In the early wave of girls’ school expansion in the late Victorian era, King’s High blazed a trail.
From modest beginnings in 1879, when the first 22 girls assembled in Landor House under the headship of 22-year-old Miss Mary Fisher, the school has been inspiring girls to achieve academic excellence and personal enrichment.
By the 1900s, girls were learning Botany, Chemistry, and Euclid, and a trickle of Sixth Formers began to go to university.
In the 1920s, under the charismatic leadership of linguist and author Miss Eleanor Doorly, the school introduced Form and School Councils, very far-sighted at the time. Science and Sport continued to flourish.
an expanding curriculum
With a huge programme of building work in the 1960s, over 600 girls were educated on the Smith Street site, and university entrance became more widely achieved, with several girls winning coveted Oxbridge places every year.
From the end of the 20th century, newer school subjects like Computing, Business Studies, and Psychology were introduced. The school colours were changed from the old gold and black to today’s green and blue. Uniform was dispensed with altogether for Sixth Form girls.
During the first 14 years of the 21st century, with Mrs Surber at the helm, the school continued to be at the forefront of girls’ education, offering wider opportunities for extracurricular activities such as foreign exchanges, a Mandarin club, climbing, and ballet lessons. In addition, Mrs Surber led an ambitious building programme which included the Sixth Form Centre, St Mary’s Creative Arts Centre, and the Dining Room.
In September 2015, Mr Nicholson joined King’s as its first Head Master, furthering the school’s well-established tradition of innovative leadership. As well as leading the school’s forward-thinking approach to teaching and learning and bringing together King’s High and Warwick Prep as a single school from 3–18, he also spearheaded the move to a new state-of-the-art purpose-built school in September 2019, where King’s
High joined its ‘brothers’ at Warwick School and the children of Warwick Preparatory School on the new Banbury Road site.
Mr Nicholson became Principal of the whole Foundation in 2020, and our Head Master, Dr Stephen Burley, was appointed in January 2021.
Dr Burley’s passion for education is founded on his belief that inspirational teaching transforms lives. He believes that wellbeing and happiness should be at the heart of every student’s experience. He is an advocate of dynamic, forward-thinking, innovative education that develops the confidence and skills that prepare young people to be the changemakers of the future.
With ever-increasing opportunities for enrichment in the creative arts, an all-embracing sporting and leadership philosophy enhanced by the House System, the aspiration, achievement, and enjoyment of academic excellence, and as the first UK purpose-built girls’ Independent School in over thirty years, King’s High continues to inspire our future leaders and innovators to flourish in the world that women are making their own.
