King's College Taunton

Founded in 1880, King’s College is a co-educational boarding school that comprises King’s Prep for children from nursery to Year 8 and King’s College senior school from Year 9 to Sixth Form. The schools are just two-hours from London and situated on separate sites in the heart of the Somerset countryside.

With approximately 490 pupils from 13 to 18 in the senior school, King’s College provides inspired teaching and superb facilities with a Christian ethos that combines to create an environment in which young people achieve great things.

With a long-established boarding tradition, all pupils, including day students, belong to boarding houses. Boarders come from far and wide, making for a varied and vibrant community, and there is a clear, strong pastoral network.

The school holds the position of being one of the top academic secondary institutions in the county, regularly leading the tables in both GCSE and A-level results. As well as academic excellence, the breadth of sport and other co-curricular activities are unparalleled for a school of King’s size.

As well as being an exceptionally happy school, we are busy and purposeful. Pupils leave well qualified, but more importantly, they leave as well-rounded, balanced individuals who have been nurtured and encouraged to grow, develop and explore.

There is a vast array of co-curricular activities from sport and drama, to music and outdoor pursuits, CCF and dance to cookery and debating. The nearby Equestrian Centre caters for riders of all abilities, and the state-of-the-art cricket centre offers all-year-round practice facilities to the growing number of county players at the school. Outdoor activities are well catered for under the umbrella of the CCF (Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Army sections), and alongside that are the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze and Gold award schemes. Kayaking and water polo are popular, as is climbing using the indoor wall and climbing club.

Sixth Formers study in a dedicated Sixth Form Centre which was designed by the pupils for the pupils and is complete with lecture theatre, business education suite, careers centre, study spaces and café. It provides a smart, distinctively modern and entrepreneurial feel to the Sixth Form experience, and acts as a bridge between school and university/professional life.

King’s offers a rich and life-affirming experience so pupils leave well prepared for the demands and challenges of life. They are independent, resilient, resourceful, kind, capable, interested and interesting young men and women, eager and well-equipped to make their mark on the world.

As Woodard schools, King's College:

• Grounds itself in Christian belief, teaching and values, celebrating that faith in creative and meaningful ways through worship.
• Fosters the virtues of faith, hope and love in all aspects of its life as central to its Christian ethos.
• Welcomes inclusively those of all faiths and none.
• Believes in the unique value of each individual, regardless of race, gender or creed.
• Pursues academic excellence with a commitment to good teaching and effective learning.
• Aims to prepare each young person for the future by means of a full and rounded education.
• Provides outstanding pastoral care within a supportive community.
• Seeks to build a community which reflects family life with mutually respectful and warm relationships.
• Nurtures self-respect and self-esteem, high moral values, responsible citizenship and a commitment to the service of others.
• Strives to be outward looking, working with others in the local and wider community for mutual benefit.

The school aims to:

• Provide a Woodard Education, rooted in a Christian ethos, for boys and girls aged 2 to 18.
• Inspire in pupils a desire for excellence and a love of learning which goes beyond the formal curriculum, to develop independent, searching minds and to encourage pupils to realise their full academic potential, ready for university and other tertiary studies.
• Ensure that the years children spend at King's Hall and King’s College are happy and fulfilling ones.
• Provide a safe, welcoming, supportive and tolerant environment in which each pupil feels valued as an individual and, in turn, learns the importance of tolerance and consideration towards others.
• Encourage wide interest, participation, and high standards of achievement at school and beyond, in sport, music, drama, community service, outdoor pursuits and other activities through the provision of excellent facilities and expert coaching and tuition.
• Maintain the boarding ethos and structures of the school to the benefit of all pupils.
• Maintain a close partnership with parents in guiding and caring for their children.
• Help each child to realise the importance of contributing to the community, both inside the school and beyond, and ensure that the school is of benefit to the community both locally and further afield.
• Appoint talented staff who share these aims and to assist them in their professional development.