Dean Close School A GSG School

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All-through school (for example 3-18 years). - An all-through school covers junior and senior education. It may start at 3 or 4, or later, and continue through to 16 or 18. Some all-through schools set exams at 11 or 13 that pupils must pass to move on.

Sports

Polo

Equestrian centre or equestrian team - school has own equestrian centre or an equestrian team.

Fencing

Shooting

What The Good Schools Guide says

Headmaster

Since 2015, Bradley Salisbury, previously deputy head since 2009. The son of a vicar, he was educated at Monkton Combe School. Theology degree from Leeds, PGCE and MEd from Bristol. RS teacher at Gordano School, then head of RS, and of years 10 and 11, at Bristol Cathedral School, followed by head of RS and housemaster at Wells Cathedral School. Trustee of a multi-academy trust.

Would definitely win the award for the most flamboyant moustache we’ve seen on a headmaster. Good on him, we say, for embracing Movember with as much gusto as the pupils (girls included). No wonder pupils praise his humour and compassion, and it was clear from talking to them that they really feel he has their back. His own experience of school was ‘quite difficult’, he admits, and he wanted better for his charges. ‘There are such highs and lows while growing up and, in teaching, you get to see them transition into adults – it’s a huge privilege.’

Believes the school’s USP is that ‘it doesn’t have a USP’. Not a school where music or sports reign over the other, he explains, or where everyone is pushed down the Russell Group path just to beef up the school’s academic profile. ‘Although,’ he decided after a little chin scratching, ‘if I had to pull out one key strength it would be the sense of community – to know people, and be known, is a powerful thing.’ Parents appreciate his assurance to never grow the school ‘beyond the size of the chapel’. They call him a calm voice of reason, always balanced and steady’, as well as ‘considered, quiet and kind’. Pupils say he’s ‘caring’ and ‘always has time to chat’.

His wife Clare, whom he met at Bristol, is head of RS in the prep. They have three daughters, one on at university, one on a gap year and the youngest still here. In his spare time, he enjoys kite flying (he used to be in a kite team) and cooking (‘but I never cook the same thing twice’). Spending time in and around the sea is his escape, especially coastal walks in Pembrokeshire.

Entrance

Seventy per cent of the year 9 places are taken up by those coming up from the prep – they provide almost the entire day community and half the boarding. The rest (around 30) come mainly from local preps and overseas. They sit English and maths tests, plus interview and references. ‘We’re not one of those highly selective schools that creams off the top 10 per cent, so it’s important to meet people to consider if they’ll flourish here.’

Around 30 join at sixth form. They need seven 5s at GCSE (with 6s in subjects to be studied at A level, and 7s for some subjects, eg maths), plus verbal reasoning test.

Exit

Loses nearly a quarter of pupils post-GCSE to FE colleges and apprenticeships. Nearly half of sixth formers to Russell Group. Exeter, Cardiff, Durham, Loughborough, UCL, Bath, Reading and Oxford Brookes all popular. Sometimes one or two to Oxbridge. One medic in 2023, and two overseas – to Cornell and Columbia, USA. Broad range of subjects studied – art and physics currently trending. One or two to degree apprenticeships most years – head would like to see more. Good careers advice, including strong links with local businesses.

Latest results

In 2023, 54 per cent 9-7 at GCSE; 37 per cent A*/A at A level (63 per cent A*-B). In 2019 (the last pre-pandemic results), 60 per cent 9-7 at GCSE; 28 per cent A*/A at A level (70 per cent A*-B).

Teaching and learning

Recent broadening of the curriculum has led to three new A levels – sociology, media studies and photography – being added to the other less trad options of art and theatre studies, though school stops short of BTECs ‘because there’s no real demand and other local schools already offer them’. Most take three A levels, some four. Art and design popular, and gets the most A*s. History, geography and Eng lit get good numbers, along with Spanish, bucking the national MFL trend. Over half take maths – we’d choose it just for the new maths and business ‘hub’, one of a growing number of departments that are swapping separate staff offices and classrooms to for variously sized collaborative spaces. It’s a stunning example of the way the school is transforming existing spaces via inspired interiors, conference room layouts, layered seating and write-on partition walls. Silicon Valley, eat your heart out.

