Cheam School A GSG School

What The Good Schools Guide says

Head

Since January 2025, Nick Milbank, who joined the school 25 years ago as a form tutor and progressed through the ranks, most recently as acting head. He grew up in Yorkshire and lives with his wife, Kirsten, and two teenage children, both Cheam alumni.

Entrance

Entry by date of registration. Not selective at 4+ but older applicants attend taster day before place confirmed. Fifteen places in year 3, 10 in year 4, the odd place in years 5, 6 and 7. School will try to accommodate siblings; always worth calling to ask.

Exit

Vast majority at 13+. Almost exclusively boarding with Marlborough, Bradfield, Radley, Sherborne, Wellington, Eton, St Edward’s Oxford, Milton Abbey, Pangbourne, St Mary’s Calne, Wincester, Bryanston, Canford, Charterhouse, Cheltenham College, Cheltenham Ladies’ College and Lord Wandsworth College all having featured recently. Forty senior schools attended inaugural senior schools fair. A few parents ‘start with the senior school and work backwards’ but that’s happening less and less, we’re told. Very effective advice about where would suit each child: ‘He told us that he could really see us there and when we visited it did feel just right.’ Nineteen scholarships in 2023.

Our view

‘Opportunity, friendship and an enormous house to rattle around in’: that’s what the school reckons brings them in. Parents highlighted ‘traditional values’, ‘beautiful manners’, ‘amazing results’. We saw them all in spades: bright-eyed children engaging wholeheartedly in prep school life.

Academic focus is on Common Entrance, with Latin from year 5. Class sizes average 17; teachers warm and knowledgeable. We saw lots of zingy lessons as we walked around: year 5s dissecting Oliver Twist (English, not biology) with great maturity; year 8s so enraptured by their chemistry lesson that nobody stirred when the lunch bell rang. Remarkable.

Academic life is pacy and it’s a busy day, but teachers cater for the range of abilities. Setting starts in year 5 though pupils don’t seem fazed by it and appreciate the differentiation it allows for. Tiny handful receive EAL support. Learning support now called ‘learning development’ (more positive, more grown-up); 70 on the register, all of whom can access one-to-one support. Proactive monitoring: pupil progress tracked carefully, ‘spiky’ CAT scores or unusual trends observed, parents called in promptly.

From the head’s study – magnolia walls, marble fireplace, noisily ticking grandfather clock – to the boys’ dormitories named after military heroes, this is not a school in a hurry to change. Children pushed out of their comfort zones in a decidedly un-Gen Z way: a few genuinely nervous about the impending Halloween Horror trail when we visited (it did look spooky). School not squeamish about a bit of competition. A loving environment – an awful lot cosier than in Prince Philip’s day – but expect lots of adventure and challenge. You don’t have to be a ‘tough cookie’, says one parent, but felt that it might help.

That said, Mr Phelps is softening the edges, having already made a positive impact on pastoral care. Feels passionate about developing a culture of support and wellbeing which permeates day-to-day school life and which all staff are responsible for. Pupils and staff encouraged to meditate; new space called The Nest has opened to provide quiet sanctuary during the school day. We heard of the odd wobbly newbie who’d been overlooked in the past; school concerned by this when we raised it and feel that with pastoral care now front and centre, things are changing. Majority of parents raved about how the school looks after their offspring: ‘They organised for the head boy to come and check in on him, to make sure he was getting on okay,’ said one; ‘They’re so kind, so wonderful, so reassuring,’ said another, grateful for ‘the school’s whole attitude from the word go’ when life at home was tough.

Sport everywhere: we were charmed by our tour guide’s pride at being on the 5ths and found the attitude towards team sports to be genuinely inclusive. Main sports are rugby, football, cricket for the boys; hockey, netball, tennis, rounders for the girls. Games sessions almost every day for every pupil. Lots of glory: U11s reigning IAPS champions in hockey and netball; 15 sports scholarships in the last two years. By contrast, ‘Gentlemen’s XI’ play for the ‘pure joy of the game’. ‘My son now loves cricket,’ laughs one parent, ‘because he’s playing with those as hopeless as him and they cheer each other on.’ Players of the Week can, and do, come from any team. Matches from year 2 upwards; year 3 hockey players were feeling gung-ho about that afternoon’s fixture when we visited (turns out they lost 2-1 but we bet nobody minded too much). With 90 acres, there’s plenty of space for courts, pitches, nets and Astros galore, though pupils wish there was an indoor pool so they could swim year-round.

