The King's School, Ely
Encyclopedia
The King's School, Ely, is a coeducational independent day and boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...

 in the cathedral city of Ely, Cambridgeshire
Ely, Cambridgeshire
Ely is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England, 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about by road from London. It is built on a Lower Greensand island, which at a maximum elevation of is the highest land in the Fens...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It was founded in 970 A.D., making it one of the oldest schools in the world, though it was given its Royal Charter by King 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...

 in 1541. The school consists of a nursery, a reception class, junior school, senior school, and an international study centre. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference
Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference
The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference is an association of the headmasters or headmistressess of 243 leading day and boarding independent schools in the United Kingdom, Crown Dependencies and the Republic of Ireland...

.

The school has produced a number of notable alumni, including Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066....

, King of England, and Lord Browne of Madingley (erstwhile chairman of British Petroleum.

The senior school was placed third regionally for its GCSE results. The last available national league table ranking of the school before its choice to withdraw from the ranking system was 243rd.

King's Ely has featured in the local news for its sports results, and has produced a fourth-place olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 athlete, Goldie Sayers
Goldie Sayers
Goldie Sayers, born Katherine Dinah Sayers , is a British javelin thrower. She was born in Newmarket, Suffolk, United Kingdom. On 20 May 2007, Sayers set a new UK record in the javelin , thus becoming the first British woman to throw over 65 metres since javelins were redesigned in 1999...

, who represented Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 in the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...

, coming fourth.
Much of the senior school uses the historic monastic
Christian monasticism
Christian monasticism is a practice which began to develop early in the history of the Christian Church, modeled upon scriptural examples and ideals, including those in the Old Testament, but not mandated as an institution in the scriptures. It has come to be regulated by religious rules Christian...

 buildings of the cathedral
Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon...

, and major school events and weekly services
Church service
In Christianity, a church service is a term used to describe a formalized period of communal worship, often but not exclusively occurring on Sunday, or Saturday in the case of those churches practicing seventh-day Sabbatarianism. The church service is the gathering together of Christians to be...

 are held there. One of the boys' boarding houses, School House, is claimed to be the oldest residential building in Europe. In its entirety, the school has over 950 pupils. The school has a small campus, with parts of the school in a number of buildings distributed around the centre of the city. However, all its sections make use of certain resources, such as sports facilities and the Monastic Barn.

History


The King's School in Ely is one of seven schools established, or in some cases, including this one, re-endowed and renamed, by King 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...

 in 1541 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...

.

The school has its origins in the religious house founded in Ely by St. Etheldreda in 673 AD. Before 1720 it was called the Ely Cathedral Grammar School. The school became co-educational in 1970, and in 1973, Queen Elizabeth II came to the school to celebrate the anniversary of the monastery.

The school keeps a strong link with the cathedral
Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon...

 by which it is overshadowed. A teaching institution has been on the site since 970, making it the seventh oldest school in the United Kingdom.

An article in The Illustrated London News from 1882 provided the following which showed the state of the school at that time: "The head master, after some allusion to the former history of the school (in which Edward the Confessor had been educated, and which, in the seventy years after its new foundation by Henry VIII, had developed, into a school of upwards of 300 boys, among whom were many of distinction), recounted the honours achieved in the past year. Among these were successes in the Civil Service
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....

 and Indian Civil Service examination, an exhibition at Worcester College, Oxford
Worcester College, Oxford
Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in the eighteenth century, but its predecessor on the same site had been an institution of learning since the late thirteenth century...

, a first in the May examination at Queens' College, Cambridge
Queens' College, Cambridge
Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou , and refounded in 1465 by Elizabeth Woodville...

, and a second at Peterhouse."

During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, 24 Old Eleans lost their lives and a Roll of Honour
Memorial
A memorial is an object which serves as a focus for memory of something, usually a person or an event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or art objects such as sculptures, statues or fountains, and even entire parks....

 is located in School House. Staff and pupils gather annually on 11 November for a memorial service to remember those killed.

