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King's College School

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King's College School Wimbledon, or KCS, is an independent boys' school in Wimbledon, south-west London. 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.

History

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.

Today

Currently under the headmastership of Mr. A C V 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, 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. [2]

Houses

  • Alverstone - Green
  • Glenesk - Light Blue
  • Kingsley - Purple
  • Layton - Red
  • Maclear - Grey
  • Major - Yellow

Noted alumni

See also

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