St Andrew’s was a secondary modern school until the summer of 1978. UK schools were in a state of transition, and most of Croydon’s secondary modern and grammar schools had transitioned to comprehensives between 1969 and 1973. However, St Andrew’s, being a church school, had not been required to do so and neither had Archbishop Tenison’s, which remained an exclusive church grammar school. At the time this church provision came under Canterbury Diocesan Education Committee for historical reasons.
When Harold Wilson’s Labour government released the 1976 education act, calling for comprehensive education to be fully introduced nationally, the anachronistic nature of Croydon’s church school provision in an otherwise comprehensive borough could no longer be maintained. St Andrew’s, as a very small school still designated a Secondary Modern, was identified for closure.
Another change that was fortuitous, however, was support from Southwark Diocese. Although Archbishop Tenison’s, which had a 6th Form, could be easily be re-designated as comprehensive , Southwark encouraged exploring the concept of engagement and linkage between Tenison’s and St Andrew’s. Jointly the head teachers of both schools developed an idea of creating a shared 6th Form, which would remain at Tenison’s, and a joint intake. Parents would apply jointly to both schools and be randomly placed between the two, albeit that where there was a sibling in a school, families would be kept together in the same school.
The schools remained separate legal entities but the joint intake and sixth form made them sister schools. This novel solution, as well as the support of the diocese and local support and other voluntary funding were enough to see St Andrew’s survive the threat of closure and to be reborn as St Andrew’s Church of England High School
The headmaster wrote in the new school log book: “The School was opened as a comprehensive High School sharing an intake at 11+ with Archbishop Tenison’s School. Complete mixed ability. Class introduced to a new range of subjects in parallel with Tenison’s including Latin”