St. Edward's is the oldest school in Romford. It was founded as a Charity School in 1710. The vestry book for St. Edward's Church in Romford records an entry on 5th September 1710:-

'Whereas a Charity School is Erecting or setting up with all possible speed to be sett up and opened in this town of Rumford...for the Educating of poor Children and teaching them to Read and Write and Instructing them in the knowledge and practice of the Christian Religion as professed and taught in the Church of England.

For the first eighteen years the school was accommodated in two houses, but in 1728 the school moved to a new building in the Market Place in Romford, where it remained until it moved to its present site in 1965.

We share our foundation with St. Edward's Primary School, and although the two schools are now run independently they have much in common. Most of our junior school pupils transfer to the comprehensive school at 11, and they account for almost half of the 180 pupils who join us each September.