The King's (The Cathedral) School
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| Motto | Schola Regia Petreburgiensis |
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| Established | 1541 |
| Type | Voluntary aided academy (partially selective) |
| Religion | Church of England |
| Headmaster | Mr Gary L Longman |
| Founder | Henry VIII |
| Location | Park Road Peterborough Cambridgeshire PE1 2UE England Coordinates: 52°34′54″N 0°14′19″W / 52.58167°N 0.23872°W |
| Local authority | Peterborough |
| DfE URN | 110898 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Students | 1000+ |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Ages | 8–18 |
| Publication | The Petriburgian Magazine |
| Website | www.kings.peterborough.sch.uk |
The King's (The Cathedral) School is a Voluntary Aided Church of England secondary school in Peterborough, England. The school is one of seven established, re-endowed or renamed, by King Henry VIII in 1541 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries for the education of "twenty poor boys". The King's School was recognised in June 1999 with the award of Beacon status. The school also has specialist Science status. On the 1st January 2011, the School became an academy and changed its name from 'The King's School, Peterborough'.
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History [edit]
Foundation [edit]
The King's School is a state-funded secondary school, with a large sixth form. It was founded as the Cathedral School to educate 'twenty poor boys' and this close link with the Cathedral is still valued and maintained today. In 1976, the school changed its status from being a boys grammar school to become comprehensive and coeducational. However it retained facilities for male students to attend as boarders for a further 21 years. It is unusual amongst cathedral schools and state schools in the UK because it is one of only two cathedral schools to be funded within the state system.[citation needed]
The school was a Church of England grammar school for around 450 boys, also known as Peterborough Cathedral Grammar School.
Comprehensive [edit]
Since 1976 the school has been a mixed comprehensive with around 650 boys and girls and a 6 form entry?. While nominally a comprehensive, each year some twelve places are allocated according to an entry examination and three are allocated according to ability in music; so 12.5% of the school's annual intake is by selection alongside the Cathedral choristers, both boys and girls. The remaining places are allocated to students according to a list of entry criteria, including religion and siblings already attending the school.[1]
Sixth form [edit]
Over 1000 pupils attend The King's School, of whom approximately 400 are in the Sixth form, for which there is a minimum examination qualification for entry of seven A*-C grades at GCSE level, of which three must be at grade B or above.[2] Given the school's high GCSE pass rate,[3] the majority of pupils proceed into the sixth form. External applicants to the sixth form must meet a set of criteria.[1] The school currently offers no vocational qualifications. The subjects available for study, at AS and A2 level, are:
- Art
- Business Studies
- Classical Civilisations
- Critical Thinking
- Design and Technology (3d Design & Textiles Design)
- Economics
- English Language and Literature (single award)
- English Literature
- Geography
- History
- Languages (French and German)
- Mathematics (and Further Maths)
- Music
- Psychology
- Science (Biology, Chemistry and Physics; plus Astronomy GCSE for Sixth Form students)
- Sports Studies
A compulsory single lesson each week named 'Learning for Life' is designed to prepare the student for the A Level examinations and for the UCAS application system to universities.
The school has a hierarchical prefect system, comprising (in order of seniority): the Head Boy and Girl, House Captains, Senior Prefects, and Prefects.
Houses [edit]
The school has four houses: St. Chad's House (house colour: red), St. Oswald's House (house colour yellow), St. Peter's House (house colour blue) and School House (house colour green) . Two others, Tudor House and Thomson's House, were abolished in 1976. Pupil allocation to houses is random, but siblings generally follow through the same House; and when there was a boarding house, all boarders were members of School House. Each house has two House Captains and four House Vice Captains, as well as a House Master and/or House Mistress. Permanent teachers are also allocated to houses as "House Staff", although PE teachers, Music Teachers, Deputy Headmaster and the Headmaster are not allotted houses for fear of bias in inter-house sporting and music competitions.
King's was unusual in once being a grammar school that took boarders, all in School House. Many boarders had parents in the Forces and or the Colonial Services; the very low fees being more affordable than at public schools. The accommodation at 201/203 Park Road (which is now the Music School) was affectionately known as "The Pig", as the building was alleged to have once been a pub called the "Pig & Whistle". The building is now known by those at the school as Madeley House.
In the early sixties (under the headship of Dr C.M.Harrison),due to the construction of the new assembly hall/gym the entire school would traipse up Park Road for morning service at All Saint's C-of-E church. School Inspectors declared this practice illegal as it contravened the requirement of the Education Act 1948 to hold a daily assembly on-site. In the 1960s, teaching included Saturday morning classes; and boarders were obliged to attend Sunday Matins and/or Evensong at the Cathedral.
House Music [edit]
"House Music" is an annual competitive event in which each houses presents four pieces of modern or traditional music, as follows::[4]
- A Lower School Choir piece (Years 7–9)
- An Orchestral piece (for which there is a separate trophy)
- A Senior Choir piece (Years 10–13 and for which there is a separate trophy)
- Solo performances
- Finale (in which the entire house takes part)
The winning house receives a trophy. Also, a 'Senior Choir Cup' is awarded to the best senior choir of the night; and there is a best orchestra prize. House Music was originally held in the school hall but growing numbers caused the event to held at The Broadway Theatre.[5] Owing to growing numbers, in 2007 it moved again to the Peterborough Community Church's Kingsgate building.
