King's Bruton is an independent fully co-educational secondary day and

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of " room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exte ...

in the English public school tradition located in

Bruton Bruton ( ) is a market town, electoral ward, and civil parish in Somerset, England, on the River Brue and the A359 between Frome and Yeovil. It is 7 miles (11 km) south-east of Shepton Mallet, just south of Snakelake Hill and Coombe Hill, 10 ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

, England. It was founded in 1519 by Richard FitzJames, and received royal foundation status around 30 years later in the reign of

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...

. It is a member school of the

Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) is an association of the head teachers of 361 independent schools (both boarding schools and day schools), some traditionally described as public schools. 298 Members are based in the Un ...

. Girls have attended the school's

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for ...

since the 1960s before King's became fully co-educational in the late 1990s. It has six houses: Wellesley, Priory and Arion for girls, with New, Blackford and Lyon making up the boys' houses. In September 1999, the Hobhouse Science centre was opened with a fully equipped observatory. The school has a purpose-built theatre, sports hall and fitness suite and sports surfaces for rugby, netball, tennis and cricket as well as two all-weather astro-turfs for hockey. The Basil Wright Building was opened in 2009 and houses the Headmaster's, Bursar's and Registrar's offices. King's School Bruton once owned a copy of ''

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by t ...

'' dating from 1297, which it sold to the Australian Government in 1952 for £12,500. Old House was the original school building, later New House was built as an extension for school rooms and Old House was the headmaster's house. The Memorial Hall was built in the 1920s to commemorate the members of the school who died in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. Blackford and Lyon were built and were funded by beneficiaries such as Lord Blackford and James Lyon. On 28 March 2019, to mark the school's quincentenary, King's hosted

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states durin ...

during a wider Royal visit to the

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glouc ...

. During the visit the Queen opened a new music school named in her honour.

Prep school

Hazlegrove Preparatory School in Sparkford is part of the King's School group and educates children aged 2 to 13, prior to attending King's School. Hazlegrove occupies the 17th century grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

Hazlegrove House.

Senior Management Team

Combined Cadet Force

Kings runs a

Combined Cadet Force The Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is a youth organisation in the United Kingdom, sponsored by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), which operates in schools, and normally includes Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force sections. Its aim is to "provide a ...

contingent, it is commanded by a

Major Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...

who takes the position of Contingent Commander and whose primary focus is on the Army Section. The Royal Navy Section is (as of December 2021) commanded by a (CCF)

Sub-Lieutenant Sub-lieutenant is usually a junior officer rank, used in armies, navies and air forces. In most armies, sub-lieutenant is the lowest officer rank. However, in Brazil, it is the highest non-commissioned rank, and in Spain, it is the second hig ...

. The Naval Section is (as of December 2021) composed of four Non-Commissioned Officers, two Officers awaiting training and one Sub Lieutenant; the Navy is the smaller section of the two. The Army section comprises NCOs drawn from the Lower and Upper Sixth Form and around 11 Commissioned Officers. Commissioned Officers are all teachers or other staff already working at the school.

References

External links

King's BrutonThe Old Brutonians Association
Independent schools in Somerset Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference Boarding schools in Somerset Educational institutions established in the 1510s 1519 establishments in England Church of England independent schools in the Diocese of Bath and Wells Bruton {{Somerset-school-stub