In his memoirs from 1955, the Reverend Christopher Campling described the school's state when he became chaplain. "Academic standards were not high, but a few boys gained admission to Oxbridge
Oxbridge
Oxbridge is a portmanteau of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in England, and the term is now used to refer to them collectively, often with implications of perceived superior social status...

 each year. The music in the school was especially good, because the choristers of the cathedral choir stayed on after their voices had broken."

In 2004, the school appointed the its first female
Female
Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova .- Defining characteristics :The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male...

 Head, Susan Freestone, took over from Richard Youdale who had been headmaster for 12 years.

Monastic buildings

Many of Ely's monastic buildings are leased by Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon...

 to the school. The imposing Porta is the gateway into the monastic buildings of the cathedral
Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon...

, and now houses the school's library, classrooms and a conference room, as well as the school's archive. The monastic barn is situated directly adjacent to the Porta. At one time, this long barn housed the abbey's crops, but is now the school's dining hall. "It is a lovely place to eat in when you've had a long, hard morning at school" By Year 8 King's School pupil.

Prior Crauden's Chapel was built in 1324, and, unlike many churches, still retains much of its original wall decorations. It is used by the school for smaller services and private prayer
Prayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...

. The small organ is also used by pupils and staff. The Queen's Hall is situated next to Prior Craden's Chapel, and was finished at roughly the same time in the 1330s. This serves as the residence of the Head of School. The Infirmary is one of the oldest surviving of the monastery's buildings, constructed in the 12th century. Located on Firmary Lane near the south transept of the cathedral, the building once housed sick monks, but is now the boarding house for the Ely Cathedral boy choristers. School House is part of the monastery, and the religious studies
Religious studies
Religious studies is the academic field of multi-disciplinary, secular study of religious beliefs, behaviors, and institutions. It describes, compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing systematic, historically based, and cross-cultural perspectives.While theology attempts to...

 department is housed in the Hermitage buildings. The school uses Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon...

 as a place of worship three times a week, and for major school services.

Music

In 2001, the Gibson Music School opened, moving the entire music department from the Hereward Hall building to the purpose-built centre adjacent to the Hayward Theatre. The new building contains a recital hall, several practice rooms, a classroom and two music technology rooms. There a number of music groups, chiefly the Chapel Choir; an Orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

, Jazz Band
Jazz band
A jazz band is a musical ensemble that plays jazz music. Jazz bands usually consist of a rhythm section and a horn section, in the early days often trumpet, trombone, and clarinet with rhythm section of piano, banjo, bass or tuba, and drums.-Eras:SwingDuring the swing era in the mid-twentieth...

 and Concert Band
Concert band
A concert band, also called wind band, symphonic band, symphonic winds, wind orchestra, wind symphony, wind ensemble, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of several members of the woodwind instrument family, brass instrument family, and percussion instrument family.A...

. There is also a barbershop
Barbershop music
Barbershop vocal harmony, as codified during the barbershop revival era , is a style of a cappella, or unaccompanied vocal music characterized by consonant four-part chords for every melody note in a predominantly homophonic texture...

 choir, formed almost exclusively by boys who were choristers in the Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon...

 Choir. In 2006, the Ely Cathedral Girls' Choir was formed, comprising 18 girls choristers from the Senior School.

The school holds an annual music festival, where pupils represent their houses in a competition, culminating in a Finalist's Concert. There is also a major school musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 each year, in which the Music and Drama departments collaborate. A less serious music competition is held in the Michaelmas
Michaelmas
Michaelmas, the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel is a day in the Western Christian calendar which occurs on 29 September...

 term, when all senior school houses represent themselves in a unison and ensemble class. The school offers music scholarships to pupils who show an aptitude in at least one musical discipline, and who can contribute to the school's music groups. The music department has a Concert Society, which showcases visiting professional musicians for concerts, several times a term.

