Kingswood School
Address
Lansdown Road, Fonthill Road and College Road

Bath
,
Somerset
,
BA1 5RG

England
Coordinates51°23′56″N 2°22′12″W / 51.399°N 2.370°W / 51.399; -2.370
Information
TypePrivate
MottoLatin: In Via Recta Celeriter (In The Right Way Quickly)
Religious affiliation(s)Methodist
Established1748 (1748)
FounderJohn Wesley
Chairman of GovernorsTim Westbrook
HeadmasterAndrew Gordon-Brown
GenderMixed (boys-only before 1972)
Age9 months to 18
Enrolment1,102
Houses7
Colour(s)Red, black and white    
Former pupilsOld Kingswoodians
Member ofHeadmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference
MascotWyvern
Websitewww.kingswood.bath.sch.uk

Kingswood School is a private day and boarding school in Bath, Somerset, England. The school is coeducational and educates over 1,000 children aged 9 months to 18 years. It was founded by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, in 1748, and is the world's oldest Methodist educational institution.[1] The school was established to provide an education for the sons of colliers and Methodist ministers. It owns the Kingswood Preparatory School, the Upper and Middle Playing Fields and a number of other buildings.

History

Kingswood School was founded by John Wesley in 1748 in Kingswood (then known as King's Wood) near Bristol as a school for the children of the local colliers.[2] The ministers in the early Methodist Church were itinerant and the school started to accept their children as boarders. Eventually the ministers' sons became the whole establishment, along with a few non-boarding local girls.[2][3] After Wesley's death, Rev Joseph Bradford was appointed as the first governor in 1795.[4] Woodhouse Grove School was founded in 1812 and was linked with Kingswood as a prep school for much of the nineteenth century. Created in 1995, Kingswood Prep School had 300 pupils in 2010.[5] In 2010, the number of students attending the Kingswood School campus between the ages of 9 months and 18 was 960.[5][6]

The 1862 book How it was done at Stow School written by Theophilus Woolmer seems to have been based upon the author's own experiences at Kingswood (rather than Stowe School which was not yet established) under the notorious headmaster Crowther, who enforced harsh discipline in the school in the 1820s.[4]

The school moved to its present site on the northern slopes of Bath in 1851.[7] It is in the midst of 218 acres (0.88 km2) of the former Lansdown estate of the nineteenth-century millionaire eccentric, William Thomas Beckford.[8] The Upper Playing Fields, comprising some 57 acres, are to the north of the senior school and include an athletics track and tennis and netball courts.[8]

Sons of lay people were first admitted to the school in 1922.

1939 This stone 1946
from the buildings of
Uppingham School
records thanksgiving
for friendship and
preservation in exile

This stone
from the buildings of
Kingswood School
records enduring
gratitude for friendship
and preservation 1939–1946

During World War II the Kingswood buildings were requisitioned by the government and used by the Admiralty for military planning purposes. The school was evacuated to Uppingham School in the East Midlands and continued to function there.[9] The Mulberry harbours used on D-day for the landing on the Normandy beaches were designed at the school and for many years it was thought that they were named after the Mulberry tree that still stands at the front of the school, whereas Mulberry was simply the next code word on a list.

The Moulton Hall was named after ex-pupil Lord Moulton but was remodelled as a library/learning resources area in 2006,[10] and is now called the J O Heap library following a generous bequest from another ex-pupil.

During World War II the younger boys were moved to Prior's Court, an estate owned by Colonel Gerald Palmer, MP for Winchester. After the war the estate was purchased from Colonel Palmer and run as a Preparatory School until it was sold in 1997.[11] A small number of boys (around six) started in the Junior house (Westwood) before the war, moved to Prior's Court on the outbreak of war, on to Uppingham and finally back to Kingswood at the war's end. In memory of the event a stone was taken from the Kingswood library, engraved and set in the Uppingham buildings. An Uppingham stone was likewise sent to Kingswood and incorporated in the library wall. The inscriptions on the stones are shown in the accompanying boxes.[12]

Some girls were admitted to the Bristol site in the early days before the school became boarding-only.[13] Girls were admitted to the school in its current form from 1972.

