The King's School, Chester, is a British

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 t ...

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

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

for children aged 4 to 18. It is one of the seven 'King's Schools' established (or re-endowed and renamed) by King Henry VIII in 1541 after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It is situated outside the city of Chester, England. The school is a member of the

Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) is an association of the head teachers of 361 independent schools (both boarding schools and day schools), some traditionally described as public schools. 298 Members are based in the Unite ...

. The school comprises an Infant school (years 4–7), a Junior school (years 7–11), a Senior school (years 11–16) and a Sixth form (years 16–18) in which the students choose their A-level subjects.

History

An ancient foundation, attached to a monastery that King Henry VIII had dissolved, it still served a purpose teaching grammar to potential ordinands. It was reconstituted in 1541 as a joint church state enterprise and operated for 400 years in the former monks' refectory. It was one of seven schools in this category, the others being Canterbury, Rochester, Peterborough, Worcester, Gloucester, and Ely. In 1869 new school buildings were constructed and they were formally opened by Gladstone. The school motto is "''Rex dedit, benedicat Deus''” (The King gave it, may God bless it'')'', which was given by John Saul Howson, Dean of Chester.

John Saul Howson John Saul Howson (5 May 1816 – 1885), British divine, was born at Giggleswick-on-Craven, Yorkshire. Early and private life Howson's father was head-master of Giggleswick School. His nephew George William Saul Howson (1860–1919) was ...

was the chief instrument in the building and endowing of the King's School, and in its reorganization on a broader basis.

Description

Since 1960, The King's School has been based at its Wrexham Road site on the outskirts of Chester. It has a Sixth Form Centre, a library (the Wickson Library) and a music school (the Tim Turvey Music School). Sports facilities include a swimming pool, all-weather sports pitches, grass sports pitches, a cricket pavilion, and a boat house on the River Dee.

Academia

In September 2011, King's adopted a new curriculum alongside its shift from an eight-period to a five-period day. This involved substantial changes, introducing 'enrichment' lessons and replacing the GCSE courses with

IGCSE The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is an English language based examination similar to GCSE and is recognised in the United Kingdom as being equivalent to the GCSE for the purposes of recognising prior attain ...

Extra-curricular activities

The school's pupils engage the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme. The King's School's Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is a voluntary contingent within the CCF. It consists of the mandatory Army Section, with an additional

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

Section. The King's School has also been successful in the F1 in Schools competition, sending a team to the global finals in 2016.

Publications

The Herald is the school's magazine and is published on a termly basis for parents and pupils. Its articles are about current pupils, teachers and former pupils.

Sports

Hockey

In 2011, King's appointed hockey coach Simon Egerton, who is a member of the England hockey team.

Rowing

The King's School Rowing Club has been in existence since 1883 with the school's boat house situated on the River Dee in the centre of Chester and is affiliated to

British Rowing British Rowing, formerly the Amateur Rowing Association (ARA), is the national governing body for the sport of rowing (both indoor and on-water rowing). It is responsible for the training and selection of individual rowers and crews representi ...

. Rowing is offered as part of the sports curriculum from the third year onwards. The King's rowers often compete in the top levels of school's competitions, and count numerous ex-Boat-Race crew members alongside National and Olympic squad members amongst it Old King's Scholars Alumni including seven Olympians, three in the London 2012 games. Gold and silver medallists – two gold and one silver Olympic medallists. Olympic Finalists – three in 2012. 14 x Oxford and Cambridge Blues. 47 x GB Senior World Championship representatives – since 1960 and 36 x GB Junior International representatives – since 1970. Kings Chester Boat House

Headmaster

The school's headmaster (since 2017) is George Hartley. He has an undergraduate degree in geography and an postgraduate degree in Environmental Sciences. He has previously been the headmaster/principal of two other British schools.

Previous headmasters

*2007–2017 - Chris Ramsey, linguist *2000–2007 - Tim Turvey, biologist *1981–2000 - Roger Wickson, historian A full list of previous headmasters are engraved on a board displayed in the school.