Sports

King's also has many sports facilities, including an artificial turf
Artificial turf
Artificial turf is a surface manufactured from synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commercial applications as well...

 pitch, swimming pool, tennis courts, sports hall and several outdoor pitches. In June 2002, then-headmaster Richard Youdale announced that the school would be phasing out rugby
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 from the school — arousing criticism and concern which reached the national media. The school reinstated the sport in 2005. Other sports played include football,Sculling hockey
Hockey
Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...

, netball
Netball
Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...

, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, squash
Squash (sport)
Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...

 and rounders
Rounders
Rounders is a game played between two teams of either gender. The game originated in England where it was played in Tudor times. Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a round wooden, plastic or metal bat. The players score by...

.
Teams and individuals from the school frequently represent their school and county in their discipline. Recent successes have been seen in show jumping
Show jumping
Show jumping, also known as "stadium jumping," "open jumping," or "jumpers," is a member of a family of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes commonly are seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics...

, football, and cross country running
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

, among others. British olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 javelinist
Javelin throw
The javelin throw is a track and field athletics throwing event where the object to be thrown is the javelin, a spear approximately 2.5 metres in length. Javelin is an event of both the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon...

 Goldie Sayers
Goldie Sayers
Goldie Sayers, born Katherine Dinah Sayers , is a British javelin thrower. She was born in Newmarket, Suffolk, United Kingdom. On 20 May 2007, Sayers set a new UK record in the javelin , thus becoming the first British woman to throw over 65 metres since javelins were redesigned in 1999...

 began the sport whilst at King's.

The school also has its own boat house, next to Cambridge University's on the River Great Ouse
River Great Ouse
The Great Ouse is a river in the east of England. At long, it is the fourth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The river has been important for navigation, and for draining the low-lying region through which it flows. Its course has been modified several times, with the first recorded being in...

. The river is famed for being especially wide, straight and uninterrupted. The activity is open to Senior School pupils, and has produced teams and single sculls that have competed at regional and national level, including James Scott, who is the fastest junior sculler
Sculling
Sculling generally refers to a method of using oars to propel watercraft in which the oar or oars touch the water on both the port and starboard sides of the craft, or over the stern...

 in the country. The club's blade design is blue with white stripe.

The Ely Scheme

The Ely Scheme has been running as an alternative to the Combined Cadet Force
Combined Cadet Force
The Combined Cadet Force is a Ministry of Defence sponsored youth organisation in the United Kingdom. Its aim is to "provide a disciplined organisation in a school so that pupils may develop powers of leadership by means of training to promote the qualities of responsibility, self reliance,...

 for over 30 years. Since its inception, it has developed into a unique outdoor adventure programme with its own timetabled activities for Years 9 and 10. Its aim is to develop self-confidence, team-working, problem-solving and personal skills in a variety of activities. Pupils have the opportunity to become Ely Scheme leaders as they move up the school. Many choose to embark on The Duke of Edinburgh's Award
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award , is a programme of activities that can be undertaken by anyone aged 14 to 24, regardless of personal ability....

.

King's has a dedicated climbing wall and all-terrain course, as well as access to an even larger obstacle course at nearby Braham Farm. In recent years, the school's climbing club has travelled to Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....

, the Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....

 and the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...

.

Controversies

In November 1999, a Chinese pupil was kidnapped
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...

 as he left the school premises, and held by three men. Police were able to apprehend them; it is thought the boy was about to be drowned in the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

, as ropes and ties were found in the vehicle.
The school has been the subject of a number of news stories and controversies in recent years. King's made headlines in 2002 when then-headmaster, Richard Youdale, announced that the school would phase out rugby
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 over litigation fears, even though the school had never been involved in any legal case regarding the sport. Another factor cited by the Head was the increasing popularity of football. With the introduction of a new headmistress however, the school decided to reintroduce the sport, after it found 90% of parents, and 88% of senior pupils were in favour.

In 2006, five pupils were expelled
Expulsion (academia)
Expulsion or exclusion refers to the permanent removal of a student from a school system or university for violating that institution's rules. Laws and procedures regarding expulsion vary between countries and states.-State sector:...

