St. Saviour's & St. Olave's School
St. Saviour's & St. Olave's School
Nearest underground station: Elephant & Castle
was founded as a grammar school for girls in 1903. It belongs to the St. Olave's & St. Saviour's Grammar School Foundation which can trace its history back through four centuries to the time of Queen Elizabeth I. Two ancient grammar schools, the St. Saviour's Grammar School, which was granted a Charter by Queen Elizabeth in 1562, and St. Olave's Grammar School, which received its Charter in 1571, were among several educational institutions supported and financed by the voluntary efforts of the citizens of Southwark and finally amalgamated in 1899 into the present Foundation.
Plans for rebuilding St. Saviour's Grammar School, a boys' school, were abandoned following its amalgamation with St. Olave's, and the accumulated funds of the St. Olave's & St. Saviour's Foundation with those of another local school, St. John's Girls' School, were used to found St. Saviour's & St. Olave's Grammar School for Girls. A site on the New Kent Road was bought from Lord Llangattock and the building began.
The school first opened on the 26th January 1903 with eighty-four girls in the premises of St. John's Elementary School. The building was completed and opened by their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales (afterwards King George V and Queen Mary) on 14th March, a date kept as the School Birthday and marked each year by a Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Southwark Cathedral.
St. Saviour's & St Olave's is a Voluntary Aided School. The Governors own the buildings and are responsible for their general repair and maintenance.