Notable alumni

Post-1900

Godfrey Ashby Godfrey William Ernest Candler Ashby (born 6 November 1930) is a British Anglican bishop, theologian, and academic. From 1980 to 1985, he was the eighth Bishop of St John's in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. From 1988 to 1995, he w ...

, former bishop of St John's, South Africa * Michael Axworthy * Hagan Bayley, scientist and head of chemical biology at the

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, British and world indoor rowing champion * Michael Burdekin, civil engineer and emeritus professor of the

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, mathematician, physicist and former professor of natural philosophy at the

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* Matthew Collins (academic), archaeologist * Rob Leslie-Carter, engineer * Sir James Dutton, former commandant-general, Royal Marines *

Rob Eastaway Rob Eastaway is an English author. He is active in the popularisation of mathematics and was awarded the Zeeman medal in 2017 for excellence in the promotion of maths. He is best known for his books, including the bestselling ''Why Do Buses Come ...

, mathematician and ex-puzzle writer for

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* Simon Edge, novelist * James Fair, England and Great Britain hockey goalkeeper *

Nickolas Grace Nickolas Andrew Halliwell Grace (born 21 November 1947) is an English actor known for his roles on television, including Anthony Blanche in the acclaimed ITV adaptation of ''Brideshead Revisited'', and the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1980s seri ...

, actor *

George Guest George Guest CBE FRCO (9 February 1924 – 20 November 2002) was a Welsh organist and choral conductor. Birth and early life George Guest was born in Bangor, Gwynedd. His father was an organist and Guest assisted him by acting as organ b ...

, organist and choirmaster at St John's College, Cambridge *

Matthew Hancock Matthew John David Hancock (born 2 October 1978) is a British politician who served as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General from 2015 to 2016, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from January to July 201 ...

, former secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport (2018),

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(2018-21) and

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for West Suffolk *

Phillip Hallam-Baker Phillip Hallam-Baker is a computer scientist, mostly known for contributions to Internet security, since the design of HTTP at CERN in 1992. Self-employed since 2018 as a consultant and expert witness in court cases, he previously worked at Comod ...

, computer scientist, mostly known for his contributions to Internet security * Tom James, Olympic gold medal oarsman *

Glyn Smallwood Jones Sir Glyn Smallwood Jones (9 January 1908 – 10 June 1992), was a British colonial administrator in Southern Africa. He was the last governor of Nyasaland (now Malawi) from 1961 until it achieved independence in 1964. He served as the only go ...

, colonial administrator and last governor of

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* Trevor Kletz, safety engineer and author on industrial safety * Steve Leonard, television vet and BBC presenter * Martin Lewis, financial journalist and founder of the

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consumer finance website *

Hugh Lloyd Hugh Lewis Lloyd (22 April 1923 – 14 July 2008) was an English actor who made his name in film and television comedy from the 1960s to the 1980s. He was best known for appearances in ''Hancock's Half Hour'', ''Hugh and I'' and other sit ...

, comedy actor *

Patrick Mercer Patrick John Mercer (born 26 June 1956) is a British author and former politician. He was elected as a Conservative in the 2001 general election, until resigning the party's parliamentary whip in May 2013 following questions surrounding paid ad ...

, member of Parliament for Newark *

Seb Morris Sebastian "Seb" Morris (born 30 November 1995) is a professional racing driver from Marford, who lives in Chester, Cheshire. He won the 2017 British GT Championship. He also won the 2017 Sunoco Challenge which gave him the prize drive in the Num ...

, racing driver *

Mike Parry Michael Alan Newton-Parry (born 29 December 1954) is an English journalist and radio presenter. Early life Born in Chester, Parry attended The King's School and completed his education at Trent Polytechnic (now known as Nottingham Trent Unive ...

, journalist and radio presenter *

Ronald Pickup Ronald Alfred Pickup (7 June 1940 – 24 February 2021) was an English actor. He was active in television, film, and theatre, beginning with a 1964 appearance in ''Doctor Who''. Theatre critic Michael Billington described him as "a terrific sta ...

