Information about The King's School, Sydney

For other schools of the same name, see The King's School.

The King's School, Parramatta
Fortiter et Fideliter (Latin:"Bravely and Faithfully")[1]
Established	1831[1]
School type	Independent, Single-sex, Day & Boarding
Denomination	Anglican
Key People	Dr. Timothy Hawkes (Headmaster) The Revd Martin Robinson (Chairman)
School Fees	AU$10,724–20,913 p.a (day) AU$30,100–36,100 p.a (boarding)[2]
Location	North Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia
Enrolment	~1465 (K–12)[3]
Employees	~108[3]
Colours	White & Sky Blue
Homepage	www.kings.edu.au

The King's School is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school for boys', located in North Parramatta, a Greater Western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Established in 1831, King's is one of the oldest operating schools in Australia,^[4] and currently caters for approximately 1465 students from Kindergarten to Year 12.^[3] The school also enrols approximately 430 boarders from years 5 to 12,^[1] making it one of the largest boarding schools in Australia.^[6]

The School is a member of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA),^[7] the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA),^[8] the Australian Boarding Schools' Association,^[1] and is a founding member of the Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales (AAGPS).^[9]

Campus

The King's School is situated on a single 120-hectare campus^[10] located on the outskirts of suburban Parramatta. Some notable facilities of the school include:

Sports

Sporting facilities include 15 playing fields used interchangeably between cricket and rugby, 14 tennis courts, five basketball courts, five soccer fields, a 50 metre lap pool, a 25 metre swimming pool, a diving pool, and a gym under which there is a small rifle range. The school also has a rowing facility in Putney, on the Parramatta River. A newly constructed gym was opened on 16 June 2007 and dubbed the Sports Centre.

The extensive sporting facilities of The King's School have been subject to much political scrutiny during the tenure of Prime Minister John Howard, whereby the Australian Labor Party has criticised Federal Government grants to ostensibly wealthy private schools. The controversy reached its apex during the 2004 Federal election in which Mark Latham, as Leader of the Opposition, launched a private school "hit list" which would strip hundreds of millions of dollars from elite private schools.<ref name="Labor's private school hit list">Schubert, Mischa (2004) (published 2004-15-09), <[1] on 2007-10-19). Latham was subsequently defeated at the election.

Senior School

The King's senior school features a library within the Centre for Learning and Leadership, as well as separate buildings for visual arts, music, science, and industrial design and technology. However, the majority of academic proceedings occur within a precinct generally known as the "quadrangle" in which there are twenty classrooms all of which are fully equipped with audio-visual and computer facilities.

House System

Senior School

The King's School has implemented a house system consisting of 15 separate houses for both day students and boarders. The boarding houses include Gowan Brae, Baker, Bishop Barker, Broughton, Forrest, Hake Harris, Macarthur and Waddy; whilst the day student houses include Britten, Burkitt, Dalmas, Kurrle, Maquarie and Wickham. The houses serve as a hub for students wherein recreational and pastoral activities are conducted.

Kurrle and Wickham were created as a result of an expansion in enrolments in 2001, but the remaining Houses have been in existence for several decades. Their names are derived from former Headmasters.

Preparatory School

The preparatory school has four houses - Stiles, Thomas, Blaxland and Harrison. Blaxland includes both boarders and day students, however boarders are housed within Gowan Brae, which is shared exclusively with Year 7 students.

The purpose of Gowan Brae is to serve as an intermediary step between primary and secondary schooling, allowing Year 7 students the opportunity to adapt to the unique institutions of the senior school, whilst remaining within a common peer group of similar age.

Uniform

The King's School uniform is unique among Sydney schools, and is the oldest military uniform still worn in Australia.^[11] It consists of navy-blue trousers with a vertical red stripe; white shirt and grey/red jacket. The uniform reflects the military history of the school, and is similar to the blazers worn at the Battle of Waterloo.

The jacket may be modified to denote rank in the cadet corps. All students, except school prefects, wear one badge on the collar of their uniform jacket. Prefects wear two badges on both sides. This is due to the fact that students of lower rank would have carried rifles over one shoulder, thus damaging the additional badge, whilst prefects would instead be armed with pistols.

The jacket is replaced in Years 11 and 12 with a white, pinstriped navy-blue blazer or a sky-blue Honours blazer. Both blazers feature pockets which may have special stitching commemorating academic or sporting achievements in the form of full or half "colours". Outstanding achievement is awarded with Honours "colours" and is exclusively signified by the sky-blue blazer. The jacket and blazers must be worn with a standard black tie, the colour commemorating the death of Queen Victoria.

The preparatory school uniform differs slightly to that of the senior school. Students in Kindergarten to Year 2 also wear the pinstriped blazer, however it is in conjunction with khaki shorts and knee-high black socks. From Years 3 to 6, students wear navy-blue shorts with the vertical red stripe, knee-high black socks and the grey/red blazer.

Co-curriculum

Co-curricular activities offered by the school include debating, choir, musicals, bands and ensembles, sport, and the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. Senior intellectual clubs (The Twelve Club, The Cartesian Club, the Scipionic Circle), are also offered.

