King George V School (Gilbert and Ellice Islands) King George V School (Gilbert and Ellice Islands) King George V School (KGV) was a government high school for boys in the Gilbert Islands (now Kiribati), within the British colony Gilbert and Ellice Islands. Throughout its history it was in multiple locations in South Tarawa and Abemama. It served as a boarding school, and trained people to be government workers and teachers. John Garrett, author of "Where Nets Were Cast: Christianity in Oceania Since World War II", wrote that many of its alumni "shaped a nucleus which assisted" the independence of what became Kiribati. It was originally located in Bairiki,
Gilbert and Ellice Islands which was operating on Ocean Island, and questioned the impartiality of Mahaffy. The seat of government was then moved to Ocean Island (now known as Banaba Island), which had been included in the protectorate in 1900, to take advantage of the improved shipping connections resulting from the Pacific Phosphate Company's activities, and the status of the islands was changed on 12 January 1916 to that of a Crown Colony. The role of the British colonial authorities emphasised the procurement of labour for the Ocean Island phosphate mining and keeping order among the workers. The islands became a Crown colony on