Colet Court
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Colet Court is a preparatory school for boys, associated with St Paul's School in London, to where most pupils then go at 13.
Colet Court was founded (not by that name) with 6 pupils in 1881 by Samuel Bewsher, an Assistant Master of St Paul's School and secretary to the High Master. It started at a house in Edith Road, West Kensington, this being about the time of the original relocation of St Paul's School from the vicinity of St Paul's Cathedral to new buildings in Hammersmith.
In 1883, Bewsher moved his preparatory school into a new building called Colet House near the St Paul's School playground, and his brother, James Bewsher, became the first headmaster on 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 of the school 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 and now forms part of a single school campus on that site, although Colet Court and the main school continue to function separately (though they do share many facilities, such as their lunch hall, sports centre and some sports fields)
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Andrew Lloyd Webber's "pop cantata", 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 review in 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 performed it again in 2004, as the annual school play.
The current headmaster, Geoff Thompson has brought the school on and has kept it up to the required standard so that it can feed almost every single boy into St Pauls. It is soon to be seriously redeveloped in accordance with the Saint Paul's school masterplan.
Colet Court is an all-boys school and teaches them from age 7 to age 13, at which point all the boys are expected to pass into St Paul's School (though about 10 leave for other schools, mostly Eton College, Westminster School and Winchester College. Entry is by examination at age 7, age 8, age 10 and age 11. There are currently about 425 pupils.
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."
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