Colston’s school may ditch name

A PRIVATE school set up 300 years ago by slave trader Edward Colston may change its name after threats on social media.

Colston’s School in Bristol, where fees are £14,000 a year, is consulting on whether to ditch its name in a drive to be more ‘accessible’ to all communities.

It follows the toppling of a statue of Colston last June in a Black Lives Matter protest. Colston’s School then faced ‘threatening’ social media posts over its retention of its name.

Philanthropist Colston founded the institue in 1710 as an all-boys boarding school. A Colston’s spokesman said: ‘The consultation is reflective of the wider debate going on within the city.’