Welcome from the College Head

It is my very great pleasure to welcome you to our website and I hope you will find both inspiration and reassurance in these pages.

Cheltenham is a vibrant and exciting school, with traditional values but a very modern approach. We pride ourselves on going beyond your expectations as a parent, in our support for your child. In doing so, we enable our pupils to achieve above their expectations of themselves. 

We consistently produce top academic performances thanks to our outstanding staff who are excited by their subjects and who find an innate joy in teaching. We are academically ambitious and our results speak for themselves.

We have a fabulous track record for sport of all kinds too, from the mainstream to the less usual. Our approach is to open our pupils’ minds to trying new things and to being confident enough to make mistakes. There is something for everyone here and you may well wish your own school days were not behind you, once you have perused all that is on offer here.

Our House system and pastoral care is exceptional and forms the cornerstone of all that we do. If you happen to ask any Cheltonian today, they will talk about the care and attention they receive from their House staff and tutor. We work hard to promote excellent relationships between pupils and staff. Our relaxed atmosphere fosters originality and creativity in both teaching and learning. This promotes agency – our pupils are encouraged to take ownership of their own trajectory and in that way, we prepare them for the exciting world that awaits them when they finally leave school.

We aim to go beyond acquaintances to friendships, beyond inclusion to belonging. Belonging is a two-way street. Your child belongs here and a part of here, will belong, for always and forever, to your child. That is the way that they form friendships that last a lifetime.

Here, at Cheltenham College, there is room to make mistakes and space to put them right. We help to develop the always-valued all-rounder by encouraging pupils to do different things and to relish the variety that exists here. No two days are ever the same. We believe that when a child becomes good at one thing, they quickly become good at another, often unrelated thing. An applauded piano performance can boost a maths exam. A half century can improve an English essay. It is, of course, all about confidence. Confidence to say ‘I can’. ‘I can have a go at that.’ This belief in yourself, and others’ belief in you, is what forms the whole. That is what education is all about. It is what shapes the trajectory of an entire life. And that is what Cheltenham College is all about too – a journey beyond and above. Do come and visit us soon.