The King's School, Canterbury

The King's School
Established 597 (597)
Type Independent day and boarding school
Public school
Religion Church of England
Headmaster Peter Roberts
Chaplain Fredrick Arvidsson
Chairman of Governors Robert Willis
(Dean of Canterbury)
Founder St. Augustine of Canterbury
Location Canterbury
Kent
CT1 2ES
United Kingdom
Coordinates: 51°16′54″N 1°04′58″E / 51.281671°N 1.082710°E / 51.281671; 1.082710
DfE URN 118996 Tables
Students 817
Gender Coeducational
Ages 13–18
Houses 16
Colours

Blue and white

         
Former Pupils Old King's Scholars
Website www.kings-school.co.uk

The King's School is a British co-educational independent school for both day and boarding pupils in the English city of Canterbury in Kent. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is held to be the oldest continuously operating school in the world, having been founded in 597 AD.[lower-alpha 1]

History

The school originated as a medieval cathedral school said to have been founded during the Late Antiquity in 597 AD a century after the Fall of the Roman Empire by Augustine of Canterbury considered the "Apostle to the English" and a founder of the English Church, therefore making it the world's oldest extant school[lower-alpha 2]. This is based on the fact that St Augustine founded an abbey (within the current school's grounds) where it is known that teaching took place.[1] When the dissolution of the monasteries occurred in the reign of King Henry VIII, the school was refounded as The King's School, Canterbury under the ownership and stewardship of the Dean and Chapter of the cathedral church.

Kingsdown House is the newest addition to the school. It was built on the site of what was formerly the Diocesan Payne Smith primary school, adjacent to the Precincts.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the school remained a grammar school. During the Victorian era the school began to establish itself as a "public school". The school evacuated to Cornwall following the outbreak of World War II and received a new Royal Charter at the end of the war. Girls were admitted for the first time when the sixth form became coeducational during the 1970s. In 1990, the school became fully coeducational.[1]

Assessment

In 2011, the school was subject to its latest regular, independent inspection.[2] In summary, the inspection team praised the pastoral care system, the high academic achievements of all its pupils — irrespective of their age, aptitude or ability — and the happiness of the pupils. According to the Good Schools Guide the school is "Highly successful, producing excellent results." The Guide also stated that "You need to be creative, academically able and hard-working, as everything moves fast here."[3]

Houses

There are 16 houses at King's, 13 boarding and 3 day.[4] Most are named after past headmasters or people of interest in the school's history, with the exception of School House, The Grange and Carlyon. The Houses of the School are:

Facilities

View of the Schoolhouse and The Norman Staircase. The staircase is one of the most painted, photographed and admired sites in Canterbury. As its name suggests it dates back to the 12th century. For formal occasions the School traditionally gathered here. Archbishops of Canterbury addressed the School from the Staircase during Visitations. King George VI, accompanied by Queen Elizabeth and Princess Elizabeth, presented the School’s Royal Charter to the Dean on 11 July 1946.

Traditions

King's has many traditions including:

The Economics department is housed in the Priory block, which was originally built around 1100 as part of the medieval priory buildings, especially the brewery and bakehouse. It was later taken over by the King's School in 1936
View over the Tradescant boarding house and The School Library. Both were built by William Butterfield in 1848 as the main accommodation block and library for the students of St Augustine’s Missionary College. The cloister was later converted into a boarding house with the addition of rooms and acquired by The King's School in 1976 when it became Tradescant, and the library was moved to this present location in 1990.

King's Week festival

A festival of arts, held during the last week of the summer term,[6] introduced by Fred Shirley. The week culminates in Commemoration day (known as "commem day") on the last day of the school year when the school leavers in 6a wear court dress and the whole school attends a service to commemorate the school benefactors.

Office of Fair Trading investigation

In 2005, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) provisionally found that the school exchanged detailed information about prospective fee increases with approximately 50 other prominent UK independent schools, including Eton and Sevenoaks.[7] The OFT stated that "regular and systematic exchange of confidential information as to intended fee increases was anti-competitive and resulted in parents being charged higher fees than would otherwise have been the case."

Alumni (Old King's Scholars (OKS))

The Junior King's School, Canterbury

The King's School also has a feeder preparatory school, the Junior King's School (JKS), previously Milner Court Preparatory School. The school, is a coeducational boarding and day establishment, and currently has around 425 pupils, ages 3 to 13. Whilst there are boarding facilities available, the number of day pupils greatly outweighs the number of boarding pupils. JKS is now located at Milner Court in Sturry, having been originally based in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral. The current site was donated by Lady Milner following the death of Lord (Alfred) Milner in 1925. The buildings on site were opened by Rudyard Kipling in 1929, a great friend of Lord (Alfred) Milner.[8] Further extensions include a sports hall (1999), a CDT block (1991) and a music hall (2016).

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Shishi Middle School in China claims a foundation c.142 BC but this is disputed owing to a gap in its functioning.
  2. ↑ but note Shishi's claim above

Citations

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