THE SCHOOL
A Brief History of the School
During the Reformation, when monasteries were swept away, many public services such as health and education also disappeared. There was an urgent need for foundling hospitals, and so the Liverpool Blue Coat School was founded in 1708 by master mariner Bryan Blundell and the Reverend Robert Styth, the then rector of Liverpool. Reverend Styth took it upon himself to administer the first Blue Coat School, organising a place where poor children could be accommodated, cared for and learn to "read, write and cast accounts". Blundell provided the Reverend with financial backing for the project.
The original school building was situated in School Lane in buildings formerly used by Cross's Free Grammar School. In 1719, fine new buildings were erected in the style of Queen Anne. Today, it is the the oldest construction in the town centre, now functioning as the Blue Coat Arts Centre.
When Reverend Stythe died in 1713, Bryan Blundell took over as the treasurer and trustee. During this time, he noticed the poverty of the period, which was causing the children to neglect the school out of hours and so changed the School into a boarding school that provided food, drink and lodgings for the young generation. The school by then needed extending and enlarging, with changes costing between two to three thousand pounds. The finance for the School to be enlarged was once again provided thanks to Bryan Blundell; the work was finished in 1718.
Bryan Blundell died in 1756 and was succeeded by his son, who only held office for 4 years. His younger brother Jonathan then took over and held office until the turn of the century. It was only during the last 10 years of the 18th century that a uniform was introduced.
Blue is not a royal colour - that is purple; it is, however, the colour of alms-giving and Charity. It was the common colour for clothes in Tudor times, and so the charity children were dressed in blue Tudor frock coats, yellow stockings and white bands. The children of the Blue Coat School wore this uniform until 1948.
Modern Times
By the end of the Victorian era, it had been realised that the school buildings were inadequate and in 1899 the trustees of the School took the decision to commission a new school building what was then the countryside of Wavertree - away from the smoke and industry of the overcrowded city.
The project would cost over £80,000, an amount was raised with the financial help of W H Shirley. Following his death in 1901, he left, in his will, £38,000 towards the building of the school. Along with many other contributions the £80,000 was eventually raised and work began on the new School in 1903, which was completed in 1906. These are the buildings still occupied by the school - designed in the late English renaissance style - with later additions including the distinctive chapel dome and clock tower.
The Blue Coat retained its role as an orphanage until the late 1940s; boys and girls in old-fashioned dress having been a familiar site around Liverpool for many years. The School changed its status in 1948 and became a day and boarding school for boys only.
In 1984, the City Council proposed a "cease to maintain" order for the Blue Coat. It was defeated a year later thanks to a vigourous campaign on the part of the School to win the support of the people of Liverpool.
The boarding school was eventually phased out until only a few remaining boarders lived in the School and the rest of the students were day pupils. The School stopped accepting boarders in 1990, the same year where girls were readmitted to the Sixth Form only.
The New Era
In September 2002 - the first time in more than fifty years - girls were admitted into the school alongside boys in following an entrance examination. Two splendid statuettes, different but complementary, standing to this day in the School's Boardroom, clearly reveal the original inspiration of the Liverpool Blue Coat School: it was thoroughly co-educational before the word was coined
Now in 2005, with the new building work complete, the vision of Bryan Blundell and the Reverend Robert Styth will be realised once again.
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