, and three were suspended
Suspended
Suspended: A Cryogenic Nightmare is an interactive fiction computer game written by Michael Berlyn and published by Infocom in 1983. Like most Infocom titles, it was available on most popular personal computers of the day, such as the Apple II, PC, Atari ST and Commodore 64...

 for smoking cannabis
Cannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...

 on school premises. The parents of one student threatened legal action over alleged overreaction to the situation and thus unfair treatment of their son.

Saturday school

In line with other public schools, children in year groups up to Year 5 (age 9) do not have Saturday school. Year 5 and 6 children have optional activities. Pupils in Years 7 to 11 have compulsory Saturday school while there are activities for the boarding community.

Curriculum

The school follows the standard curriculum of GCSE and A-Levels in the senior school, in years 11 and 12-13, respectively. As well as the core subjects, the school has recently expanded its A Level range to include politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...

 and more creative subjects, such as textiles and fashion, media studies
Media studies
Media studies is an academic discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history and effects of various media; in particular, the 'mass media'. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly from its core disciplines of mass...

 and photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...

. Other subjects that are available in sixth form
Sixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...

 include classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...

, economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

, psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

 and religious studies
Philosophy of religion
Philosophy of religion is a branch of philosophy concerned with questions regarding religion, including the nature and existence of God, the examination of religious experience, analysis of religious language and texts, and the relationship of religion and science...

.

GCSE

The following table shows the percentage of GCSE entrants who obtained at least 5 A* to C class grades. In 2007, 94 students took at least 1 GCSE exam at King's , 26.6% of whom had a recognised special educational need.
Year % 5 A*-C
2002 92.9
2003 94.4
2004 94.4
2005 96.0
2006 98.9
2007 98.9

King's came third among secondary schools in Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...

 in a percentage table of students who achieved the 'Level 2 threshold' - obtaining at least 5 A*-C grades, including those of maths and English, behind The Perse School, Cambridge and The Leys School, Cambridge.

A Level

In 2007, there were 68 entrants to A Level exams. Unlike at GCSE level, there has been no recognisable rise in results over recent years. The following table shows the percentage of students who achieved A-B in all of their concentrations, A-C, or A-E in all of them.
Year % A-B % A-C % A-E
2002 56.3 79.3 99.5
2003 62.2 85.6 100
2004 61.9 82.5 98.9
2005 46.8 73.8 96.8
2006 61.4 86.5 100
2007 59.7 80.1 99.1

In 2002, the school again gained notability for its decision to withhold A-Level results from the league tables, citing it as a matter of principle and stating "its results were no one else's business." At the time it was ranked 243rd in the country.

Scholars

Up to 12 of the top scholars in Year 12 are nominated as King’s Scholars (boys) or Queen’s Scholars (girls). They become members of the Cathedral Foundation and also qualify for other privileges. King’s Scholars were inaugurated 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...

 in 1541 and Queen’s Scholars at the request of Queen Elizabeth II in 1973. There is no application process for these honorary scholarships, the positions instead being awarded based on pupils' GCSE results.

The Hoop Trundle

The Hoop Trundle is performed to mark the re-founding of the school by King 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...

, in 1541. After he dissolved the monastery
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...

, he bestowed a royal Charter
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...

 on the new school and introduced the first scholars. The bowling
Bowling
Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...

 of wooden hoops within the precincts of the cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...

, along with other games, was one of the privileges that they were afforded. Female competition was added when Queen Elizabeth II introduced Queen's scholars to the school, who have taken part since. There are both male and female heats leading to a final for which a separate tankard
Tankard
A tankard is a form of drinkware consisting of a large, roughly cylindrical, drinking cup with a single handle. Tankards are usually made of silver, pewter, or glass, but can be made of other materials, for example wood, ceramic or leather. A tankard may have a hinged lid, and tankards featuring...

 is awarded to both sexes. The course is a 75 yard dash to a post and back, all whilst beating the hoop with a wooden stick down the college, a lane which leads to the south door of Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon...

