HISTORY

Kings College, Lagos, a boys-only Secondary School was established by an Act of British Parliament on Monday 20th of September 1909, with Mr. Lomax as its first Principal. The College (originally called King’s School, Lagos) opened with ten scholars. It was established to produce students of profound character and academic distinction – men who would build an independent Nigeria. In the words of the colonialists, the College was established To provide for the youth of the Colony a higher general education than that supplied by the existing schools, to prepare them for the Matriculation Examination of the University of London, and to give a useful course of study to those who intend to qualify for professional life or to enter Government or Mercantile Service.

King’s College is a national institution, the nation’s numero uno in post primary education. Today, King’s College, Lagos, remains the best College in terms of prestige, character formation, discipline and academic excellence. Its contemporaries in West Africa are Achimota College, Ghana and Fourabay College, Sierra Leone. In England, Kings College compares favourably with Eaton College, Harrow and a few others.
In 1914, Sir Lord Fredrick Lugard, the Governor-General of Nigeria, described King’s College, Lagos, in a White Paper as “the leading school in the Colony as well as the Premier School”.

STATUS QUO

King’s College Main Campus is located at 3, Catholic Mission Street, Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos. The College occupies about 10 Acres of land, with Day and Boarding facilities. The College main building is one long-stretched-L-shaped two story block, consisting of the following segments: The first segment has the Introductory Technology Workshop, Assembly Hall and the College Clinic on the ground floor. On the first floor is a long stream of hostels, which accommodate the Harmans and Panes Houses. On the top of the Houses is the penthouse of four flats for Housemasters.

The ground floor of the second segment of the building consists of three classrooms, while the first and second floors accommodate the McKee Wright House. The third segment, which is fondly referred to as Administrative Block or Brick block, is the oldest building in the College. The complex is of Colonial British architecture.  The building has brick walls and wooden floors. It accommodates a classroom, three offices and the College Library adjoining the building at the rear end of the ground floor; while the first floor consists of staff rooms and offices. The Principal’s office, the General Office and the Bursary are located on the third floor. The fourth segment of the structure is a storey building that houses the Science Laboratories.

Other buildings include a two storey block housing 12 classrooms and 8 offices for teachers, beside the Laboratory Block.  This block was put up in 1999 by the College Parents’ Teachers Association (PTA). Behind the PTA block is the Senior Boarding Housemaster’s (SBHM) House. A block of residential rooms is also located near the SBHM’s quarters. Towards the Western end of the College is a storey building, which accommodates the Dining Hall (ground floor) and the oldest Dormitory in the College – Hyde Johnson House above. Beside Hyde Johnson is a residential block of two flats for teachers and a Squash Court building.

King’s College is a celebrated cradle of sports and the birthplace of Cricket in Nigeria. Its sporting and recreational facilities include standard Football field, Badminton and Squash courts, Cricket pitch, Basketball court and Table Tennis facilities.It offers a comprehensive and all-embracing curriculum for academic excellence and total development of its students into responsible Gentlemen. Two Senior School Certificates are awarded after a satisfactory end of the Senior Secondary. The two certificate examinations available to the College are the West African Senior School Certificate (WASSC) awarded by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and Senior Secondary Certificate (SSC) awarded by the National Examinations Council (NECO). It has highly qualified and dedicated teachers, with a teacher – student ratio of about 1 – 15.

CURRICULUM

Nigerian Secondary education curriculum i.e. Basic and Post-basic education curriculum.

ACADEMICS            

Our essence of coming together is for the education of our children and the next generation of Nigerians in crave for our national development. It is a proven notion that a nation cannot develop above its education industry, we therefore jointly owe it as duty to ensure that the quality of education at our local level is competitive with global best practices.

I have perused the past results of the College and disagree on quality. I have expressed this in my meetings with internal components of the College and we have agreed on the way forward. My request from this gathering is to trust us enough to support our decisions in the course of our duties. To achieve our objective, a number of measures are being put in place. Students on their part should know that all academic activities are compulsory and must be attended to accordingly.

Mock examination for SS3 started on the 27th of February, but was temporarily truncated for the Joint Matriculation Examination that just ended yesterday. The remaining papers will be written from Monday 19th March, 2018. Second term examination for other students has just been concluded and we have few days to the end of the term. While the teachers are busy marking and collating results, various activities have been mapped out for the students and every student is expected to participate actively in these activities.

I must mention that I got reports that boys want to leave for the home with the connivance of parents as soon as examinations are over. This is unacceptable and fall short of quality standard in a school. Let me state this clearly that any child that leaves the College illegally has chosen to dismiss himself, as such will be viewed as voluntary withdrawal from the College. Vacation is Thursday, 22nd March 2018, when every child is expected to leave for home.

DISCIPLINE

Discipline is a major ingredient for success and this administration will take issue of discipline very serious. In my years of experience I have seen self-discipline as a major factor for success and discipline in an organization, particularly a school system as precursor to conducive learning environment. Every child must be given the right atmosphere to achieve his potentials.

It is against this background that I wish to admonish parents/guardians to impress it upon their children/wards that tramping on other students rights and distortion of private comfort will attract commensurate sanctions. Other common conducts of indiscipline are equally condemned in strong terms and will be visited with appropriate sanctions. This era will expect people to be ready to take responsibility for the consequents of their actions. I am currently reviewing general conducts of the students and hope to see the best that a school environment can accommodate. Meanwhile parents are to note that this administration has zero tolerance for indiscipline.

I further advise parents to deliberately monitor the activities of their children and counsel them to eschew immoral conduct. The College has no room for morally bankrupt children. Be informed that there is provision for withdrawal on the basis of intolerable moral laxity.

RESUMPTION/VACATION

Parents are to note that vacation and resumption days are sacrosanct and are as may be directed by the Federal Ministry of Education. The College authority will not compromise on early vacation and late resumption on flimsy excuses. Parents should ensure as a reminder, in particular to fix programmes requiring the presence of their children in such a way that it will not affect the College calendar. Our policy of not considering requests from parents to pick their wards before the vacation day as a result of booking flight for their wards on time or any other excuse not conforming with the College vacation remains unchanged. Resumption for next term is 15th of April for boarding students, day students resume on Monday, 16th April.

INFRASTRUCTURAL CHALLENGE

The College physical infrastructure is suffering from old age and environmental degradation, particularly at the annex where the sewage system poses serious challenge. We still count on you for the best you can do to support us in our battle to develop conducive environment for learning. This is an area that requires all hands on deck. Maintenance of our physical structure takes a lot of our resources and as partners it is necessary to express our need for more support. The issue of bed-bug in the hostel has raised a lot of concern both within and outside and management has been addressing this with the support of the PTA. The effort so far is to reduce the effect because of the health implication of the chemical in use

HOSTEL/CLASSROOM ITEMS

In addition to the usual hostel items for personal comforts, boys are to bring the following items to be inspected during the Checking-in at resumption.

• Air Freshener (2) for the concerned students
• Izal one litre for the concerned students
• 2 Sets of Cutleries by every student
• 4 Stainless steel plates, the usual size by every student

There will also be class due of five hundred naira to be paid to class teachers for minor classroom needs.