The school was founded in 1931 as a boys' school in Thornton Road, Thornton Heath, near the junction with Mitcham Road and is close to Mitcham Common. In 1953 work began on a new school nearby in Mitcham Road, being opened in 1956 by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher.
On 9 August 1961, 34 boys and 2 members of staff from the school were killed when their plane crashed near Stavanger Airport, Sola, Norway.[1] The fiftieth anniversary was marked by a book published in summer 2011, The Lanfranc Boys by Rosalind Jones, sister of Quentin Green, one of the victims.
The school converted from secondary modern status to comprehensive in 1970, merging at the same time with the girls' school of the same name.[2] It became a comprehensive foundation school in 1998,[citation needed] administered by Croydon London Borough Council. The Archbishop Lanfranc School converted to academy status in September 2014 and was renamed The Archbishop Lanfranc Academy. However, the school continues to coordinate with Croydon London Borough Council for admissions.
The Ofsted report of June 2009 states that the school "is a specialist sports college serving a part of Croydon of considerable ethnic and cultural diversity. The school is average in size and has a significantly higher proportion of boys than girls. The proportion of pupils who have learning difficulties and/or disabilities, including those with a statement of special educational need, is above average. The school holds several national and local awards including the National Association for Able Children in Education (NACE) Award and the Investors in People standard."[3] There is a Nursery overseen by the governing body, and judgements about its effectiveness were included in this report. The privately run Lanfranc Pre-school was inspected and reported on separately. The report stated that the quality of education provided by the school was at least satisfactory in all respects with some key aspects as good and others outstanding.