Bustling music department aims for a combination of ‘inclusion and excellence’. Almost 300 children learn an instrument, from clarinet to cornet; 80-strong orchestra plus ensembles that cater for all. Chapel choir sing ‘with joyful hearts and souls to the glory of God’, says school, at annual Winchester Cathedral Evensong. Annual Concerto Concert gives year 7s and 8s the chance to perform solo with a professional orchestra behind them. Lots of opportunities to perform in assemblies. High standards expected: school has sent music scholars to Eton for three consecutive years. Division Music provides the chance for those less musically blessed to get involved (‘I was blown away by it,’ says one parent). Even parents get to join in through the community choir.

Does well from pandemics: first Londoners turned up in 1665 as the Great Plague ravaged the city; no surprise, then, that more showed up during lockdown. A well-established path pre-Covid, of course, with lawns stripy enough to rival the Hurlingham Club’s. School’s admissions booklet includes details of local property search agents… Is there anyone left in Fulham at all? New children given a buddy (or ‘substance’) who shows them the ropes; invitations to kitchen suppers roll in for parents, many of whom have been through independent schools themselves. A few we interviewed found the social scene a little exclusive but that seems to apply more to parents than pupils. Most live within a 35-minute drive – lots of informal lift-shares going on.

Traditional boarding week: Saturday school for year 4 upwards, kicking off with chapel followed by eight lessons and fixtures. Less parental grumbling than you might expect – most recognise that it eases pressure on the week, though some are ‘bleary eyed’ for chapel. Moreover, Saturday school is ‘academic, spiritual and sporting – and means they’re not watching Netflix at home,’ says Mr Phelps (clearly missing the spirituality of Netflix).

Most notable of the notable alumni is King Charles III, whose signed photo was standing proudly in a drawing room when we visited. Prince Philip was a boy here too. Beyond that, a pleasing collection of politicians, cricketers and admirals from the olden days. Archive, open all day to anyone who wants to pop in, contains wonderful array of their old football caps, top hats, military decorations. More recently a run of successful athletes: Matt Rossiter and Leonora Mackinnon represent Team GB for rowing and fencing respectively; Jake Meyer was the youngest Briton to climb Everest (not whilst a pupil, unfortunately); Sophie Herrmann competes in the Olympic skeet.

Pre-prep nicely self-contained. Weekly woodland learning builds resilience in EYFS. French, music, PE taught by specialists from the off. Our visit coincided with the announcement of the nativity casting, a big day in a small person’s year: pre-prep head had prepared a PowerPoint to educate the children on how it was okay for boys to play angels (we didn’t hang around to see how it went down). There’s lots of talk about kindness, lots of praise, lots of creativity. Headmaster comes to their assembly once a week, and they attend whole-school assembly at the main school termly.

Boarders

Just under a third currently flexi boarding, naturally weighted towards years 7 and 8. Friday nights the most popular amongst pupils and parents (much easier than getting a babysitter for that kitchen supper). ‘Wild Wednesdays’ organised for year-groups one at a time to give them a taster of boarding life. Weekly boarders can get the bus from Putney on a Monday morning and a few more local routes also run. School ‘makes it feel homely’, we’re told. Dorms are sleepover-style cosy, no mod cons or minimalism here. Local artist has painted colourful wall murals: underwater scenes for the boys complete with shipwrecks, jellyfish and a great white shark (sweet dreams, chaps!); woodland equivalent for the girls with butterflies and birds of prey.

Money matters

Fees comparable with similar preps. Partial as well as transformational bursaries offered; works with Springboard charity every year. Four per cent currently on bursaries, though school aims to bring this to 10 per cent.

The last word

‘Childhood is a joy,’ says school; Cheam has been giving children a glorious start to life since 1645, sending them – muddy-kneed and ruddy-cheeked – off to top public schools at the end of it all. Life here just as exciting as it always was but now with softer edges. The best of a modern, yet traditional, British education: jolly hockey sticks optional, stiff upper lips firmly a thing of the past. Bravo.

Special Education Needs

Cheam caters for children with certain special needs. There is a thriving Learning Support Department on site which assists children with mild forms of dyslexia and dyspraxia. The staff are very experienced and fully attuned to the needs of the children. Detailed and accurate profiles are kept up to date and such information shared with the staff. There is effective communication between the LS Department and the teaching staff thus ensuring that each child's specific needs are met. Children can be screened in house and, if required, tested at school by an educational psychologist. Bright and gifted children are also well catered for and can fast track through the school into the scholarship streams in the final two years. Pupils are streamed from Year 4 upwards. Bright and gifted pupils are prepared for scholarship exams to their public schools in small, 'stand alone' scholarship forms in Years 7 and 8.