Organisation

Senior School entrance

Kingswood pupils are divided into boarding houses for both living convenience and sporting competitiveness. Each boys' house is paired with a girls' house (Upper with School, Hall with Fonthill and Middle with Summerhill). This is mainly for social events and unisex sports fixtures (e.g. sports day).

Pupils enter one of six houses in Year 9:[14]

Boys

  • Upper (day boys), house colours are yellow and black.
  • Middle (day and boarding boys), house colours are green and white.
  • Hall (day and boarding boys), house colour is maroon.

Girls

  • School (day girls, no longer sixth form boarding), house colours are yellow and pink.
  • Summerhill (day and boarding girls), house colour is blue.
  • Fonthill (day and boarding girls), house colour is red.

Junior House

  • Westwood (day and boarding for boys & girls in years 7 and 8), the largest house with approximately 170-day children and 30 boarders.
The chapel

Chapel attendance is compulsory at least once a week.

Music

Kingswood School also has a Music Department, providing students with the opportunity to be part of numerous choirs, orchestras, bands and ensembles, including Westwood Voices, Westwood Orchestra, Senior Choir, Chamber Choir, Westwood Orchestra, Brass Ensemble, String Group and Clarinet Group. The school Jazz Band, "KJO" (Kingswood Jazz Orchestra), performs on the first night of Bath International Music Festival in Bath's Green Park Station.[15] Visiting music teachers offer tuition in a range of instruments, and the school provides opportunities for pupils to perform individually in regular informal lunchtime and teatime concerts, as well as in ensembles in the larger Christmas and Spring Concerts. The school also has 15–20 music scholars who contribute to the musical life of the school and perform in an annual concert in January.

The composer John Sykes was a teacher at the school from 1936, and was Director of Music from 1952 until his death ten years later. The school holds his manuscripts in the John Sykes Archive.[16]

Kingswood Theatre

Used by the school during term time and available for hire during school holidays, Kingswood Theatre is on the site of the senior school. The theatre was officially opened in 1994 by Sir Edward Heath and completed a partial refurbishment in 2010. The theatre has 366 seats with a capacity of 450.[17] The theatre has been used by BBC Question Time on a number of occasions.[18]

Model United Nations

Kingswood hosts an annual international Model United Nations conference, known as the Bath International Schools Model United Nations (BISMUN). Delegates attend from schools worldwide to engage in debates around a range of pressing international issues.[19]

Eco-schools

The School has implemented a number of projects to promote the importance of the environment and reduce waste at the school. The School is currently in the process of planting of many new trees and are planning a new energy system using solar and wind power. Kingswood was one of the first schools in the area to adopt the Eco-schools project and be awarded its Green Flag. It has since begun outreach work with other local schools, including Batheaston Junior School. The school was awarded its third Green Flag in 2010.[20]

Kingswood-Oxford School

George Nicholson, an alumnus of Kingswood School, Bath, established a school for boys of the same name in West Hartford, Connecticut in 1916. This new institution inherited some of the traditions of its counterpart in Bath, including the School's crest, motto, colors and distinctive symbol, the Wyvern. In 1969 the school merged with the Oxford School for girls into the new Kingswood-Oxford School.[21]

Kingswood College, Grahamstown

Kingswood College in Grahamstown, South Africa, was founded in 1894[22] and derives its name and ideals from Kingswood school in Bath. They also use the same distinctive Wyvern crest and abide by the same Methodist ethos.

