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King's College School
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| King's College School, Wimbledon | |
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| Motto | Sancte Et Sapienter (Latin: With Holiness and Wisdom) |
| Established | 1829 |
| Type | Public School |
| Head Master | Tony Evans(Departing December) |
| Chairman of the Governing Body | JDE Hamilton FCA |
| Founder | Royal Charter |
| Location | Wimbledon Common London England  |
| Students | 1200 (approx.) |
| Gender | Boys |
| Ages | 7 to 18 |
| School colours | Red and Blue
|
| Former pupils | Old King's (Old Boys of King's College School) |
| Visitor | The Archbishop of Canterbury |
| Website | Official Site |
King's College School Wimbledon, or KCS, is a well known British independent boys' school in Wimbledon, south-west London and is a highly selective and competitive day school for pupils of exceptionally high academic abilities. KCS is a leading member of the Eton Group, a group of 12 prestigious schools in the United Kingdom. The school was originally founded as the junior department of King's College London and occupied part of its premises in Strand, before relocating to Wimbledon in 1897; there is no longer any connection between the institutions, except that one of the Board of Governors is nominated by King's College London.
KCS is one of the highest academically performing schools in the United Kingdom historically and to this date, coming 2nd in the country for 2006 in The Times' rankings for A-Levels [1] and 3rd in 2007 [2] and annually coming in the Top 10 schools for GCSEs, with just over half of its GCSE pupils achieving Full 10 A*'s or more. KCS sends more than half of its pupils annually to the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge, the two leading universities in the United Kingdom. KCS was one of the first schools in the United Kingdom to abolish A-Levels in favour of the International Baccalaureate, as well as adopt the new IGCSE curriculum, both which are the most widely recognized international education curriculums.
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A Royal Charter founded the School in 1829 as the junior department of the newly established King’s College, London. The School occupied the basement of the College in The Strand. Most of its original eighty-five pupils lived in the City within walking distance of the School. During the early Victorian Period, the School grew in numbers and reputation. Members of the teaching staff included Gabriele Rossetti, who taught Italian. His son, Dante Gabriel, joined the School in 1837. The best known of the early masters was the water-colourist, John Sell Cotman. Nine of his pupils became practising artists and ten architects. The School was progressive in its curriculum in many areas and appointed its first Science Master in 1855, at a time where very few schools taught science. The first Head Master, John Major, served the School between 1831-1866. Ninety-nine of the School’s pupils from this period appear in the Dictionary of National Biography.
Until the 1880s, the School flourished. In 1882, only Eton College surpassed the total of thirty Oxford and Cambridge Board examination certificates obtained by pupils at King's. But the School's teaching facilities were becoming increasingly inadequate as many competitor schools moved to new sites with modern facilities and large playing fields. Falling numbers of pupils prompted the move to the School's present site in Wimbledon in 1897. Wimbledon was a fast growing suburb and well served by the railway lines from Surrey and south London.
In World War I, many letters were written to the school, including some from the Battle of the Somme. During World War II, the school's Great Hall was damaged by bomb shrapnel, and some of the damage can still be seen on the outside of the hall.
The school is currently under the headmastership of Mr. A C V Evans, although Dr. Halls of Magdalen College School, Oxford will be taking over in December. Pupils come to the school from south west London, north Surrey and neighbouring areas. Sixty four per cent of the Year 9 entry consists of boys who continue from the King's College Junior School, thirty four per cent enter from other preparatory schools and about two per cent come from overseas. The school population is predominantly of British origin with a small proportion belonging to families from a range of different ethnic origins. Some six per cent of pupils come from homes where English is not the first language, including children of other European nationals.
The school consistently achieves high scores for exam results at GCSE and A-Level. It is notable for offering boys the choice to study for either the International Baccalaureate or the A-level system in the sixth form. The school has, however, recently announced its intention to offer solely the International Baccalaureate for the 2007 Sixth Form.
It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, an association of nearly 250 independent British schools, and of the Eton Group of 12 leading independent schools.
The current headmaster won the best headmaster of a public school category at the annual Tatler School Awards 2005. In his absence, the award was collected by Ms Heather McKissack, Senior Mistress. Mark Palmer, editor of the Tatler School's Guide, said that he "thought it was about time it was recognised for being an all-round, academically excellent school", he added, "That has a lot to do with the professionalism and integrity of Tony Evans". [3]
The Great Hall is a very large building in the Victorian style. It is used for assembly to hold around 400-500 people. It also enclosed many classrooms and other facilities. It is also sometimes hired out for private functions. The Great Hall was designed by famous architect Sir Banister Fletcher, who co-wrote the book, 'A History of Architecture', and also designed the Gillette factory in Brentford, UK.
