The King's School, Rochester
Encyclopedia
The King's School, Rochester is an independent school in Rochester, Kent
. It is a cathedral school
, and being part of the foundation of Rochester Cathedral, the Dean of Rochester Cathedral serves as the chair of the school's governing body. It claims to have been founded in 604 AD, and is the second-oldest school in the UK
.
AD, at the same time as the Cathedral, and refounded by Henry VIII
during the Protestant Reformation
when the monastery at Rochester was dissolved. It is the second oldest school in the United Kingdom after The King's School Canterbury. The current King's Head Master is Dr Ian Walker, with Mr Kevin Jones as the Senior School Headmaster, Mr Roger Overend as the Preparatory School Headmaster and Mrs Sarah Skillen as the Pre-Preparatory School Headmistress.
The Preparatory School is situated close-by and is predominantly a campus of buildings surrounding the Paddock, which is a space used as a cricket/rugby field. A larger sports ground, commonly known as "the Alps" is located about a mile away.
The School's administrative offices are housed in Satis House, which reputedly gained its name from a comment by Queen Elizabeth I
who stayed there as a guest of its owner, Richard Watts
. As she left, Watts asked the queen if she had been comfortable during her stay. She replied: "satis", which in translation means "enough" or "satisfactory".
In the Preparatory school, there are currently four houses, though there were previously six:
St. Williams
St. Nicholas
St. Andrews
St. Peters
(The now defunct fifth and sixth houses were St. Margarets and St. Justus)
In pre-prep the houses are Tigers (Red), Zebra (Blue), Hippos (Green) or Giraffes (Yellow).
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. It is a cathedral school
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...
, and being part of the foundation of Rochester Cathedral, the Dean of Rochester Cathedral serves as the chair of the school's governing body. It claims to have been founded in 604 AD, and is the second-oldest school in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
History
The school was founded in 604604
Year 604 was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 604 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Byzantine Empire :* The Sassanids destroy the...
AD, at the same time as the Cathedral, and refounded by Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
during the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
when the monastery at Rochester was dissolved. It is the second oldest school in the United Kingdom after The King's School Canterbury. The current King's Head Master is Dr Ian Walker, with Mr Kevin Jones as the Senior School Headmaster, Mr Roger Overend as the Preparatory School Headmaster and Mrs Sarah Skillen as the Pre-Preparatory School Headmistress.
Site
The school is housed in a variety of buildings around the Cathedral precincts including Main School, Davies Court, Mackean House, the School Hall and Old St. Margaret's, an ex workhouse, which houses the Maths and Classics Departments).The Preparatory School is situated close-by and is predominantly a campus of buildings surrounding the Paddock, which is a space used as a cricket/rugby field. A larger sports ground, commonly known as "the Alps" is located about a mile away.
The School's administrative offices are housed in Satis House, which reputedly gained its name from a comment by Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
who stayed there as a guest of its owner, Richard Watts
Richard Watts
Sir Richard Watts was a successful businessman and MP for Rochester, Kent in the 1570s. He supplied rations for the English Navy as deputy victualler and supervised the construction of Upnor Castle...
. As she left, Watts asked the queen if she had been comfortable during her stay. She replied: "satis", which in translation means "enough" or "satisfactory".
The Houses
Within the Senior School there are currently five houses:| House | Colour | Inception | Origins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crick | Green | Thomas Crick Thomas Crick The Very Rev Thomas Crick, CB, CBE, MVO was an eminent Anglican priest in the middle part of the 20th century.-Life:He was born in 1885 and educated at St Edmund's School, Canterbury and Brasenose College, Oxford. Ordained in 1909 he began his career with a curacy at Wigan after which he was a... - Dean of Rochester (1943-1958) |
|
| Parker | Blue | William Parker - Headmaster of the School (1913-1935) | |
| School House | Purple | School Boarding House (Both Senior & Preparatory School) | |
| Storrs | Red | John Storrs John Storrs (dean) John Storrs was an Anglican priest at the end of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century.]]Storrs was educated at The King's School, Rochester and Pembroke College, Cambridge. He was ordained in 1871 and was a curate at St Mary’s Bury St Edmunds. Later he was Vicar of St James’... - Dean of Rochester (1913-1928) |
|
| Whiston | Yellow | Robert Whiston - Clerk in Holy Orders and Headmaster of the Cathedral Grammar School (1842-1877) |
In the Preparatory school, there are currently four houses, though there were previously six:
St. Williams
St. Nicholas
St. Andrews
St. Peters
(The now defunct fifth and sixth houses were St. Margarets and St. Justus)
In pre-prep the houses are Tigers (Red), Zebra (Blue), Hippos (Green) or Giraffes (Yellow).
