Schools in Cheltenham — Primary, Secondary & Independent

A complete list of schools in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire (GL50–GL54): primary, secondary, grammar, independent and special schools.

• 72 schools
• 47 primary
• 9 secondary
• 16 special, independent and other

Schools in Cheltenham

Cheltenham is well served for education, from state primaries and secondaries to grammar and independent schools with national reputations. This page lists all 72 schools across the town’s GL50–GL54 postcode districts covering every phase from infant and primary through to secondary, sixth form and special schools.

Whether you’re weighing up primary catchments, comparing secondaries, or looking at Cheltenham’s independent sector, the aim is a complete, up-to-date reference drawn straight from the official register. For higher education, see the University of Gloucestershire, which has campuses in Cheltenham.

More Information

• Secondary school catchment areas map — which secondary school is nearest to each part of town.
• Primary school catchment areas map — which primary school is nearest to each part of town.
• Nurseries and childcare — every registered nursery, pre-school and out-of-school club, with its latest Ofsted outcome.
• Gloucester County Council Find a School
• Dynamic Maps for Schools
• Term Dates from Gloucestershire County Council

Using the Data

Sort the table by name, type or phase, or filter it by phase, to find what you’re after, or use the summary to see how the schools break down across phases. Select a school’s name for its full Ofsted inspection history: its latest report card or graded inspection, area by area, and every Ofsted report since records began. The Site column opens the school’s own site.

Moving with children? Our moving to Cheltenham guide covers school catchments alongside house prices and neighbourhood safety.

By Phase (72 Schools)

All Schools (72 Schools)

Frequently Asked Questions

What Do the School Types Mean?

• Community schools are run by Gloucestershire County Council, which employs the staff and sets the admissions rules.
• Foundation schools are also council-funded, but the governing body employs the staff and sets the admissions rules.
• Voluntary aided and voluntary controlled schools are mostly church schools. At a voluntary aided school the governors employ the staff and set admissions, which can give priority on faith grounds; a voluntary controlled school is run by the council, much like a community school.
• Academies are funded directly by the government and run by an academy trust rather than the council. A converter academy chose to become one; a sponsor-led academy was paired with a sponsor trust, often to turn the school around. A free school is an academy set up from scratch.
• Special schools are for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities, usually with an education, health and care plan. The Gloucestershire Hospital Education Service teaches children who are too unwell to attend their own school.
• Independent schools charge fees and are not run by the council or the government.

What Does the Phase Column Mean?

• Primary covers ages 4 to 11, including separate infant (4 to 7) and junior (7 to 11) schools. Secondary covers 11 to 16, or 18 where the school has a sixth form.
• "Not applicable" is used for schools that don't fit one phase, such as special schools and independent schools that take pupils from nursery or prep age through to 18.

What Do the Ofsted Outcomes Mean?

• Outstanding, Good, Requires improvement and Inadequate are the overall grades from a full graded inspection. Older reports also use Satisfactory, which Requires improvement replaced in 2012.
• Remains Good or Remains Outstanding come from a shorter inspection that checks a school is still at its previous grade, without grading it afresh. "May be improving" means inspectors saw signs it could now earn a higher grade; "some concerns" means they weren't sure it would keep its grade. Either way the next inspection is a full graded one.
• Standards maintained and Some aspects not as strong are the same kind of check under the rules used from September 2024: the first means the school is still at its previous standard, the second that some areas have slipped and a graded inspection will follow.
• Graded by area means a full inspection between September 2024 and November 2025, when Ofsted graded each area, such as quality of education and behaviour and attitudes, on the four-point scale but stopped giving a single overall grade.
• Report card means the school has been inspected under Ofsted's current framework, which grades each area on a five-point scale (exceptional, strong standard, expected standard, needs attention, urgent improvement) and judges safeguarding as met or not met.
• Select a school's name to see its grades for each area and every past inspection.

Why Do Schools Have Different Kinds of Ofsted Outcome?

• Ofsted has changed how it reports on schools twice since 2024: it dropped single-word overall grades in September 2024 and introduced report cards in November 2025. A school's outcome depends on when it was last inspected, so schools in the same table can have been judged under different systems.
• Schools are normally inspected about every four years, so it will take a few years for every school to have a report card.

Why Don't Independent Schools Have an Ofsted Rating?

• Most of Cheltenham's independent schools, including Cheltenham College, Cheltenham Ladies' College and Dean Close, belong to associations whose schools are inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate instead of Ofsted. Their reports are on the Independent Schools Inspectorate's site.

Which School Is Nearest to My Home?

• Our primary school catchment map and secondary school catchment map shade every part of Cheltenham by the school closest to it in a straight line, so you can see at a glance which school's zone a street falls in.
• Distance by road can differ from straight-line distance, so a school just across a zone boundary may be the closer one in practice.

Do Cheltenham Schools Have Official Catchment Areas?

• No. Gloucestershire County Council doesn't publish fixed catchment boundaries, which is why our maps show the nearest school instead. When a school is oversubscribed, places usually go by criteria such as siblings and, for some schools, faith, then by distance from home to school.
• To check the admissions rules for a specific address, use the council's Find a School tool.

About This Data

Data from Get Information about Schools (Department for Education) and Ofsted, published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Last updated 13 September 2026. Ofsted outcomes: Last updated 5 October 2026, checked monthly. Independent schools inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate have no Ofsted outcome. Proposed, closed, nursery-only, higher-education and alternative-provision establishments are excluded.