Notable staff

Notable alumni

Former students of Kingswood School are known as old Kingswoodians. Notable former students include:

Victoria Cross holders

Two Old Kingswoodians have been awarded the Victoria Cross:

See also

  • Robson Fisher, a master at the school who went on to be headmaster of Bryanston School
  • Thomas Ferens, politician, philanthropist and industrialist who donated £30,000 to the school in 1924[72]
  • Katherine Jenkins, a Welsh singer and songwriter, undertook a music course at Kingswood as a child and said that the experience was "one of the things which made me decide to become a singer"[73]

Literature

  • Hastling, A.H.L.; W. Addington Willis; W.P. Workman, The History of Kingswood School (1898)
  • A. G. Ives, Kingswood School in Wesley's Day and Since (1970)
  • John Walsh (ed.), A.B. Sackett: A Memoir (1979)
  • Gary Best, Continuity and Change, Kingswood School through the Ages (1998)

References

  1. ↑ "Kingswood Preparatory School". Independent School's Council. Archived from the original on 25 January 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
  2. 1 2 Higginbotham, Peter (2022). "Kingswood Reformatory, Kingswood, near Bristol, Cloucestershire". Children's Homes. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  3. ↑ "Wesley's gateway to the West". Methodist Recorder Onlone. Archived from the original on 13 March 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2010. Wesley founded the original school, of which Whitefield laid the foundation stone, in Kennard Road, Kingswood, among coalmines and cockpits, as a colliers' school, to which he later added a boarding school.
  4. 1 2 3 Hastling, A.H.L.; Addington Willi, W.; Workman, W.P. (1898). The History of Kingswood School. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  5. 1 2 "Kingswood School Key Facts". Kingswood School. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
  6. ↑ "Kingswood School Key Facts". Kingswood School. Archived from the original on 29 December 2010. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
  7. ↑ "Kingswood School". Spartacus. Archived from the original on 4 November 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  8. 1 2 "Kingswood School". eteach. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  9. ↑ "Williams, Revd Charles Kingsley". Mundus. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  10. ↑ "Board of Management for Methodist Independent Schools". Board of Management for Methodist Independent Schools. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  11. ↑ "Prior's Court School". Friends Reunited. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
  12. ↑ "Kingswood Association News" (11 ed.). The Kingswood Association. May 2015. p. 24. Retrieved 23 November 2016. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  13. ↑ "Our History". Creative Youth Network. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  14. ↑ "The House System". Kingswood School. Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 4 July 2011.
  15. ↑ "StackPath". www.kingswood.bath.sch.uk. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  16. ↑ "John Sykes". British Music Collection. 4 April 2009. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  17. ↑ "Kingswood Theatre". Kingswood School. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  18. ↑ "Hire of Facilities". Kingswood School. Archived from the original on 6 September 2011. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
  19. ↑ "Model United Nations". Kingswood School. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  20. ↑ "Croos Planet Links". Kingswood School. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  21. ↑ "The History of Kingswood Oxford". Kingswood Oxford. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  22. ↑ "About Us". Kingswood College. Archived from the original on 29 July 2010. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  23. ↑ "Professor David Blow". The Church Times. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
  24. ↑ Beetham, Helen (10 August 2022). "David Beetham obituary". the Guardian. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  25. ↑ "Professor David Blow". The Independent. London. 23 June 2004. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  26. ↑ "Jeremy Bray". The Independent. London. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  27. ↑ "Archie Bronson Outfit". BBC. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
  28. ↑ Naughton, Philippe; Costello, Miles. "Sir Ralph Kilner Brown". The Times. London. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
  29. ↑ "William Maclardie Bunting 1805–1866". Hymn Time. Archived from the original on 23 September 2012. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
  30. ↑ "Bunting, William Maclardie". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
  31. ↑ "Sir John Burnett" (PDF). Royal Society. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  32. ↑ Naughton, Philippe; Costello, Miles. "Sir John Burnett". The Times. London.
