Tag Archives: Whitgift Foundation

Chief exec stands down from struggling Whitgift Foundation

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The borough’s biggest landlords have been hit by another blow. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Martin Corney has resigned as the chief executive of the Whitgift Foundation, Inside Croydon can reveal. The Whitgift Foundation, which traces its origins … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Old Palace, Schools, Whitgift Foundation | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

£7,000 ‘bribes’ prompt pupil exodus from doomed school

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Fewer than 300 girls returned to Old Palace after half-term, as the charitable foundation that runs the school offered cash inducements to their parents to withdraw their daughters promptly. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Around half of the … Continue reading

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Charity, Education, Old Palace, Old Palace Parents' Alliance, Schools, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tory Perry launches ‘Urban Room’ where nothing’s happening

Our retailing correspondent, MT WALLETTE, reports on the latest half-cock initiative from the council to ‘revive’ the ailing town centre: an insta account and a desperate plea for ideas from the public Mayor Jason Perry’s latest feeble effort to somehow … Continue reading

Posted in "Hammersfield", Allders, Andrew Pelling, Business, Centrale, Croydon BID, Croydon Council, Environment, Fairfield, Growth Zone, Housing, Mayor Jason Perry, Mayor of London, Peter Underwood, Planning, Ria Patel, Secret Cinema, Stiles Harold Williams, TfL, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Foundation abandoned new school plan after taking £70m loan

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The decision to close Old Palace marked a rapid U-turn on all previous policy at the property-owning charity, according to documents obtained by this website. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES As recently as last year, the Whitgift Foundation … Continue reading

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Education, Jane Burton, Old Palace, Schools, Trinity School, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation, Whitgift School | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Westfield, the incinerator, NHS and Croydon’s Gaza response

Posted in "Hammersfield", Andrew Fisher, Business, Croydon Insider, Donna Fraser, Inside Croydon, Under The Flyover, Waste incinerator, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Westfield boss says Croydon scheme could take 15 more years

‘Sustainable’ plans for redeveloping the town centre could see as many as 30,000 new flats built, according to one council figure, but a scheme that was originally due to be completed in 2017 now might only be finished more than … Continue reading

Posted in "Hammersfield", Allders, Business, Centrale, Sean Fitzsimons, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Hammer blow for Whitgift Centre with new delay to masterplan

CROYDON IN CRISIS: No more ‘Death Star’-type, £1.4bn Westfield shopping mall say developers, who want to build ‘thousands’ of flats, as Paris-based firm looks for a more sustainable approach In a hammer blow to any hope of urgently rescuing the … Continue reading

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Centrale, Croydon Council, Housing, Mayor Jason Perry, Planning, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Old Palace parents threaten legal action over school closure

CROYDON IN CRISIS: With accusations of ‘sexist and misogynistic behaviour’ and even a claim of ‘fraud’ against the financially troubled property developers at the Whitgift Foundation, the fight to save the girls’ independent school has taken a new turn. EXCLUSIVE … Continue reading

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Charity, Community associations, Education, Old Palace, Schools, Trinity School, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation, Whitgift School | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

After 54 years, Sainsbury’s enters final week in Whitgift Centre

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The departure of one of the shopping centre’s ever-presents will only reinforce the feeling of decay and decline in the town centre Sainsbury’s has confirmed that the final day of trading for its Whitgift Centre store will … Continue reading

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Centrale, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

7 killings in 6 months: Croydon Insider on the lasting tragedies

“Someone went out with a bunch of flowers in one hand and a knife in the other” Our latest episode of The Croydon Insider deals with one of the worst crises to affect Croydon, and London, after a series of … Continue reading

Posted in Crime, Croydon Council, Croydon Insider, Inside Croydon, Ken Towl, Knife crime, Local media, Mayor Jason Perry, Old Palace, Schools | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hundreds turn out to protest against plan to close nurseries

Children as young as three or four are being threatened with the consequences of the crass mismanagement of the local council and the failed £1bn property gamble by the borough’s biggest land-owners. By education correspondent GENE BRODIE It was all … Continue reading

Posted in Children's Services, Community associations, Croydon Council, Education, Mayor Jason Perry, Old Palace, Schools, Selhurst, Socco Cheta Community Hub, South Norwood, South Norwood Community Kitchen, Whitgift Foundation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Parents take their fight to school gates to save Old Palace

Parents of pupils at Old Palace – from nursery, through primary and into secondary – turned out in Shirley yesterday morning to protest at what they see as the arbitrary unfairness of the plans to close their school. As first … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Old Palace, Schools, Trinity School, Whitgift Foundation, Whitgift School | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Old Palace parents cancel protest in respect for murdered girl

