King's School, Rochester

The King's School, Rochester is a public school in Rochester, Kent. It is a cathedral school, being part of the Cathedral Foundation of Rochester Cathedral, meaning the Dean of Rochester serves as the chair of the school's governing body. It was founded in 604 AD, at the same time as the Cathedral, and refounded by Henry VIII during the Protestant Reformation when the monastery at Rochester was dissolved. The current headmaster is Dr. Ian Walker. It is the oldest choir school and the second oldest independent school in England and second oldest school in the United Kingdom, second only to The King's School, Canterbury. The school is housed in a variety of buildings around the Cathedral precincts.

Restoration House, a mansion building near the school, provided Charles Dickens with the inspiration for Miss Haversham's Satis House. The school's administrative offices are housed in the real Satis House, another large house, which gained its name from a comment by Queen Elizabeth I who stayed there as a guest of its owner, Richard Watts. As she left, Watts asked his queen if she had been comfortable during her stay. Offhandedly, she replied: "Satis".

The School is one of many that runs a CCF Army, Navy and RAF contingents.

Within the school there are five houses: - Crick, Parker, Storrs, Whiston and School House. In the Preparatory school, there were previously five houses but now there are only four: - St. Williams, St. Nicholas, St. Andrews and St. Peters house, the fifth one was St. Margarets. These houses compete anually in sports, including Rugby, Hockey, Swimming and Athletics. The winner at the end of the year gets a cup.

This year, 2007, Whiston won the ruby house matches, and they also won the hockey house matches. The athletics event is soon to take place.

Former headmasters

• Christopher Nickless (Preparatory School)

Old Roffensians

• John Selwyn Gummer, formerly Conservative cabinet minister
• Pete Tong, BBC Radio 1 DJ
• Matthew Walker, professional cricketer [1]
• Brigadier-General Harold Stephen Langhorne
• Major-General Algernon Philip Yorke Langhorne
• Brigadier James Archibald Dunboyne Langhorne
• G. R. S. Mead

External links

• The King's School, Rochester