King's College, Guildford

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Kings College for the Arts and Technology
Established	1950s
Principal	Mr Graeme Hawkett
Specialism	Technology College
Location	Southway Guildford Surrey GU2 8DU England
LEA	Surrey
Ofsted number	131966
Students	1003
Gender	Coeducational
Ages	11 to 18
Website	http://www.kingscollegeguildford.com
Coordinates: 51°14′40″N 0°36′26″W / 51.24435, -0.60715

Kings College, Guildford situated in the Park Barn Estate of the Surrey town was an early pioneer in the International Baccalaureate programme. The school has around 850 pupils as of September 2006.

The school was first opened as Park Barn School (after the area it is in), in the late 1950s. At this time it was known as a good school. However, in the 70s, 80s and 90s, the school slipped. In 1991, the school was renamed King's Manor. The results improved for a year, but then slipped again. In 2000, the school reopened as King's College^[1], and an almost entirely new staff were hired. The school was refurbished, the very basic science labs rebuilt, and 200 computers were placed around the school. 2 new classrooms have been added, as well as a £1.3m Arts Centre. This contains two music rooms, a dance studio, and a drama studio. It also has a state-of-the-art recording studio.

The first head of King's College was Mr David Crossley. He left the school to help other failing schools. He was then succeeded by Mr Vince Hodkinson, who left for family reasons. The current principals are Mrs Sarah Mackintosh and Mr Graeme Hawkett^[1].

Over the last 6 six years the College results have improved as below.

Year	% 5+ A*-C inc maths and English
2003	22%
2004	12%
2005	28%
2006	35%

The IB has been running since the school became King's College. This is a demanding course and is usually best for those students getting A*-B at G.C.S.E level. Most universities require 30 points or higher to undertake a degree course. To get a diploma a student has to gain 24 points and fulfill other criteria. Nationally normally 80% of students taking the IB will receive a diploma.

The results for 2007 have been announced and only 42% of the 24 students sitting the IB received a diploma.

In 2006/2007 some parents of current and past parents were unhappy with the IB teaching and results of Kings College. They set up a website www.kingscollegeguildfordparents.com to allow other parents to contact them.

The results so far for previous years at Kings College have been

Year	Number of Pupils	Average Points achieved
2002	7	21.4
2003	14	19
2004	15	22.79
2005	14	25
2006	15	24.60
2007	24	23

[edit] House System

In 2005 4 house groups were created. House Groups: Green-Franklin, Yellow-Newton, Blue-Russel, Red-Austen.^{[citation needed]}

As part of the annual Christmas House quiz, staff at the school recorded their own version of the Band Aid song, "Do They Know It's Christmas"^[2] which went on to be one of December 2007's most popular videos on Youtube as well as raise money for the Band Aid Charitable Trust^[3].