The King's School, Rochester, is an English independent school in
Rochester, Kent. It is a
cathedral school
Cathedral schools began in the Early Middle Ages as centers of advanced education, some of them ultimately evolving into medieval universities. Throughout the Middle Ages and beyond, they were complemented by the monastic schools. Some of these ...
and, being part of the foundation of Rochester Cathedral, the
Dean of Rochester
The Dean of Rochester is the head of the chapter of canons at Rochester Cathedral, the mother church of the Church of England Diocese of Rochester. The current dean is Philip Hesketh, who has served in that role since June 2016.
List of deans
...
serves as chair of the school's governing body.
The school claims to be the second oldest
continuously operating school in the world, having been founded in 604 AD.
[
]
History
The cathedral school in Rochester was founded in 604 AD, at the same time as the cathedral. It was refounded by
Henry VIII in 1541 during the
English Reformation when the monastery in Rochester was dissolved.
It is the second
oldest school in the United Kingdom after
The King's School Canterbury
The King's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for 13 to 18 year old pupils) in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's ...
. The current principal is Ben Charles, who also acts as the senior school headmaster. Tom Morgan is the preparatory school headmaster and Kellie Crozer is the acting headmistress of the nursery and Pre-Preparatory school.
Site
The school is housed in a variety of buildings around historic Rochester (the school also uses
Rochester Cathedral
Rochester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an English church of Norman architecture in Rochester, Medway, Rochester, Kent.
The church is the cathedral of the Diocese of Rochester in the Church o ...
for school services).
Senior school
Satis House
A 16th-century town house rebuilt as an 18th-century Georgian house, the school took it over in 1950 and purchased it outright in 1968. It had originally been built for
Richard Watts
Richard Watts (1529–1579) was a successful businessman and MP for Rochester, South East England, in the 1570s. He supplied rations for the English Navy as deputy victualler and supervised the construction of Upnor Castle. After Queen Eliza ...
who had entertained
Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
there in 1573: asked for her verdict on her stay, the Queen had answered, "''satis''" (from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
' for "enough"), hence the name of the house. Above the entrance portico is a 1578 bust of Watts who represented Rochester in Parliament between 1563 and 1571. At Satis House are the office of the principal of King's Rochester, administrative offices and the senior school Library.
Main school
The oldest building in use which was specifically built for the school. It was completed in 1742, the tower and additional classrooms were added in 1880 and the building extended with porches either end in 1913. During
WW2 the building was commandeered for ARP purposes. The wooden roof which had served as the school's assembly hall was removed in 1976. In 1985, it became the Design and Technology Centre. At the entrance are the Parker Memorial Gates (after
the Reverend
The Reverend is an honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. ''The Reverend'' is correctly ...
William Parker, headmaster 1913-35) which were dedicated in 1955.
Cheetham Memorial Building
This was opened in 1909 by
Richard Glazebrook
Sir Richard Tetley Glazebrook (18 September 1854 – 15 December 1935) was an English physicist.
Education and early career
Glazebrook was born in West Derby, Liverpool, Lancashire, the son of a surgeon. He was educated at Dulwich College unt ...
, director of the
National Physical Laboratory. It originally consisted of a science laboratory and an art room and now contains two computing suites.
The Venerable
The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christianity, Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. ...
Samuel Cheetham was Archdeacon of Rochester from 1882 until his death in 1908.
Laboratory and lecture theatre
The building was opened in 1952 and was the school's first new building for nearly 40 years. Further adjacent science laboratories for
chemistry and
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
were opened in 1959 and the biology wing in 1980.
College
Built in 1640, this was the deanery from 1661 to 1961. The building was home to the Rochester Theological College (founded by Bishop
Christopher Chavasse) from 1961 until its closure in 1970. It then became in part the King's School Sixth Form Centre with the senior school history and geography departments.
