The King's new reign

Caroline Johnson, director of external relations at The King’s School in Macclesfield, reflects on the culmination of an eight-year vision to relocate one of the country’s oldest schools to a new £60m campus during a year like no other

- Caroline Johnson

The past year has been unprecedented for everyone, but for The King’s School, it was already set to be a momentous time as it moved out of its historic, listed buildings and into a purpose-built campus on the edge of Prestbury, Over Alderley and Macclesfield.

Back in 2012, the governors of King’s set out a ‘2020 Vision’ to move to a single, state-of-the-art campus at the end of the decade. Little did they know what else 2020 had in store.

Now complete, the move has brought all the school’s pupils, aged three to 18, onto a single campus for the first time in its 518-year history. It’s also seen the school become fully coeducational for the first time. Fortunately, staff had been gradually preparing pupils and systems, not only for the physical move, but also the exciting coeducational future. Looking back, we realise how blessed we were to have had all our ducks in a row well before March when schools found themselves suddenly closing due to the Covid-19 pandemic.