.

Boarding houses

There are four boarding houses in the senior school, 2 for boys and 2 for girls, one of which is for the girls choir. Hereward Hall is a boys' boarding house, previously sited opposite the Porta, it is now situated on Barton Square in Ely, on the site of an old Cambridge theological college. It contains about 55 boys. School House is the other boys' boarding house, based along The Gallery - the road up to the west end of Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon...

. It houses approximately 60 boys. According to the school's official website, it is the "oldest inhabited residential building in Europe" although the veracity of this is uncertain. Etheldreda, previously called Canonry is a girls' boarding house, established in September 2006, for the Girls Choir of Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon...

, all of whom are pupils in senior school. The house is located very close to the cathedral itself for ease of access for practice and performance (in evensong
Evening Prayer (Anglican)
Evening Prayer is a liturgy in use in the Anglican Communion and celebrated in the late afternoon or evening...

 each Wednesday and every other Monday). Hill House, situated on the corner of Barton Square and Back Hill, was until recently a boy's boarding house, being converting to housing girls as their numbers swelled. Two houses were formed on the introduction of girls into the school; Etheldreda and Withburga; the latter to house day pupils. Until September 2006 when the girls choir house was formed, Etheldreda (later to be called 'Hill House') was the only girls' boarding house. It is now the largest of all the boarding houses. Originally situated on Cambridge Road, it relocated to Hill House (which was renamed), reverting to 1970's name of 'Hill House' in recent years.

In the most recent Ofsted
Ofsted
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England ....

 report of boarding at the school, inspectors reported that "the school provides very good care and support to boarders and there was an obvious caring culture within the boarding houses" although they said that "the school would benefit from harmonising boarding practices across the entire boarding provision."
House Name Student's Gender Part of: House Colours
Hereward Hall Boys senior school
School House Boys senior school
Hill Girls senior school
Etheldreda Girls Choir House senior school

Day houses

There are four day houses in the senior school. Students are assigned into studies
Study (room)
A study is a room in a house which is used for paperwork, computer work, or reading. Historically, the study of a house was reserved for use as the private office and reading room of a family father as the formal head of a household, but today studies are generally either used to operate a home...

, usually with 3 or 4 others, although the number usually decreases as the pupil moves into higher years. In these studies there is a work space and storage area. There are various activities annually between houses, including sports and Ely Scheme competitions. There is also a debating competition, quiz and popular house music competition. Pupils in each house meet weekly for a meeting, and also have a personal tutor who guides them throughout their time at the school.
House Name Student's Gender Part of: House Colours
Osmond Boys senior school
Wilkinson Boys senior school
Torfrida Girls senior school
Withburga Girls senior school

King's Junior School

The school has its own junior school, which is separate from the senior school, although shares many of its facilities. It has around 343 pupils from Year 3 (approximately 7) to Year 8 (aged 13). The junior school has its own faculty of staff, own administration and management and a self contained block of classrooms. This was complemented in 2003 by a new building which contained classrooms and other facilities, primarily for Year 7 and 8 pupils. The majority of Year 8 pupils can expect to transfer into King's Senior School. The Head of the junior school is R Whymark.

Like many independent schools, the junior school has a house system, with each pupil belonging to one. It forms an integral part of life at the school and there are frequent inter-house events in sports as well as the arts. The current houses are:
House Name Student's Gender Part of: House Colours House type
Goodwin Boys + Girls junior school Day
Queen Emma Boys + Girls junior school Day
Queen Philippa Boys + Girls junior school Day
Saunders Boys + Girls junior school Day
Priory House Boys + Girls junior school Boarding
Choir House Boys (choristers) junior school Boarding

All boarding pupils in Priory and Choir House are also affiliated to a day house for everyday school activities, such as house meetings and competitions.

