King's School, Chester

The King's School, Chester
Location
Chester , Cheshire England
Information
Type	Independent
Motto	Rex dedit, benedicat Deus (The King gave it, may God bless it)
Religious affiliation(s)	Church of England
Established	1541
Founder	King Henry VIII
Chairman of the Governors	D S Hempsall MA PhD FRSA
Headmaster	C Ramsey MA
Gender	Co-educational
Age	7 to 18
Enrollment	900 (approx.)
Houses	4
Colour(s)	Green, blue and white
Former pupils	Old King's Scholars
Affiliation	HMC
Website	http://www.kingschester.co.uk/

The King's School, Chester is a British coeducational independent 7-18 school situated just outside the city of Chester. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.

The school traditionally has an academic bias, and has a strong academic record.

History

King's is one of seven schools established, or in some cases re-endowed and renamed, by King Henry VIII in 1541 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Other King's Schools are at Canterbury, Ely, Gloucester, Peterborough, Rochester and Worcester. The King's school at Chester was formed following the dissolution of St Werburgh's Abbey, which became Chester Cathedral. The statutes provided that there should be "24 poor and friendless boys between the ages of 9 and 15".

The School was housed in the former Monastic Refectory for most of its the next 400 years until 1869. The school was variously called "The Free School" and "The Grammar School". It was not known as The King's School until the mid 19th century when it was referred to as the "Grammar School of King Henry VIII". Dedicated school buildings were opened by Gladstone in 1876 adjoining the North West corner of the Cathedral, where the modern day Barclays Bank now stands. This history is still celebrated with a cathedral service every term and there continue to be strong links with the Cathedral. Little is known about the school during the Civil War, but King's pupils were known as 'Roundhead Scholars'.

From the late 19th to early 20th century, the school ran a Boarding House under the charge of one of the masters. In 1885, this was located at 98 Watergate Flags, but later moved to Eaton Road. By 1911, the governors had acquired new premises at Arnold House, Walpole Street, which became the Junior School and school boarding house. The latter was closed in 1931 due to the lack of pupils wishing to board.

During the Great War, games sessions were replaced by military training. A Cadet Corps was founded in 1916, and shooting practice took place every day of the week. Rough grass land at Arnold House was dug and planted with potatoes, whilst senior boys assisted with the hay harvests and with the national re-afforestation programme.

The inter-war years saw the arrival of typewriters, the installation of electricity in 1922, a telephone exchange and new tuck shop. Major changes became necessary during the Second World War.drill parade Parts of the Cathedral were adapted as air raid shelters, whilst some of the playing fields were ploughed up and used to produce crops. Pupils contributed towards the war effort in many ways; helping out on local farms, collecting scrap metal, and training as First Aid workers.

As pupil numbers rose during the 1940s, The King's School took over part of the former Bluecoat School buildings on Upper Northgate Street. By the early 1950s, a 999 year lease had been secured with the Eaton Estate for the current 32 acre site on Wrexham Road on the outskirts of the city. Designing the buildings started in 1956, and in 1960 the whole school moved to the new site, and the royal connection continued when the school was opened by Her Majesty The Queen Mother. Further building extensions, including a sixth form centre and sports hall, were subsequently opened by HRH Princess Margaret in 1989.

A few years ago the school was hit with some controversy. Notably, in 2004 former teacher Barry Lewis was arrested and convicted on child pornography charges. Not long after this in July 2006 two boys were forced to leave the school after a drugs probe was conducted. Since then the school has had a new headmaster and new staff and such past incidents seem only to have strengthened the spirit of the school.

Academia

The school follows the standard curriculum of GCSE and A-Levels in the senior school, in the fifth and sixth forms.

Most recently, students have achieved over 50% As at A level, and 83% As and A*s at GCSE.

Facilities & Development

• Walsh wing - teaching classrooms for modern languages and science
• Wickson library - the school's library, named after former headmaster Roger Wickson
• Tim Turvey music school - music teaching suite including a recital room and recording studio, names after the former headmaster.
• Sports Hall
• Swimming pool
• Cricket pavilion - rebuilt with help from the mothers' guild after the previous pavillion burned down
• All-weather sports pitch

With the advent of co-education, the school has experienced a significant degree of redevelopment and enlargement. Many new facilities have been built. Amongst the completed developments are the all-weather outdoor sports pitch and the expansion to the Art and Design Technology departments. Four new general purpose classrooms for the Junior School have been built and there are two specialist classrooms for the Junior School. Other new facilities are the tennis/netball courts, teaching classrooms and laboratories for the Senior School, and a new music school (recently officially opened as the Tim Turvey Music School). Adjacent farmland has also been acquired for use as football pitches.

Future developments include improved facilities for a larger Sixth Form; improved facilities for girls at the rowing club; improved catering facilities for vegan and Jewish diets.

Extra-Curricular Activities

The school's pupils engage in a wide range of extra-curricular activities, including music and drama, as well as educational trips abroad, the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme, and a Combined Cadet Force contingent. The school's sporting activities are described in a separate section. Academically, extra-curriculum subjects such as lunchtime ancient greek and ECDL are popular among students.

The school has a state-of-the-art Music School, equipped with a recording studio, a large recital room, and a music technology room. It has a successful Schola Cantorum which recently toured Paris and sang at Notre Dame.

Annual productions of musical theatre at King's have occurred for much of the past half-century in the latter half of the Lent (Spring) term. For many years, under the headmastership of Roger Wickson, these were often productions of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, in which he played a starring role. Notable shows in the past 5 years include West Side Story, Assassins, Into The Woods and, most recently, Timberlake Wertenbaker's Our Country's Good. Recent Sixth Form drama productions have included Jonson's 'The Alchemist' and Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.

