St Saviour's and St Olave's Church of England School

The school was founded in 1903 as a girls' grammar school to complement St Olave's and St Saviour's Grammar School for boys, after the Charity Commissioners had required that girls in the area should be afforded some equality of education, and the Governors of the joint foundation agreed to use their endowment to provide this. Both schools are beneficiaries of the charitable St Olave's and St Saviour's Schools Foundation, which in turn is a beneficiary of The Dulwich Estate, successor to the historic College of God's Gift charity. (See also St Saviour's Grammar School, and St Olave's Grammar School.) On examination of the separate governing instruments of the two ancient grammar schools…

The school remains a semi-independent Church of England voluntary aided school. The similar names for the girls' and boys' schools and the educational foundation sometimes cause confusion, but when a proposal to rename the girls' school simply 'St Saviour's' was made it was unwelcome. Nevertheless, the "old girls'" association call themselves the 'Salvatorians', while the old boys of St Olave's are known as 'Old Olavians'. The school remains to hold its Christian ethos, holding annual Commemoration Service at the ancient parish church, now known as Southwark Cathedral.