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Public school in Canterbury, Kent, England

The King's School is a public school in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's oldest public school; and is arguably the oldest continuously operating school in the world, since education on the Abbey and Cathedral grounds has been uninterrupted since AD 597.

The school started as a medieval cathedral school said to have been founded during Late Antiquity in AD 597, a century after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, by Augustine of Canterbury, considered the "Apostle to the English" and a founder of the English Church, thus making it arguably the world's oldest extant school. This is based on the fact that St Augustine founded an abbey (within the current school's grounds) where it is known that teaching took place. When the Dissolution of the Monasteries took place, the school was re founded by royal charter in 1541. A Headmaster, a Lower Master, and fifty King's Scholars were established and the name "King's School", was used for the first time, referring to King Henry VIII. Cardinal Pole moved the school to the Mint Yard and acquired the Almonry building, which was in use for over 300 years. Throughout the next 100 years several former pupils achieved national recognition helping the school establish its reputation; these include the first headmaster, John Twyne, and Christopher Marlowe, William Harvey and John Tradescant the Younger. The buildings were improved and academic standards raised during the leadership of John Mitchinson and around this time the school became a "public school" with a national reputation.

In 2011, the school was rated as 'Good' by Ofsted. In 2017, the school was subject to its latest regular, independent inspection. The inspection team praised the "outstanding academic results" and the pupils' integrity, self assurance, and "generosity of spirit". According to the Good Schools Guide, the school is "highly successful, producing excellent results". The Guide also stated, "You need to be creative, academically able and hard working, as everything moves fast here."

In 2019, 54% of pupils scored A* A for their A Levels examination, and in 2022, 72% scored A* A for their GCSEs.

A festival of arts, held during the last week of the summer term, introduced by Fred Shirley in 1952. The week has featured over 100 events, ranging from classical concerts to theatre performances, held in locations around Canterbury. Events have been free to attend and required no booking and a number were broadcast live. The week has culminated in Commemoration day (known as "Commem") on the last day of the school year when the school leavers in 6a wore court dress of white tie and tails, with breeches and black stockings, or their national dress, and the whole school attended a service to commemorate the school benefactors; such benefactors include Mathew Parker, the first Archbishop of Canterbury of Elizabeth I.

In 2005, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) provisionally found that the school exchanged detailed information about prospective fee increases with approximately 50 other prominent UK independent schools, including Eton and Sevenoaks. The OFT stated that "regular and systematic exchange of confidential information as to intended fee increases was anti competitive and resulted in parents being charged higher fees than would otherwise have been the case."

Peter Roberts retired as Headmaster at the close of the Summer Term on Thursday, 7 July 2022. Elizabeth Worthington, Senior Deputy Head, is the interim head until September 2023 when Jude Lowson will become the first female Head in the history of the School.

The King's School has a feeder preparatory school, the Junior King's School (JKS), previously Milner Court Preparatory School. The school is a coeducational boarding and day establishment and currently has around 400 pupils aged 3 to 13. Whilst there are boarding facilities available, the majority are day pupils. JKS is now located at Milner Court in Sturry, having been originally based in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral. The current site was donated by Lady Milner following the death of Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner in 1925. The buildings on site were opened by Rudyard Kipling in 1929, in his capacity as a close friend of Alfred Milner. Wilfrid Oldaker was headmaster from 1945 to 1956 and was the last head to occupy the manor house as the headmaster's residence. Further extensions include a sports hall (1999), a CDT block (1991) and a new music department (2016).

The King's School planned to open its first overseas branch in the Nanshan district of Shenzhen, China in 2019. The new campus was intended to be launched in two separate phases. The Pre Prep section for children aged 3 – 6 was planned to open in Autumn 2019, and the Main School, which will include the Junior and Senior sections for children aged 6–18, should open the following year in 2020.