*I say it's common, but it never appeared in the John Coulter/Seaman books unfortunately.

I beg you; please do! That would be splendid!!!My nan also went there in the 1920s and my mum in the fifties. I have pics of my nan inside, in the assembly hall, performing in a school play in the mid twenties. I will try to get hold of the pic and scan it in but it's at my mum's house so it may take some time!
Utterly depressing... I don't like the new wall at the front, either... What has pissed me off even more about this... I'm seeing green fences popping up everywhere, like we're living in a police state or something... For school dinners, we used to visit this white building near Sydenham School, but now there's this green fence going right the away around the entire area. I would like to re-visit this area again for nostalgic reasons, but am now restricted in doing so. The building in question can only be glimpsed from Dartmouth Road or Baxter's Field. Recently, a family who visited the Crystal Palace Museum told me all about it... Apparently, the green fences are not to stop people getting in, but rather, to stop school children from getting out at lunchtime! The white building--previously used for catering--has now become the drama hall for Sydenham school; that's that mystery solved!What do you think of the 'new' HT school?, btw I lived away from Sydenham for ten years but when I returned the school had been 'improved' by the demolition of the annex and in its stead the erection of a monstrous red brick structure that now overshadows the bottom of Thorpewood Avenue completely.