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King Edward's School, Birmingham

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File:KES.jpg
King Edward's School Buildings. The school parade ground can be seen in the bottom right, whilst the tennis courts and the start of the playing fields are in the bottom left corner. The University of Birmingham clock tower can be seen in the background.

King Edward's School (KES) is an independent secondary school in Birmingham, England, founded by King Edward VI in 1552. Located in Edgbaston, it is part of the Foundation of Schools of King Edward VI in Birmingham and one of the leading secondary schools in the country. This was, however, not the original site; King Edward's used to be situated on New Street, it only moved to Edgbaston in 1940.

It is a boys' school, although it occupies the same site as, and is twinned with King Edward's High School for Girls, one of the top schools in the UK. Whilst lessons and sports are taught separately, dramatic arts and music are often shared.


School Structure

Unlike most secondary schools, King Edward's does not use the traditional year group names, e.g. Year 11, Year 12, etc.

The table below attempts to clarify the names used for the different classes:

Class Name Year
Shells 7
Removes (Rems) 8
Upper Middles (UMs) 9
Fourths (IVs) 10 First year of GCSE study
Fifths (Vths) 11 Second year of GCSE study
Divisions (Divs) 12 First year of A-level study
Sixths 13 Final year of A-level study

The House System

King Edward's has a house system. The 8 Houses are all named after former Chief Masters and compete against one another every year to win the Cock House Trophy.

There are many events that boys take part in and get points for. These points are totaled up at the end of the year, and the House with the most points is declared the Cock House Champion.

The Houses are:

  • Cary Gilson
  • Evans
  • Gifford
  • Heath
  • Jeune
  • Levett
  • Prince Lee
  • Vardy

School Songs

There are two school songs:

  • The Quatercentenary Song
    • Written by Roger Dunt (1900-63), composed by Willis Grant (1907-81).
    • Sung at Founder's Day, the annual commemoration in October of King Edward's birthday, and also at various other award ceremonies.
  • King Edward's School Song
    • Written by Alfred Hayes OE (1857-1936), composed by A. Somervell.
    • A rousing, if somewhat clichéd, song, sung at mainly at the end of term.

Old Edwardians

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