  33. ↑ "Roger Butlin, who died on July 23 aged 76, produced memorable and beautiful stage sets for productions around the world". The Daily Telegraph. London. 8 August 2011. Retrieved 11 August 2011.
  34. ↑ Brown, William (15 December 1995). "Obituary: Professor Hugh Clegg". The Independent. London. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  35. ↑ Cork, Richard (6 November 2011). "How Harold Macmillan and I saved a Leonardo for the nation". The Independent. London. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
  36. ↑ "John Colley obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  37. ↑ Naughton, Philippe; Costello, Miles. "Air Chief Marshal Sir Kenneth Cross". The Times. London. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  38. ↑ "R.N. Currey". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 29 June 2010. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
  39. ↑ Brown, Laura; admin. "Biography". timcurry.co.uk. Archived from the original on 4 October 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  40. ↑ "Biography of Hugh Sykes Davies". Poem Hunter. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  41. ↑ "Arthur Lee Dixon". University of St Andrews, Scotland. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  42. ↑ Times, 12 August 1985
  43. ↑ "Fletcher, Joseph Horner (1823–1890)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  44. ↑ "Professor Antony Flew". The Times. London. 13 April 2010. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  45. ↑ Kennedy, Maev (12 March 2001). "Sir Richard Foster". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  46. ↑ "Gibson, William Ralph Boyce(1869–1935)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  47. ↑ "Biography of the Lieutenant Governor His Excellency Vice Admiral Sir Paul Kenneth Haddacks KCB". Isle of Man Government. Archived from the original on 31 October 2010. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  48. ↑ Kingswood Drama (31 May 2015). "See Kingswood Alumni Daisy Head in @BBCOne #TheLottery on Tuesday at 9pm. Break a Leg Daisy!". Retrieved 20 February 2020 – via Twitter.
  49. ↑ "Kingswood In Focus – December 2009". Issuu. 30 November 2009. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  50. ↑ "Theatre Work". Emily Head. Archived from the original on 13 March 2008. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  51. ↑ "John Morley Holford". Royal College of Physicians. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
  52. ↑ "Man from Bath wins Mastermind after testing times on the Tube". Bath Chronicle. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  53. ↑ "Jesse Honey — World Quizzing Champion 2012". IQA. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  54. ↑  Archbold, William Arthur Jobson (1891). "William George Horner". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 27. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  55. ↑ "Lynton Lamb RDI, FRSA, LG, SWE (British, 1907–1977)". Cambridge Book and Print Gallery. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  56. ↑ "Lucas, Arthur Henry Shakespeare (1853–1936)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  57. ↑ "Francis Sowerby MacAulay". Clan Macaulay. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  58. ↑ "McAulay, Alexander (1863–1931)". McAulay, Alexander. Australian National Biography. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  59. ↑ "Rev. James Egan Moulton". Australian Postal History & Social Philately. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  60. ↑ "Death of Lord Moulton" . The Times. London. 10 March 1921.
  61. ↑ "Pennies from Heaven". Times Higher Education. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  62. ↑ "George Perry-Smith". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 17 December 2010. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  63. ↑ "Prescott, Charles John (1857–1946)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
  64. ↑ "Sommer, John William Ernest (SMR900JW)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  65. ↑ Brown, William (4 April 2012). "Obituary: Professor James Urmson". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
  66. ↑ "Waterhouse, Jabez Bunting (1821–1891)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
  67. ↑ "Waterhouse, George Marsden (1824–1906)". Waterhouse, George Marsden. Australian National Biography. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  68. ↑ "Waterhouse, Joseph (1828–1881)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
  69. ↑ "Way, Arthur Sanders (1847–1930)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  70. ↑ "Why comedian's mum never sees funny side". Bath Chronicle. 26 August 2010. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  71. ↑ "Villers-Faucon Communal Cemetery". ormerod. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  72. ↑ "The Wesleyan Ministers' Children's Fund", The Times, 4 November 1924
  73. ↑ "'I am no different from any working mother' – Katherine Jenkins speaks ahead of performance at Bath Forum". London: Somerset Live. 16 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.

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