Warwick School

Warwick School is believed to have been founded in AD 914 by Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, the daughter of Alfred the Great and the de facto ruler of the kingdom of Mercia after her husband's death. If this dating is correct — supported by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle's record of Æthelflæd's foundation of the burh of Warwick in the same year — Warwick is the fifth-oldest surviving school in England, after the King's Schools at Canterbury (597), Rochester, St Peter's York (627) and Wells Cathedral School. It would also be one of the oldest surviving schools in the world to have been founded by a woman.

The school was known as King's School, Warwick until around 1900, when it took its modern name. It is a boys-only HMC day and boarding school for ages 7-18, educating around 1,250 pupils on a town-centre campus in Warwick, immediately adjacent to Warwick Castle and the River Avon. It operates alongside its sister school King's High School for Girls within the Warwick Independent Schools Foundation. The Head Master is Pete Kemp.

Academic provision spans the full HMC range, with consistent A-Level performance among the top quintile of West Midlands independent schools. Sport is centred on cricket and rugby, with extensive playing fields on the historic Royal Manor of Warwick site. The school's music and drama programmes are notable, supported by a substantial bursary fund and Royal Academy of Music links.

As an Anglo-Saxon foundation predating most modern European institutions, Warwick School is unusual in continuing to operate on or near its earliest documented site. Its current buildings include both modern academic facilities and historic structures contemporary with the school's medieval connection to St Mary's Collegiate Church. The school operates a substantial bursary programme via the Warwick Independent Schools Foundation.