New build: the £40m expansion of Trinity School was granted planning permission this week
The council’s planning committee has given a green light to a £40million development to expand Trinity School in Shirley Park to ready the independent boys’ school to go fully co-educational by 2031.
The scheme is the first major re-build since the school moved to the site from Croydon town centre 60 years ago (to make way for a shopping centre…). The project is intended to adapt and upgrade the fee-paying school to increase in size by 40%, to 1,400 pupils.
Trinity has admitted girls to its Sixth Form since 2011. The first cadre of 10- and 11-year-old girls in Year 6 and 7 expected to join £30,000 per year Trinity from September 2027.
Trinity is part of the Whitgift Foundation, and the co-ed move is in large part a response to the Foundation’s controversial closure of its girls’ private school, Old Palace, in 2025.
All change: Trinity School will start taking girls in Year 6 and 7 from September 2027
The planning application was considered at Thursday night’s meeting of the council’s planning committee and was approved, subject to the completion of a legal agreement. The decision comes one year after Trinity School announced plans to become fully co-educational.
The plans sought permission for the “erection of new Sixth Form block and fitness suite/classroom block, demolition of staff accommodation, demolition and replacement of estates building, alterations to entrance layout including enhanced drop-off and pick-up area, reconfiguration of staff and visitor car parking areas with associated landscaping”.
Floor plans show 10 new classrooms, a café and study space in the new Sixth Form building (there’s posh), and sports reception and changing facilities within the fitness suite.
“We are very pleased to receive the green light on the works to support the gradual expansion of the school over the next five years,” said Alasdair Kennedy, Trinity’s Headmaster.
“Being part of the local Shirley community is important to us, and we will continue to work with our neighbours as we plan works over the next two years.”
The application was not without objections from residents, and it was called in to the committee by Conservative councillor Jason Cummings, who represents Shirley South ward.
“I think it’s fair to say that the applicants’ statement that the residents’ concerns have been fully met…,” Cummings paused, leaving the meeting attendees to draw their own conclusion.
“I wouldn’t be here and nor would the residents if they all felt that way,” Cummings said.
Cummings’ concerns appeared mostly to involve Addiscombe Road residents’ gardens being overlooked by some of the school’s new buildings. Councillor Cummings is something of an expert, it appears, on opaque film coverings. And tree planting.
Cummings’ objections were enthusiastically supported by the planning committee chair, Michael Neal, who of course always does as his Conservative leadership demands, despite the supposedly non-political status of his position.
Building for a future: a new Sixth Form block, converted dining hall and new sports facilities are in Trinity’s plans
Later, in full-on Uriah Heap mode, Neal praised the Whitgift Foundation for all their hard work…
“I like the lay-out,” Neal said, confirming his status as someone promoted vastly beyond their ability.
“Obviously, the car parking lay-out.”
Neal, too, liked the trees. “Ninety-three new trees,” Neal said, as if he had to find something, anything, to say. According to Neal, the school car park would be used “In the mornings. And the afternoons.” Who knew?
“It’s a very good application,” added the supposedly neutral and objective chair of the planning committee.
This was the final planning committee of this administration’s term, and its debate was depressingly familiar, split down party lines, with windbags such as far-right Tory Mark Johnson and Labour’s Clive “Thirsty” Fraser enjoying the sound of their own voices rather too much, without making any real contribution to the discussion.
Sean Fitzsimons, a veteran Labour councillor, did manage to raise important reservations over what he called the “flawed” travel plan proposed with the scheme, which has the approval of TfL. Given the pressure on public transport provided by current numbers of pupils, and the lack of safe cycling routes to the school, Fitzsimon’s intervention suggested that there is still much work to do.
‘Flawed’: Sean Fitzsimons was critical of the travel plan to get 1,400 pupils in and out of the school each day
As far as Kennedy is concerned, the planning approval is an important step. “While it has only been one year since we announced our plans to become fully co-educational, the sense of momentum within the school is growing.
“These new facilities will play an important role in supporting that next chapter and will benefit both current and future students across the whole school community. While getting the physical environment right is important, this is just part of evolving the culture of the school such that boys and girls of all ages can truly thrive here.”
In a statement issued by the school, given the controversy over the closure of Old Palace, they were careful to emphasise, “The £40million expansion project is being funded by the Whitgift Foundation and will be delivered without any financial contribution from parents.”
As first revealed by Inside Croydon, in 2022 the Foundation took out a £70million loan facility to enable it to build a girls’ school on Melville Avenue, plans that were abandoned with the decision to close Old Palace. The Foundation has in the past two years also sold property from Old Palace and raised more than £12million.
The Whitgift Foundation is Croydon’s biggest landowner. Their revenue from commercial properties in the town centre, particularly from the Whitgift Centre, have suffered significantly over the 14 years since they invited Westfield to redevelop their town centre assets. And what a fine job they have made of that…
Roisha Hughes, the chief exec of the Whitgift Foundation, said she was “delighted” at the planning permission. “Expanding Trinity and enhancing the environment in which our students learn, grow and socialise, will enable us to meet the needs of our current students and those joining us in the years ahead, and the impact will be felt for generations to come.”
The programme of work at Trinity School is due to begin later this year – at least three years sooner than any work Westfield might eventually undertake at the Whitgift Centre.
Read more: Trinity boys’ school confirms that it will go co-ed from 2027
Read more: Old Palace closure brought on by shaky Foundation finances
Read more: Falling rolls and rising fees: how Old Palace got squeezed
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