IS COLSTON NAME OUT?
SCHOOL CONSIDERS
ABRISTOL school named after the slave trader Edward Colston is conducting a survey to decide whether it should be renamed.
Colston’s School was set up by the merchant in 1710 as Colston’s Hospital and the public school has kept the name association ever since.
A bronze figure of the 17th century slaver was pulled down, sprayed with paint and dumped in Bristol harbour amid raucous scenes last June.
Crowds attacked the statue during a Black Lives Matter protest because of his links with slavery.
Since then, other Bristol schools and businesses have changed their names.
Colston Hall had already announced its intention to change the venue’s name before the statue fell, and the new name Bristol Beacon was announced last summer.
After the statue fell, Colston Tower changed its name to The Beacon Tower and Colston’s Girls’ School changed its name to Montpelier High School.
There have been other campaigns to change the names of streets in the city that celebrated Colston.
Colston’s School said it welcomed views from its stakeholders,
staff, parents, former pupils and the wider general public.
The survey will be available for anyone to take part until Friday, July 16.
Headmaster Jeremy McCullough told the BBC: “We are very keen to hear the views of as many people as possible to help drive the decision around the future of the school’s name.
“We understand that there are numerous viewpoints on this complex issue, and hope that the range of resources and research materials our pupils have had the opportunity to engage with, and that are available on the website, will also help the community form their own thoughts and opinions.”
The school governors plan to make a final decision about the school’s name in September.
A year ago, 101 former pupils of the school signed a letter calling for a name change.
The letter said it was “no longer acceptable for our school to be named after a man who contributed to so much pain”.
The school’s alumni who signed the letter attended the £15,000-a-year private school over a time period from the 1970s to 2019.
One of them, Zak Bond, said: “The time has come for the governors to show strong leadership and to be bold and forward thinking through a commitment to changing the name of the school.
“We understand that this shift cannot be made instantly, and we support the creation of a proper process to find a new name for the school.
“This process must include diverse voices drawn from the school community and beyond.”
Colston set up the school in 1710 only for the boys of parents who were strictly Church of England worshippers – his previous attempt to donate to the expansion of what is now QEH School failed because he insisted the children of nonconformist Christians and Catholics should not benefit from his philanthropy.
The school is run by the Society of Merchant Venturers and began to admit girls in 1984.