Dean Close

Set on a beautiful 50-acre site near the centre of Cheltenham, Dean Close is a long-standing co-educational day and boarding school for pupils aged 3-18. Education across the ages is as much about building character and relationships as it is about gaining knowledge, with the Christian heart of the School & its dedicated tutorial system creating a warm and friendly atmosphere amongst staff and pupils. The School is small enough to allow everyone to know one another, feel valued and get fully involved in the life of the School. However, it is large enough to have an extremely strong boarding community, vibrant and exciting creative arts, impressive academic results and great sports results.

Dean Close is renowned for focusing on individual development. Through the excellent pastoral system, pupils are closely monitored with the aim of bringing out the very best in them educationally, physically and spiritually in order to enhance their self-esteem and character and to give them the necessary grounding for their future beyond School. Small classes and excellent learning facilities also help to nurture each child's strengths and talents.

Dean Close is a busy place. In the last academic year, individuals and teams won numerous county and regional titles across all disciplines, with the U18 1^st and 2^nd rugby teams both having an undefeated season. There have been trips to Florence, Iceland, Berlin, Montpellier, Scotland and North Wales; CCF (Army, Navy and RAF) camps and Duke of Edinburgh expeditions; the biennial visit to our link school in Nyakatakura, Uganda where pupils take out funds raised, help with building projects and even lead classes, activities and singing; drama productions (My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof and Arcadia to name a few) with its own theatre company performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the tenth year; instrumental and choral concerts, big band nights & the Dean Close Jazz Festival, recitals and masterclasses and much more. All this takes place alongside the daily activities across the schools, both academic and co-curricular. This diversity of activity is not unusual at Dean Close and the pupils' achievements only serve to increase their enthusiasm and determination to succeed.

As in previous years, the 2019 exam results were excellent given the broad based entry at 13+. At A Level 70% of grades were A*/A/B and four pupils obtained the grades required for their Oxbridge offers. At GCSE, more than a quarter of our pupils achieved six or more A* grades, and 60% of all grades were A/A*, a Dean Close record. The good news for our leavers is that almost 90% gained places at their first or second choice university, another Dean Close record, and a reflection both of their own achievements and the support and advice given for their higher education. Scholarships, exhibitions and bursaries are offered at 11yrs, 13yrs and 16yrs in Academic, Music, Sport, Art, Design Technology, Drama and Chorister (at 7yrs). The internationally acclaimed boy choristers of the Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum are all educated at Dean Close.