Andrew Reed and the Orphans
Reed's School has one of the most unusual origin stories in English education. The Reverend Andrew Reed, a Nonconformist minister in Stepney, founded the East London Orphan Asylum in 1813 to provide shelter and education for children whose fathers had died and whose mothers could not support them. Reed was driven by what he saw in the East End – destitute children with no prospect of schooling – and he spent the rest of his life founding charitable institutions.
The asylum was incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1845, under the presidency of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Duke of Wellington, and the Marquess of Salisbury – a formidable board of patrons. The school moved from Clapton to Watford in 1871. After the Second World War, the boys relocated to the present site in Cobham in 1946, taking over a 40-acre estate that has been home to Reed's ever since.
From Asylum to School
The transformation from orphanage to independent school happened gradually over the 20th century. The school was renamed Reed's School in 1939 in honour of its founder. The charitable mission has not disappeared – the Andrew Reed Foundation continues to fund bursaries for children who have lost a parent, maintaining a direct link to the school's original purpose. Around 10 per cent of pupils receive full bursaries through the Foundation, reserved for children who have lost one or both parents.
The School Today
Reed's is primarily a boys' school, with girls welcomed into the sixth form. Around 800 pupils attend, a mix of boarders and day pupils. The school has a strong sporting reputation, particularly in rugby, cricket, and hockey. Its tennis academy, founded in 1985, has produced two of Britain's best players: Tim Henman, the former British number one, and Jack Draper, who reached the world top five. Henman returned in 2014 to open the Indoor Tennis Centre alongside Andy Murray in an exhibition match.
The campus sits on the edge of Cobham, with views across open Surrey countryside. The community is tight-knit and the atmosphere is notably warm – qualities that staff and parents consistently cite as distinguishing Reed's from larger, more impersonal schools. The school has enjoyed continuous royal patronage since 1815.
