It was founded in 1710 by the merchant, Member of Parliament, philanthropist and slave trader Edward Colston as Colston's Hospital, originally an all-boys boarding school. Day-boys were admitted in 1949 and girls were admitted to the sixth form in 1984. In 1991 it merged with the Collegiate School, a girls' school in Winterbourne, and was given the name Colston's Collegiate School, but this was reverted to Colston's School in 2005. The current headmaster of the upper school is Jeremy McCullough (since September 2014); he joined the school from Lancing College.