King's College (Taunton) A GSG School
- King's College (Taunton)
South Road
Taunton
Somerset
TA1 3LA - Head: Richard R Biggs MA BSc
- T 01823 328204
- F 01823 328202
- E admissions@kings-taunton.co.uk
- W www.kings-taunton.co.uk
- An independent school for boys and girls aged from 13 to 18.
- Boarding: Yes
- Local authority: Somerset
- Pupils: 463; 285 full boarders; sixth formers: 174
- Religion: Church of England
- Fees: Day £21,630; Boarding £32,055 pa
- Open days: May and October
- Review: View The Good Schools Guide Review
- Ofsted report: View the Ofsted report
- ISI report: View the ISI report
- Linked schools: King's Hall School
What The Good Schools Guide says..
It’s fair to say that it still feels and looks quite traditional, with conventional uniform with designer tweed jackets and blue shirts, and neatness being identified as a virtue. The dining hall boasts not ancestral coats of arms, but sporting achievements painted on shields all over the walls. Make no mistake, this is a sporty school. Masses going on, and no exeat weekends mean a full programme of fixtures against other titans of the west country. We thoroughly applaud girls’ football, cricket and hockey being promoted and resourced as well as the boys’ games...
What the school says...
King's College, Taunton is a leading co-educational independent boarding and day school situated in the heart of the West Country. It offers a holistic education, strong on values of scholarship and community, together with all-round, world class provision in sport and the arts.
The school has a strong boarding ethos, creating a home from home environment for pupils. Weekends are busy and purposeful, with lessons and sport on Saturdays, and activities and trips often taking place on Sundays. Boarders and day pupils live and study side-by-side. Friendships developed are often extraordinarily long-lived. Boarders come from far and wide. Many are local. A few live closer to the school than some of their day pupil friends. Others come from the south west of England; others from further afield in the UK and some from overseas. This makes for a varied and vibrant community within the houses.
Facilities include a double all-weather hockey pitch, new tennis and netball courts, a well-equipped cookery school and a purpose-built library, Business Studies, IT and Sixth Form careers centre. In the Summer of 2014, a newly constructed amphitheatre was opened which is used for dramas, open air concerts and assemblies. The latest addition is a new art studio to complement the existing art facilities.
The school's achievements include BBC Song's of Praise School Choir of the Year; Wisden's most successful school cricket team in 2009 and runners up in 2010; Jos Buttler presently playing cricket for England; U16 girls' Hockey County Champions; Olympic gold medalist Maddie Hinch is a former pupil; winners of the Good Schools Guide best A level DT department award and four Arkwright Scholarships in the past four years, including the Royce Award; winners of the coveted Sir Steuart Pringle Marine Cadet Trophy in 2009, 2010 and 2011, runners up in 2015 and winners again in 2016.. ...Read more
What the parents say...
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2015 Good Schools Guide Awards
- Best performance by Girls taking German at an English Independent School (GCE A level)
- Best performance by Boys taking Design & Technology Product Design at an English Independent School (GCE A level)
What The Good Schools Guide says
Headmaster
Since 2007, Mr Richard Biggs (early 50s) BSc MA, a product both of the UK’s and South Africa’s finest: his first degree (physics) from University of Cape Town, his masters (maths and philosophy) from Oxford as a Rhodes scholar. Some barely discernible vowels hint at his upbringing in South Africa; his subsequent career has been entirely in the UK, at Magdalen College School as teacher of maths and physics then director of studies, from where he was promoted to deputy head at Lancing, thence to King's. Now into his eighth year of headship, he can look back with justifiable satisfaction at his achievements since he started, mainly an increase in numbers and improvements to facilities. ‘We can really concentrate on academics now, without being over-selective – the market in this part of the world...
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Special Education Needs
| Condition | Provision for in school |
|---|---|
| ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder | |
| Aspergers | Y |
| Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders | Y |
| CReSTeD registered for Dyslexia | |
| Dyscalculia | |
| Dysgraphia | |
| Dyslexia | |
| Dyspraxia | |
| English as an additional language (EAL) | |
| Genetic | |
| Has an entry in the Autism Services Directory | |
| Has SEN unit or class | |
| HI - Hearing Impairment | |
| Hospital School | |
| Mental health | |
| MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty | |
| MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment | |
| Natspec Specialist Colleges | |
| OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability | |
| Other SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty | |
| PD - Physical Disability | |
| PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty | |
| SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health | |
| SLCN - Speech, Language and Communication | |
| SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty | |
| Special facilities for Visually Impaired | |
| SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty | |
| VI - Visual Impairment |
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Who came from where
| School | Year | Places | Scholarships | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chafyn Grove School | 2016 | 1 | ||
| Cheltenham College Preparatory School | 2017 | 1 | ||
| Edge Grove Preparatory School | 2015 | 1 | 1 | Academic Scholarship |
| Hazlegrove School | 2017 | 4 | 1 | Sports Scholarship |
| Horris Hill School | 2017 | 1 | ||
| King's Hall School | 2017 | Majority to the senior school | ||
| Salisbury Cathedral School | 2017 | 1 |
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