King's School, Canterbury
From Freepedia
Image:Canterbury cathedral.gif
The King's School in Canterbury, Kent, is a co-educational public school with boarding and day pupils.
It is said to have been founded in AD 597 by St. Augustine, making it the world's oldest school; however this claim may be based simply on the fact that St Augustine founded an abbey (within the current school's grounds) where some teaching took place.
Enrolment is 780 pupils (425 boys and 355 girls), 329 in the Sixth Form. The school is located within the Precincts of Canterbury Cathedral and St Augustine's Abbey. Although it charges some of the highest fees of any school in the United Kingdom, recently there has been significant controversy about the pastoral care availiable. Former pupils and teachers have complained that the school is rife with unchecked bullying and homophobia while the Headmaster's quasireligious conservatism has stripped away many fundamental rights. The school rules forbid being in town after 6 p.m. and pupils coming within a two metre radius of members of the opposite sex.
Notable alumni
- Christopher Marlowe, playwright
- William Harvey, scientist
- W. Somerset Maugham, novelist
- Carol Reed, film director
- David Gower, cricketer
- Michael Foale, astronaut
- Patrick Leigh Fermor, travel writer
- Antony Worrall Thompson, TV chef
- Sir Tony Hoare, Computer Science Pioneer