It came second in the country for 2006 in The Times' rankings for A-Levels, mainly due to the inclusion of its International Baccalaureate results. [4] In 2007, it came third in the country in the Times' rankings for A levels, yet again due to its International Baccalaureate. [5]
A new science block has just been completed, which contains about 9 labs, all fitted with latest technology. This new structure has cost the school a lot of money, although sources say that they cannot disclose the amount for private reasons.
- Alverstone (Green) - Mr J.A. Galloway
- Glenesk (Sky Blue) - Mr S. Marshall-Taylor
- Kingsley (Purple) - Miss M-H. Quaradeghini
- Layton (Red) - Mrs A.C. Stephenson
- Maclear (Silver) - Mr J.R. Carroll
- Major (Gold) - Mr M.J. Chambers
King's College Junior School is the preparatory school for King's College School located in Wimbledon, London. It educates pupils (boys only) from ages 7-13. [6] The school operates on the same grounds as the Senior School.
As of the November 2005 Independent Schools Inspectorate inspection report, enrollment in the junior school totaled 444 boys, divided into six year groups and four classes of about 20 (except in Rushmere (Year 3 and 4) where there are three). The headmaster is Dr G A Silverlock. [7]
The junior school was established in its own right in 1912. While it occupies the same campus as the senior school, they enjoy mostly separate facilities, though conveniently close to share some in common, for example, the dining facility, playing fields, the sports hall, swimming pool, music school and a new art and design technology department. King's College Junior School is also known as KCJS.
All boys are allocated to one of the school's four houses when they join. Every boy is able to take part in house events that take place through out the school year. At the start of the term, boys will be placed into a house and will consequently remain in there until a move to another school, or KCS (Kings College School).
The houses are as follows:
- Norman - Black
- Stuart - Green
- Tudor - Blue
- Windsor - Yellow
- Khalid Abdalla — actor and star of United 93 and The Kite Runner
- Robert Ayling — former Chief Executive of British Airways
- Ben Barnes — actor and star of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
- Tom Basden — comedian
- Ronnie Biggs — criminal and participant in the Great train robbery
- Algernon Borthwick, 1st Baron Glenesk — journalist and politician
- Tom Browne — broadcaster and actor
- William Burges — Victorian art-architect
- Ingram Bywater — classical scholar
- Arthur Cayley — mathematician
- Edward Dutton Cook — dramatic critic and author
- Richard Walther Darré — German Third Reich minister of food and agriculture under Hitler (Darré was an exchange student at the school)
- Brigadier General James Edward Edmonds - official British historian of World War I
- Jimmy Edwards — a 1950s British radio and television comedy actor
- Robert Graves — poet and novelist, who mentions his brief spell at the school in his biography Goodbye to All That
- Henry David Halsey — former Bishop of Carlisle
- Frederic Harrison — jurist and historian
- Robin Holloway — composer
- Keith Ingram — headmaster of the Dragon School in Oxford
- William Joyce — fascist politician and Nazi propagandist, also known as Lord Haw-Haw (Joyce was an exchange student at the school)
- Alvar Lidell — BBC radio announcer
- Roy Plomley — broadcaster and creator of the BBC radio programme Desert Island Discs
- Andrew Powell — musician
- Gaby Rado — television journalist
- Dante Gabriel Rossetti — Pre-Raphaelite painter
- Arthur Scarf — fighter pilot, awarded the Victoria Cross
- Sidney Godolphin Alexander Shippard — British colonial administrator
- George Saintsbury — writer and critic
- Walter Sickert — English Impressionist painter, suspected of being Jack the Ripper
- Edgar Summers — headmaster of Abingdon School (1870–83)
- Tom Vek — musician
- Richard Everard Webster, 1st Viscount Alverstone — former Attorney-General, barrister and politician
- Jeremy Warmsley — musician
- Patrick Wolf — musician
The School lent its name to the thirtysecond steam locomotive (Engine 931) in the Southern Railway's Class V of which there were 40. This Class was also known as the Schools Class because all 40 of the class were named after prominent English public schools. 'King's Wimbledon', as it was called, was built in 1934.The locomotive bearing the School's name was withdrawn in the early 1960s.