The Stephen Perse Foundation is a family of private schools in Cambridge and Saffron Walden for students aged 1 to 18. The Foundation is made up of 3 nurseries (2 in Cambridge and 1 in Saffron Walden, Essex) for ages 1–5, 2 Junior Schools (Junior School Rosedale House in Cambridge and Junior School Dame Bradbury's in Saffron Walden, Essex) for ages 5–11, a Senior School for ages 11–16 (boys joined Year 7 for the first time in September 2017); and the Stephen Perse Sixth Form, for students aged 16–18. The school has a strong reputation for academic excellence and a progressive attitude towards learning and social skills, being named the top Independent school in East Anglia by The Sunday Times on their 'Parent Power' list in 2016. In 2018, Cambridge Centre for Sixth Form Studies joined the Stephen Perse Sixth Form. The Foundation is a registered charity under English law. History In 1615, Dr Perse's will included a bequest of land for the establishment of what was then described as a Grammar Free School, in Cambridge. It became The Perse School and was originally reserved for boys. It developed along separate lines and operates as a separate organization today, providing coeducational education from ages 3 to 18. In 1881, the complementary but unconnected Perse School for Girls opened, as part of the strong 19th-century movement to educate women. From the Perse School for Girls, the Foundation developed to become the Stephen Perse Foundation in 2007. It opened a co-educational sixth form in 2008. It now provides a complete educational pathway for boys and girls from age 1 to 18. Writer and cartoonist Ronald Searle drew from the Foundation and Cambridgeshire High School for Girls (now Long Road Sixth Form College) as inspiration for his St Trinian's School books (published 1946 to 1952), which portrayed the girls at a boarding school as juvenile delinquents. Searle donated original manuscripts and diaries to the school, which are held in the school archive. This material includes a letter, dated 1993, which confirms the link. Around the turn of the 20th century, the school accepted boys into its kindergarten, including a young John Maynard Keynes. In September 2013, Dame Bradbury's School in Saffron Walden joined the Foundation, as a non-selective school for boys and girls aged 1–11. At the same time, announcements were made of major development plans to admit boys to Rosedale House (then