Coopers' Company and Coborn School

The Coopers' Company and Coborn School
Motto Love As Brethren
Established 1536
Type Academy
Religion Christian
Headteacher Dr D J Parry MA
Founder Nicholas Gibson (1536), Prisca Coborn (1701).
United in 1891, moved in 1971-1973
Location St Mary's Lane
Upminster
Greater London
RM14 3HS
England Coordinates: 51°33′22″N 0°15′35″E / 51.5562°N 0.2596°E
DfE number 311/5402
DfE URN 136600 Tables
Ofsted Reports Pre-academy reports
Staff Approx 94 teaching staff
Students 1319
Gender Co-educational
Ages 11–18
Houses Coborn, Guild, Gibson, Ratcliffe
Colours Red, Blue, Green, Yellow
School Captains Harry Rushworth and Eve Rivers
Website Coopers' Coborn

The Coopers' Company and Coborn School is a secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in Upminster area of the London Borough of Havering, England.

Admissions

The school is (since 2005) a non-selective school described by Ofsted as "an exceptional school of real excellence". The school excels at Performing Arts and Sports. In 2004 as part of the European Year of Education through Sport it won the award of "Europe's most sport minded school".[1]

There have been no tests since 2001 nor interviews since 2004 for admission. Current applications are made via application form completed by the prospective students' parents and, months later, by a second form completed by the students themselves. This is not an examination but is heavily scrutinised. The school is heavily oversubscribed with approximately 5 applicants for each of the 180 places.

It is situated on St Mary's Lane (B187) about half a mile east of Upminster Station, just over a mile west of the M25, and two miles from junction 29 (A127).

General Information

The school is divided into 5 years, similar to other secondary schools in England. It is one of only a few schools in the London borough of Havering to also have a Sixth form. Other schools nearby, such as Gaynes and Hall Mead do not have this feature. The Sixth form building was built from the ground up, and opened in 2011. The Sixth form is primarily supplied with students from the years below who have graduated in Year 11. However it does allow external candidates from local schools without a sixth form to apply, and a minority of these students are accepted.

The school specializes in Humanities and sports (Geography, History, RE and PE). It has many sporting and academic successes including National Champions in hockey and winning Havering Young Chef of the year.

History

The Nicholas Gibson Free School was founded in 1536 by a prominent citizen of the City of London who earned his living as a grocer. On his death in 1549 Gibson's wife, Avice, took over the running of the school which could take up to sixty boys. In 1552 she asked the Coopers' Company to undertake the management of the School for her and thus the school included the Company's title in its name. The school was situated in Ratcliff, now present-day Stepney.

Prisca Coborn, the widow of a brewer, established a coeducational school in Bow in 1701 as a result of the terms of her will, published in the year of her death.

The school was first housed in a site east of Bow Church, quickly moving to a site between the church and Bow Bridge. In 1814 the school moved to a site which later became part of the Bryant and May match factory. In 1870 the school moved to a site in Tredegar Square.

In 1891 the two foundations were united with the boys moving to Tredegar Square; Coborn, now an all-girls school, moved to 86 Bow Road. In 1898 Coborn School was moved to 29-31 Bow Road where it remained until the move to Upminster. As a result of the amalgamation of the two schools to form the then voluntary aided school, the new site was first occupied in Upminster in 1971 and by 1973 the whole school had moved into these new premises.

The school converted to academy status on 1 April 2011.

View from St Mary's Lane

Notable former pupils

The Coopers' Company and Coborn School

Coborn High School for Girls

Coopers' Company's School

References

  1. Euractiv - European Year of Education through Sport draws to a close. Retrieved 16 September 2006.
  2. http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/18513.html
  3. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-13083497

External links

News items