Twenty-two subjects offered at I/GCSE. Most take 10, with art, music, history, history and RS all popular and faring well. Smallish numbers for classics, Latin and Greek. Setting only in maths and MFL (French and/or Spanish studied from year 9, with a language ‘nearly’ compulsory at GCSE). For the most able, there are extension societies and competitions, eg maths and physics Olympiads, European Youth Parliament. Everyone brings their own device, but handwriting still dominates.

Parents told us they ‘deliberately chose a school that wasn’t too pressurised but where there was still good stretch’. They feel this is achieved by teachers ‘knowing my child and his learning style’ and through the kind of ‘inspired teaching’ we saw on our tour – lively debates (eg on why BAME communities tend to vote Labour in a politics class) and genuine mutual respect between staff and pupils (‘I love that answer – can you build on it?’). ‘A few teachers have been there a long time and are a bit stuck in their ways, but it’s the exception not the rule,’ said a parent. Pupils say teachers make sure ‘you don’t fall behind’.

Enrichment comes in for pupil praise. Includes ‘skills lab’ (study skills, how to detect fake news, careers, how to reference, etc). At sixth form, there’s Leiths cookery course, a sports leadership programme and an in-house devised course covering everything from personal safety to the joy of tax. Around half start an EPQ, a quarter finish it – school at peace with this as ‘the whole point of independent learning is not to drag them across the finish line, and it all counts as a useful foundation for university.’

Learning support and SEN

School reports an increase in neurodiversity, with the 20 per cent on the SEN register receiving mainly in-class support (‘My son’s teacher was the one who identified his slow processing and really helps him in subtle but effective ways’), with some attending booster groups (eg on study skills) or one-to-ones (costs extra). Used to be mainly dyslexia, now more ADHD, autism, processing and working memory issues. Provision very individual – ‘We wouldn’t ever say we do X for autistic children or Y for ADHD,’ says SENCo, sensibly. She is supported by three other staff members with a mix of numeracy and literacy expertise. Autistic staff also brought in to ‘help us understand more about it, they are brilliant champions’. We wish more schools would take this approach and as some presumably have other conditions too, perhaps they’ll be next. ‘I was set to fail my English, but wound up getting 6s thanks to learning support,’ said a pupil. No EHCPs. Around 12 pupils per year have help with EAL.

The arts and extracurricular

Families like that, true to the head’s promise, sporting, musical or dramatic successes ‘get equal pats on the back’. Pupils told us of key rugby players singing in concerts – ‘You’re not defined by one single thing, like in some schools.’ But be warned, life is full-on. ‘At the end of a busy term, I literally fall into a heap,’ said one pupil, ‘but then we get the lovely long holidays.’

Year 9s do a carousel of ‘creatives’ (DT, art, music, drama and cookery). DT is next level – we saw some superb wood and metal work, and really liked the birdbox project that brings 9s and 2s together, a deliberate effort to link prep and seniors. Lots of focus on independent thinking so no two pieces the same – ‘it’s what industry wants’. Art also celebrated – clay animal heads in progress during our visit, while a talented sixth former had her head stuck in an oil painting. One pupil told us of his particular interest in an artist – the next thing he knew, the school had arranged for him to attend their exhibition.

Exceptional cookery school. Leiths cookery course loved by sixth formers, who get UCAS points and the opportunity to join ‘Leiths List’, passport to a gap year cooking in ski chalets and private dining rooms (which the head’s own daughter has taken up).

