King's College School Wimbledon

King's College School — known universally as "King's," "KCS" or "KCS Wimbledon" — was established in 1829 by King George IV as the junior department of King's College London. The school's premises were originally in the Strand alongside the parent university; in 1897 the school separated and moved to its current site in Wimbledon, south-west London, where it occupies a large campus on the edge of Wimbledon Common with its principal buildings designed by Banister Fletcher. KCS is a member of the HMC and of the Eton Group, the consortium of twelve historically leading English boys' (now mostly co-educational) public schools. The school is included by The Schools Index among the 150 best private schools globally and the top 30 senior schools in the UK.

KCS is predominantly a boys' school: boys are admitted at 7+ (Junior School), 11+, 13+ and 16+. Girls are admitted to the sixth form. In the sixth form pupils choose between A-Levels and the International Baccalaureate, an unusual dual offering for an English public school. The Head Master is Dr Anne Cotton, the first woman to hold the post, in office since 2019. The chairman of governors is Paul Deighton, Baron Deighton; the school's Visitor — a ceremonial governance role rooted in the school's foundation under the King — is ex officio the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Academic performance at KCS sits in the very top tier of UK independent schools by university outcomes. Sixth-form leavers consistently include large cohorts to Oxbridge, Imperial, UCL, LSE and the US Ivy League. The school's mathematics programme is particularly strong, with annual representation at the UK Mathematical Olympiad and the International Mathematical Olympiad.

Among notable alumni: the geologist Sir Charles Lyell, whose Principles of Geology underpinned Darwin's evolutionary thinking; the composer Frederick Delius; the Conservative grandee Lord Patten of Barnes (last Governor of Hong Kong and current Chancellor of Oxford); the Oscar-winning screenwriter Sir Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons, The Father); and the Deputy President of the UK Supreme Court Lord Hodge. The school's governing body has included the BBC newsreader Sir Trevor McDonald.