Histories of the School [edit]
An early history of The King's School was published in 1905 by A.F. Leach, a noted historian This history ends in 1904 when E.S.T Badger was Headmaster.
In 1966, W.D. Larrett, a former deputy-headmaster, published 'A History of The King's School Peterborough'. The account tells of the pre-reformation school, the foundation of King's by Henry VIII, and of the times when the school was close to bankruptcy and when some Headmasters felt obliged to resign. In 2005, the 1966 edition was restored and updated.
Academic performance [edit]
From 2006 to the present, The King's School has been the top-performing state school in the Peterborough local authority area for GCSE and A-Level results, with 91%+ of students achieving 5 or more passes at GCSE grades A*-C.[3]
Notable alumni [edit]
Alumni are known as Old Petriburgians.
- Andy Bell, member of the pop group Erasure
- Jamie Day, Crawley Town FC football player
- David Lammy, MP for Tottenham since 2000
- General Sir John Archer OBE, Commander-in-Chief, Land Forces from 1978–80
- Sir Thomas Armstrong, Principal of the Royal Academy of Music from 1955–68, and organist of Christ Church, Oxford from 1933-1955
- Paul Barber, Olympic hockey gold medallist (1988)
- Sir John Benstead, CBE, well-known trades unionist
- J. D. Beresford, science fiction writer and father of Elisabeth Beresford, who invented The Wombles
- Roy Berridge CBE, Chairman from 1977-82 of the South of Scotland Electricity Board
- Peter Boizot MBE, entrepreneur and founder of Pizza Express in 1965
- Prof Frank Close OBE, Professor of Theoretical Physics since 2001 at the University of Oxford and Fellow of Exeter College
- Sir Robert Cotton, English politician and founder of the famous Cotton library
- Guy Crowden OBE, Professor of Applied Physiology from 1946-62 at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
- James Crowden, Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire from 1992–2002
- John Fletcher, son of a former Dean of Peterborough, the famous Jacobean dramatist and one-time collaborator with Shakespeare
- Sam Biccarino, famous pants-wetter
- Brian J. Ford, scientist and writer
- Neil Hubbard, guitarist with Roxy Music
- Gray Jolliffe, Wicked Willie cartoonist
- Robert Johnson, Archdeacon of Leicester, Founder of Oakham and Uppingham Schools
- Prof Barry Kay, Professor of Clinical Immunology from 1980-2004 at Imperial College London
- Roger Manvell, film historian
- Claude Morley, entomologist
- Edward Rainbow, Dean of Peterborough and later Bishop of Carlisle
- Richard Reynold, Dean of Peterborough and later Bishop of Lincoln
- Archie Robertson (athlete)
- Mike Sendall, scientist at CERN, and boss of Tim Berners-Lee, when he invented the World Wide Web[6]
- Prof George Shepperson CBE, William Robertson Professor of Commonwealth and American History from 1963-86 at the University of Edinburgh
- Sir St Clair Thomson, throat specialist to King Edward VII, (after whom Thomson's House was named)
- Lieutenant-General Sir Herbert Watts, eminent soldier
- Aidan White (journalist), General Secretary since 1987 of the International Federation of Journalists
- Kevin Morgan, member of the Band of the Scots Guards, and founder and conductor of The Melbourne Sinfonia (Australia)
Miscellaneous [edit]
There has been a historic rivalry between King's students and the nearby Thomas Deacon Academy (formerly Deacon's School), the other old-established Peterborough school.
A plaque commemorating the King's School students who died in action during World War I was placed in Flanders during an annual GCSE class trip to the Flanders battlefields in 2005.
The school retains an archive of documents charting the school's history and the lives of former King's School pupils who served in the World Wars. Also, there is a rare first-edition copy of Alice in Wonderland held in the school archives.
In 2003, Timothy Coldwell, a one-time Head of Physics, was convicted of making indecent images of children.[7]
In 2005, Gavin Lister, a P.E. teacher, was convicted of engaging in sexual activity with a girl between the ages of 13 and 15.[8]
References [edit]
- ^ a b "Entry Requirements". The King's School.
- ^ Sixth Form Prospectus, The King's School.
- ^ a b "League Tables: Secondary schools in Peterborough". BBC NEWS. 2007-01-11.
- ^ "PERFORMANCE: Pupils are Kings of the stage". The Evening Telegraph (Peterborough Today). 2004-10-15.
- ^ Peterborough Today
- ^ Mike Sendall and the World Wide Web
- ^ David Sapsted (2003-01-07). "'Vendetta' saves porn teacher from jail". The Telegraph.
- ^ "COURT: 'I never thought it was a schoolgirl'". The Evening Telegraph (Peterborough Today). 2005-02-26.
External links [edit]
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