 4 planned for early 2027. For milder needs in a mainstream school, ask each school directly how its learning support is staffed and what it charges extra.

Registration closes in the autumn of Year 5 for 10+ entry and Year 6 for 11+. For September 2027 entry, Croydon High's sixth-form deadline is 9 October 2026, Trinity's 16+ deadline is 12 October, Trinity's 10+ and 11+ deadline is 16 October, and Croydon High's Year 7 deadline is 19 October. Royal Russell closes on 4 November and Whitgift on 6 November.

Testing then runs from November to January. Royal Russell assesses Year 9 applicants on 11 November. Whitgift's 10+ exam is on 5 December, and both Whitgift's 11+ exam and Royal Russell's Year 7 assessments take place on 5 and 6 January 2027. Croydon High sends Year 7 offers by Christmas and tests Year 9 applicants on 3 February.

Whitgift and Royal Russell both send Year 7 offers on 12 February 2027, and John Whitgift Foundation bursary decisions for Year 6, 7 and 9 applicants follow by mid-February. Places are normally accepted in early March: Royal Russell's deadline is 3 March and Croydon High's is 5 March. Sixth-form offers usually arrive in December.

Since 1 January 2025, VAT at 20% has applied to private school fees, and the figures above include it. Senior day fees in Croydon range from about £22,900 at Fidelis to about £31,400 at Whitgift. Prep fees start at about £12,700 at Laleham Lea and reach about £21,800 in Royal Russell's upper junior years. Lunch, uniform, transport and exam entries are usually charged on top.

The John Whitgift Foundation is the main source of help. Its means-tested bursaries at Whitgift and Trinity can cover up to 100% of fees, and families with an income below £85,000 are encouraged to apply. Whitgift says about one pupil in ten receives a bursary, while Trinity says Foundation funding equals more than 10% of its fee income. The Foundation receives more than 800 applications a year, so bursaries are competitive, and they are not available to Whitgift boarders.

Trinity's scholarships are now smaller, typically around 20% for top candidates in 2026, and can be combined with a bursary. Croydon High describes its GDST bursaries as very limited and offers them only at Year 7 and sixth form. Royal Russell offers scholarships and bursaries, including awards for Forces families.

Children aged 11 to 15 with a Zip Oyster photocard travel free on London buses and trams, which makes Tramlink useful for Croydon families. Royal Russell is opposite Coombe Lane tram stop, on the line between Wimbledon and Croydon. Trinity is about a ten-minute walk from Sandilands tram stop, and buses 119, 194, 198 and 466 stop at its gates.

Whitgift is about ten minutes' walk from South Croydon station, which is two minutes by train from East Croydon, and it runs a shuttle to the station after school. The school coaches reach well beyond the borough. Whitgift's routes cover much of south London and north Surrey, from Putney and Wimbledon to Redhill and Banstead. Trinity runs coaches from Dulwich, Balham, Bromley, Beckenham, Oxted, Wandsworth, Sutton and Caterham, and Royal Russell runs routes from Clapham, Dulwich and Purley for pupils from Year 3.