King Edward's School Bath

King Edward's School (KES) in Bath was founded in 1552 by King Edward VI as one of the constellation of King Edward VI grammar schools established under royal letters patent in the year of the young king's death. The school was originally located in central Bath, close to Bath Abbey, and moved in the 1960s to its present multi-building campus on the south-eastern edge of the city. KES is co-educational, educates around 1,134 pupils aged 3-18 across the Pre-Prep, Junior School and Senior School, and is a member of the HMC. The Headmaster is Martin Boden; the Chairman of Governors is Winifred Thomson.

In the school's most recent ISI inspection (2022) it was judged "excellent." A-Level performance places KES consistently in the top quintile of South West independent schools by Oxbridge offer numbers, with strong sciences and modern languages.

KES Bath's most internationally famous alumnus is the comedian and musician Bill Bailey OBE — star of Black Books, QI, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and Strictly Come Dancing (which he won in 2020). Bailey attended KES in the early 1980s. Other entertainment alumni include the actor Tom Payne (Daryl Dixon's nemesis Paul "Jesus" Rovia in The Walking Dead, and the lead in Fox's Prodigal Son); and the musician Peter Chilvers, who is a long-standing software-design and ambient-music collaborator of Brian Eno (Bloom; Scape; the Reflection album).

The Romantic essayist Thomas De Quincey, author of Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, briefly attended KES as a boy before transferring to Manchester Grammar. The Royal Navy Arctic explorer Sir William Edward Parry — whose 1819-20 expedition reached further west through the Northwest Passage than any predecessor — was a pupil, as was the Indian Mutiny Victoria Cross recipient Ross Lowis Mangles.

In modern public life, General Sir Jack Deverell, former Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Northern Europe; Sir Ian Prosser, former Deputy Chairman of BP and Chairman of Whitbread; Chris Rapley CBE, former Director of the Science Museum; and the Conservative MP John Glen, formerly Chief Secretary to the Treasury, are all Old Edwardians. KES operates a substantial bursary programme via the Old Edwardians' Foundation.