To find out more about its £2.5 million investment into its new, state-of-the-art Sixth Form Centre, SoGlos speaks to David Morton, headmaster at The King’s School in Gloucester.
About the expert – The King’s School in Gloucester
As a leading independent cathedral school for girls and boys aged three to 18, The King’s School in Gloucester offers an excellent education along with a wide range of extra-curricular activities and outstanding pastoral care. With small class sizes, pupils get high levels of individual support and care and the teachers, all specialists in their field, really get to know each child.
Sitting adjacent to Gloucester Cathedral, the school provides a stunning environment for students and teachers, providing a strong feeling of community which provides our pupils with the personal characteristics, as well as academic skills, required for future success.
The King’s School is investing £2.5 million transforming the learning and social spaces in its Sixth Form Centre, which is due to be completed in September 2020. The new centre will enrich the education of its students and set them up for their future.
What will your new Sixth Form Centre offer to students?
The centre will prepare students for life beyond the school and will offer a combination of things. It’ll be a place to inspire students and to raise their expectations academically. As a 21st century study space, the centre won’t be like classrooms as we know them; it’ll have breakout spaces, communal working areas and supervised study spaces, as well as being a social place too.
The building dates back to the 13th century, so a lot of the areas are relatively dark and not designed for 21st century learning. We’re going to open the interior up to make the rooms larger and more open plan. There will also be flexibility in terms of teaching and learning spaces, with modular furniture that can be moved around, enabling group discussions as well as individual working. All equipment will be touch screen and interactive, with super-fast WiFi throughout, and all facilities will be state-of-the-art.
To whom will the Sixth Form Centre be available to?
The centre will be available to the students during the day and throughout term time. During evenings, weekends and holidays, it’ll be available to the wider community, and we hope to share it with other school groups too.
What are your aims with the new Sixth Form Centre?
We want it to be a flagship facility for the school, representing the strong ethos and values we have here at King’s, rooted in the historic buildings at the heart of Gloucester, but with a modern, forward-thinking focus. So, this new building will represent what King’s is about as a school. For example, we’re teaching technological qualifications such as computer science alongside life skills such as financial management, car maintenance and even how to do laundry.
It’s also about preserving an amazing historic building, and we’re working closely with Historic England and the local conservation architects, as well as Gloucester City Council and Gloucester Cathedral, to make sure all the amazing features which have been hidden away over the years are exposed and celebrated. So, it’s a heritage building as well as a community and educational building, and it’s really exciting. In fact, we are confident that it will be a Sixth Form Centre like no other
What bursaries and scholarships does The King’s School offer?
We set up students to go university as well as into apprenticeships and full-time work – indeed everything that the modern world offers, we prepare our students for here at the school.
The school has always offered financial support to local children. The bursaries are means-tested so we look at family income and expenditure, and scholarships are based on ability and are available in a whole host of subjects, from sport to art, DT to music. The two can also be added together.
Will there be more spaces available at the Sixth Form?
Yes– we’re slightly increasing our intake from 50 to 60 students this year, so there are a few spaces available and we’re happy to take enquiries. I suggest prospective students do some research into the school and go onto our website, where there’s more information on the academic subjects we offer, and contact the admissions team by emailing admissions@thekingsschool.co.uk.
