St Edmund's School

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St Edmund's School

Established	1749
Type	Independent
Location	St Thomas' Hill Canterbury Kent CT2 8HU England
Students	500
Gender	Mixed
Ages	3 to 18
Website	www.stedmunds.org.uk

St Edmund’s School is a coeducational independent school (ages 3-18) in Canterbury, Kent, England with over 500 pupils, including both day pupils and boarders. The choristers of Canterbury Cathedral are educated at St. Edmund's.

Founded in 1749 to educate clergy orphans, the school was initially sited near Thirsk in North Yorkshire. Later, the school moved to St John's Wood in London, where it occupied buildings at the nursery end of Lord's Cricket Ground. From 1856, boys were educated at the Clergy Orphan School in Canterbury (now St Edmund's) while girls received their education at what is now St Margaret's School, Bushey in Hertfordshire.

St Edmund's School, Canterbury, main building by Philip Charles Hardwick

The main school building was designed by noted architect Philip Charles Hardwick (1822-1892), whose grandmother had been born in Canterbury. The school is situated at the top of St Thomas' Hill, overlooking the city of Canterbury, on land purchased and donated to the Clergy Orphan Coporation by the philanthropist Rev Dr Samuel Warneford in 1852, formerly a plague pit.

St Edmund's includes Junior School (ages 3-13) and Senior School (ages 13-18), located on the same site on St Thomas' Hill, sharing facilities and with several members of staff serving both parts of the school.

Since the early 1980s, girls have been educated at St Edmund's as well as boys.

The pupils study the usual subjects. Business Studies, Latin, Psychology, Spanish and Theatre Studies are also available as optional subjects.