Special school in Purley, Croydon
St Nicholas School
Reedham Drive, Purley, Surrey, CR8 4DS
Ofsted
Graded Requires improvement at its last graded inspection, on 8 May 2024.
Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 2 years old and will not be updated — the school keeps it until its next inspection, which will not produce a replacement grade.
Exam results
Special schools serve pupils whose needs the standard measures were not designed to describe, so results are not shown or ranked here.
Pupils
- Pupils on roll
- 273
- Places
- 265
- How full
- Full — 273 pupils against 265 places
- Girls / boys
- 78 / 195
- Overall absence
- 9%
- Persistently absent
- 34%
England 5.8%
England 14.7% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions
- Free school meals, last 6 years
- 44%
- English as an additional language
- 32%
- With an EHC plan
- 99%
- On SEN support
- 1%
England 25.7%
England 18.7%
England 3.5%
England 15%
The neighbourhood around the school
Census 2021 figures for Croydon 041E, the statistical neighbourhood the school sits in — roughly 1,500 residents. It describes the area, not the pupils, who may travel in from further away.
- Adults with a degree
- 45%
- Adults with no qualifications
- 13%
- Households owning their home
- 53%
- Households in social housing
- 22%
- Households with no car
- 28%
- Adults economically inactive
- 33%
England 33.8%
England 18.3%
England 62.7%
England 17%
England 21.9%
England 39.9%
School details
- Type
- Community special school
- Phase
- Special
- Ages
- Ages 4–11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Sixth form
- No
- Nursery
- No
- Boarding
- Day school
- Headteacher
- Headteacher: Katie Goodwin
- Local authority
- Croydon
- Ward
- Purley & Woodcote
- Constituency
- Croydon South
- URN
- 101854
The unique reference number used in all official school data.
Nearest special schools
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abingdon House School PurleyOther independent special school | No grade | — | 0.5 mi |
| St Giles SchoolCommunity special school | Good 2023 | — | 2 mi |
| Serenity SchoolOther independent special school | No grade | — | 2.3 mi |
| OlympusOther independent special school | No grade | — | 2.4 mi |
| Rutherford SchoolOther independent special school | No grade | — | 2.8 mi |
| Sunnydown SchoolCommunity special school | Outstanding 2023 | — | 2.8 mi |
| Sherwood Foundation SchoolFoundation special school | Good 2024 | — | 2.9 mi |
| The Write TimeOther independent special school | No grade | — | 2.9 mi |
Where these figures come from
- School details, address and pupil numbers — Get Information About Schools, the DfE register, as at 14 August 2026.
- Exam results — DfE performance tables, 2024/25.
- Free school meals, EAL and SEN — school census, 2024/25.
- Ofsted — Ofsted management information, latest inspections as at 30 June 2026.
- Neighbourhood figures — ONS Census 2021, lower layer super output area.
All published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.