Kingswood School
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| Headmaster | Gary Best |
| Founded | 1748 |
| School type | Public School |
| Member | Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference |
| Gender | Co-educational: was boys school: girls admitted 1978 |
| Location | Bath, Bath and North East Somerset, United Kingdom |
| Total pupils | Approx. 500 (inc Sixth Form) |
Kingswood School is a public day and boarding school in Bath, Somerset. The school owns the Kingswood Day Preparatory School, the Upper and Middle Playing Fields and numerous buildings within and around the site. The school regularly performs well in GCSE and A Level examinations.
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[edit] History
Kingswood School was founded by John Wesley in 1748 in Kingswood near Bristol and was initially established for the education of the sons of the itinerant ministers (clergy) of the Methodist Church. Woodhouse Grove School was founded soon afterwards and was linked with Kingswood as a prep school for much of the Nineteenth Century.
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.
Kingswood School moved to its current location on the northern slopes of Bath in 1851. Its site is in the midst of 218 acres of the former Lansdown estate of the famous nineteenth-century millionaire eccentric, William Thomas Beckford.
Sons of lay people were first admitted to the school from 1922.
During World War II Kingswood was used by the government for military planning. For these years the school operated from Uppingham School. It is said that the Mulberry harbours of World War II were named after the Mulberry Bush that still exists outside the Moulton Hall of the school which is in turn named after old boy Lord Moulton.
Girls were first admitted in 1978.
[edit] Organisation
Like other public schools, Kingswood pupils are divided into Boarding Houses for both living convenience and sporting competitiveness.
The houses are known as:
Upper (Day Boys) Middle (Day and Boarding Boys) Hall (Day and Boarding Boys) School (Day Girls) Summerhill (Day and Boarding Girls) Fonthill (Day and Boarding Girls)
Between the ages of 11 and 13, both boys and girls reside within one house called Westwood. Prior to 1999 girls and boys between the ages 11 and 13 were housed within two separate houses, Westwood for boys and Beaconsfield for girls.
Chapel attendance is compulsory at least once a week although due to the recent expansion of the school the weekly Whole School Service is now held in the Kingswood Theatre. The theatre is also rented out to local performance groups and has hosted many plays in recent years.
[edit] Sport
Kingswood has a reputation for encouraging sports with boys playing rugby, hockey and cricket regularly. Kingswood regularly competes with all other public schools in Somerset and most Kingswood boys consider King Edward's School, Bath as their main rivals due to its close proxmity and history of rivalry. Sporting achievements within the school are awarded by the presentation of "Colours" by first a special badge and then a special blazer.
[edit] Eco-Schools
Kingswood School is greatly involved with ecology, and has a vast amount of projects to try and promote the important of the environment and reduce waste at Kingswood generally. Kingswood was one of the first schools in the local area to adopt the project and be awarded its Green Flag. They have since begun outreach work with other local schools including Batheaston Junior School.
[edit] Notable Alumni
- See also the category Alumni of Kingswood School.
- David Blow (influential British biophysicist)
- Jeremy Bray (British Labour politician, former Government Minister and Member of Parliament)
- Richard Cork (Art Historian and critic)
- Sir Kenneth Cross (Air Chief Marshall, Air Officer Commander-in-Chief Bomber Command)
- Tim Curry (English actor, singer and composer)
- Arthur Lee Dixon (mathematician) (see MacTutor)
- Alan Fitch (British Labour politician, Member of Parliament, Member of the European Parliament)
- Antony Flew (Philosopher)
- Jonathan Lynn (English actor, comedy writer, and director)
- Francis Sowerby Macaulay (mathematician)
- John Fletcher Moulton (Politician, weapon designer, Lord Justice)
- George P. Sanderson (Author and Superintendent of Elephant Keddahs, India)
- Johann Wilhelm Ernst Sommer (Prominent German Cleryman)
- Edward J. Thompson (Poet, novelist, Oxford academic, and writer on Indian history and Bengali literature and language)
- E.P. Thompson (Marxist historian and peace campaigner)
- Anthony Thwaite (Poet and writer)
- Alan Watson, Baron Watson of Richmond (Lib Dem peer)
- Arthur Way (Academic)
- David Wilshire (Conservative M.P)
- A son of Prince Makonnen of Ethiopia
[edit] Literature
- A.H.L. Hastling; W. Addington Willis; W.P. Workman (old boys), 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)
