Bishop's Stortford College

Bishop's Stortford College was founded in 1868 by the East of England Nonconformist Schools Association — a coalition of Congregational, Baptist and other Nonconformist families and clergy who wanted to provide their sons with a Christian boarding education comparable to the great Anglican public schools but outside the religious test that those schools then imposed. The school took the name of the Hertfordshire market town in which it was established and remains on its founding 130-acre campus on the edge of Bishop's Stortford. It is now Christian non-denominational (rather than specifically Nonconformist), co-educational, and operates as an "all-through" school for ages 4-18 across the Pre-Prep, Prep School, Senior School and Sixth Form.

The College is a member of the HMC, the BSA, IAPS and ISI, and operates around 1,300 pupils. It is one of the founding members of the Bishop's Stortford Education Charity, a local educational trust. The College Head since 2022 is John Maguire, previously Headmaster of Tonbridge School's prep, and the Chair of Governors is GE Baker.

The school's sporting traditions are particularly strong: a long rivalry in rugby union with Bedford School, Felsted, Haileybury, Eton, Harrow, Hampton, Kimbolton, Merchant Taylors', Oakham, Oundle, St Albans, Stowe and Stamford, and a rowing programme based on the school's own boathouse on the River Great Ouse (sic — rowing fixtures are usually on the Cam and Lee for local competitions). The school maintains extensive sporting facilities, including rugby and cricket pitches, tennis courts and a sports hall.

Notable past masters of the school include Brendan Bracken, 1st Viscount Bracken, the publisher and politician who served as Churchill's wartime Minister of Information and later First Lord of the Admiralty (1945); Herbert Sumsion, the influential Gloucester Cathedral organist (Director of Music at the College, 1924-26); and the Royal Academy painter Percy Horton. The school operates a substantial bursary programme via the Old Stortfordian Society and the Bishop's Stortford Education Charity.