King’s Canterbury Fees: Complete Cost Breakdown for 2026

King's School, Canterbury offers both day and boarding places, so the fee depends on which your child takes, and the boarding fee is the headline figure for most families. Alongside it sit a registration fee, an acceptance deposit, a new advance deposit from 2026, and a clear list of what the fee includes and what is charged extra. This guide breaks down the published costs for 2026, explains the one-off charges, and covers the means-tested bursary route for families who need help.

Boarding and day fees

King's Canterbury is both a day and a boarding school, so the relevant fee depends on which place your child takes. The published boarding fee for 2025/26 is £18,234 per term, inclusive of VAT, which comes to £54,702 across the three terms. The day fee is lower: at Year 9 it is around £11,352 per term, inclusive of VAT, rising a little in the later years. Because most pupils board, often returning home at weekends, the boarding fee is the headline figure for the majority of families, but the day option offers a more affordable route for those within reach of Canterbury. Fees are reviewed and published year by year, so confirm the current figures directly with the school for your child's year of entry, but these give a clear sense of the level.

Registration and deposits

Several one-off charges fall outside the termly fee. The registration fee is £200, non-refundable, payable when you register. On accepting a place, an acceptance deposit of £2,400 is payable, and from 2026 entry the school also requires an additional advance deposit of one term's fee, paid in advance, which for a boarder equates to a further sum of around £18,234. Overseas families are asked for a deposit of two terms' fees. These deposits are held against your child's account and set against fees or returned in line with the school's terms, but they represent a meaningful upfront commitment, so it is important to plan for them. Confirm the exact figures and how each deposit is treated with the admissions office when you accept a place.

What the fee includes

One helpful feature of King's fee structure is that it sets out clearly what the fee covers. The published schedule states that standard academic and co-curricular tuition, boarding accommodation, food, non-specialist healthcare, internet and Wi-Fi, the required academic books and equipment, essential educational trips, and personal accident and dental protection are all included in the fee. This means a good deal of everyday school life is covered within the headline figure rather than appearing as extras. When you compare King's with other schools, it is worth bearing this in mind, since a fee that bundles in more leaves fewer surprises on the termly bill.

What is charged extra

Some costs sit outside the headline fee and are billed separately. At King's these include a school fees protection scheme for boarders, personal effects insurance, private healthcare cover, individual music tuition and instrument hire, membership of the rowing, sailing and fencing programme, and ad-hoc overnight boarding for day pupils. Public examination fees and personal spending also fall outside the fee. None is large on its own, but for a child who takes individual music lessons or joins several activities they add up across a year, so it is sensible to leave headroom in your budget. For a sense of how King's costs compare with other leading schools in the region, our guide to the best schools in Kent puts the fees in context.

Bursaries and scholarships

King's runs a means-tested bursary programme, and this is the route that matters most if affordability is your central concern. Bursaries are assessed on financial circumstances rather than talent, and they can reduce fees substantially for families who would not otherwise be able to consider King's. A strong candidate from a family that cannot meet the full fee should still apply. On the merit side, King's offers a wide range of scholarships at 13+, in academic work, music, art, sport, design and technology, drama and dance, with its strong musical tradition reflected in up to twelve music scholarships and free tuition in two instruments for music scholars. The scholarships are primarily marks of distinction, and for families in need the larger help with fees usually comes through the bursary, which can be held alongside an award. Our guide to King's scholarships covers the awards in full, and our overview of school bursaries and scholarships explains the wider picture.

Is it worth it?

Whether £54,702 a year represents value is a judgment only your family can make, but it helps to know what the fee buys. King's offers a strong academic record, a setting of rare beauty in the precincts of Canterbury Cathedral, a celebrated musical tradition, and the heritage of what is widely regarded as the oldest school in England. Set against that, the fee is high, as it is at all the leading boarding schools. The honest position is that King's is an expensive school and a distinguished one, and the decision turns on how those two facts weigh against each other for your family, and on whether the bursary route, or the more affordable day option, brings the cost within reach.