Colston's Collegiate School
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Colston's Collegiate School is an independent co-educational school in Bristol, England. It is located at Stapleton, to the north east of the city.
It was founded in 1710 by the philanthropist, Edward Colston as "Colston's School." Originally an all boys boarding school, day-boys were admitted in 1949 and girls were admitted to the sixth form in 1984. In 1991 it merged with the girls' school "Collegiate School," Winterbourne and was given its present name. The current Headmaster is Peter Fraser.
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[edit] History
Colston made a donation to Queen Elizabeth's Hospital in 1702 and proposed endowing places for a further 50 boys. This came to nothing, probably because of Colston's instance that the children of Dissenters should be excluded.
Instead, he persuaded the Society of Merchant Venturers to manage a school he established for 50 boys on Saint Augustine's Back, where the Colston Hall now stands. It cost him £11,000 on capital cost and an endowment income of over £1,300. The boys (soon increased to 100) were admitted between the ages of seven and ten years and stayed for seven years. The curriculum covered reading, writing and arithmetic, and the church catechism. On leaving they were to be apprenticed to a trade.
Colston was opposed to Dissent and proposed that any boy who attended a service of worship in any place other than a Anglican church should be expelled. He also told the Merchant Venturers that if they apprenticed a boy to a Dissenter they would be in breach of their Trust.
The school moved to the old Bishops' Palace at Stapleton in 1861 and ceased to be a charity institution with a limited curriculum. It also accepted fee-paying boys as well as the 100 boys on the charity foundation.
From about 1900 it began to be accepted as a public school.
By 1955 the school had 35 foundation scholars, selected by open competition, among its 200 boards and 100 day boys.
[edit] The present
[edit] Houses
Before the advent of the day-boys there were four boarding houses, North, South, East and West. These were renamed Aldington, Mortlake, Roundway and Beaufort, with Dolphin being the day-boys house. Later, King's was added as an additional day-boys house. Now there are four main 'Day Houses' of which pupils are allocated one at the start of their Colston's career: Aldington, Dolphin, King's and Roundway. In addition, boys who board at the school are a member of Mortlake house, whereas girls who board at the school are a member of Winterbourne house (reflecting the location of the Collegiate School, which had previously been in the village of Winterbourne, Gloucestershire). Each house, with the exception of Mortlake and Winterbourne, has its own tie: navy and green stripes for Aldington; navy, red and white stripes for Dolphin; navy, green and white stripes for King's and navy and maroon stripes for Roundway. The two largest houses are Dolphin and Roundway, however most of the awards and interhouse competitions are won by Dolphin or King's, the smallest house. For example, on 31 March 2006, Dolphin was victorious in the Annual House Song competition, (when the entire House sings together) while King's won the overall House Music competition, (which includes solo or group music contributions), on points allocated by the adjucator.
[edit] Uniform
School uniform
Colston modelled his school on Christ's Hospital and the eighteenth century uniform reflected this - a long blue coat, knee britches and yellow stockings. By the middle of the twentieth century this was mirrored by the yellow tops of the knee stockings worn by all boys until they graduated to long trousers at the age of 13. At that time caps were worn whenever a boy left the premises of the school. They were the typical peaked cap with a coloured band round the rim and an embroidered dolphin at the front, the colour reflecting the house the boy belonged to - Dolphin's was maroon, for example.
Boys: white cotton shirt (long-sleeved), house tie, black or charcoal grey trousers and socks, black leather shoes and school blazer (navy with yellow stripes, dolphin crest on left breast pocket). There is also the option of the silver school jumper. In summer, the removal of the blazer and tie is permitted, as well as the wearing of short-sleeved white shirts. The VIth form are allowed to wear a suit of their own choice, provided that it is dark in colour.
Girls: white cotton shirt, house tie, navy skirt, black leather shoes and school blazer. There is also the option of the navy school jumper. In summer, the wearing of a a short-sleeved blouse sans tie and blazer is permitted. Make-up and jewellery are not allowed.
