King Edward's School, Witley

King Edward VI, the school's founder, awarding the charter to the Lord Mayor of London, Sir George Barne. Watercolour by George Vertue, 1750. British Museum, London.

The School was founded as Bridewell Royal Hospital, after Nicholas Ridley preached to Edward VI to give some of his empty palaces over to the City of London (governed by the City of London Corporation) to house homeless women and children.

By 1850 the school had its own gasworks.[2]

The school was commandeered by the Royal Navy during the Second World War to test and develop the use of radar. The school still remembers this with a plaque in the central area, a junction of corridors known as 'Piccadilly'. The President of Bridewell Royal Hospital (the title was kept after the move of location) is now The Duchess of Gloucester, appointed from 1 January 2006. The Queen Mother held the title from 1953 to 2002. The school's creation was sanctioned by the same charter as that of Christ's Hospital and St Thomas' Hospital, and uses the same coat of arms as Christ's Hospital. The school maintains strong links with the City of London, and is still supported by it, with some students on bursaries funded by the City. As of the academic year 2020/21 Senior School day fees are £19,965 per year, with Senior School boarding fees £32,775 per year, though a number of bursaries and scholarships are available.[3]

In early 2015 Edward Moore, a choirmaster at King Edward's, Witley, was handed a 9-month sentence for inappropriate sexual conduct with a girl student.[4]

In July 2019 the Department for Education requested an unannounced additional visit by the Independent Schools Inspectorate to check the School's compliance with legal regulations and standards. The School was judged not to be meeting regulations including those relating to safeguarding.[5]

In February 2020 the school underwent an unannounced progress monitoring visit in order to check if the school had fully implemented the plans set out following the visit in July 2019. The findings of the inspection were that the school met the required standards for the regulations that were the main focus of the visit. The school met all of the requirements of the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulation 2014, National Minimum Standards for Boarding Schools 2015, and no further action was required as a result of the visit. [6]

There are six senior houses in total, four male and two female. The boarding houses at the school are paired, and, in the case of the senior pupils, conjoined in the centre of the buildings. This central area allows the boys and girls from the paired houses to meet in the evenings and during spare time. The Lower School pupils board in Queen Mary House (QMH) where there are shared communal areas and separate sleeping quarters. [7]

The senior houses were built in the 1970s, and the plans can be seen in the School Museum, housed in the History Department. Boarders moved into these new buildings in fall 1976 and the inauguration was commemorated by a visit from HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

The School recently announced its plans to renovate some of the senior boarding houses. Ridley will relocate to the current Queens' (next to Grafton with which it will be twinned next year and where occasional - and flex-boarders will be accommodated). It is expected that Ridley and Grafton will operate closely together as linked houses. [8]

Ridley's relocation leaves 'Old Ridley' and St Briget's, a former girls house, empty and work has already begun on re-purposing these houses into a day-and-boarding, mixed house reserved for Upper Sixth pupils starting in September 2021. [8]

The houses, in their pairs, are:

Seniors

King Edward's School, as viewed from Petworth Road

• Wakefield – After Charles Wakefield, 1st Viscount Wakefield, President and benefactor from 1916 to 1940. This is a boys' house. Paired with Elizabeth.
• Elizabeth – After Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, President of Bridewell Royal Hospital from 1953 to 2002. She visited the school four times, in 1958, 1965, 1976 and 1991. This is a girls' house.
• Edward – After King Edward VI, the founder. This is a boys' house and is paired with Tudor.
• Tudor – After The House of Tudor, the current royal family at the time of the school's founding.
• Grafton – After Richard Grafton, MP, printer and historian. The first Treasurer of Bridewell Royal Hospital. This is a boys' house and was formerly paired with St Bridget's.
• Queens' - After the two queens who have been Presidents (Mary and Elizabeth). This house is currently unused, being closed as of September 2019
• Ridley – Named after Bishop Nicholas Ridley, who preached to King Edward to request Bridewell Palace be given to the City of London for charitable purposes. This house was unused for a number of years, but re-opened September 2013 having undergone extensive refurbishment. This is a boys' house, and is paired with Queens'.
• St Bridget's – Saint Brigid of Kildare was a 5th-century Irish saint who is associated with a well which gave its name to the church of St. Bride and then to the palace, Bridewell Palace, built by Henry VIII. Currently not in use pending renovation or reconstruction.

The school has its own magazine, The Edwardian, which it publishes yearly. There is a short school newsletter, KEStrel, published bi-annually, that incorporates recent school events and news.

Former pupils of King Edward's are referred to as Old Witleians, or Old Wits.

• Phil Andrew - Archdeacon of Cheltenham
• Sally Bercow - Wife of John Bercow, the previous Speaker of the House of Commons (22 June 2009 to 4 November 2019)
• Ivor Caplin MP - Labour Member of Parliament
• Edd China - Television presenter
• Peter Estlin - Lord Mayor of London
• Liz Gordon MP - New Zealand Member of Parliament
• Du'aine Ladejo - Olympic silver medalist
• James Mullinger - Comedian
• Sung-Hak Mun - Racing driver
• Richard Short - Actor
• Edward Tudor-Pole - Musician and actor

• Joseph Myall ( –1856)
• Edward Rudge (1856–1886)
• The Revd Gerard Mason (1886–1900)
• The Revd Charles Raynham (1900–1926)
• The Revd Alfred Bellerby (1926–1951)
• Gordon Humphreys
• John Hansford (1969–1980)
• Richard Wilkinson
• Rodney Fox (1988–2000)
• Kerr Fulton-Peebles (2000–2010)
• John Attwater (2010–2019)
• Joanna Wright (2019– )

Aerial view of King Edward's School

• Christopher Cocksworth - Teacher (1981–1984)
• Caroline Cox, Baroness Cox – Governor
• Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester - Patron
• John Palmer, 4th Earl of Selborne – Treasurer (1972–1983)
• Samuel Pepys – Governor in the 17th century
• Sir James Sanderson, 1st Baronet, President of Bridewell (1793–98)[9]
• Sir John Stuttard - Governor

• King Edward’s School: Bridewell to Witley 1553-2005, Bertie Mawer, 2000. ISBN 0-7110-2776-5
• Bethlem Hospital 1247-1997, Patricia Aldridge
• The City of London, Mary Cathcart Borer, 1977
• Bridewell Royal Hospital and King Edward’s Schools, Alfred J. Copeland, 1912
• The Last Tudor King, Hesther W. Chapman, 1958
• Chronicle, Richard Grafton
• Old Bridewell (Monograph), R.S. Mylne, 1905
• Bridewell Hospital Palace, Prison, Schools, E.C. O’Donoghue, 1929
• Henry VIII, A.W. Pollard, 1905
• Nicholas Ridley, Jasper Ridley, 1957
• Works of Nicholas Ridley, Parker Society Cambridge, 1953

Wikimedia Commons has media related to King Edward's School, Witley.

• King Edward's School, Witley website
• Old Witleians website
• Profile on the Independent Schools Council website