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Colston's School
Type	Independent
Headteacher	Peter Fraser
Location	Bristol England
Students	c.823
Ages	11 to 18
Website	http://www.colstons.bristol.sch.uk

Colston's 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 the name Colston's Collegiate School, but this was reverted to Colston's School in 2005.^[1] The current Headmaster is Peter Fraser.

Contents 1 History 2 The present 2.1 Houses 2.2 Uniform 2.3 Rugby 3 Current Professional and Semi Professional Old Colstonian rugby players 3.1 Guinness Premiership 3.2 Magners League 3.3 France Top 14 3.4 Welsh Premiership 3.5 National Division One 3.6 National Division Two 3.7 National Division Three 3.8 South West One 4 Drama 5 Notable alumni 6 References 7 Further reading

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 insistence 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 an 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 which has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II listed building.^[2], 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.

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 largest house is Aldington, however most of the awards and interhouse competition wins are spread around the houses. Recently though King's House has become one of the most successful houses regularly winning the annual House Cup competition, and this year winning both the House Song, and for the second year in a row the House Music Competition.

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 grey school jumper. In summer, the removal of the blazer and tie is permitted, as well as the wearing of short-sleeved white shirts. The 6th 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 short-sleeved blouse sans tie and blazer is permitted. Make-up is not allowed outside of 6th form, but "appropriate" or small jewelery, such as stud earrings and the like, is.

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.

The school is renowned worldwide for its phenomenal record in rugby union. Under the guidance of 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. Former England and Bath flanker Andy Robinson assisted Martinovic for the first two cup triumphs. It re-entered the competition for the 2003/2004 season, when the school succeeded for an unprecedented seventh time. Martinovic resigned the post in August 2005, and handed the reins to Darryl Paterson. 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. Incredibly, the school successfully defended both trophies in 2007.

The current 1st XV head coach is Peter Thornley, the former Leicester and England A flanker, who took over from Darryl Paterson in December 2006.

• Olly Barkley, Duncan Bell, Alex Crockett, Rob Hawkins, Ryan Davis, Lee Mears, Ian Davey, Mike Baxter (Bath Rugby)

• Sam Cox, Alex Clarke, Ed Barnes, Iain Grieve, Joe Burford (on loan at Clifton), Ryan Prosser, Luke Eves, Gareth Griffiths (on loan at Redruth), James Phillips (Bristol Rugby)

• Alex Brown, Gareth Delve (Gloucester Rugby)

• Chris Brooker (Harlequins)

• Chad Thorne (Leeds Carnegie)

• Tom Varndell, Jordan Crane, Ryan Owen (Leicester Tigers)

• Shane Geraghty, Warren Fury (London Irish)

• Callum Black (Worcester Warriors)

• Andy Lloyd (Neath-Swansea Ospreys)

• Mike Pyke (US Montauban)

• Gareth Knox (Aberavon)

• James Graham (Bedford Blues)

• Spencer Davey (Doncaster Rugby)

• Kieran Geraghty (Exeter Chiefs)

• Ryan Westren (Launceston)

• Richard Bignell, Matt Williams (Moseley)

• Dan Lavery, Phil Hoy (Northampton Saints)

• Ashley Maggs (Pertemps Bees)

• Dan Smith (Plymouth Albion)

• Jon Mills, James Watkins, Dylan Pugh (London Welsh)

• Barry Reeves, Mitch Burton, Stean Williams (Henley Hawks)

• Gareth Griffiths (Redruth- on loan from Bristol Rugby)

• Phil Greenaway (Cinderford)

• Henry Mace, Joe Burford (on loan from Bristol Rugby) (Clifton)

• Ricky Jones, Jon Cresswell, Sam Caven (Dings Crusaders)

• Ricky Pellow (Mount's Bay)

• Jon Coller, Tim Flower (Bournemouth)

• Jon Pritchard, James Down (Cleve)

• Chris Downes (Old Patesians)

• Joe Ewens (Weston-super-Mare)

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, Alison Chisnall and recipient of a Highly Commended in The Guardian newspaper's Teacher of the Year Award Stephen Pritchard.

• Thomas Chatterton, Romantic poet and child prodigy
• Robert Syms, Conservative MP for Poole, Dorset
• Chris Broad, Test cricket referee and former England Test opening batsman
• 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 Gloucester 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

1. ^ History Colston's School website. Retrieved 20 February 2007
2. ^ Colston School, former Bishop's Palace. Images of England. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.

• Roger Wilson, Chapter 22, "Bristol's School", in Bristol and its Adjoining Counties, 1955

v • d • e Secondary Education in Bristol
General	Education in Bristol • List of secondary schools in Bristol
Universities	University of Bristol • University of the West of England
Academies	Brunel Academy • City Academy
Community and VA schools	Ashton Park • Bedminster Down • Brislington • Cotham • Fairfield • Hartcliffe • Henbury • Hengrove • Monks Park • Portway • Redland Green • St Bede's • St Bernadette's • St Brendan's • St Mary Redcliffe & Temple • Whitefield Fishponds • Withywood
Independent schools	Andalusia Academy • Badminton • Bristol Cathedral • Bristol Grammar • Bristol Steiner • Carmel Christian • Clifton College • Clifton High • Colston's • Colston's Girls • Include • Prospect • QEH • Redland High • Red Maids • St Ursula's
Special schools	Briarwood • Bristol Gateway • Elmfield • Greenfields • Kingsdon Manor • Kingsweston • Little Islands • New Fosseway • St Christopher's
Other schools and colleges	City of Bristol College • Prospect Education Trust • St Matthias Park Pupil Referral Service

Coordinates: 51°28′50″N 2°33′19″W / 51.4806, -2.5554