On the 1st May the students put on a fantastic concert at the Ashcroft Theatre to celebrate the School’s Centenary. Below are some quotes about this fabulous evening:

‘My wife and I really enjoyed the School’s Centenary Show at the Ashcroft – a very imaginative production superbly performed. It was quite a unique experience to see a whole school, every pupil from the tiniest in Nursery up to the oldest, all on stage, & acting, dancing & singing with such infectious enthusiasm. Teachers, helpers and parents had obviously put in an enormous amount of effort, which I’m sure they felt well justified by the show’s evident sucess. Everyone, particularly the children, clearly enjoyed the evening. We left with a strong impression of a very happy school.’ Cllr Graham Bass, Mayor of Croydon

‘We just wanted to congratulate you on putting together an absolutely fantastic evening. We enjoyed it immensely and can only imagine the hard work behind it all. You should really feel very proud of this brilliant achievement.’ St David’s Parent

‘The concert last night was fabulous.’ St David’s Parent

As part of our centenary celebrations we held three Centenary Weeks. The first was held in February when the children spent a week looking at events between 1952 and 2012, including: the Space Race, the history of the Mini Car, fashion and famous people from the period. The week culminated in a dress up day relating to the subjects studied.

The second Centenary Week involved the children learning about the 1936 to 1952 period and they were enthralled by personal recounts of Second World War evacuees and gained an understanding of this important period of history.

The final Centenary Week focussed on the period from 1912 to 1936, highlighting the introduction of the Talkies, the discovery of Tutankhamun and the stories of Beatrix Potter and AA Milne.

A beautiful summer’s day at the end of May witnessed the combined ceremony to celebrate the Olympics and the Centenary of the School. Children competed in a variety of sporting activities designed to showcase their co-ordination, balance and movement skills. At midday, a centenary cake, topped with a large Welsh dragon and 152 stars (one for each pupil in the school), was cut by ex-Headteacher, Mrs Ann Stranack, along with Miss Mardell, to celebrate our 100 years! All the children and spectators received a slice of the delicious cake and joined in singing Happy Birthday to St David’s!

A hundred years of history was celebrated at St David’s on Saturday 26th May 2012 when nearly 200 past pupils, teachers, Governors and parents came together representing the last five decades of St David’s for a reunion day. The highlight of the afternoon was the cutting of a beautiful centenary cake in the presence of ex-Headteachers Mrs Ann Stranack and Mrs Lindsay Nash alongside Miss Cressida Mardell. Everyone enjoyed the afternoon and toasted the next 100 years of this great school!

The school records showed that this used to be an annual event for St David’s School, so in keeping with the School’s Centenary celebrations, a horticultural show was reinstated for 2012. The children entered home-grown fruit and vegetables and artistic creations into various novelty categories. The standard of the entries was amazing, ranging from sweet peppers, beetroots and chillies, to mini gardens made of lego, wonderful artwork and incredibly decorated cupcakes. Every single entry was of such a high standard that the judges had a difficult time choosing the winners – which just goes to show what talented and inventive children we have at this school!

To bring the Centenary celebrations to a close with a bang, the children were set a competition to design a firework. The winning design was created by Beth (Form 5) and her drawing of a dragon was turned into a beautiful firework which was set off as a spectacular finale to the Centenary Fireworks Show. The dragon burned in red flames, his eye was green and he spouted gold and silver flames from his mouth.