What did London and John Colet blue plaque St Paul's School do at New Change?

The Story

# St Paul's School, London and John Colet Standing at New Change in the shadow of the modern City of London, you're standing where one of England's most influential educational reformers planted his revolutionary vision in 1512. Dean John Colet, fired by Renaissance humanism and a desire to educate boys beyond the narrow scholasticism of his age, established St Paul's School on this very spot—a radical institution that would nurture generations of England's future leaders, scholars, and thinkers for nearly four centuries. Here, in this location, Colet created something genuinely innovative: a school that taught Greek and Latin literature, rhetoric, and moral philosophy to the sons of merchants and professional men, not just the aristocracy, fundamentally democratizing education in Tudor England. When the Great Fire of London destroyed the medieval cathedral in 1666, St Paul's School survived on this site through rebuilding and adaptation, only finally abandoning New Change in 1884—but for 372 years, this address represented one of London's most consequential contributions to learning, a testament to one man's belief that rigorous education could transform not just individual lives but the entire nation.