King's School, Chester

The King's School, Chester is a coeducational independent school in Chester, England. It is one of seven schools established, or in some cases re-endowed and renamed, by King Henry VIII in 1541 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries for the education of 'poor friendless boys'.

Once conjoined to Chester Cathedral, where the modern day Barclays Bank now stands, the school moved to its present site on Wrexham Road in 1960. Single sex for much of its history, the school admitted girls into the sixth form in September 1998 and became fully co-educational in September 2004.

With the advent of co-education, the school has experienced a significant degree of redevelopment: an all-weather sports pitch, a new music school and the purchase of adjacent farmland are amongst the changes. The school has enjoyed several sporting successes in recent years, notably winning the ISFA cup in March 2006, and has always been regarded as a strong rowing school - to the extent that it has produced several Oxbridge and more than one Olympic rower. King's most notable former pupil to continue rowing is Tom James, who is current President of the Cambridge University Boat Club and won the 2007 Boat Race.

The school has a strong academic record. Most recently over 50% As at A level, and 83% As and A*s at GCSE. Extra curriculum subjects such as ECDL are popular among students.

Other King's Schools are at Canterbury, Ely, Gloucester, Peterborough, Rochester and Worcester

The Headmaster

Its current headmaster since 2000 is Tim Turvey, a biologist, who was appointed having served as headmaster of Hulme Grammar School. His predecessor was Roger Wickson, a medieval historian, who presided over the school for nineteen years between 1981 and 2000 after a career dotted around several southern public schools. Tim Turvey will be standing down in July 2007 with his successor, the current head of King's College Taunton Chris Ramsey, due to start in September 2007. A graduate of Modern and Medieval Languages from Cambridge University, Chris Ramsey has also served as Head of Modern Languages at Shrewsbury School.

Development

The school is currently going through a period of development, in which many new facilities are being built. Amongst the completed deveolpments are the all-weather outdoor sports pitch, the expansion to the Art and Design Technology departments. Four new general purpose classrooms for the Junior School have been built and there are two specialist classrooms for the Junior School. Other new facilities are the tennis/netball courts, a classroom for the Senior School, a medical centre, a music school, the fishing facilities are being planned. More land has been acquired for football pitches.

Future developments include improved facilities for a larger Sixth Form; improved facilities for girls at the rowing club; improved catering facilities for vegan and Jewish diets.

Old King's Scholars

Notable alumni of the school include:

• Ronald Pickup, actor
• Randolph Caldecott, Illustrator
• Major General James Dutton, former Commandant-General, Royal Marines
• Steve Leonard, television vet and BBC presenter
• George Mallory, born in Mobberley, Cheshire, famous mountaineer, died in 1924 climbing Mount Everest
• Rob Eastaway, mathematician and ex-puzzle writer for New Scientist
• Mike Parry, talkSPORT presenter
• Hugh Lloyd, comedy actor
• Patrick Mercer, Member of Parliament [1]

Notable teachers, past and present

• Roger Wickson, former headmaster and author of The Community of the Realm in Thirteenth Century England (Longmans, 1970).
• Barry Horne, former Everton F.C. midfielder and chemistry teacher.
• Paul Shannon, head of Modern Languages and writer/compiler of many books, articles and video scripts on railways.

Sport

Football

King's has had much success in football over the years. The school has recently built an AstroTurf pitch and employed a new Director of Football (Barry Horne, former Welsh captain and F.A Cup winner).

In the ISFA Cup the school beat hot favourites Millfield School (2-1) in the 2005-2006 ISFA Cup national soccer tournament final and are currently the Boodles ISFA cup holders.

Rowing

The King's School's rowing club is amongst the most successful school boat clubs in the country with recent successes being a bronze in Championship Eights at the National Schools' Regatta 2006 and losing finalists in the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta 2006. The school also has a good record of producing outstanding individual oarsmen including Tom James, James Ball, Chris Bartley, Peter Rudge and Jim Walker.

The King's boat house is situated on the River Dee in the centre of Chester. It stores over 100 boats ranging from beginner to Olympic standard.

Hockey

The 2006/2007 season saw the appointment of former England captain Russell Hornby, and since the King's hockey teams have come on even further. In 2006 the first team was ranked amongst the first few in the country. The J14 team have made it through to the latter stages of a national competition after winning the North West vs North East match Now it faces regional winners from around the country.

The School has also recently employed Pakistani Captain Ali Ghanzafar as coach for the 1st XI, thanks largely to Russell Hornby, a team mate of Ghanzafar's at Bowdon Hockey Club.

The Arts and extra curricular activities

Music

The school has a new state of the art Music School, equipped with a recording studio, a large recital room, and a music technology room. It has a successful Schola Cantorum which recently toured Paris and sang at Notre Dame.

Drama

Annual productions of musical theatre at King's have occurred for much of the past half-century in the latter half of the Lent (Spring) term. Notable shows in the past 5 years include The Boy Friend, South Pacific, Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady, West Side Story, and most recently in 2007, the Stephen Sondheim musical Assassins. Recent Sixth Form drama productions have included Jonson's 'The Alchemist' and Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.

Controversy

• The school has not been without its share of controversy. Notably in 2005 former teacher Barry Lewis was arrested and convicted on child pornography charges.

• In July 2006 two boys were forced to leave the school after a drugs probe was conducted.

Combined Cadet Force

The King's School's CCF is a voluntary contingent within the Combined Cadet Force of the Ministry of Defence in the United Kingdom, originally formed during the First World War. It consists of the mandatory Army Section, with an additional RAF Section. Its nominal roll currently includes approximately 133 cadets.

Contingent achievements

• 2005 - Welbeck Pentathalon Competition | Jnr Team 1st Place, Snr Team 2nd Place
• 2003 - Welbeck Pentathlon Competition | Snr Team 1st Place, Jnr Team 2nd Place
• 2002 - Welbeck Pentathlon Competition | Jnr Team 1st Place
• Several wins of the 'Cheshire Cup' over several years
• Numerous Gliding Scholarships, Leadership & Personal achievements have been gained
• The RAF section produced a valiant display at the ground training competition. The team of elite cadets came 3rd and 4th in the air recognition and command task exercises respectively. They finished an overall 10th in the region which was a good result despite the relatively inexperienced team. Sgt Pranav Khamar was awarded the highest mark in the air recogniton task out of the whole region. The section has also recently done AEF (Air Experience Flights).

The contingent was formed from the former ACF in 1979/1980 when an RAF section was added.

External links

• The King's School website
• The Good School Guide - Kings school chester
• Bowdon HC 1st XI Player Profiles
• BBC Interview with Tom James, former pupil and rower