John Ruskin College is a sixth form college situated in Addington Village, London, on the A2022 (Selsdon Park Road), close to the A212 roundabout. The college is accessible by tram via Gravel Hill tram stop.
A range of BTEC and NVQ Diplomas are offered in the following subject areas:
Business, Legal and Financial Services (Business and Law, Business and Finance)Creative Industries and Technology (Creative Media Production, IT, Graphic Design and Photography)ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages)Hair & Beauty and Spa TherapiesHealth, Care and Early YearsSports and Science (including HNC in Sports Therapy)John Ruskin College was a former school in the London Borough of Croydon, which started life in 1920 as the John Ruskin Boys' Central School. Its location was Scarbrook Road, Croydon. Named after John Ruskin, 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.
In 1935 the school moved to Tamworth Road, and in April 1945 it was granted grammar 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, in 1955, and was retitled the John Ruskin High School in 1971 before being demolished in 1991. The Upper Shirley Road site surrounded the Shirley Windmill, a 19th-century tower mill. The upper forms transferred to Selsdon 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.
Alumni and faculty
The author and journalist Malcolm Muggeridge briefly taught at the school several times while a student, where his father, Henry Muggeridge, was Chairman of the GovernorsFeroz Abbasi, a former detainee at Camp X-Ray arrested in Afghanistan, is a former student of the collegeJohn Rowlands, an economics teacher who retired in 2009, is to date the longest serving member of staff with 43 years of teaching at the college and received an MBE for his services to education in 2009Les Nemes, bassist, who later formed Haircut One Hundred with Nick HeywardHarold Bailey, Chairman from 2000–02 of Associated British FoodsSir Frank Barlow CBE, Secretary from 1959–79 of the Parliamentary Labour PartyJoseph Barnes, Chairman from 1994–98 of BaxtersFrancis Feates CB, Professor of Environmental Engineering from 1991–95 at UMIST , Director from 1989–91 of the HM Inspectorate of PollutionMick Ford, screenwriter and actor, later married the actress Rudi Davies (daughter of Dame Beryl Bainbridge); he played Hamlet in an acclaimed school production; he was also a member of the National Youth TheatreRoy Hodgson, former England football manager until 2016, former manager of Inter Milan, Fulham, Liverpool and West Bromwich AlbionBob Houghton, football managerSteve Kember, footballer with Crystal PalaceAir Vice-Marshal Richard Lacey CBE, Station Commander from 1997–99 of RAF Benson, Commander from 2003-05 of the Military of the Falkland IslandsSimon Laffin, Chairman of flybeLennie Lawrence, football managerProfessor Donald Leach CBE, Professor of Maths of Computing and Principal from 1985–96 of Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh Ralph McTell, singer-songwriter, wrote "Streets of London"Sir Bob Phillis, Chief Executive from 1997–2006 of the Guardian Media Group, and since 2004 of All3Media, and from 1994–97 of BBC Worldwide, and from 1991–93 of ITNProf Terence Rabbitts FRS FMedSci, Professor of Molecular Biology, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, UKJamie Reid, artist who designed the Sex Pistols' album cover for Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, and most of their singles including "God Save the Queen"Stuart Smith OBE, Director from 2006-09 of the Lawn Tennis Association
