King Alfred's - a brief history

The school’s foundation and charter mentions money being left by ‘sundry persons’ for providing a schoolmaster in the town in the reigns of Henry VI and VII (between 1422 and 1509). John Leland, ‘the father of local history’, who travelled up and down the country on behalf of Henry VIII in 1534 assessing local centres of learning, describes two churches in the churchyard;‘one of these...an ancient building, now used as a school’.

1597
Empowered by a specific Act of Parliament, the Norman chapel of St Mary, which had existed since at least 1351, was converted to a school, referred to as the grammar school or the Latin School, in 1597.

1604
Work was started on the English School; sited in St Mary's churchyard; it took 15 years to complete.

1832
The original grammar school was discontinued when only one pupil attended. Between 1832 and 1850, it merged with the three local elementary schools; Latin was no longer taught.

July 1850
The corner stone of The Alfred Grammar School was laid to commemerate the 1000th anniversary of the birth of King Alfred the Great. The sketch right shows the school room on the left, dining hall / kitchens / offices / dormitory in the centre and a rather grand house for the master on the right.

7th May, 1851
The Reverend Edmund John Smith, MA, Scholar of Worcester College, was unanimously elected as the first Headmaster. He was required to teach 12 foundation scholars for free and 12 others at a fee of £5 per term - others could be taught on his own terms. 42 pupils were on the roll - some were day pupils and some were boarders.

1868 - 1884 The school prospered under the headship of Henry Cook , who was married to the well-known artist Jane Robins. Pupil numbers rose to 70; the North Wing and the New Schoolroom (now the Resource Centre) were added, the latter opening in 1872. The old boys thought so highly of Henry Cook that they subscribed to pay for the building of ‘Highfield House’, on the corner of Portway/Priory Road, for his retirement.

Unfortunately he died before he could take up residence, but his widow lived there until her death in 1920. It then became one of the school’s boarding houses. Jane Cook corresponded with many Old Alfredians after they left Wantage for employment further afield, often in the British Colonies.

1922
The Lych Gate was presented to the school by the old boys in remembrance of those Old Alfredians who lost their lives fighting with the British and Colonial forces in The Great War.

But the 1920s and 30s were difficult times for the school; it suffered from a lack of funding, until...

1944 Education Act
King Alfred's became Wantage Grammar School. Fees were abolished and pupils were admitted by examination.

1972
Began to share facilities and teachers with the town's two other schools, Icknield Comprehensive and Segsbury Secondary Modern.

1975
The school goes co-educational; girls are taught for the first time in its history. Boarding facilities were phased out at this time.

1984
The three schools merged to become a single comprehensive school, know as Wantage School; the first principal was Michael Jones. After a period of some experimentation, it was decided to revert to the old name of King Alfred's School, a change that coincided with a new uniform and the introduction of the current logo.

1999 - King Alfred's Community and Sports College
The school became Oxfordshire’s first Sports College, and today specialist coaches, as well as highly qualified teaching staff, are involved in coaching 90 KATS (King Alfred’s Talented Sportspeople) students, including several currently representing their country in a variety of disciplines and aiming towards competing in the 2012 Olympic Games.

2005
King Alfred’s gained Foundation Status. This is only granted to schools with a consistent track record of good results and means that, as in the rest of its long history, King Alfred’s is once more free to make its own individual stamp on Wantage and the surrounding area.