John Ruskin College is a further education college in

South Croydon South Croydon in south London is the area surrounding the valley south of central Croydon and running as far south as the former Red Deer public house on the Brighton Road. It is bounded by Waddon to the West and Selsdon and Sanderstead to the ...

offering full-time vocational courses and apprenticeships as well as part-time courses for adults. In 2019, following a merger with ''East Surrey College'' incorporating ''Reigate School of Art,'' John Ruskin College became part of Orbital South Colleges. John Ruskin College is located on Selsdon Park Road (A2022), close to the A212 roundabout. The College is accessible by tram via Gravel Hill tram stop, as well as various local bus services.

Courses

A range of Full-time vocational courses are available for students: * Access to Higher Education * Applied Science * Aviation, Travel & Tourism * Business, Accounting & IT * Construction * Creative Arts (Digital Media, Games Design, Art, Design, Photography) * Early Years & Childcare * Engineering * ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) * Hair & Beauty and Spa * Health & Social Care * Life Skills * Life Skills SEND * Public Services * Sport The college also provides a range of Apprenticeship programmes.

History

Early years

John Ruskin College was a former school in the

London Borough of Croydon The London Borough of Croydon () is a London borough in south London, part of Outer London. It covers an area of . It is the southernmost borough of London. At its centre is the historic town of Croydon from which the borough takes its name; ...

, which started life in 1920 as the John Ruskin Boys' Central School. Its location was ''Scarbrook Road'', Croydon. Named after

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...

, it opened on 12 January 1920. The Lady Edridge School, its sister school for girls (later to become a grammar school in 1951) opened the same day. Lady Edridge was wife of a Mayor of Croydon and the first "Lady Freeman" of the Borough. It closed in 1980 and was demolished.

Grammar and Comprehensive school

In 1935 the school moved to Tamworth Road, and in April 1945 it was granted

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

status as the John Ruskin Grammar School for Boys (JRGS). It had been previously the John Ruskin Selective Central School. It moved to ''Upper Shirley Road'',

Shirley Shirley may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Shirley'' (novel), an 1849 novel by Charlotte Brontë * ''Shirley'' (1922 film), a British silent film * ''Shirley'' (2020 film), an American film * ''Shirley'' (album), a 1961 album by Shirley Bas ...

, in 1955, and was retitled the John Ruskin High School in 1971 before later becoming a 14-18 Co-Educational Comprehensive School. It was demolished in 1991. The Upper Shirley Road site surrounded the Shirley Windmill, a 19th-century

tower mill A tower mill is a type of vertical windmill consisting of a brick or stone tower, on which sits a wooden 'cap' or roof, which can rotate to bring the sails into the wind.Medieval science, technology, and medicine: an encyclopedia (2005), 520 Thi ...

. The upper forms transferred to

Selsdon Selsdon is an area in South-East London, England, located in the London Borough of Croydon, in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Prior to 1965 it was in the historic county of Surrey. It is located south of Coombe and Addiscombe, west of ...

to form the present John Ruskin College, utilising the premises previously known as John Newnham Secondary Selective School, named after a 20th-century town clerk of the old County Borough of Croydon.

The Current College

The current College was established in 1988 following re-organisation of post-16 studies in Croydon. It merged with East Surrey College in February 2019, creating Orbital South Colleges group.

Alumni and faculty

Feroz Abbasi Feroz Abbasi is one of nine British men who were held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. He was repatriated in 2005 and released by the British government the next day. He was released from de ...

, a former detainee at Camp X-Ray * The author and journalist

Malcolm Muggeridge Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge (24 March 1903 – 14 November 1990) was an English journalist and satirist. His father, H. T. Muggeridge, was a socialist politician and one of the early Labour Party Members of Parliament (for Romford, in Essex). In ...

briefly taught at the school several times while a student, where his father, Henry Muggeridge, was Chairman of the Governors * Les Nemes, bassist, who later formed

Haircut One Hundred Haircut One Hundred (also Haircut 100) were a British new wave group formed in 1980 in Beckenham, London by Nick Heyward, Les Nemes and Graham Jones. In 1981 and 1982, the band scored four UK top 10 hit singles: "Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets ...

with

Nick Heyward Nicholas Heyward (born 20 May 1961) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. He came to international attention in the early 1980s as the lead singer and songwriter for Haircut One Hundred. He and the band parted ways after their first alb ...