Mackean House
This was built in 1840 and later named after the last canon of the cathedral to live there, Canon William Herbet Mackean (1877-1960), Canon of Rochester 1925-58. The headmaster's study and the senior school were housed there until both were relocated Satis House in 1986. The property is marked on early maps as the house of the second prebend. During World War 2 the house was used for ARP purposes and is now used by the senior school English, economics and business studies departments.
Davies Court
Opened in 1982 by the Archbishop of York and named after Ernest William Davies (headmaster 1935-57), it houses the school's art, religious studies and language centres (French, German and Russian). Memorial gates at the entrance from the Vines were dedicated in 2006.
Old St Margaret's
Originally a Richard Watts charitable school (as per the plaque on the façade explains), this is the oldest building in the towns of the Lower Medway in continuous educational use. As a Church of England primary school, St Margaret’s, it was taken over by King's School in 1960 and purchased outright in 1968. It is used by the senior school mathematics and classics departments. Parts of the building and outbuildings house the offices of the school's
Combined Cadet Force which celebrated its centenary in 2011.
School hall
This was opened and dedicated by the
Archbishop of Canterbury in 1967. It is regularly used to host school productions, assemblies and other events. It is due to be renovated in mid 2018.
Bob Doubles
Named after a method of change ringing on five bells. This is the school's café and tuck shop and occupies the former stables of Prior Gate's House.
King's Rochester Sports Centre
A joint venture with Medway Council, the King's Rochester Sports Centre was officially opened in June 2014 and provides among its modern facilities, netball and tennis courts and a gymnasium which are also available to the general public. The school also has a Boathouse by
Allington Lock near Aylesford on the
River Medway which opened in 1984. The school has a long rowing tradition with the King's School Rochester Boat Club being founded in 1861.
Preparatory School
The main building was opened in 1958, extended in 1984 and with a new wing added in 1992. The part of King's Rochester was called the Junior School until 1989.
St Nicholas House
The late Victorian former vicarage for St Nicholas Church, was purchased in 1946 and used as the Junior School until the new buildings were opened in 1958. From 1958 until 1974 it was a boarding house and now contains Preparatory School administrative offices. Adjacent to St Nicholas House was a wartime decontamination shelter which had been converted to Junior School changing rooms. An additional floor and gabled roof were added in 2000 and opened that year in memory of David Dann (King's Scholar 1942-52) and a Governor of the school, to provide additional music facilities.
Rookwood
Previously used as a Junior School boarding house, as the first site of the Pre-Preparatory School (opened in 1988) and for the Nursery School and is now used for general teaching. From 1946 to 1961 it was the Headmaster's house.
St Ronan's
Built in 1908, acquired in 1948 and now used as a supplementary boarding house until boarding capacity at School House was increased in 1972 and now houses the Music Department.
The Pavilion
Situated above a bank on the west side of the paddock. The original building was created in 1905. An extension to the north, later called the Colours Room, was added in 1920 in memory of Major Maurice Miskin (1903–10), who was killed in action in 1918. The 25m Rifle Range immediately to the south and used by the Combined Cadet Force was built in 1926.
Conference Centre
Opened in 2006, the Conference Centre consists of a small hall on the ground floor and a basement used as a dining hall for the Preparatory and Pre-Preparatory Schools.
Pre-Preparatory School
Chadlington House
King's Rochester Pre-Preparatory School was opened in 2000 and named Chadlington House after Old Roffensian life peer Peter Gummer (
Lord Chadlington). This modern building also now houses King's Nursery School. In 2017 'Armadilla Pods' were constructed in the grounds for music lessons.
Houses
Senior School
Headteachers
Senior school
Preparatory school
Pre-preparatory school
Notable former pupils
*Sir
Edwin Arnold
Sir Edwin Arnold KCIE CSI (10 June 183224 March 1904) was an English poet and journalist, who is most known for his work '' The Light of Asia''.[Derek Barton
Sir Derek Harold Richard Barton (8 September 1918 – 16 March 1998) was an English organic chemist and Nobel Prize laureate for 1969.