Games uniform
Boys: the autumn term is the rugby term. The rugby kit is a cotton, predominantly navy shirt with gold hoops, navy shorts and navy socks with gold hoops. The same applies for hockey in the spring term. For the summer cricket season, P.E. kit is permitted (white polo shirt, white shorts and white socks), however cricket whites must be worn if selected in a school team. For P.E. lessons, P.E. kit must be worn. On most occasions, the school tracksuit may also be worn.
Girls: girls kit remains the same for all three sports, hockey, netball and rounders, as well as for P.E. lessons. It consists of a white polo shirt with navy gym skirt and white socks.
[edit] Rugby
The school is renowned worldwide for its phenomenal record in rugby union. Under the guidance of firstly Andy Robinson and then Alan Martinovic, it has won the Daily Mail Cup at U18 level seven times, including six years in a row between 1995 and 2000 before deciding to withdraw from the competition. It re-entered the competition for the 2003/2004 season, when the school succeeded for an unprecedented seventh time. International players to be nurtured by the school include Olly Barkley, Duncan Bell, Tom Varndell and Lee Mears (all England); Andy Lloyd and Gareth Delve (both Wales) and in the less recent past Alan Morley MBE (England and British and Irish Lions) who is the current world record holder for tries scored in first class rugby. The school has over a dozen old boys playing in the Guinness Premiership as of 2006, with even more playing in National Division One and the other National Divisions, and the Celtic League. In March 2006 the school created history by becoming the first school to win both the boys and girls senior tournaments at the Rosslyn Park Schools Sevens Tournament.
The current 1st XV head coach is Darryl Paterson, who took over from Alan Martinovic in August 2004.
[edit] Current Professional Old Colstonian Rugby Players
Olly Barkley, Duncan Bell, Alex Crockett, Gareth Delve, Ryan Davis, Chris Brooker, Ian Davey, Dan Smith (All Bath Rugby), Sam Cox, Alex Clarke, Iain Grieve, Ashley Maggs, Ryan Prosser (All Bristol Rugby), Tom Varndell, Jordan Crane, Ryan Owen (All Leicester Tigers), Dan Lavery, Phillip Hoy (Northampton Saints), Callum Black (Worcester Warriors), Alex Brown (Gloucester Rugby), Warren Fury (London Wasps), Shane Geraghty (London Irish), Jonathan Mills (Llanelli Scarlets), Andy Lloyd (Neath-Swansea Ospreys), Mike Pyke (Edinburgh Rugby), Ed Barnes (Plymouth Albion), James Graham (Bedford Blues), Spencer Davey (Doncaster Knights),
[edit] Drama
The school is quite famous for its drama too, having one of the largest and best equipped theatres in the south-west. It is the only school in Bristol that can offer all fourteen GCSE theatre options. There are a number of shows throughout the year across the age range, the most notable being the plays devised by the students at GCSE and above, many of which have been praised in the Bristol Evening Post. Colston's is always breeding new acting talent under the guidance of inspirational teachers, Stephan Pritchard and Allison Chisnall.
[edit] Notable alumni
- Thomas Chatterton, Romantic poet and child prodigy
- Robert Syms, Conservative MP for Poole, Dorset
- Olly Barkley, English international rugby union footballer currently playing for Bath Rugby in the Guinness Premiership
- Duncan Bell, English international rugby union footballer currently playing for Bath Rugby in the Guinness Premiership
- Gareth Delve, Welsh international rugby union footballer currently playing for Bath Rugby in the Guinness Premiership
- Lee Mears, English international rugby union footballer currently playing for Bath Rugby in the Guinness Premiership
- Alan Morley MBE, holder of world record for tries scored in first class rugby union and current board member at Bristol Rugby.
- Tom Varndell, English international rugby union footballer currently playing for Leicester Tigers in the Guinness Premiership
- Mike Pyke, Canadian international rugby union footballer, currently playing for Edinburgh Rugby in the Celtic League.
[edit] References
[edit] External link
[edit] Further reading
- Roger Wilson, Chapter 22, 'Bristol's School', in Bristol and its Adjoining Counties, 1955
