Set on an idyllic campus in Grahamstown, Kingswood College was established in 1894 and has upheld its firm reputation as a family school with exacting standards in a global, modern community. Grahamstown and the surrounding Eastern Cape provides a small town setting where pupils are able to walk to town in safety, as well as enjoying the benefits of nearby mountains, rivers, a beautiful coastline and game farms for excursions and outdoor education.
The warm, family atmosphere of Kingswood College is distinctive. Being a co-ed school, brothers and sisters are able to interact daily, and younger children are able to see older pupils as leaders and aspire to their sporting and leadership success, all of which adds a special dimension to Kingswood’s spirit of courage, determination, generosity and happiness.
Based upon a tradition of academic distinction, Kingswood College gears its learners to achieve well-rounded success, both during their school years and beyond. The College provides learners with a safe environment, in which they are encouraged to meet their full potential in all spheres. The provision of this high standard of schooling is in direct response to the onerous requirements in the current global job market, and Kingswood seeks to prepare learners and make them top candidates in all of their pursuits.
Catering for junior and senior school day scholars and boarders, Kingswood College provides the grounding learners need at all levels of schooling. A home-from-home boarding lifestyle provides an optimal study environment where pupils learn many social skills, find stability, routine, discipline and make life-long friends. From grassroots level, learners are exposed to an academic curriculum that will challenge and stimulate them, endowing them with the various skills they need to think independently and creatively, interact with their peers successfully and develop techniques that will enable them to give holistic application to all of their studies. This is achieved, in part, by the prevalence of small classes and corresponding individual attention by enthusiastic and highly-skilled teachers. In their Matric year, learners write the Independent Exam Board examinations in the subjects of their choice, giving them an internationally-recognised qualification for further study and their future careers.
Sporting activities on offer at Kingswood are designed to nurture talent, develop a healthy affinity for an active lifestyle, and advance the social skills of all participants. Individual attention is given to all of the sportsmen and women by expert coaches, who identify skill and aid in the on-going progress of all learners. Many Kingswood learners excel on a personal and school level as provincial and national representatives. The College is supportive of the participation in traditional team sports, as well as the more individual sporting ventures on offer at the school.
A similar outcome is achieved by the cultural activities at Kingswood College. The involvement of learners in many of these disciplines are both a valuable extension of lessons and skills learned in the classroom, as well as providing further balance to the school days. The school has a prolific Music School, which furnishes learners with opportunities to express themselves in a number of instruments. Music pupils play in one or more of the various ensembles covering a number of styles.
The annual House plays give Drama students the chance to experience real on-stage involvement in every element of theatre production. For those looking to further expand their reach in the discipline, the College offers dance and debating, both of which aid in building confidence. Similarly, Art is explored through a variety of media, and is complemented by the rich offerings such as photography and craft societies.
Social awareness and responsibility is incorporated into the school lives of all learners at Kingswood College. The school has an Environmental Awareness society and is a proud Eco-School. Furthermore, the school’s outreach projects have seen a real involvement and display of care by the learner body. Under the Integrated Community Development Programme Trust, learners are involved in community development, and the school has its own social responsibility project in the form of a safe haven for vulnerable children at Lebone House. The initiatives are far-reaching, including everything from fundraising to educational enrichment and maintenance.
All services on offer at the school are provided in premium facilities, for the benefit of all learners. It is the hope of Kingswood College that all learners will leave the school as wholly-developed, meaningful citizens; and that they will have happy memories of fruitful school years. In keeping with this, the College fortifies itself as a member of the international group of Kingswood schools. This is based upon a legacy of enriching traditions and Methodist values, in the creation of an ever-growing Kingswood alumni.