Age range. 4–13 Co-educational.
Number of pupils. 389 pupils: including day pupils, full boarders, weekly boarders and flexi-boarders.
Fees per term (2024-2025). Weekly Boarders: £10,410; Choristers: £3,435; Day Pupils: £6,720; Pre-Prep: £5,295.
King’s College School is a leading independent prep school for girls and boys aged 4–13. We are large enough to provide a full range of options and facilities, but small enough to give a ‘family feel’, where the teachers can get to know all the children.
The school enjoys an excellent academic reputation, with a huge number of leavers winning scholarships to senior schools in various disciplines.
Situated in the centre of Cambridge, the school is ideally placed on a leafy campus to combine the strengths of traditional academic and cultural excellence with modern and innovative educational ideas.
Admission. Prospective parents are invited to come to King’s for an individual tour of the School with the Registrar. Entry to all year groups is by assessment and by taking into account current school reports (Years 1–8).
Curriculum. Our curriculum embraces the Common Entrance and Independent Schools Scholarship syllabuses, as well as meeting the requirements laid down in the National Curriculum. We also teach French from the age of 4, Latin from age 8, and Ancient Greek to older children. Standards of literacy and numeracy are high at King’s. While external examination success is the final goal, children are encouraged to develop a sense of achievement, enjoyment and attainment of potential in all subjects. The School has a history of winning numerous academic, art, music, drama and sports awards annually.
Choristers. In 1441, Henry VI founded King’s College and decreed that there should be 16 choristers to sing at services in his chapel. Now, over 550 years later, our choristers are famed throughout the world and each year millions of listeners and viewers tune in on Christmas Eve to enjoy the ‘Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols’ from King’s College Chapel. For more information about the choir and choristerships at King’s please visit our website: www.kcs.cambs.sch.uk/kings-choristers. Schola Cantorum. A choral training programme for girls in Years 4 to 8 was launched in 2020, giving them opportunities for rehearsal and performance both here in Cambridge and further afield.
Facilities. A newly built Sport and Culture Centre is situated at the heart of the school. The Wiles Centre for Technology has first-class facilities for ICT and DT. The Performing Arts Centre includes 16 music rooms and a multipurpose hall used for plays and concerts; it also doubles as a fully-equipped gym.
A modern classroom block contains 2 well-equipped science labs as well as classrooms for modern languages, English and Maths; our purpose-built recently refurbished library houses over 17,500 books.
Music. King’s has a strong tradition of musical excellence and encourages pupils to participate on all levels. We have many choral and instrumental groups including jazz groups, 2 orchestras of some 80 players each and about 40 chamber groups.
Sports. Our new sports and cultural centre is now complete and includes facilities for badminton, netball, basketball, cricket, dance, concerts, lectures and assemblies. We also have two large playing fields, tennis courts, a heated outdoor swimming pool, floodlit astroturf, and two recently built squash courts. Games include Rugby, Football, Hockey, Cricket, Girls’ Cricket, Netball, Rounders, Athletics, Tennis, Squash, and Swimming. We run Sports Performance and Sports Development programmes, to enable all children to enjoy sports regardless of their underlying ability.
Activities. Drama, Art, Computing, Craft, Touch-typing, Spelling, Gardening, DT, Music and Mindfulness, Gardening, PE, Chess, Science, Wildlife Explorers, Library, Orienteering, Yoga, Ballet, Spanish, Electronics, Karate, Jazz Dance, Street Dance, Airfix, Ballet, Cookery, Cross Stitch, Spelling, Board Games, French Films, and Mandarin Chinese.
Staff. The Head is assisted by 51 full-time and 22 part-time teachers. There are 40 full or part-time music staff.
Bursaries. Means-tested bursaries are available for children applying for places in Year 3 from a state school.
Leaving King’s. Pupils are prepared for local senior school entrance assessments as well as for Common Entrance and academic scholarship examinations. Nearly all children are offered places at their first-choice senior school and many achieve scholarship awards. Some pupils also transfer to local state schools.
Charitable status. King’s College School is an integral part of King’s College, Cambridge, which is a Registered Charity, number 1139422. Its aim is to provide an excellent education for girls and boys of mixed ability aged 4 to 13.