"SEVERAL charitable ladies of the Town of Greenwich" gave money
for a school to teach and clothe 30 girls in 1700. They were led by
Margaret Flamsteed, the wife of the then Astronomer Royal, John
Flamsteed, and the Astronomers Royal took an interest in the school
for many years afterwards. It became the Bluecoat School for Girls,
and has been educating children in Greenwich ever since. In 1753, a
new school was built at a cost of £512 (right), and it
grew through the years.
In 1908, at a meeting presided over by the then Bishop of
Southwark, Dr Edward Talbot, an appeal for £5000
was launched to start an entirely new school for 150 boys, 150
girls, and 100 infants. It was opened by Dr Talbot in 1911, and was
called the Blackheath and Kidbrooke National Church of England
School. In 1959, it was amalgamated with the Bluecoat School.
Then, in the 1970s, the buildings were remodelled, and the
Blackheath Bluecoat School became a fully comprehensive Church of
England secondary school with 1050 pupils. It had long had a
tradition of character-building and domestic skills with a
Christian ethos, and offered one of the few specialist catering
courses in London.
But a few years ago it went through a rocky period until it
joined a very successful federation with St Cecilia's C of E School
in Wandsworth. Since then, there has been a remarkable improvement
in academic standards; but, sadly, and despite a vigorous campaign
to save it, Greenwich Council has decided to close it at the end of
August to build another one. It is the sad endto a piece of church
school history.