The prep’s emphasis on music (including the Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum choristers) provides the bedrock to musical prowess in the senior school. Choral and strings shine, with a 70-strong chapel choir, while the quartet in residence, the Carducci Quartet, teach string players of all ages, as well as providing performance classes, coaching chamber music groups and running orchestra sectionals. Mere amateurs fear not – pupils told us all are welcome in this thriving department, no more so than on the programme for shortage instruments. One recently switched from recorder to oboe and is now in the school orchestra. More than 50 concerts a year, and regular choral/organ scholarships to Oxford and Cambridge. So it is a highbrow department? ‘It can be – we have a Mozart scholar concert tonight, but on Sunday there’s an acoustic night,’ said a pupil.

Drama has ‘gone through a bit of a patch’, say pupils, but felt to be on the up under a new head of department. Annual whole-school, junior and drama scholar productions take place in the 550-seat Bacon Theatre where the vast stage was being set up for Anything Goes. ‘Have you got our costumes ready yet?’ asked our tour guides excitedly. Black T-shirted tech team recently went off to Stratford to learn more about props, sound, lighting etc. ‘For a small number of students, doing this work is the best thing they do – they wouldn’t be seen dead on stage but love being in the shadows.’ In the large black box studio, a pupil was rehearsing for her musical theatre LAMDA exam (RADA available).

Clubs range from quirkier Dungeons and Dragons and Warhammer to drama, music, sport etc. Specialist head of adventure oversees DofE, plus climbing and mountain biking (on and off site). Around 60 per cent take up for the CCF (army and navy) from year 10. Tons of voluntary work – candyfloss being sold for the sister school in Uganda when we visited.

Sport

Known for hockey, but rugby hot on its heels since school partnered with Gloucester Rugby Club – around 10 recent pupils play professionally on the back of this programme. Touch options for those not keen on contact. Netball and cricket growing. School reports a co-ed spirit, with genuine appreciation for girls’ sport by boys, and vice versa, but parents say there could be more girls’ rugby and cricket. Staff are praised for being ‘not your average sports teachers – they play professionally and really know what they’re doing’. Definite improvement in top-level coaching – we spoke to one parent of a pupil who was steaming ahead with tennis. At the other end of the spectrum, a pupil said they ‘accept sport isn’t for everyone’. No on-site equestrian facilities, but lessons at nearby stables are popular, with umpteen rosettes for team and individual showjumping, eventing and dressage.

Boarders

Nearly half the pupils are full boarders, with 10 per cent flexi-boarding two to four nights a week. Lots of military families – means no mass exodus at weekends. The international cohort is a smaller but broader mix since Covid – from eg China, Hong Kong, Ukraine, Nigeria, Europe.

Shelburne, a senior girls’ house, is school’s flagship boarding accommodation – very nice it is too. Boys’ accommodation, as so often the case, is plainer. ‘Like a cosy old youth hostel,’ said one parent – a perfect description, we felt. Biggest dorms are for six, which get smaller as you go up the year groups, winding up with single rooms for sixth formers (some with en-suite). Every house makes a climate pledge – removing bins from rooms in favour of recycling stations in one we visited. Meals all together in dining hall.

On Saturdays, it’s morning lessons, afternoon matches and evening activities or downtime. On Sundays, it’s brunch then optional activities – recently Bollywood dancing. ‘I thought I’d hate it, but loved it,’ said one boy. House Shout (singing) a great bonding experience at the start of the year, reckon pupils, who also appreciate the socials between houses, eg cinema night with a different film in each house (plus popcorn machine for all). ‘My son’s housemaster was particularly good, my daughter’s is good but not outstanding,’ said a parent.

Ethos and heritage

An oil painting of the school’s namesake, the Very Reverend Francis Close, Dean of Carlisle Cathedral, hangs outside the head’s office – the school was founded in 1886 as a memorial to him. Ironically for Cheltenham, he was renowned for his robust sermons decrying the evils of horseracing and the theatre. In 2015, the school acquired St John’s-on-the-Hill, a prep school in Monmouthshire, and five nearby nurseries.

