Our History

The English College Foundation (ECF) was registered in 1992 as an English charity with the express purpose of establishing an English-language secondary school in Prague primarily for Czechoslovak students.

The initiative came from a group of friends and contacts in London with an interest in the region and/or educational matters. They had two sources of inspiration: President Havel, who spoke warmly of The Prague English Grammar School (PEGS), which was set up in 1922 but closed first by the Nazis and then by the Communists; and a Czech businessman who claimed that ‘what Czechoslovakia needs is a good dose of British education’.

The new school was to teach the International Baccalaureate curriculum, with almost all teaching in English. The aim was to further the development of democracy in post-communist Czechoslovakia by promoting liberal and democratic values and internationalism, and bringing out the full potential of all students, embodying the spirit of PEGS. This aim was endorsed by President Havel, and he and the Prince of Wales agreed to be founder-Patrons.

Setting up the school proved a long, complicated and sometimes difficult process, but The English College in Prague finally opened its doors in 1994. It has proved very successful, and grown over the past thirty years to a roll of 400 students. The ECF continues to offer the English College both moral and financial support.

A fuller version of the early history of the ECF and ECP can be found in Chapter 1 of “Old Roots, New Shoots”, which you can read here. Copies of the book can be obtained from Gina Hearn at the ECP.