King's Acremont

King's Acremont Nursery and Pre-Prep occupies a Georgian-style
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...

 house on Egremont Street, a ten-minute walk from the main campus. Children are admitted to the nursery from age two-and-a-half and almost all pupils transfer into Year 3 of King's Junior School at age seven. Acremont pupils join the rest of the school for major events in the cathedral where they stage their annual Christmas production. Acremont received an 'excellent' rating in its 2003 Ofsted
Ofsted
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England ....

 inspection, with inspectors saying "Young children are given an excellent start to their education … the warm, welcoming environment promotes learning and there is an excellent relationship between children, parents and teachers." Annual fees are between £6,480 and £6,975 and there are 11 full time and 7 part time staff for the 162 pupils.

International Study Centre

The International Study Centre was started primarily as a link school, so students who had little English speaking ability could orientate into the language, and eventually go to the senior school or other English-speaking public schools
Public School (UK)
A public school, in common British usage, is a school that is neither administered nor financed by the state or from taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of endowments, tuition fees and charitable contributions, usually existing as a non profit-making charitable trust...

, normally in the sixth form. The centre offers both a 2-year and a 1-year GCSE programme. The centre recommends that students attend the summer school preceding their arrival, which includes basic English as well as social activities to helps adapt to English culture. In the last 3 years, King's has integrated the study centre into the main school, with more shared activities in sports and academia. The study centre uses many of the main schools facilities like the dining hall and sports facilities, despite being, physically at least, relatively isolated from the rest of the school—opposite the Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

 Museum near the Cathedral. The termly fees for the study centre are £8400, or £25,200 per year, plus a refundable deposit of £3000. There were 41 pupils in attendance in the academic year 2006-2007.

Fees and charitable status

The fees for a full boarding child in the senior school are £21,510 (2007–08). Like most public schools, King's (as a non-profit educational body) is a registered charity, and as such benefits from substantial tax breaks. It was calculated by David Jewell, master of Haileybury, that in 1992 such tax breaks save the school about £1,945 per pupil per year. The school offers hardship bursaries, of which is gave over £1 million in 2007, and scholarships and grants whiched totalled £350,000. These include music scholarships—amounting to around two-thirds for choristers whilst serving in the Cathedral Choir, and a third scholarship upon their continuation as a pupil in the Senior School. There are further major and minor scholarships for music, sports and academic performance. The Senior School occasionally offers a large major scholarship for a promising organist or musician who is of a particularly high quality. Like many public schools
Public School (UK)
A public school, in common British usage, is a school that is neither administered nor financed by the state or from taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of endowments, tuition fees and charitable contributions, usually existing as a non profit-making charitable trust...

, King's offers fee reductions when more than one child attends, and to the children of staff members. There also bursaries for children of the Clergy
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....

, Armed Forces
Armed Forces
Armed Forces is Elvis Costello's third album, his second with the Attractions, and the first to officially credit the Attractions on the cover. It was released in the UK by Radar Records and in the U.S. by Columbia in 1979...

 and to those who would otherwise not be able to afford it, on a means tested basis. Nearly half of all pupils receive some sort of financial award, be it a bursary or a scholarship, with 411 benefiting in 2006.

School finances

Information about income and expenditure for the last seven years is available to the public on the Charity Commission
Charity Commission
The Charity Commission for England and Wales is the non-ministerial government department that regulates registered charities in England and Wales....

 website. Both income and expenditure have steadily increased over recent years. In 2006, an anoymous donor gave over £700,000 to the school.
Financial year start Financial year end Gross Income (£) Total expenditure (£)
01 Sep 2000 31 Aug 2001 8,172,418 7,868,677
01 Sep 2001 31 Aug 2002 8,714,962 8,423,724
01 Sep 2002 31 Aug 2003 9,059,872 8,899,425
01 Sep 2003 31 Aug 2004 9,673,953 9,494,414
01 Sep 2004 31 Aug 2005 9,965,165 9,841,653
01 Sep 2005 31 Aug 2006 11,332,975 10,396,656
01 Sep 2006 31 Aug 2007 11,265,018 11,011,992

Ely Cathedral Choir

The boy choristers of Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon...

 are all educated at and boarders of the school. The amount of choristers numbers between 18 to 22 boys, varying per year. The choristers perform evensong 4 nights during the week, evensong on Saturday and Sunday, as well as a Morning Service on Sundays. They practise in the mornings before school. The choristers are joined to day houses as well as their boarding house, Choir House. The choir is currently under the directorship of Paul Trepte. The assistant organist is Jonathan Lilley.

