Colet Court
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Colet Court is a preparatory school for boys aged 7 to 13, associated with St Paul's School in London, to which most pupils then go.
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[edit] History
The school was founded in 1881 (as "Bewsher's") by Samuel Bewsher, an Assistant Master of St Paul's School and secretary to the High Master. It started with 6 pupils at a house in Edith Road, West Kensington. At about this time, St Paul's School was relocated from the vicinity of St Paul's Cathedral to new buildings in nearby Hammersmith.
In 1883, Bewsher's preparatory school was incorporated into the St Paul's School foundation, and moved into a new building (which still stands in Hammersmith Road) called Colet House opposite the then St Paul's School playground, and his brother, James Bewsher, became the first headmaster in these premises. By 1891, the school had more than 300 pupils and had more new buildings to accommodate them completed in 1890. In 1892 it changed its name from Colet House to Colet Court. The name derives from John Colet, the original founder of St Paul's School.
When in 1968 St Paul's School moved again, to its present 45-acre site in bend of the river Thames at Barnes, Colet Court moved with it. It is soon to be seriously redeveloped in accordance with the St Paul's School masterplan.
[edit] The Present School
Colet Court now forms part of a single school campus on the Barnes site. Colet Court and the main school continue to function largely separately, though they do share many facilities, such as their lunch hall, sports centre and some sports fields.
Colet Court is an all-boys school and teaches them from age 7 to age 13. Entry is by examination at age 7, age 8, age 10, and age 11. Most of the boys are then expected to pass into St Paul's School (provided they have achieved a certain mark in Common Entrance examination), though some leave at age 10 for other schools, mostly Eton College, Westminster School and Winchester College. There are currently about 425 pupils, mostly day boys, though there is a small house for boarders. The current headmaster is Geoff Thompson.
The Tatler Schools Guide says that Colet Court
- "attracts boys who are naturally gifted and hardworking (half-term holidays are cheekily called 'remedies'). Colet Court is one of the strongest London preps for games and arguably the best for music. Alongside Westminster it is the top boys' prep in the capital."
[edit] Joseph
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the "pop canata" by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, was originally commissioned for and performed by the boys (both orchestra and singers) of Colet Court. The first performance took place in the Old Assembly Hall of Colet Court in Hammersmith on 1 March 1968. The second performance, also by Colet Court boys, was on 12 May 1968 at Central Hall, Westminster. This was picked up by a reviewer for the Sunday Times. The third performance was at St Paul's Cathedral on 9 November 1968. It had by then been expanded. The first recording was released in 1969, and remained in the US charts for three months, since when the piece has been performed commercially all over the world and re-recorded on disc and on video. Colet Court has performed it again since, most recently in 2004, as the annual school play. Bob Forrest-Webb and Peter Gritton have written a musical called Jones, which was first performed at the school in November 2006.
