[12] In January 1830, the archdeacon of New South Wales, William Grant Broughton, devised a plan for the establishment of grammar schools in the colony under the governorship of Sir Ralph Darling.

[2] Military drill was established in 1855; in this era, the school experienced a protracted period of expansion in facilities and enrolments.

[13] Headmaster LJ Trollope saw a drastic contraction in the number of pupils to just 10 by June 1864, resulting in the closure of the school.

[15] A small patch of land is still owned by Burns and his descendants, and this is for the family cemetery at the centre of the Senior School.

King's also operates a co-educational preparatory boarding school, Tudor House, in Moss Vale, which is approximately 100 kilometers south west of the North Parramatta campus.

[19] Co-curricular activities offered by the school include debating, choir, theatre, bands and ensembles, sport, and the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.

Productions have included Les Misérables, The Pirates of Penzance, South Pacific, Guys and Dolls, Fiddler on the Roof, My Fair Lady, The Mikado, Grease, Jesus Christ Superstar (2015), Addams Family (2016), A Fleeting Night's Dream (2017), We Will Rock You (2018), The Producers (2019), Grease (2020), Mamma Mia (2021), School of Rock (2022) and Shrek (2023).

The Senior A team won the GPS on two occasions; winning outright in 1928, and tied first place with Sydney Grammar in 2007.

The school also runs three stage bands, and numerous other jazz and chamber ensembles for Wind and Brass players.

There is a non-auditioned choir for boys in the senior school, and the auditioned Schola Cantorum; both ensembles are in four vocal parts.

Senior school students must participate in one of rugby union, association football, volleyball or cross country in winter, and rowing, cricket, basketball, tennis, athletics or swimming in summer.

The school was instrumental in the development of rugby union in Australia, playing in the first inter-school game against Newington College in 1870.

Current and recent Wallabies Stirling Mortlock, Benn Robinson, Dean Mumm, Lalakai Foketi, Nick Phipps and Julian Huxley are former students of the school.

Other former students including Teddy Wilson, Archer Holz, Ben Batger, Daniel Halangahu, Will Caldwell, James Hilgendorf, Ben Hand, Tom Carter, Mitchell Chapman, Hugh Perrett, Guy Millar and Tim Davidson play or played recently in the Super Rugby competition.

[citation needed] The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported on 19 May 2016 that RSPCA Australia was investigating alleged cruelty to sheep after a video was posted on Facebook showing members of the school's teams tackling older rams around a paddock.

Two decades after the incidents, the former student is in institutional care, suffering from a psychiatric illness that he claims is caused by the negligence of the school.

[34] In 2016, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation obtained footage of the school's rugby team crash-tackling sheep in a farm paddock.

The headmaster at the time, Timothy Hawkes, defended the incident, stating that it was a "rugby camp training exercise not dissimilar to shearing".

[36] On 29 March 2023, near the start of the annual Cadet Corps Camp (held at Singleton Military Base in Hunter Valley), a group of students killed a tree goanna, which was reported to the police on April 5, 2023.

[40][41] George later released a public response which reiterated many of the points made in the interview, repeating his disgust for the "tabloids and virtuous trolls" using the controversy for clickbait.

[42] In July 2021, a staff member was reported to the police for violating public health orders and attending an anti-lockdown protest, including posting about the experience to social media.

[45] The school came under fire for claiming the JobKeeper subsidy, handed out by the government during the COVID-19 pandemic to help protect jobs.

[48] The business class flights were forced to be repaid after an investigation revealed that it breached the Education Act, and was an improper use of funds.

[50] In April 2023, students were found to have sent racist and antisemitic messages on a private online group chat named "Studies of Religion" on WhatsApp and Instagram in September 2022.

[51][52] In 2018, the principals of 34 Sydney Anglican diocese schools, including Kings, wrote to Prime Minister Scott Morrison opposing the overhaul of anti-discrimination laws that would protect gay teachers.

The letter argued that the current exemptions under the Sex Discrimination Act are the only significant legal protections faith-based schools have to employ staff who support their ethos.