Our History

We are immensely proud to be Tooting Bec’s oldest primary school, continuously located on the same premises since it was created by the London School Board.

In January 1894, the London School Board opened Fircroft School in temporary premises, where our current Year 6 block is located. This enabled the school board to build our beautiful, historic, Victorian buildings.

Like most state-funded schools at the turn of the century, there were separate entrances for boys and girls.  Initially lessons were taught in separate buildings for boys and girls although as the school grew rapidly the buildings were split into infants and juniors with separate head teachers for boys and girls.

Over the years the school has seen its fair share of momentous events.  We have had pupils and teams win borough-wide and national competitions from tennis to pan-flutes, athletics to academics.  At the start of World War II, in 1939, just like many schools in London and the South East of England, teachers and children from Fircroft were evacuated into the countryside. Some recently discovered information shows that staff and students travelled into Wales, where some members of the school community remained for the duration of the war, only returning in late 1945.

As of 2020, we remain a two-form entry, state-funded primary school in Tooting.  This means that we have two classes in every year group, from Reception to Year 6.

In our Early Years Foundation Stage, we have two Nursery classes; Squirrels,  & Hedgehogs. Squirrels attend school all day on Monday and Tuesday and finish at lunchtime on Wednesday. Hedgehogs attend school on a full-time basis from Monday to Friday.

Our infant and junior classes are named after trees; a suitable theme for a school with “Fir” in our name and a site blessed with lots of trees!

Our Reception classes are named Acorns and Conkers. Like seeds growing into great trees, we nurture our youngest children as they progress through the school and grow into well rounded, confident, creative pupils.  

For more information about our Fircroft Family and all of its members please click here.