A campaign launched less than a week ago to fight for the future of Old Palace School has cancelled plans to stage a protest tonight, out of respect for the schoolgirl murdered in Croydon yesterday. Elianne Andam, the 15-year-old who … Continue reading

Posted in Community associations, Education, Old Palace, Old Palace Parents' Alliance, Schools, Trinity School, Whitgift Foundation, Whitgift School | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Old Palace head announced retirement days before new term

Parents are discussing potential legal and sex discrimination challenges to Whitgift Foundation’s school closure plans, reports our education correspondent, GENE BRODIE Pupils at Old Palace and their parents were told just two days before the start of the new term … Continue reading

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Education, Jane Burton, Old Palace, Schools, Trinity School, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation, Whitgift School | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Thousands sign petition in campaign to save Old Palace School

There were tears in the playground at the Old Palace primary on Melville Avenue last Friday, from young girls and some teachers, as the news seeped through that their school had been condemned to closure by the Whitgift Foundation. Inside … Continue reading

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Community associations, Education, Old Palace, Schools, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

MP Jones ‘gravely concerned’ over closure of her old school

Local MP claims she is ‘picking up information from a standing start’ over plans to close 600-pupil girls’ private school, but says she has obtained guarantees from the property Foundation that runs the site. By STEVEN DOWNES Sarah Jones, the … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Croydon Central, Education, Old Palace, Sarah Jones MP, Schools, Whitgift Foundation | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Old Palace closure brought on by shaky Foundation finances

CROYDON IN CRISIS: There’s not much that has happened in Croydon in the last dozen years or so that cannot be traced back, in some respect, to the £1billion-plus non-development of the Whitgift Centre. And as the accounts of landowners … Continue reading

Posted in "Hammersfield", Allders, Business, CPO, Education, Jane Burton, Old Palace, Schools, Trinity School, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation, Whitgift School | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Ghost haunts ancient palace where Good Queen Bess slept

GENE BRODIE, education correspondent, speaks to Old Palace old girls about their time at the school, finds out who their favourite teachers were, what it was like to have lessons in the bedroom of Good Queen Bess, and delves into … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Old Palace, Schools, Whitgift Foundation | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Falling rolls and rising fees: how Old Palace got squeezed

Our education correspondent, GENE BRODIE, examines the likely reasons and consequences of yesterday’s announcement of the decision to close one of Croydon’s oldest and best-known girls’ schools For the 80 or so 11-year-old girls who started their secondary school careers … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Jane Burton, Old Palace, Schools, Trinity School, Whitgift Foundation, Whitgift School | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Former Whitgift teacher given 4-year sentence for child abuse

A former teacher at Whitgift School was yesterday given a four-year prison sentence for abusing boys at the private school in the 1980s. The school could now face a class action legal case brought on behalf of three victims because … Continue reading

Posted in Crime, Education, Schools, South Croydon, Whitgift School | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Whitgift Foundation decides to close Old Palace School in 2025

Pupils at a £20,000 per year independent school in Old Town which is operated by the borough’s biggest land-owners will be told at assembly on Friday morning that it is to close after ‘many years’ of financial struggles EXCLUSIVE by … Continue reading

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Charity, Education, Jane Burton, Old Palace, Schools, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation | Tagged , , , , , | 16 Comments

Squatters do a bunk as bailiffs smash Brick by Brick’s doors

Seven bailiffs, acting as “Representatives of the Owner”, wasted no time in descending on Brick by Brick’s former offices in George Street on Saturday afternoon to evict the squatters who had been occupying the building for almost two weeks. A … Continue reading

Posted in Brick by Brick, Business, Community associations, Croydon Council, Housing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Defiant squatters are ordered to leave Brick by Brick’s offices

While security guards peered from the windows of the empty Croydon Park Hotel on Altyre Road,  squatters and their supporters were erecting banners in the forecourt of Croydon County Court this morning. The group of squatters calling themselves Reclaim Croydon … Continue reading

Posted in Brick by Brick, Business, Housing, Stiles Harold Williams | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Councillor’s complaint sees Fairfield Halls drop mix-sex loos

Within a week of a Conservative councillor grumbling on social media about the “awful misogyny” of having mixed-sex signs on toilet doors at the Fairfield Halls, the management at the arts venue has abandoned the idea and removed the offending … Continue reading

Posted in Alasdair Stewart, BH Live, Fairfield Halls, Restaurants | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Squatters take over Brick by Brick’s abandoned office building

Perhaps this is the start of a people’s fightback against the Croydon Establishment. A group of squatters calling themselves “Reclaim Croydon” has moved in to the abandoned offices of Brick by Brick in the town centre, to show the high … Continue reading

Posted in "Hammersfield", Brick by Brick, Business, Colm Lacey, Community associations, Croydon Council, Housing, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , | 14 Comments