Looking at our modern buildings, it’s hard to believe Colfe’s is one of the oldest schools in London. Originally established by John Glyn in 1574, the school was re-founded in 1652 by the Reverend Abraham Colfe, Vicar of Lewisham. When Colfe died in 1657, he took the enlightened step of entrusting the School to the Worshipful Company of Leathersellers’ in the City of London.  Colfe’s original vision was to educate the children of “the hundred of Blackheath” and although today our pupils travel to the school from all parts of South East London, a strong sense of local community remains, with most of the pupils coming from the Boroughs of Lewisham, Bromley, Bexley and Greenwich.

The School on the Hill, as it was known locally, stood on Lewisham Hill until 1944 when it was badly bombed. The pupils were evacuated to schools in Tunbridge andSomerset and then spent many years in temporary accommodation before the school re-opened in 1964 on the site it occupies today. Originally a grammar school for boys, Colfe’s became independent in 1977, thus ensuring the continuance of its tradition of excellence. Girls have been admitted to the Sixth Form for thirty years, whilst the school has been fully co-educational since 1999.

The school continues to move forward. In the 1990s we built the Preparatory School, which educates some 350 children from 3 – 11. An overwhelming majority of these children continue into the SeniorSchool, but we also welcome an average of 60 new children each year who join us from a range of Preparatory and State primary schools. A few more join at 13+ and then another 15-20 in the Sixth Form, making a total of just over 1,000 pupils. To accommodate our growing numbers we have recently added an all-weather playing field and our showpiece, the Beardwood Centre, which provides state-of-the art facilities for Art, Music, Drama and Media Studies.