John Ruskin Grammar School

* Sir Frank Barlow CBE, Secretary from 1959 to 1979 of the

Parliamentary Labour Party In UK politics, the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) is the parliamentary group of the Labour Party in Parliament, i.e. Labour MPs as a collective body. Commentators on the British Constitution sometimes draw a distinction between the Labour ...

Mick Ford Mick Ford (born 1 August 1952) is a British actor, screenwriter and playwright, best known for his portrayal of intellectual convict Archer in the cinema version of '' Scum''. Early life and education Ford was born on 1 August 1952 in Croyd ...

, screenwriter and actor * Roy Hodgson, former

England football manager The role of an England national football team manager was first established in 1946 with the appointment of Walter Winterbottom. Before this, the England national football team was selected by the "International Selection Committee", a proce ...

until 2016, former manager of

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

, Fulham,

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

and

Crystal Palace F.C. Crystal Palace Football Club is a professional football club based in Selhurst in the Borough of Croydon, South London, England, who compete in the Premier League, the highest level of English football. Although formally created as a profes ...

Bob Houghton Robert Douglas Houghton (born 30 October 1947) is an English football manager and former player. His career has spanned over 30 years and 10 countries. He is most famous for taking Swedish club Malmö FF to the 1979 European Cup Final, where th ...

, football manager * Steve Kember, footballer with

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

Air Vice-Marshal Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes ...

Richard Lacey Air Vice Marshal Richard Howard Lacey, (born 11 December 1953) is a retired Royal Air Force officer who served as the Commander of British Forces Cyprus and UK National Military Representative to the NATO HQ at SHAPE in Belgium. Education Lacey ...

CBE, Station Commander from 1997 to 1999 of

RAF Benson Royal Air Force Benson or RAF Benson is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located at Benson, near Wallingford, in South Oxfordshire, England. It is a front-line station and home to the RAF's fleet of Westland Puma HC2 support helicopters, us ...

, Commander from 2003 to 2005 of the

Military of the Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands are a British overseas territory and, as such, rely on the United Kingdom for the guarantee of their security. The other UK territories in the South Atlantic, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, fall under the pro ...

Lennie Lawrence Robin Michael Lawrence (born 12 December 1947) is an English former football manager, player and football consultant who is non-executive director at EFL League Two side Hartlepool United. Lawrence was a semi-professional at Croydon, Carshalto ...

, football manager *

Ralph McTell Ralph McTell (born Ralph May, 3 December 1944) is an English singer-songwriter and acoustic guitar player who has been an influential figure on the UK folk music scene since the 1960s. McTell is best known for his song " Streets of London" (19 ...

, singer-songwriter * Sir Bob Phillis, Chief Executive from 1997 to 2006 of the

Guardian Media Group Guardian Media Group plc (GMG) is a British-based mass media company owning various media operations including ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer''. The group is wholly owned by the Scott Trust Limited, which exists to secure the financial and e ...

, and since 2004 of

All3Media All3Media Limited is a British worldwide independent television, film and digital production and distribution company based in London, England. The All3Media group comprises more than 40 production and distribution companies from across the U ...

, and from 1994 to 1997 of BBC Worldwide, and from 1991 to 1993 of ITN * Prof Terence Rabbitts FRS FMedSci, Professor of Molecular Biology, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, UK *

Jamie Reid Jamie Reid (born 16 January 1947 in London, United Kingdom) is an English artist and anarchist. Career His work, featuring letters cut from newspaper headlines in the style of a ransom note, came close to defining the image of punk rock, p ...

, artist who designed the Sex Pistols' album cover for '' Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols'', and most of their singles

References

External links

John Ruskin College

Establishment: John Ruskin College
EduBase

The Terry Family

JRGS Alumni Society {{authority control Education in the London Borough of Croydon Educational institutions established in 1920 Sixth form colleges in London 1920 establishments in England