Trips abroad are arranged by several departments fairly regularly. In addition to annual foreign language exchange visits, these include the art, history, physics and physical education departments. An international expedition is also undertaken from time to time, with recent destinations including India, Morocco and Tanzania. The importance of such trips has recently led to the appointment of an "Educational Visits Co-ordinator", currently R Hornby.

The school encourages the Duke of Edinburgh's award scheme, and students regularly gain their Bronze, Silver and Gold awards during their time at the school, or shortly afterwards.

The King's School's Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is a voluntary contingent within the CCF of the Ministry of Defence, originally formed during the First World War. It consists of the mandatory Army Section, with an additional RAF Section. Its nominal roll currently includes approximately 133 cadets. Notable achievement of the contingent include the Award of International Air Cadet Exchange in 2005. Numerous Gliding scholarships, Leadership and Personal achievements have been gained including two Geoffrey deHavilland Flying Foundation Medals in recent years. For example, in 2005, individual cadets were awarded a RN Special Flying Award (Powered) and an RAF Flying Scholarship. The contingent participate annually in the Welbeck Pentathlon Competition, and has had outstanding achievements in 2005 (Jnr Team 1st Place, Snr Team 2nd Place), 2003 (Snr Team 1st Place, Jnr Team 2nd Place) and 2002 (Jnr Team 1st Place). The contingent has also won The King's and Cheshire Cups several times.

Sport

King's pupils participate in a large number of different sports, including the more usual soccer, cricket and tennis, but also extending to swimming, horse-jumping and skiing. Rowing is worthy of particular note, as the boat club has a reputation for being one of the best in the country. Since the school has become fully coeducational, the range of sports undertaken has extended. The school has enjoyed several sporting successes in recent years, notably winning the ISFA cup in March 2006.

King's has had mixed success in football over the years, though the recently built an AstroTurf pitch is undoubtedly an asset. In the ISFA Cup the school beat hot favourites Millfield School (2-1) in the 2005-2006 ISFA Cup national soccer tournament final. However, the school's football team were unable to retain their crown and were knocked out of the 2006-2007 competition by Highgate School. The team, however, added the Chester and District Cup to their trophy cabinet in the 2007-2008 season with a 2-0 victory over Chester Catholic High School.

The King's School's rowing club is amongst the most successful school boat clubs in the country, and King's has a reputation as a strong rowing school. The school's boat house is situated on the River Dee in the centre of Chester, and stores over 100 boats ranging from beginner to Olympic standard. Recent successes being a bronze in Championship Eights at the National Schools' Regatta 2006 and losing finalists in the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta 2006. King's has a good record of producing outstanding individual oarsmen including several Oxbridge and more than one Olympic rower. Rowland Hall, James Ball, Chris Bartley, Peter Rudge, Jim Walker and Olivia Whitlam are all ex-King's rowers, though the school's most notable former pupil to continue rowing is 2008 Olympic gold medallist Tom James, who also won the 2007 Boat Race whist President of the Cambridge University Boat Club.

The school usually fields strong boys and girls hockey sides. The 2006/2007 season saw the appointment of former England captain Russell Hornby, and since the King's hockey teams have come on even further. In 2006 the first team was ranked amongst the first few in the country. The J14 team have made it through to the latter stages of a national competition after winning the North West vs North East match Now it faces regional winners from around the country. The School has also recently employed Pakistani Captain Ali Ghanzafar as coach for the 1st XI, thanks largely to Russell Hornby, an ex team mate of Ghanzafar's from Bowdon Hockey Club.

The Headmaster

The school's current headmaster (since 2007)is Chris Ramsey, a graduate of Modern and Medieval Languages from Cambridge University. Ramsey previously served as Head of Modern Languages at Shrewsbury School and Headmaster of King's College, Taunton.

History and Controversy

• In 2004 former teacher Barry Lewis was arrested and convicted on child pornography charges.

• In July 2006 two boys were forced to leave the school after a drugs probe was conducted.

Previous Headmasters

• 2000-2007 Tim Turvey, biologist
• 1981-2000 Roger Wickson, classicist and historian
• 1964-1981 Arthur Munday
• 1947-1964 Leslie Francis Harvey

Notable staff and students, past and present

The school boasts a number of staff who are themselves notable:

• Barry Horne, current chemistry teacher and director of football, is a former Everton F.C. midfielder.
• Paul Shannon, current head of modern languages, is the writer/compiler of many books, articles and video scripts on railways.
• Roger Wickson, former headmaster (1981-2000) after a career dotted around several southern public schools, is the author of The Community of the Realm in Thirteenth Century England (Longmans, 1970).

Alumni of the school, known as Old King's Scholars, include:

• Martin Lewis, Financial Journalist and Creator of MoneySavingExpert.com
• Randolph Caldecott, Illustrator
• Major General James Dutton, former Commandant-General, Royal Marines
• Rob Eastaway, mathematician and ex-puzzle writer for New Scientist
• Trevor Kletz, author on industrial safety
• Steve Leonard, television vet and BBC presenter
• Bert Lipsham, England International footballer and FA Cup winner with Sheffield United in 1902.
• Hugh Lloyd, comedy actor
• Patrick Mercer, Member of Parliament
• Mike Parry, talkSPORT presenter
• Ronald Pickup, actor
• Nickolas Grace, actor
• Rob Leslie-Carter, Engineer
• Tom James, Olympic gold medal oarsman

The Chester Association of Old King's Scholars (CAOKS) exists to maintain links between former students, though it is independent of the school.. It is one of the longest established and successful alumni associations in the country.

External links

• The Good School Guide - Kings school chester
• Bowdon HC 1st XI Player Profiles
• BBC Interview with Tom James, former pupil and rower