Redmaids' High School GDST

Redmaids' High School traces its lineage to 1634, when the Bristol merchant and former Mayor of Bristol John Whitson left funds in his will for the education and clothing of forty Bristol girls — making it the oldest girls' school in England. The original "Red Maids" took their name from the red dresses provided by the Whitson endowment, which the school's pupils continue to wear on ceremonial occasions today. The 1634 foundation date predates all other extant English girls' schools by nearly 250 years.

The school operated for over 350 years as an independent Bristol foundation before joining the Girls' Day School Trust (GDST) federation in 2008. The Head is Paul Dwyer. The school today educates around 794 pupils ages 7-18 and is girls-only throughout. The school is a member of the GSA and the GDST and is inspected by the ISI.

The school's most historically significant alumna is Mary Carpenter — the Victorian social reformer who founded the reform-school movement in England in the 1850s, opened the Red Lodge Reformatory for girls in Bristol in 1854, and was the architect of the Industrial Schools Act of 1857 and the Reformatory Schools Act of 1854 that established the modern English youth-justice system. Carpenter is among the founding figures of Victorian social reform. The school operates a substantial bursary programme via the GDST charitable foundation.