King's Bruton is an independent fully co-educational secondary

boarding Boarding may refer to: *Boarding, used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals as in a: **Boarding house **Boarding school *Boarding (horses) (also known as a livery yard, livery stable, or boarding stable), is a stable where hor ...

and

day A day is the time rotation period, period of a full Earth's rotation, rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours (86,400 seconds). As a day passes at a given location it experiences morning, afternoon, evening, ...

school in the English public school tradition located in

Bruton Bruton ( ) is a small market town, and civil parish in Somerset, England, on the River Brue and the A359 between Frome and Yeovil. It is south-east of Shepton Mallet, just south of Snakelake Hill and Coombe Hill, north-west of Gillingham ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, England. It was founded in 1519 by

Richard FitzJames Richard FitzJames (died 1522) was an English academic and administrator who became successively Bishop of Rochester, Bishop of Chichester, and Bishop of London. Origins Born about 1442, he was the son of John FitzJames (died 1476), who lived at ...

, and received royal foundation status around 30 years later in the reign of

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. The only surviving son of Henry VIII by his thi ...

. It is a member school of the

Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC), formerly known as the Headmasters' Conference and now branded HMC (The Heads' Conference), is an association of the head teachers of 351 private fee-charging schools (both boarding schools ...

. Girls have attended the school's

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

since the 1960s before King's became fully co-educational in the late 1990s. It has six houses: Wellesley, Priory and Arion for girls, with New, Blackford and Lyon making up the boys' houses. In September 1999, the Hobhouse Science centre was opened with a fully equipped observatory. The school has a purpose-built theatre, sports hall and fitness suite and sports surfaces for rugby, netball, tennis and cricket as well as two all-weather astro-turfs for hockey. The Basil Wright Building was opened in 2009 and houses the Headmaster's, Bursar's and Registrar's offices. King's School Bruton once owned a copy of ''

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter"), sometimes spelled Magna Charta, is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardin ...

'' dating from 1297, which it sold to the Australian Government in 1952 for £12,500. Old House was the original school building, later New House was built as an extension for school rooms and Old House was the headmaster's house. The Memorial Hall was built in the 1920s to commemorate the members of the school who died in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Blackford and Lyon were built and were funded by beneficiaries such as Lord Blackford and James Lyon. On 28 March 2019, to mark the school's quincentenary, King's hosted

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

during a wider Royal visit to the

West Country The West Country is a loosely defined area within southwest England, usually taken to include the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, with some considering it to extend to all or parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and ...

. During the visit the Queen opened a new music school named in her honour.

King's Bruton Foundation

The King's School, Bruton Foundation comprises three schools - King's Bruton,

Hazlegrove Preparatory School Hazlegrove Preparatory School is a non-selective co-educational preparatory school at Sparkford, Somerset in the south west of England. Hazlegrove is part of a foundation which also incorporates King's School, Bruton - a senior school located ...

and Sunny Hill Nursery. In 1947, following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, King's Bruton Junior School moved to a site approximately 10 miles South West at Hazlegrove House to satisfy increasing demand for places. The school has since been known as 'Hazlegrove Prep School,' and acts as the preparatory and main feeder school for King's Bruton, with around a third to a half of each year group moving directly to King's at 13. In March 2022, it was announced that the foundation would be acquiring the now defunct Bruton School for Girls, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition was made in an attempt to boost links, attendance and finances at the school, thus prospering the entire foundation. Unfortunately, with an expected pupil roll of 45 in September 2022 (down on 199 in 2018), the foundation deemed it unviable to continue operations, and in May 2022 announced that the school would close at the end of the 2021/22 academic year. The Nursery, however, has remained open and remains a part of the foundation. The Bruton School for Girls site is now being sold via agents

Knight Frank Knight Frank LLP is a global real estate consultancy and estate agency headquartered in London, England. Knight Frank's global network has more than 488 offices across 57 territories and more than 20,000 people managing commercial, agricultur ...

Senior Management Team

Since September 2009 the school has been led by Ian Wilmshurst, whose retirement for July 2025 was announced in April 2024. That month, a recruitment process, led by RSAcademics, was launched to find a suitable successor. In June 2024 it was announced that Matt Radley, second master of

Blundell's School Blundell's School is an Private schools in the United Kingdom, independent co-educational boarding school, boarding and Day school, day school in the English Public School (United Kingdom), public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon, T ...

, would be the next headmaster of King's Bruton from September 2025.

Combined Cadet Force

Kings runs a

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 ...

contingent, it is commanded by a

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

who takes the position of Contingent Commander and whose primary focus is on the Army Section. The Royal Navy Section is (as of December 2021) commanded by a (CCF) Sub-Lieutenant. The Naval Section is (as of December 2021) composed of four Non-Commissioned Officers, two Officers awaiting training and one Sub Lieutenant; the Navy is the smaller section of the two. The Army section comprises NCOs drawn from the Lower and Upper Sixth Form and around 11 Commissioned Officers. Commissioned Officers are all teachers or other staff already working at the school.

References

External links

King's Bruton
*

{{Authority control Private schools in Somerset Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference Boarding schools in Somerset Educational institutions established in the 1510s 1519 establishments in England Church of England private schools in the Diocese of Bath and Wells Bruton