Motto |
Ad astra per aspera "Through hardships to the stars" |
---|---|
Established | 1568 (restablished 1652) |
Type | Independent day school |
Headmaster | Richard Russell |
Headmaster (Preparatory) | Sarah Marsh |
Governors | Leathersellers' Company |
Founder | John Glyn in 1568 Reestablished with Abraham Colfe's name in 1652 |
Location |
Horn Park Lane Lee London SE12 8AW England |
Local authority | Greenwich |
DfE URN | 100202 Tables |
Staff | 100 (approx.) |
Students | 1,043 |
Gender | Coeducational |
Ages | 3–18 |
Houses | Beardwood, Bramley, Norton, Prendergast |
Colours |
Blue & Gold |
Publication | The Colfeian |
Official Visitor | HRH Prince Michael of Kent |
Former Pupils | Old Colfeians |
Website | www.colfes.com |
Blue & Gold
Colfe's is a co-educational independent day school in Horn Park in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, in south-east London, England. The school is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. The official Visitor to the school is HRH Prince Michael of Kent.
Colfe's is one of the oldest schools in London. The parish priest of Lewisham taught the local children from the time of Richard Walker's chantry, founded in 1494, until the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII. Rev. John Glyn re-established the school in 1568 and it was granted a Charter by Elizabeth I in 1574. Abraham Colfe became a Governor in 1613 and the school was re-founded bearing his name in 1652.
Colfe declared that the aim of the school was to provide an education for the boys from "the Hundred of Blackheath". He invited the Leathersellers' Company, one of London's livery companies, to be the trustee of his will. Links between the school and the Leathersellers remain strong.
The school was originally built around Colfe's house with an entrance in Lewisham Hill. The site was progressively developed and extended until 1890, when it was completely rebuilt on the same site with its entrance now in Granville Park. During the Second World War the school was first evacuated to Tunbridge Wells, Kent, and then to Frome in Somerset. A period of inactivity on the Western front led about 100 boys to return to London, so the school was split for a few years. In 1944 a V2 (Flying bomb) almost totally destroyed the school.