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Sitting an examination in the room in which the Doomsday Book was drawn up; reading in Disraeli's parlour or attending Assembly every morning in one of the greatest cathedrals of England - these are all everyday activities for pupils at King's School.
The School is part of our English National Heritage and boasts arguably the oldest purpose-built classroom in unbroken use in the Country. Indeed, it is possible that children have been taught in Miller's Green since the late 11th century, when the Conqueror summoned his close friend Abbot Serlo from Normandy to supervise the Abbey at Gloucester. Serlo encountered "eight youths who sing" when he arrived. Thus, back in the swirling mists of time, was born the precious mission of Gloucester's Cathedral School.
It seems that Henry VIII's attacks on the monasteries in 1540 actually strengthened the School and the next year a dual-purpose school was established; a "Choir School" to educate the singing boys of the Cathedral and a "College School" to perform the same task for the sons of the gentlemen and citizenry of Gloucester.
So, for nigh on 500 years the twofold charitable mission of the school - the education and nurturing of the Cathedral Choristers and the needs of the local community - has shone forth from this remarkable institution.
Throughout the ensuing five centuries a succession of alumni have carried this double torch of enlightenment around the World. Robert Raikes was the originator of Sunday School education for the children of the poor in the mid-Seventeenth Century. African explorer Samuel Baker became a determined and successful anti-slaver in the Nineteenth. Button Gwinett travelled to Georgia in 1765 and was a signatory to the Declaration of Independence. John Stafford Smith attended King's in the 1760's and went on to compose the music of the National Anthem of the USA, "The Star Spangled Banner".
The mission continues today and, as The Foundationer now underlines, the original charitable credentials of the King's School, Gloucester are being constantly renewed across the Globe.