The choristers are aged between 8 years old and 13 years. Two members of the group, Patrick Aspbury and CJ Porter-Thaw who formed part of The Choirboys
The Choirboys (boyband)
The Choirboys are an English boy band, made up of cathedral choristers. In 2005, a talent search was held to find a young chorister to bring choral music into the then current music scene, however, the judges could not decide which of its three finalists should be given the recording contract and...

, were Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon...

 choristers. The choir has toured many countries in the past, including The United States, Canada, Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

 as well as extensively in mainland Europe. The choir is also regularly engaged in concerts, both in the Cathedral as well as other prestigious venues (such as the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....

) and has produced a number of Compact Disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

s.

Ely Cathedral Girls' Choir was also launched in 2006, comprising sixteen girl choristers from the Senior School, which has allowed a slightly reduced weekly schedule for the boy choristers. Since September 2010, the girls' choir has been directed by Sarah MacDonald
Sarah Macdonald
Sarah Macdonald is an Australian journalist, author and radio presenter.After completing a cadetship at ABC Radio News, Sarah worked as Triple J's political correspondent in Canberra, later hosting the Morning Show....

.

In his memoirs, Christopher Campling described the voice of choir in 1955 as "something different" from other Cathedral Choirs. "Michael Howard [the director of music] purposely produced a tone for the boys which was halfway between the continental guttural sound produced from the chest voice, and the pure hard tone of the traditional English cathedral treble, as found at King's College, Cambridge
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....

. The "Ely Sound" was harsher than King's, more flexible, more vigorous, always excellent in enunciation."

Notable former pupils

  • Edward the Confessor
    Edward the Confessor
    Edward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066....

    , King of England, 1042-1066
  • Matthew Amroliwala
    Matthew Amroliwala
    Matthew Amroliwala is a BBC newsreader who presents on the BBC News Channel each weekday from 11am - 2pm alongside Jane Hill. He is an occasional relief presenter of the BBC Weekend News on BBC One and appears in the revamped Crimewatch programme on BBC One, with Kirsty Young.-Biography:He was...

    , BBC
    BBC
    The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

     News 24 newsreader
  • Julian Bennett, Television presenter
  • Ed Blum
    Ed Blum
    Ed Blum is the director and producer of Scenes of a Sexual Nature , a low budget British movie starring Ewan McGregor and Sophie Okonedo, filmed entirely on Hampstead Heath. This was his first full-length feature and as Blum said, was made "for less than Love Actually 's catering budget."He was...

    , film director
    Film director
    A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

    , known for the film Scenes of a Sexual Nature
    Scenes of a Sexual Nature
    Scenes of a Sexual Nature is a 2006 British comedy-drama film directed by Ed Blum. It stars Ewan McGregor, among others.-Plot:The film is mostly based on a series of seven loosely related stories of couples on Hampstead Heath in north London, featuring an ensemble cast...

  • James Bowman, English countertenor
    Countertenor
    A countertenor is a male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of a contralto, mezzo-soprano, or a soprano, usually through use of falsetto, or far more rarely than normal, modal voice. A pre-pubescent male who has this ability is called a treble...

     and former Ely Cathedral Chorister.
  • Lord Browne of Madingley, Former CEO of British Petroleum
  • †Sir Antony Buck, QC
    Queen's Counsel
    Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...

    , Conservative MP
    Member of Parliament
    A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

  • Nigel Colborn, broadcaster and gardening expert, former presenter of BBC
    BBC
    The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

     Gardeners' Question Time
    Gardeners' Question Time
    Gardeners' Question Time is a long-running BBC Radio 4 programme in which amateur gardeners can put questions to a panel of experts.-History:...

