King's College School

We are a forward-thinking and innovative place in which to learn. As well as being a very successful International Baccalaureate school, we offer pupils the opportunity to study from a wide A level curriculum. For many years we have enjoyed genuinely two-way partnerships with local maintained secondary and primary schools. We admit girls into our sixth form, convinced that co-education in the two years preceding university is a natural and positive step for boys and girls alike. We accept boys at the age of 11 directly into year 7 of the senior school from both primary and prep schools, whilst retaining our year 9 entry for boys aged 13 from prep schools and our own junior school.

At King's, our priority is to provide a world-class education to each student. Our strategy is designed to further enhance the education we offer - to provide an environment that will inspire and enable our students, teachers and the wider community; and to widen access to the education we provide, offering new opportunities and creating a genuinely diverse student body.

King’s College School is committed to broadening access by offering to eligible parents/guardians means-tested financial support with the payment of school fees. The school offers a number of entrance bursaries at 11+, 13+ and sixth form of up to 100% of tuition fees.

All bursary applications are subject to annual means testing and may be varied upwards or downwards depending on parental circumstances and financial information provided on review.As part of the registration process, parents have the opportunity to request a bursary application form. If you would like to see an example of our application form, please use the link on the right. Please do not use this specimen form for your application.

The school uses Bursary Administration Ltd to review and assess entrance bursary applications. This may include a home visit which, by necessity, will be at short notice. If your bursary assessment includes a home visit, Bursary Administration Ltd will contact you directly.Bursary application assessments are conducted independently of the academic selection process. No action regarding your bursary application should be considered as indicative as to whether an offer of a place in the school will be made.

Co-curricular activities (CCAs) play a key role in a student's life at King’s; this is reflected by our significant investment in music, sport and drama facilities. The emphasis, as elsewhere at King’s, is on variety, inclusion, and encouragement.

King’s has a long history of enabling bright young people from all backgrounds to access the school. We are now making increasing provision for bursaries, both from our own resources and as a result of the generosity of our benefactors. We offer bursaries at 11+, 13+ and 16+ of up to 100% of tuition fees, depending on need. Parents should always make their initial application in advance of any entrance examination.

The Club aims to offer the best possible facilities for competitive prices, and is a popular choice for not just King’s students but also the local community. The facilities include a swimming pool, strength & conditioning studio, tennis courts, squash courts, and a yoga & pilates studio. Personal training, swimming lessons, and children’s sports parties are all available at the Club.

Safeguarding at King’s is consistent with the safeguarding procedures for Merton and the London local Safeguarding Children Boards. Our latest Independent Schools Inspectorate repor(ISI) confirmed that safeguarding at King’s is a major priority and that our policy and procedures are implemented effectively.

The quality of teaching at King’s is outstanding, and colleagues know how important the first two years of secondary school are in establishing a love of learning, good habits of concentration, understanding, imaginative flexibility, and discipline. Lessons are fun, exhilarating, and purposeful, creating the best possible foundation for the GCSEs ahead.

King’s was founded by royal charter in 1829 as the junior department of the newly established King’s College of the University of London on the Strand. During the early Victorian period, the school grew in numbers and reputation. Members of the teaching staff included artist John Sell Cotman and poet Gabriele Rossetti, who taught Italian (his son, the infamous Dante Gabriel, joined King’s in 1837).By 1843 King’s had grown in size from 85 to 500 pupils. The school was progressive in its curriculum and appointed its first science master in 1855, at a time where very few schools taught science. The first head master, John Major, served the school between 1831 and 1866. 99 of the school’s pupils from this period appear in the Dictionary of National Biography.

As competitor schools moved to new sites with modern facilities and large playing fields, King’s fell behind, prompting the school moved to its present site in Wimbledon. The junior school opened on the same campus in 1912.In World War I, many letters were written to the school, including some from the Battle of the Somme. During World War II, the Great Hall was damaged by bomb shrapnel; some of the damage can still be seen on the outside of the hall today.

The school is completing a ten year infrastructure master plan to enhance our facilities for pupils. Completed projects include a new reception through the Bannister Fletcher 1897 Great Hall, a new landscaped quadrangle, a refurbished and enlarged dining hall and a new classroom block, which is home to our lower school (year 7 and 8) pupils.In spring 2018, a new state-of-the-art music school was completed. The building includes a suite of sound-proofed practice rooms, group rehearsal venues, specialist classrooms and a 200-seat concert hall. We are currently underway on our next project - a new sports complex and multi-use sports hall, including all-weather tennis courts and a six-lane swimming pool.