The school hosts and produces an annual musical containing a cast of current students from The King's School and Tara Anglican School for Girls. Past productions include The Pirates of Penzance, South Pacific, Guys and Dolls, Fiddler on the Roof, My Fair Lady, The Mikado and Grease.

Academic Clubs

The school's headmaster, deputy headmaster and other senior staff each host intellectual clubs composed of promising senior students. The most eminent clubs include the "Twelve Club" hosted by headmaster Dr Timothy Hawkes and "The Cartesian Club" hosted by deputy headmaster Peter Rainey. The members of these clubs are usually selected as a result of their success in areas of academics or leadership activities.

Debating

King's prep competes in the JSHAA and ISDA debating competitions, while the senior school competes in the GPS and ISDA competitions. 2004 saw the school win the ISDA competition, the largest independent schools competition in NSW, for the first time. In 2004 the school was also represented in national and world championship winning representative teams.

Cadet Corps

The school's Cadet Corps is the oldest and largest in Australia. All students in Years 8 and 9 are required to undertake cadetships in which they are taught self-preservation techniques, absailing, shooting, map reading, marching and other general leadership skills. Each year, a Corps camp is held at the Singleton Defence Force Base in New South Wales.

The Cadet Corps performs an annual Passing-out Parade, which commemorates the transferral of leadership and colours from the senior Year 12 cadets to specially-selected Year 11 cadets. The event is rooted in much tradition, usually presided over by a high-ranking member of the Australian Defence Force, and generally attracting an audience of thousands wishing to view the formal procession.

The King's School Marching Band is a central element of the Cadet Corps, providing the rhythm to which the cadets must march during the Passing-out parade. The band consists of members of the Senior Concert Band and the Performing Band, and it also marches annually at the ANZAC Day Parade in Sydney.

Music

The school has a music programme that caters for all levels of musical ability. In Year 7 boys complete the compulsory 100 hour music course set by the Government, which introduces them to singing and basic rhythm patterns. Full and half period instrumental lessons are offered, with teachers for piano , pipe organ, violin, viola, violoncello, guitar, contrabass, tuba, French horn, trombone, trumpet, saxophone, flute, clarinet, percussion, voice and bagpipes.

The Performing Band is a Wind ensemble that caters for beginning to intermediate musicians studying Grade 4 AMEB and lower. It performs mainly Jazz music. The Senior Concert Band is a Symphonic Wind Ensemble that performs Symphonic and Jazz music. Its repertoire includes "The Typewriter" and "The Carnival of the Animals". The Marching Band includes members of The Senior Concert Band and select members of The Performing Band. The Marching Band's repertoire includes patriotic Australian pieces such as "Waltzing Matilda", and Sousa Marches.

The school has a Junior Strings ensemble and a Chamber String Orchestra for experienced players. Junior strings is mainly for musicians of Grade 3 AMEB and lower, and the orchestra is for higher grades. There are also two piano trios, three stage bands and a guitar ensemble for each year group.

The School has a main, non-auditioned choir for boys in the senior school. In the prep school there are two choirs. The School has recently introduced a new invitation only choir called "Schola Cantorum" meaning School of Singers. This consists of a select few from the Prep and Senior Schools.

King's has two organs; a chapel organ in the Memorial Chapel and a baroque organ in Futter Hall. The latter, along with Knox's Organ was the first mechanical action organ in Sydney.

Sport

Sport is compulsory for all students. In the Senior School students may participate in Rugby Union, Rowing, Cricket, Basketball, Tennis, Football, Swimming, Cross Country, or if personally selected by the sportsmaster, may represent the school at Shooting. In the prep school, Cricket, Rugby Union, Football, Teeball, Tennis, and Softball are available. The school engages in these sports as a member of the GPS competition consisting of seven other schools; St Ignatius' College, St Joseph's College, Sydney High School, Sydney Grammar School, Sydney Church of England Grammar School, Newington College and The Scots College.

In rowing, the school has won the GPS Head of the River 17 times (including 2006 and 2007), and the Schoolboy VIII at the National Rowing Championships in 1982, 2001 and 2006. The school has also won the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta in 2001 and the Fawley Challenge Cup in 2006. During the 2007 Head of the River, The Kings School refused to allow the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority(ASADA) to test its first eight rowing team after reports the ASADA had forced students from the Sydney Church of England Grammar School rowing team to strip naked and give urine samples.[2]

The rugby union 1st XV team has won numerous GPS Premierships in recent years, including those in 1997-2000 and 2002, as well as the 2000 Sanix World Rugby Youth Tournament in Japan. The current Australian Wallabies Rugby team contains a number of former students including Stirling Mortlock, Benn Robinson, Julian Huxley, Will Caldwell and James Hilgendorf.

The school's 1st XI cricket team recently won the GPS premiership, edging out a strong Sydney Church of England Grammar School side to win by 8 runs in the final round, and capturing their first Premiership in cricket in 41 years.

Notable alumni

Alumni of The King's School are known as Old Boys. For notable Old Boys of The King's School, see List of Old Boys of The King's School, Sydney.

References