King's College School
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King's College School, Wimbledon |
King's College School Wimbledon, or KCS, is a
public school in
Wimbledon, a town in South West
London. It was originally founded as a feeder school to
King's College London, but there is no longer any connection between the institutions.
A Royal Charter founded the School in
1829 as the junior department of the newly established King's College of the University of 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 when only one other public school in the country 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.
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The Cavan Taylor Wing, Opened In September 2003 |
Currently under the headmastership of Mr ACV Evans, King's is a selective
day school providing education for pupils of high academic ability. 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". [
1]
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 [
2], who co-wrote the book, 'A History of Architecture', and also designed the Gillette factory in Brentford, UK.
Show me the man who has enjoyed his schooldays and I will show you a bully and a bore. -Robert Morley, Robert Morley: Responsible Gentleman (1966)
All boys are allocated to one of the school's six houses when they join. The houses and their housemasters are as follows:
* Alverstone - Mr JA Galloway BA
* Glenesk - Mr S Marshall-Taylor BA
* Kingsley - Miss MH Quaradeghini BA (Oxon)
* Layton - Mrs A Stephenson
* Maclear - Mr JR Carroll MA
* Major - Mr MJ Chambers MA
*
Lewis Alsamari - actor and star of recent film
United 93* Khalid Abdalla - actor and star of recent film
United 93*
Robert Ayling - airline manager
*
Algernon Borthwick, 1st Baron Glenesk - journalist and politician
*
Tom Browne - broadcaster and actor
*
Ingram Bywater - classical scholar
*
Arthur Cayley - mathematician
*
Martin Clunes - actor, including
Men Behaving Badly.
*
Edward Dutton Cook - dramatic critic and author
* Brigadier General
James Edward Edmonds - official British historian of
World War One*
Jimmy Edwards - a 1950's 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*
Frederic Harrison - jurist and historian
*
Robin Holloway - composer
*
Alvar Lidell - BBC radio announcer
*
Roy Plomley - broadcaster and creator of the
BBC radio programme
Desert Island Discs*
Gaby Rado - television journalist
*
Dante Gabriel Rossetti - pre-raphaelite painter
*
Arthur Scarf - fighter pilot
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
Abingdon School (1870-83)
*
Richard Everard Webster, 1st Viscount Alverstone - former
Attorney-General, barrister and politician
*
R. Walther Darré -
Nazi German minister of food and agriculture.
* Thomas Banner - Famous ex-King's boy, said to have 6000 Bebo views.
*
King's College Junior School*
The Rowans (affiliated Preparatory School)
*
King's College School Boat Club*
Richard Everard Webster, 1st Viscount Alverstone*
Algernon Borthwick, 1st Baron Glenesk*
King's College School Website*
King's College School Boat Club Website*
King's College School Science Society Website*
King's Old Boys Rugby Football Club Website*
King's Old Boys Football Club Website*
KCS Uncovered: Unofficial Website of the Class of 2003
