The King's School, Worcester is a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

day school A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children are given instruction during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compared to a regular s ...

refounded by

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

in 1541. It occupies a site adjacent to

Worcester Cathedral Worcester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Christ and Blessed Mary the Virgin, is a Church of England cathedral in Worcester, England, Worcester, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Worcester and is the Mother Church# ...

on the banks of the

River Severn The River Severn (, ), at long, is the longest river in Great Britain. It is also the river with the most voluminous flow of water by far in all of England and Wales, with an average flow rate of at Apperley, Gloucestershire. It rises in t ...

in the centre of the city of Worcester. It offers mixed-sex mainstream education that follows the UK National Curriculum to around 1,465 pupils aged 2 to 18. At age 11, approximately two thirds of pupils join the senior school from its two prep schools, King's Hawford and King's St Albans, while others come from maintained schools in the city of Worcester and the surrounding areas that include Malvern,

Redditch Redditch is a town and non-metropolitan district with borough status in Worcestershire, England. It is located south of Birmingham, east of Bromsgrove, north-west of Alcester and north-east of Worcester. In 2021, the town had a population of ...

Kidderminster Kidderminster is a market town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester, England, Worcester. Located north of the River Stour, Worcestershire, River Stour and east of the River Severn, in th ...

Evesham Evesham () is a market town and Civil parishes in England, parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of England. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, England, Worceste ...

and

Pershore Pershore () is a market town and civil parish in the Wychavon district in Worcestershire, England, on the banks of the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. At the 2011 UK census, census, the population was 7,125. The town is best known for Per ...

.ISI report October 2005
Retrieved 28 July 2009.

Campuses

The King's, Worcester group consists of three different schools. These include: *King's Hawford: (ages 2–11, pupils), formerly an autonomous fee-paying prep school named Hawford Lodge, purchased by King's in 1992, situated north of central Worcester. No recommendations were made in the 2008 inspection. *King's St Alban's: (ages 2–11, pupils), formerly the Cathedral Choir School, amalgamated with King's in 1943, situated adjacent to the senior school. St Alban's includes a pre-prep department for ages 4–7, opened September 2009. *King's Worcester: (ages 11–18, pupils), the senior school. The senior school is situated on Worcester's College Green, next to

and on the east bank of the

. Many of the school's buildings on the Green are leased from the cathedral, including College Hall (formerly the monastic refectory, for many years the school's only teaching hall, and currently an assembly hall) and Edgar Tower, the medieval gatehouse to College Green, which for many years housed the school library. The school and the cathedral maintain a close relationship, with the school providing cathedral choristers and using the cathedral for major services. The most senior members of school staff, the cathedral choristers, and the school's King's and Queen's Scholars are ''ex officio'' members of the cathedral foundation, while the school is required by statute to have the cathedral Dean and Chapter represented on its governing body. The school owns extensive land next to New Road cricket ground across the river, used as sports pitches and fields. The school also owns an outward bound centre, the ''Old Chapel'' near Crickhowell in

Mid Wales Mid Wales ( or simply ''Y Canolbarth'', meaning "the midlands"), or Central Wales, is a region of Wales, encompassing its midlands, in-between North Wales and South Wales. The Mid Wales Regional Committee of the Senedd covered the unitary autho ...

History

Following the dissolution of the monastery in 1540, the new cathedral foundation included provision for a choir school for ten cathedral choristers and tuition for forty ''King's Scholars''. The school was one of seven " King's Schools" established or re-endowed by Henry VIII following the dissolution. On 7 December 1541, Henry VIII appointed the school's first headmaster, John Pether, by means of a letter to

Richard Rich Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich (July 1496 – 12 June 1567), was Lord Chancellor during King Edward VI of England's reign, from 1547 until January 1552. He was the founder of Felsted School with its associated almshouses in Essex in 1564. He was ...

. One early headmaster, Henry Bright is mentioned in Thomas Fuller’s Worthies of England, and is commemorated in Worcester Cathedral. The school was managed by the cathedral Dean and Chapter until 1884, when Headmaster W.E. Bolland's ''New Scheme'' introduced governance by a separate Governing Body, on which the Chapter nonetheless retained a majority. From its inception until the construction of School House in 1888, all teaching was conducted in College Hall, the former monastic refectory. From 1945 to 1976, the school participated in the direct grant scheme, accepting pupils funded by central government on a competitive basis. The school first admitted girls in small numbers to the sixth form in 1971, prior to the establishment of College House in 1977, which housed 21 girls. In 1989 the decision was made to make the school fully co-educational, with girls entering the Lower Fourth (Year 7) in 1991. Having accommodated boarders since its inception, the final boarders left in July 1999.

Activities

The school has an artist-in-residence and actor-in-residence, provides one-to-one

LAMDA The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) is a drama school located in Hammersmith, London. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest specialist drama school in the British Isles and a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools. In ...

tuition and has several performance venues, including the Keyes Building, College Hall and the John Moore Theatre. Art exhibitions, plays, musicals, dance showcases and other performances are staged across the age range. Partly due to its links with the cathedral the school has a musical tradition. The school has achieved success at rowing with the King's School Worcester Boat Club, and maintains a boathouse on the River Severn. The school also has an indoor swimming pool on the junior school campus and an outdoor pool at Hawford. Several sports undertake regular tours abroad. The school has an active

Combined Cadet Force The Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is a youth organisation in the United Kingdom, sponsored by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), which operates in schools, sub divided into Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Army and Royal Air Force sections. Its aim is to ...

with army and RAF sections.CCF
. Ksw.org.uk. Retrieved on 2010-12-24. The school produces three pupil-authored publications: ''Stepping Fourth'' (for the Fourth Forms, years 7–8), ''The Removes' Gazette'' (for the Removes, years 9–10) and ''Term Time'' a Sixth Form magazine, first published in summer 2010, as a replacement for the defunct ''King's Herald'' newspaper. The ''King's Herald'' was an annual newspaper written, compiled and formatted in a single day and submitted to a national competition which it won three times.Clubs and Societies
Ksw.org.uk. Retrieved on 2010-12-24.

Year classification system

The school uses its own class nomenclature. In the main section of the school (ages 11–18), the classification runs as follows:

Houses

Upon reaching the 'Lower Remove', pupils are assigned to one of the following houses (listed with their respective colours): Castle, Choir, Hostel and School Houses, all former boarding houses, are named for the buildings which originally housed them. As boarding diminished during the 1990s, these houses either converted to day houses (School and Choir), or were discontinued (Castle and Hostel). The remaining houses, which originated as day-boys' houses, are named for former school headmasters ( Saint Oswald and Saint Wulstan, both Bishops of Worcester, being regarded as "headmasters" of the former monastic school).

Old Vigornians

All former pupils are considered to be Old Vigornians, and can use the

post-nominal letters Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters, or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, an academic degree, accreditation ...

''OV''. Predecessor institutions are not considered: only those who attended King's from its refoundation in 1541 onwards are listed below.

References

;Secondary sources * * *

External links

The King's School, Worcester official website

Guide to Independent Schools: The King's School, Worcester

The Old Vigornians website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kings School, Worcester 1541 establishments in England Choir schools in England Educational institutions established in the 1540s Private schools in Worcestershire Schools in Worcester, England Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference Schools with a royal charter