Sport
Co-curricular sport plays an integral part in a pupil’s timetable at King’s. There are three games sessions per week in a wide range of sports, and a high proportion of pupils represent the school in inter-school fixtures, predominantly at weekends.
We tailor our games programme around the key educational values of promoting general and specific fitness, helping to give each pupil an active and balanced lifestyle, and providing more specific elements of strength, conditioning and skill at the elite end. We also teach all pupils lessons that can be learnt through winning and losing, both as an individual and as a team. Most of all we want pupils to enjoy their sport and to work hard at whatever level they choose to play.
We strive to provide opportunities for pupils at both elite and participatory levels. We offer an element of choice in the games programme that gets wider as pupils progress through the school. We do however try to channel pupils towards the major games in order to maintain our competitive fixture lists. Many of our pupils go on to represent their county, their region and even their country. At present we have national representatives in Fencing, Hockey, Rugby, Shooting and Table Tennis.
We believe in having a strong coaching structure across the board and particularly try to invest in the lower years of the school to build for the future. We are very fortunate to have the likes of Jennifer Wilson, current South African international hockey player and double Olympian, and Mark Ealham, former England international cricket player. Many of the sports staff are qualified coaches, and we employ a number of sports graduates to add their expertise in specific areas.
Sports facilities are excellent, both at the Recreation Centre (Blore’s) and the playing fields (Birley’s), so it is not difficult to see how our pupils have the opportunity to flourish in whatever sport they choose.
The school has a Code of Conduct for pupils and parents.
Director of Sport: Richard Singfield: rals@kings-school.co.uk