  • †Dick Everitt, television and film producer, with credits including Coronation Street
    Coronation Street
    Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...

  • Oliver Jarvis
    Oliver Jarvis
    Oliver Jarvis is a racing driver.- Racing career :Oliver was first introduced to motorsport from an early age when his father Carl was competing in Formula Ford 1600...

    , British Racing driver
  • Ardeshir Naghshineh, founder of Targetfellow
  • Oliver Oakes
    Oliver Oakes
    Oliver Oakes is a British motor racing driver, and was the 2005 World Karting champion, the highest category for kart racing...

    , British Formula Three
    Formula Three
    Formula Three, also called Formula 3 or F3, is a class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers...

     Racing driver
  • Aubrey Powell, Designer, noted for designing Led Zeppelin
    Led Zeppelin
    Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...

    's Houses of the Holy
    Houses of the Holy
    Houses of the Holy is the fifth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released by Atlantic Records on 28 March 1973. The album title is a dedication by the band to their fans who appeared at venues they dubbed "Houses of the Holy". It was the second Led Zeppelin album to not...

    album cover.
  • Goldie Sayers
    Goldie Sayers
    Goldie Sayers, born Katherine Dinah Sayers , is a British javelin thrower. She was born in Newmarket, Suffolk, United Kingdom. On 20 May 2007, Sayers set a new UK record in the javelin , thus becoming the first British woman to throw over 65 metres since javelins were redesigned in 1999...

    , Olympic athlete - Javelin
    Javelin throw
    The javelin throw is a track and field athletics throwing event where the object to be thrown is the javelin, a spear approximately 2.5 metres in length. Javelin is an event of both the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon...

  • Alan Yentob
    Alan Yentob
    Alan Yentob is a British television executive and presenter who has worked throughout his career at the BBC.-Early life:...

    , Television executive, producer
    Television producer
    The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...

     and presenter
    Presenter
    A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...

     of BBC
    BBC
    The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

    's Imagine
    Imagine (TV series)
    Imagine is a wide ranging arts series first broadcast on BBC One in 2003, hosted and executive produced by Alan Yentob. Each series usually consists of 4 to 7 episodes, each on a different topic...

     series.
  • Dr. Frances Ward, Dean of St Edmundsbury, Cathedral of Bury St. Edmunds.
  • Thomas Willett
    Thomas Willett
    Thomas Willett was a British-born American merchant, Plymouth Colony trader and sea-captain, Commissioner of New Netherland, magistrate of Plymouth Colony, Captain of the Plymouth Colony militia and was the first Mayor of New York City, prior to the consolidation of the five boroughs into the City...

    , First Mayor of New York.

See also

  • List of the oldest schools in the world
  • The King's School, Canterbury
    The King's School, Canterbury
    The King's School is a British co-educational independent school for both day and boarding pupils in the historic English cathedral city of Canterbury in Kent. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group....

  • The King's School, Chester
    The King's School, Chester
    The King's School, Chester is a British coeducational independent 7-18 school situated just outside the city of Chester. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference....

  • The King's School, Gloucester
    The King's School, Gloucester
    The King's School, Gloucester is an independent school in the United Kingdom, taking students from the ages of 3-18, with around 500 students. The current Headmaster is Alastair Macnaughton.- Origins :...

  • The King's School, Peterborough
    The King's School, Peterborough
    The King's School is a Voluntary Aided Church of England comprehensive secondary school in Peterborough, England. On the 1st January 2011, the School became an academy and changed its name from 'The King's School, Peterborough'...

  • The King's School, Rochester
    The King's School, Rochester
    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...

  • The King's School, Worcester
    The King's School, Worcester
    The King's School, Worcester is an English independent school refounded by Henry VIII in 1541. It occupies a site adjacent to Worcester Cathedral on the banks of the River Severn in the centre of the city of Worcester...


External links


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