Education and early life
Barton was born in Gravesend, Kent, to William Thomas and Maude Henrietta Barton ( ...]
, Nobel Prize-winning chemist
*
Michael Brown, Archdeacon of Nottingham
*
Richard Dadd
Richard Dadd (1 August 1817 – 7 January 1886) was an English painter of the Victorian era, noted for his depictions of fairies and other supernatural subjects, Orientalism, Orientalist scenes, and enigmatic genre works, genre scenes, rendered w ...
, artist
*
Edward Mortlock Donaldson, World War II flying ace
*
Christopher Gabbitas
Christopher Alan Gabbitas, is a choral conductor, lawyer and university professor.
A former baritone with the King's Singers, he was born on 15 May 1979 in Plymouth, the son of Dr. Brian and Mrs Evelyn Gabbitas. The family moved to Kent after hi ...
, singer with the
King's Singers
*
Michael S. K. Grant, IT professional and resident of the
BCS
*
John Griffiths, Warden of
Wadham College, Oxford
Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road.
Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...
*
John Gummer
John Selwyn Gummer, Baron Deben, (born 26 November 1939) is a British Conservative Party politician, formerly the Member of Parliament (MP) for Suffolk Coastal and now a member of the House of Lords. He was Conservative Party Chairman from 1983 ...
, former
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
cabinet minister
*
Peter Gummer, Baron Chadlington,
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
peer
*
Richard Keen
Richard Sanderson Keen, Baron Keen of Elie (born 29 March 1954) is a British lawyer and Conservative Party politician. He was Advocate General for Scotland from May 2015 until his resignation on 16 September 2020.
Early life
Keen was educated ...
, lawyer and Conservative Party politician
*
David Clive King, author
*
Dinsdale Landen, actor
*
Harold Stephen Langhorne
Brigadier-General Harold Stephen Langhorne (17 September 1866 – 26 June 1932) was an officer in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps of the British army and served in India, Burma, Hong Kong, South Africa and France.
Early life
He was the son of ...
, Brigadier-General in the
Royal Army Ordnance Corps
The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) was a corps of the British Army. At its renaming as a Royal Corps in 1918 it was both a supply and repair corps. In the supply area it had responsibility for weapons, armoured vehicles and other military equip ...
*
Geoffrey Lees, cricketer and educator
*
G. R. S. Mead, author and member of the
Theosophical Society
The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body with the aim to advance the ideas of Theosophy in continuation of previous Theosophists, especially the Greek and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers dating back to 3rd century CE ...
*
Peter Rogers
Peter Rogers (20 February 1914 – 14 April 2009) was an English film producer. He is best known for his involvement in the making of the ''Carry On'' series of films.
Life and career
Rogers began his career as a journalist for his loc ...
, film producer
*
Simon Shackleton, musician from ''
Lunatic Calm''
*
John Storrs, Dean of Rochester
*
Pete Tong,
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
disc jockey
*
Sir Cecil Wakeley, 1st Baronet, surgeon
*
Matthew Walker, professional cricketer,
Kent Cricket coach (2017–present)
*
Martin Warner, Bishop of Chichester
*
Michael Wilkes,
Adjutant-General to the Forces
The Adjutant-General to the Forces, commonly just referred to as the Adjutant-General (AG), was for just over 250 years one of the most senior officers in the British Army. The AG was latterly responsible for developing the Army's personnel polic ...
*
Douglas Wilson, Bishop of Trinidad
See also
*
List of the oldest schools in the world
This is a list of extant schools, excluding universities and higher education establishments, that have been in continuous operation since founded. The dates refer to the foundation or the earliest documented contemporaneous reference to the scho ...
References
;Footnotes
;Citations
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kings School, Rochester
KingsSchool
Independent schools in Medway
Educational institutions established in the 7th century
604 establishments
Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference
Co-educational boarding schools
Boarding schools in Kent
7th-century establishments in England
Choir schools in England
Church of England independent schools in the Diocese of Rochester