King's School, Macclesfield

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The King's School, Macclesfield, is an all through co-educational private day school in Prestbury, Cheshire, England, and a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. It was founded in 1502 by Sir John Percyvale, a former Lord Mayor of London, as Macclesfield Grammar School.

History

The King's School was founded in 1502 within the Church of St Michael and All Angels, Macclesfield. It was re-founded by Edward VI in 1552 as the "Free Grammar School of King Edward VI". It moved to Cumberland Street, 300 metres further from the town square, in 1844. In July 2020, the school moved to a new location adjacent to its long-held Derby Playing Fields, on the outskirts of Macclesfield.<ref name="Campus">Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1844 a Modern School, with a more commercial and technical curriculum, was built by the governors to run in tandem with the Grammar School. It merged with the Grammar School in 1912.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The school operated as a direct-grant school and offered scholarships for boys from state elementary schools from 1926 until 1966, when its application to continue as a direct grant grammar school was refused and it became fully independent.<ref>Template:Cite hansard</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The boys' junior school was opened in 1947. In 1993, girls from age 11 to 16 were admitted and housed with co-educational juniors, and later infants, at the old Macclesfield High School site on Fence Avenue. The Sixth Form had been co-educational since 1986.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The King's School's 2020 development plans involved closing the two existing school sites in Macclesfield and opening a new single site school in Prestbury, near Macclesfield.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The development plans involved selling off the two existing school sites for housing development to fund the new school site.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The school acquired greenbelt farmland adjacent to its Derby Fields site for which it subsequently sought planning permission in order to develop the existing school site and the farmland for housing.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Planning permission was granted to the school to build more than 250 houses on the greenbelt land in Macclesfield in July 2016.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The new school was built on green belt land in nearby Prestbury. Planning permission for all sites was confirmed when the Secretary of State declined to call in the plans for further scrutiny in September 2016.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In July 2020, King's School left Macclesfield after more than 500 years of continuous operation in the town and relocated to Prestbury.<ref name="Campus"/> In 2024, after 500 years of teaching Latin, King’s school controversially withdrew Latin from its curriculum. This led to parents making a formal complaint to an independent body regarding this decision and the lack of transparent decision making by the school’s governing body.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Academia

The school follows the National Curriculum for GCSE in Years 10–11 and A-Levels in the sixth form. In 2012, pupils achieved A*/A in 41% of all exams and A* – B in three-quarters of exams. Pupils achieved the best-ever GCSE results in 2012 with 33% of grades at A* grade, more than 63% of grades at A*/A and 86% at A* – B grade.

In 2011, pupils achieved 75% A* to B grade at A-level, with a 99.7% pass rate, and 60% As and A*s at GCSE.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2023, pupils achieved at GCSE level 43% of all grades at 9/8 (A*) , 65% grades 9-7, 83% 9-6. For A-Levels, 48% of all grades were A*/A , 80% of all grades were A*-B, with 7 students getting 3 A*s. <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Extra-curricular activities

Music

In 2003 the school's Foundation Choir won BBC Songs of Praise Choir of the Year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It takes bi-annual trips to perform across Europe, having visited Barcelona, Levico Terme, Strasbourg, Lake Geneva and Budapest. In 2016 the choir performed in Prague. The choir and numerous bands also perform at nearby St Michael's Church.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The school's music department is equipped with a recording studio and practice rooms and offers instrumental lessons to the students.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The department also performs musicals such as The Revenge of Sherlock Holmes,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a West End musical, in 2012.

Drama

The school performs two to three plays a year; one by the Boys' Division/Sixth Form, one by the Girls' Division, and one by the Juniors. Recent plays include Cinders,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Arabian Nights,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and The Ramayana. Now that the school is completely co-educational, there are performances in Infants, Junior divisions respectively and the Seniors and Sixth Form perform together. In 2023, they performed Bleak Expectations. <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2024, they performed Guys and Dolls. <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

School trips

Trips abroad are arranged by individual departments, including those by the History and Classics departments, in addition to annual foreign language exchange visits.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Pupils are involved in biennial World Challenge Expeditions and recent expeditions have been to Morocco,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ecuador, India and most recently Namibia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The school's Outdoor Activities Club organises regular trips to Yorkshire<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> or the Peak District, that include walking, climbing and caving. Template:Citation needed

In 2023, the school undertook a 3-week expedition to Borneo. <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Sports

School sports include rugby, hockey, netball, cheerleading,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and cricket.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Headmasters

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  • 1502–1533: William Bridges (first)<ref>Wilmot, Darwin. A Short History of the Grammar School, Macclesfield 1503–1910. (1910) Claye, Brown and Claye. Appendix I,i</ref>
  • 1533–1560: John Bold
  • 1560–1588: John Brownswerde
  • 1588–1631: William Legh
  • 1631–1648: Thomas Bolde
  • 1648–1662: Henry Crosedale
  • 1662–1666: Edward Powell
  • 1666–1674: Ralph Gorse
  • 1674–1676: Thomas Brancker
  • 1676–1689: Rev. John Ashworth
  • 1689–1690: Caleb Pott
  • 1690–1704: Timothy Dobson
  • 1704–1717: Edward Denham
  • 1717–1720: George Hammond
  • 1720–1745: Rev. Joseph Allen
  • 1745: Edward Ford
  • 1745–1749: Christopher Atkinson
  • 1749–1774: Rowland Atkinson
  • 1774–1790: Henry Ingles
  • 1790–1828: David Davies
  • 1828: Thomas Bourdillon
  • 1828–1837: Rev. Francis Stonehewer Newbold
  • 1837–1849: William Alexander Osborn
  • 1849–1872: Rev. Thomas Brooking Cornish
  • 1880–1910: Darwin Wilmot
  • 1910–1933 : Francis Duntz Evans
  • 1933–1966: Thomas Taylor Shaw
  • 1966–1987: Alan Cooper
  • 1987–2001: Adrian Silcock
  • 2001–2011: Stephen Coyne
  • 2011–2020: Simon Hyde
  • 2020–present: Jason Slack

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Notable former pupils

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Old Maxonian International Rugby Players

{{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}

Name Country Caps First capped Last capped Notes
Steve Smith
(born 1951) 		Template:Ru
Template:Flagicon British and Irish Lions 		0928<ref name="Steve Smith">Template:Cite web</ref> 19731973<ref name="Steve Smith"/> 19831983<ref name="Steve Smith"/> professional club: Sale Sharks
Richard Pool-Jones
(born 1969) 		Template:Ru 091<ref name="Richard Pool-Jones">Template:Cite web</ref> 19981998<ref name="Richard Pool-Jones"/> 19981998<ref name="Richard Pool-Jones"/> professional clubs: Biarritz Olympique and Stade Francais
Jos Baxendell
(born 1972) 		Template:Ru 022<ref name="Jos Baxendell">Template:Cite web</ref> 19981998<ref name="Jos Baxendell"/> 19981998<ref name="Jos Baxendell"/> professional club: Sale Sharks
Tommy Taylor
(born 1991) 		Template:Ru 021<ref name="Tommy Taylor">Template:Cite web</ref> 20162016<ref name="Tommy Taylor"/> 20162016<ref name="Tommy Taylor"/> professional clubs: Sale Sharks and London Wasps<ref name="Tommy Taylor"/>
Cameron Redpath
(born 1999) 		Template:Ru 022 20212021 20212021 professional club: Bath Rugby

Publications

Published books by King's School teachers:

References

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