It was built between 1951 and 1953 by the Ministry of Education's own team of researchers into rational school building (David Medd and Mary Crowley) under the direction of S. A. W Johnson Marshall.

The classrooms were all originally located in a four-storey block above the main entrance with a central courtyard and a rambling series of inter-connected mostly single-storey buildings which provided accommodation for a hall, a gym and specialised teaching spaces for arts and crafts.

The new techniques speeded up the building process so much that the school was able to open five months ahead of the planned schedule.

It is widely believed that the school tower was designed with the potential to be modified to a hospital in times of national emergency, though no records have been found to substantiate the claim.

[5] St Crispin's was classified as a Grade II listed building by English Heritage on 30 March 1993.

The gardens have long gone but the school still has playing fields and also uses of the adjacent St Crispin's Sports Centre.

The composition slabs by the main entrance featured paintings of a modular girl by the mural artist Fred Millett (1920–1980).

In 2012, work was started on building a new Science Block on the area where the current tennis courts are located.

The school was named after St Crispin, the patron saint of cobblers, tanners and leather workers.

In 1957 the school's playing fields were used to show scenes of a sports day in the eight-part cinema/TV thriller The Great Attraction.

Bearwood House was used as the location for many of the school shots and other scenes were filmed in Midhurst in West Sussex.

[16] In Years 7, 8 and 9 (Key Stage 3) students study the core subjects of English, Mathematics and Science plus the following foundation subjects: French, Design and Technology, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), History, Geography, Religious Education, Art, Music and Physical Education.

St Crispin's is one of a small number of state schools which still offer the three separate sciences at GCSE.

[citation needed] The following Design and Technology options are offered at GCSE: Food and Nutrition; Graphic Products; Resistant Materials; Systems and Control; Textiles.

St Crispin's has a science buddy scheme, which was featured on Teachernet, the website for teachers and educators.

Pupils at the school participate in the following sports: athletics, badminton, basketball, cricket, football, health-related fitness, hockey, netball, rounders, rugby, tennis and trampolining.

[18] Pupils participate in the Economics Challenge, Young Enterprise, the British Mathematical Olympiad, and the Wokingham Schools' Debating Competition.