The Coopers' Company and Coborn School
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Go4Schools
  • Webmail
  • Parentpay
  • Shop
  • Google Classroom
Menu
  • Home
  • About Us
        • The School
        • Leadership Team
        • Staff
        • Governing Board
        • School Record
        • History & Archive
        • Timeline
        • The Coopers’ Company
        • Our Alumni Network
        • Old Cooperians Rugby
        • Policies & Info
        • Statement of values and ethos
        • Statutory Policies
        • Non Statutory Policies
        • Covid Information
        • Ofsted Report
        • Financial Information
        • Vacancies
  • Parents
      • General Info
      • Introduction
      • Parent’s Association
      • Pupil Premium
      • The Pastoral System
      • Examinations
      • Leave of Absence Form (Years 7-13)
      • Palmer & Bartell Bursaries Application Form
      • Year Information
      • Year 7
      • Year 8
      • Year 9
      • Year 10
      • Year 11
      • Year 12
      • Year 13
      • Joining Us
      • As a Year 7 Student
      • As a Sixth Form Student
      • In-Year Admissions
      • Safeguarding
      • Safeguarding Bulletin
  • Students
    • Student Voice
    • Examinations
    • House System
  • Sixth Form
      • General Information
      • Welcome
      • The Team
      • The Centre
      • Learning & Teaching – 6th Form
      • Ethos
      • Examinations
      • –
      • Joining as a Sixth Form Student
      • Student Views
      • Destinations Information
      • Sixth Form Useful Links
      • Leave of Absence Form (Years 7-13)
      • Independent Learning – 6th Form
  • Curriculum
      • Curriculum Aims
      • Curriculum Information
      • Explaining the Curriculum
      • New KS3 Curriculum
      • Homework / Further Study
      • Learning Beyond The Classroom
      • Careers & Beyond CCCS
      • Careers Introduction
      • Careers Advice
      • Careers Sectors
      • Careers Guidance
      • Options at 14+
      • Options at 16+
      • Options at 18+
      • Virtual Work Experience
      • Meet Our Departments
      • Art
      • Business & Economics
      • Computer Science
      • Design & Technology
      • Drama & Theatre Studies
      • English
      • Food Preparation and Nutrition
      • French
      • –
      • Geography
      • German
      • History
      • Library
      • Maths
      • Media
      • Music
      • PE
      • –
      • PSHE
      • Politics
      • Psychology
      • Religious Studies
      • Science
      • Sociology
      • Spanish
  • What’s On
    • News
    • Newsletters
    • Calendar
    • Term Dates
    • Gallery
    • Letters Home & Forms
    • Extra Curricular
  • Facilities For Hire
    • Swimming & Sports Facilities for Hire
    • Special Events & Party Halls for Hire
    • Meeting rooms & Conference Halls for Hire
    • Dance Studio & Performance Halls for Hire
  • Contact Us
  • Quick Links
    • Shop
    • GO 4 Schools
    • Webmail
    • Reading Cloud
    • School Cloud
    • SOCS
    • ParentPay
    • Calendar
    • Term Dates
    • News
  • Search
  • Menu Menu

History & Archive

The school recently celebrated its 475th anniversary – as you can see we are no ordinary school and have a rich history, which our students learn about during their time with us.

The Nicholas Gibson Free School was founded in 1536 by a prominent London citizen 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, although only 30 were free scholars. In 1552 she asked the Coopers’ Company to undertake this task for her and thus the School included the Company’s title in its name. The School was situated in Ratcliffe, a small parish bordering the Thames and the original site of the School is still traceable, fittingly in School House Lane in Stepney.

In 1574 Henry Cloker, another grocer, left to the Coopers’ Company some London property, the proceeds of which were to be applied in part to the augmentation of the salaries of the schoolmaster and the usher; with additional gratuities from the Company their salaries had risen to £23 6s. 8d. and £9 13s. 4d. by 1596, but for long after that date there was no further change and the holders had to rely increasingly on fees from private pupils and other perquisites.

About 1590 the permanent association between the Coopers’ Company and the charity was symbolised by the removal of the arms of the Grocers’ Company from the outer wall of the schoolhouse and the substitution of those of the Coopers.

In 1654 it was decided that in future the thirty free scholars were to be chosen not by the schoolmaster but by the Company, and that admission fees were not to exceed 18d. Since it was claimed that the founder had intended that instruction should be limited to Latin, reasonable fees might be demanded for teaching writing and arithmetic. Additional private pupils might be taken and the usher was permitted to continue the practice of teaching girls and ‘incidental’ scholars after school hours.

A pupil of the period was Charles Smith (1713-77), who later wrote tracts on the corn trade which were highly praised by Adam Smith.

The School remained there until 1892 when it moved to premises in Tredegar Square in Mile End, where it remained until the move to Upminster. Prisca Coborn, the widow of a brewer, founded a School for both boys and girls 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, but it soon moved to a site between the church and Bow Bridge. In 1814 the School moved to a site bounded by Old Ford Road and Fairfield Road, part of which was later to become the Bryant and May match factory (now a housing development), visible from the Eastern Region railway line into Liverpool Street. In 1870 the School moved to the site in Tredegar Square, later to be occupied by the Coopers’ Boys’ School. In 1891 the two Foundations were united. As the boys moved to Tredegar Square, Coborn, now an all-girls’ school, moved to 86 Bow Road. In 1898 this school was relocated at 29-31 Bow Road, where it remained until the move to Upminster.

One important aspect of our history is the contribution that the school made during the two World Wars in the 20th Century. Many of our students fought (and died) in the First and Second World Wars and this is an important part of the school’s history. On the links on the right you will find some of the documents from our archive from this time. There is a commemorative list of the those members of our school community who gave their lives in the First World War. You will also find copies of the annual magazines from 1916, 1919 and 1921, similar to our School Newsletter, which is still produced today. The school has a rich archive and museum both in the school and in Coopers’ Hall at Devonshire Square.

As a result of the amalgamation of the two schools, the new site was first occupied at Upminster in 1971, and by 1973 the whole school had moved onto the suburbs, where there are now over 1300 pupils. New buildings have regularly been erected – The McEwan Building for ICT in 1986, The Ratcliffe Building, housing the new Science Block, was opened in 1996; Science gained further accommodation with the Ansell Building added in 2006. The Prisca Coborn Building for Languages was opened in 2002, The Nicholas Gibson Building for Music and The Palmer Pavilion in 2004, and a 6th Form Art Studio Extension in 2007. Most recently of all our Sixth Form Centre was opened in 2011.

More About Us

  • Leadership Team
  • Staff
  • Governing Board
  • School Record
  • History & Archive
  • Timeline
  • The Coopers’ Company
  • Our Alumni Network
  • Old Cooperians Rugby
  • Statement of values and ethos
  • Statutory Policies
  • Non Statutory Policies
  • Covid Information
  • Ofsted Report
  • Financial Information
  • Facilities for Hire
  • Vacancies

The Coopers’ Company & Coborn School

St. Marys Ln,
Upminster,
RM14 3HS

  • 01708 250500
  • Email Us
  • Directions

The Coopers’ Company and Coborn School is a company limited by guarantee, and an exempt charity, registered in England and Wales under company number 07547060. The registered address is: St Mary’s Lane, Upminster, Essex. RM14 3HS

© Copyright 2022 - The Coopers' Company and Coborn School | Proudly built by Lemongrass Media School Web Design
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Scroll to top