There are grander local schools, but Dean Close’s (relatively) more modest buildings suit the (relatively) less flashy crowd it attracts. The campus is spacious, fitting in most of the boarding houses (others are no more than a few minutes’ walk), and the traditional and newer buildings sit comfortably shoulder-to-shoulder. An ambitious building and refurbishment programme has already seen a new ‘village’ of four linked day houses and the new maths ‘hub’. Next up is ditching the portacabins (currently for history, geography and RS) and sprucing up the science labs. Well-stocked, well-used library, where we’d have happily whiled away many hours. Large dining room serves superb fodder – ‘lunch better than dinner,’ we heard.

This is a school with a Christian ethos where pupils must attend chapel three times a week, but there are plenty of families from other religions or none. For the more devout crowd – about 40-odd – there’s optional house Bible study and Sunday services.

Former pupils (Old Decanians) include lots of eminent members of the clergy and military, plus rugby players, cricketers, artist Francis Bacon, actors Will Merrick and Hugh Quarshie, and writers George Adamson (Born Free), George Wilson Knight (Shakespeare scholar) and Jon Foster (TV comedy).

Pastoral care, inclusivity and discipline

Parents speak of a ‘continuity of care’, ‘where every teacher knows every child and talks to each other and looks out for them’. Staff are known too for supporting peers’ extracurricular activities too – hockey, music etc. Not a ‘We make cupcakes on Tuesdays to make you feel better’ kind of school, nor one with a trendy new wellbeing space – ‘Wellbeing has to permeate through everything – discipline, timetabling, eating, doing sport and student voice,’ insists head. That said, we dropped in on a fairy-lit living-room-style space where head of pastoral is based, and where two pupils were taking a breather. Small tutor groups, with tutors, houseparents and teachers all felt by parents to be ‘compassionate’ and ‘responsive’. ‘Less cliquey than some schools,’ feel some, with lots of talk of the school as a ‘community’, which comes together for chapel, dining, performances etc.

School is realistic about the inevitability of some young people messing up, and that ‘sometimes they need a third, fourth or even fifth chance’. Still, head tries to help youngsters ‘avoid making the same mistake twice’ and adds that ‘a mistake reaches another level if you hurt someone else’. Sanctions include the much-dreaded two-hour Saturday night detention – in uniform, no less. ‘Not fun for me or them,’ he says, but ‘we don’t tend to see each other again’. Around 20 suspensions a year, one or two permanent exclusions. Uniform and haircuts matter – head says he is looking forward to ‘seeing the back end of mullets’.

LGBTQ+ society, but nobody attends. School takes a hard line on ‘any unpleasant language around race or sexuality’ and Everyone’s Invited type issues are taken seriously. Some pupils feel school is too tokenistic around Black Lives Matter issues, others disagree.

Pupils and parents

Head talks of school having four ‘tribes’: day pupils, who make up just under half the school population and live within about half-an-hour’s drive; flexi boarders who live up to 50 minutes away; UK boarders, including military families; and an international cohort that accounts for 18 per cent of the whole school. These parents appreciate online parents’ evenings and talks, made available in different time zones, and school-run events like international music evenings and celebrations of cultural dress. Parents – perhaps not quite as sociable as in some schools – like that it’s ‘not a status, country set school’. Lots of first-time buyers, Forces and clergy families.

Pupils are cheerful, polite and easy company – we met keen photographers wanting to work in the arts through to Oxbridge applicants, all mixing well. Buses shared with other schools, winding round the Cotswolds and stopping at the local train station, which draws in the Chepstow crowd.

Money matters

Scholarships at 13+ and 16 in academic, sport, art and music, worth 20 per cent of fees. Healthy means-tested bursary system (which can also be used on top), including one for Forces families. Some foundation scholars. Discount for third siblings.

The last word

A busy, energetic and forward-looking school that strikes an excellent balance between academics and extracurricular, and with kindness and strong moral and social values at the core. Smaller than some of its competitors, parents also feel it’s ‘less elitist’.

Special Education Needs

We provide the following support services: Literacy support, numeracy support, curriculum support, study skills. 10-09

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