View slideshow

King's College School, Wimbledon

By Sue Leonard

Tennis isn't the only talking point in SW19. The academic achievements of pupils at King's College School, Wimbledon are causing quite a buzz. Founded in 1829 King's has become one of the most successful schools in the UK. It wins game set and match among schools, which exclusively or predominantly follow the International Baccalaureate diploma programme in the UK.

In its first year as a fully IB school, King's served up phenomenal results with 84.7% of exam papers getting the top two IB grades of 7 or 6, widely accepted to be equivalent of an A grade at A-level. No other school where IB students are in the majority could match this. This summer KCS boys averaged 38.9 points out of a maximum 45 in the six-paper exam, with 80% of pupils scoring more than 36 points. Third among schools in our IB performance table based on the average IB point score achieved, it ranks 13th overall in our main independent schools league table, which takes account of A-level, GCSE and IB results.

The school's impressive average scores hide even more remarkable individual achievements. Ten boys were awarded 45 points, a score only achieved by 72 students worldwide last year, while 63, not far off half the number taking the diploma, scored 40 points or more, placing them in the top 5% of IB pupils in the world. The global average is 29. These outstanding results translated into 38 places at Oxford and Cambridge and secured 90% of students their first-choice university.

The school, which draws its 750 pupils from as far as north London and out to Surrey, occupies 17 acres on the south side of Wimbledon Common, and owns a further 24 acres of playing fields. It has a boathouse on the Tideway at Putney, a 30-metre swimming pool, tennis, squash and badminton courts and fitness suites which are also available to the public out of school hours.

This school has long been a good one. It impressed inspectors when they last visited in 2005. The boys, they said, were "unusually good independent thinkers and very good learners". Going back even further, King's has a history of turning boys into successful men. Its illustrious alumni include novelist and poet Robert Graves; the composer Robin Holloway; and painter Walter Sickert.

The only leading independent day school in the UK offering just the IB, King's is a good advert for the system which has been widely praised for its breadth and depth and for stretching pupils in a way that many think current A-levels no longer do. "We are really pleased with the IB transition, it has gone incredibly well," says headmaster Andrew Halls, who for the second time finds himself in charge of an award-winning school. He was head of Magdalen College School in Oxford, when it scooped our Independent Secondary School of the Year title in 2004.

Having taught both A-level and IB systems, Halls is convinced of the supremacy of the latter now that A-levels have, in his view, been "horribly interfered" with by national government. "IB is a fantastic form of education," he says. "I was aware it was very broad, what interested me was that it has the depth that I think A-levels have begun to lose over the past 10 years. IB demands that pupils do not close down options so quickly. We are the only leading country in the world where you can jettison so much so young."

The diploma programme requires students to carry on with a language, maths and science and to do sports and community service, helping them develop intellectually, personally, emotionally and socially. Carrying on with courses that many normally drop at or before GCSE means students plug away at subjects, often discovering they are better at them than they thought. Halls says pupils' attitude to work has been seriously enhanced since switching exclusively to IB. "When you demand more of people they achieve much more," he says.

IB isn't fail-safe, though. You have to be organised as a pupil, keep a record of what you are doing and stay on top of deadlines. "Lazier students find it very hard to ad-lib their way through IB," says Halls, who perceives this as a strength rather than a weakness.

"At A-level, you can probably swat up for a module much more short-term," says the head, who believes the only risk of becoming an exclusively IB school is that parents might not buy into it. That certainly wasn't a problem at £5,300-a-term King's.

While it only admits pupils at 13, 11-year-olds are queuing up to take a test that will determine if they can sit the school's common entrance when they are older. About 90 pupils join directly from the junior school, leaving just 60 places up for grabs. Getting into King's has always been competitive, but now it is fiercely so. This year 356 children have registered for the pre-test, surpassing last year's record of 280.

With so many wanting a place, Halls is as much interested in the character of children as he is in their academic credentials. He is looking for pupils who are going to create a positive atmosphere. "The school is so much happier if you have taken people who are keen to work and understand the ethos of the school," Halls says.

At King's that ethos is about doing lots of extracurricular activities. And it is the richness of opportunities outside the classroom from sport and drama to its partnerships with local schools and community service, on top of its strong academic performance, which wins King's our IB School of the Year award.

King's recognises that it has a moral and spiritual responsibility to play a full part in the life of the local community, and that its participation can bring benefits not just to the community but also to the school.

A particular feature of life at King's is the devotion of Friday afternoons to extracurricular activities. Younger boys do games while older pupils take up new challenges that provide a contrast to their academic lives, from getting involved in the Combined Cadet Force or Duke of Edinburgh's award scheme to working in a local school teaching Latin, helping out at a school for severely disabled children or working on a community project.

The boys get a great deal out of the work they do in local schools and are inspired by it, says Halls. "I am sure it makes them much more rounded, nicer human beings and that is what school is about. They must learn an incalculable amount about themselves and the world."

Learning through endeavour while keeping fit and having fun is also a key element of the wide range of sport on offer at King's, from rugby, rowing and hockey to cricket and, of course, tennis.

Pupils flourish in many other areas of extracurricular life. The school has its own thriving theatre company, which this year took a production of Billy Budd to the Edinburgh Festival, where it won five-star reviews. They have performed in West End shows such as Billy Elliot and The History Boys and some have gone on to appear in films, notably Ben Barnes, who starred in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, and Khalid Abdalla, who had roles in United 93 and The Kite Runner.

The school also has a busy music calendar, from piano concerts to performances from jazz and big bands, and there is no shortage of takers for the choral society. "We want things that vary the academic diet," says Halls. "It is the best kind of experience. That is what parents and boys like about King's, a sense of massive opportunity."

Such opportunities will be afforded to 40 girls next year when the school's sixth form goes co-ed, which will no doubt also further enhance the school's already glittering exam results and help propel the school into the UK top 10. But King's has no intention of introducing girls further down the school. Halls believes there are many advantages to teaching girls and boys separately during adolescence, although by the time they have become mature sixth-formers they can benefit from the different perspectives of both sexes.

"Girls will have a different take on John Keats to boys," he says. "Putting these together makes a more complete sixth-form lesson," adds the headmaster, who has been surprised by the numbers interested in taking up a place.

It has been a busy 22 months in charge for Halls, who despite clocking up 28 years in teaching has lost none of his enthusiasm or passion for the job. "Teaching is a wonderful career," says the head, who is particularly struck by the harmony between teachers and pupils at King's and the uniformly high standards across all departments. Drawing on his experience in six schools, he says: "I have never really seen a school quite like it. It is very rare when you look across all facets and they are all strong. It's a nice position to be in."

For him, the future is about maintaining the huge success of the wide curriculum, welcoming the new girls and overseeing the development and refurbishment of the school's buildings. Like great Wimbledon tennis champions, the trick now for King's is to keep serving to the highest standards.