Order of St. Justus
The Order of St Justus, which is incorporated within England’s Rochester Cathedral Foundation, and governed by Head Master of King's School Rochester Dr. Ian Walker, is a foundation set up with the intention to build a King’s University of Bangladesh and a King’s School, Dhaka, in Bangladesh. Links have been established and land identified for the site, and the school is in the early stages of possible development.Old Roffensians
- John Selwyn Gummer, formerly ConservativeConservative Party (UK)The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
cabinet minister. - Pete TongPete TongPeter "Pete" Tong is an English DJ who works for BBC Radio 1. He is known worldwide by fans of electronic music for hosting programmes such as Essential Mix and Essential Selection on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio streams, for his record label FFRR Records, and for...
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. - Matthew WalkerMatthew Walker (English cricketer)Matthew Jonathan Walker is an English cricketer, who played for Kent County Cricket Club until 2008. He now plays for Essex County Cricket Club.-Early career:...
, professional cricketer. - Harold Stephen LanghorneHarold Stephen LanghorneHarold Stephen Langhorne was a Brigadier-General 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 Reverend John Langhorne, headmaster of King's School, Rochester and Henrietta Long of...
, Brigadier-General in the Royal Army Ordnance CorpsRoyal Army Ordnance CorpsThe Royal Army Ordnance Corps was a corps of the British Army. It dealt only with the supply and maintenance of weaponry, munitions and other military equipment until 1965, when it took over most other supply functions, as well as the provision of staff clerks, from the Royal Army Service...
of the British armyBritish ArmyThe British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
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. - Dinsdale LandenDinsdale LandenDinsdale James Landen was a British actor known mainly for his television appearances.Landen was born at Margate. He made his television debut in 1959 as Pip in an adaptation of Great Expectations and made his film debut in 1960, with a walk-on part in The League of Gentlemen...
, actor - Peter RogersPeter RogersPeter Rogers was a British film producer.Rogers began his career as a journalist for his local paper before graduating to scriptwriting religious informational films...
, film producer - Edwin ArnoldEdwin ArnoldSir Edwin Arnold CSI CIE was an English poet and journalist, who is most known for his work, The Light of Asia.-Biography:...
, poet, author - Richard DaddRichard DaddRichard Dadd was an English painter of the Victorian era, noted for his depictions of fairies and other supernatural subjects, Orientalist scenes, and enigmatic genre scenes, rendered with obsessively minuscule detail...
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, author - Rufus Muller, tenor.
- Simon ShackletonSimon ShackletonSimon Shackleton is a musician, operating primarily under the name Elite Force, but also under aliases such as sHack, Killer Elite, Futurecore, Double Black, pHrack R and Zodiac Cartel. While a student at Exeter University he started his first band, Headless Chickens with future Radiohead frontman...
, musician from Lunatic CalmLunatic CalmLunatic Calm were a UK-based electronic music group formed in 1996. Despite a wide-ranging sound palette, the group was best known for their high impact, industrial-tinged big beat compositions.-History:... - Howard Saunders, musician from Lunatic CalmLunatic CalmLunatic Calm were a UK-based electronic music group formed in 1996. Despite a wide-ranging sound palette, the group was best known for their high impact, industrial-tinged big beat compositions.-History:...
- Sir Cecil WakeleyCecil WakeleySir Cecil Pembrey Grey Wakeley, 1st Baronet KBE CB was a British surgeon.-Biography:He was born the eldest son of 12 children at Meresborough House in the country near Rainham, Kent, the son of Percy Wakeley and his first wife Mary Sophia "May" Pembrey...
, surgeon - Christopher GabbitasChristopher GabbitasChristopher Alan Gabbitas, baritone with the King's Singers was born on 15 May 1979 in Plymouth, the son of Dr. Brian and Mrs Evelyn Gabbitas. The family moved to Kent after his father ended a career as a Royal Naval Officer and switched to the world of academia. He attended The King's School,...
, professional singer with The King's SingersKing's SingersThe King's Singers is a British a cappella vocal ensemble who celebrated their 40th anniversary in 2008. Their name recalls King's College in Cambridge, England, where the group was formed by six choral scholars in 1968. In the United Kingdom, their popularity peaked in the 1970s and early 1980s...
School Headmasters
| Headmaster | Years as Headmaster | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| John Langhorne John Langhorne (King's School Rochester) .Reverend John Langhorne was headmaster of The King's School, Rochester and an educational innovator there... (MA) |
1877-1893 | 16 years |
| John Bennett Lancelot (MA) | 1893-1901 | 8 years |
| Reverend Thomas Frederick Hobson (MA) | 1901-1910 | 9 years |
| Richard Frederick Elwyn (MA) | 1910-1913 | 3 years |
| William Parker (MA, BD) | 1913-1935 | 22 years |
| Ernest William Davies (MA) | 1935-1957 | 22 years |
| Canon Douglas Vicary (MA, BSc) | 1957-1975 | 18 years |
| Roy Ford (MA) | 1975-1986 | 11 years |
| Dr. Ian Walker (BA, PhD, LTh, ABIA, FCollP, FRSA) | 1986-Present | 25 years |