, actor *

Jonathan Samuels Jonathan Samuels (born 1972) is a British broadcaster and journalist. He co-anchored Sky News Sunrise between 2016 and 2018 and now anchors The News Hour on Friday, Saturday and Sunday as well as News at Ten during weekend periods. He can also ...

, Australia correspondent with Sky News *

George Drewry Squibb George Drewry Squibb, LVO, QC, JP, FSA, FRHistS, FSG (1 December 1906 – 3 January 1994) was an English lawyer, herald and antiquary who is most noted for his participation in the celebrated 1954 case of ''Manchester Corporation v Mancheste ...

, lawyer * David Whitley, author of The Midnight Charter *

Olivia Whitlam Olivia Rose Whitlam (born 16 September 1985) is a female rower from Daresbury, near Warrington, England. She became the Under-23 World Champion in 2007 in the pairs with partner Heather Stanning. She competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics with new ...

, Olympic rower * Arnold Frederic Wilkins,

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...

pioneer

Pre-1900

* Randle Ayrton, film and stage actor, producer and director *

John Bradbury, 1st Baron Bradbury John Swanwick Bradbury, 1st Baron Bradbury (23 September 1872 – 3 May 1950) was a British economist and public servant. Bradbury was born in Crook Lane, Winsford, Cheshire, the son of John Bradbury and Sarah Cross. He was educated at Manche ...

, civil servant and chief economic advisor to the government during

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Thomas Brassey Thomas Brassey (7 November 18058 December 1870) was an English civil engineering contractor and manufacturer of building materials who was responsible for building much of the world's railways in the 19th century. By 1847, he had built about o ...

, civil engineer * Edward Brerewood, mathematician, logician and antiquary * Charles Burney, music historian, musician, composer and philosopher *

John Byrom John Byrom or John Byrom of Kersal or John Byrom of Manchester FRS (29 February 1692 – 26 September 1763) was an English poet, the inventor of a revolutionary system of shorthand and later a significant landowner. He is most remembered as t ...

, poet and developer of geometric

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Randolph Caldecott Randolph Caldecott (; 22 March 1846 – 12 February 1886) was a British artist and illustrator, born in Chester. The Caldecott Medal was named in his honour. He exercised his art chiefly in book illustrations. His abilities as an artist were pro ...

, illustrator * William Chaderton, academic, clergyman and former Regius Professor of Divinity at the

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, literary critic and former professor of English literature at the

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, clergyman and former archdeacon of London *

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, first

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and former

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, clergyman and educator, known for establishing schools in

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* Sir Peter Denis, 1st Baronet, naval officer and member of Parliament * John Downham, clergyman and theologian *

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, pathologist, physician and tropical medicine specialist * Thomas Falconer, clergyman and classical scholar * Thomas Francis, physician, former president of the Royal College of Physicians and former Regius Professor of Medicine at the

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, clergyman and writer * William Lee Hankey, painter and illustrator *

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, former member of Parliament for Shrewsbury and

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* George Lloyd, clergyman * Bert Lipsham, England international footballer and

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winner with

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in 1902. *

George Ormerod George Ormerod (20 October 1785 – 9 October 1873) was an English antiquary and historian. Among his writings was a major county history of Cheshire, in North West England. Biography George Ormerod was born in Manchester and educated first ...

, antiquary and historian * Sir Ralph Champneys Williams, colonial governor of the

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and

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic Canada, Atlantic region. The province comprises t ...

* Thomas Wilson, clergyman The Chester Association of Old King's Scholars (CAOKS), founded in 1866, exists to maintain links between former students. It is one of the longest established alumni associations in the country. The school has recently established OAKS (Organization of Alumni of The King's School) to maintain relations with former pupils. OAKS is free to join and open to all alumni.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:King's School, Chester Ancient grammar schools of Cheshire Educational institutions established in the 1540s Independent schools in Cheshire West and Chester Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference 1541 establishments in England Schools in Chester