Private school Wells Cathedral School

Wells Cathedral Senior School

Wells Cathedral School is a private boarding school located on the outskirts of Wells in the county of Somerset, about a three-hour drive from London. Wells is a beautiful medieval town in the English countryside with a population of only 10,000 people. The history of the school began back in 909, which makes it one of the oldest schools in the world.

Since 1970, Wells Cathedral has been one of four specialized music schools recognized by the UK Department of Education.

The school has about 700 students.

DIRECTOR (stand 2026)

Alastair Tighe, Education - University of Cambridge, English Degree.

FAMOUS SCHOOL GRADUATES:

• Chris Marshall, actor (films "Real Love", the series "Doctor Zhivago")
• Michael Eaves, thoroughly of the Glastonbury Festival
• Danny Nightingale, athlete, Olympic champion
• Malcolm Nash, athlete (cricket)
• Stephen Bargton, composer for films and video games
• George Ball, Archbishop
• Philip Dewkes, viola player
• Estin Davis, musician and singer
• Frederick Keele, composer, singer
• Victoria Lyon, musician, member of the Escala string quartet
• Bruce Perry, BBC Presenter
• David Pur, musician and composer
• James Tarle, musician
• Richard Yax, composer

KEY FACTORS

• Wells Cathedral - a very strong music school, which is one of the five best music schools in the country. It is regularly visited by outstanding musicians who give concerts here and teach children how to play musical instruments.
• The famous choir of the school, which is over 1100 years old, has a reputation as the best children's choir in the world!
• For international students, there is a special International Centre where you can improve your knowledge of English and academic subjects.

EQUIPMENT

The school has a new and modern concert hall, Cedars Hall, with rehearsal rooms, a recording studio and a stage for performances. The school also has an old Quilter Hall, built in the 15th century, with an inspiring and very creative atmosphere.

The school has excellent sports equipment: a sports hall, an indoor pool, hockey and tennis fields, three large playing fields, a cricket field.

A short walk from the school is the lively High Street with shops, cafes and a market.

PROGRAM

EAL Program

The program is for students whose English level is not yet sufficient for training in the main program. This is a great start before studying at a British hostel. Students will learn the techniques and strategies needed to quickly integrate into the UK school system. Children are enrolled in an individual program. IELTS, CPE, CAE, FCE, PET, or IGCSE exams are being prepared. Individual lessons with a teacher are possible. Children live in a boarding house with the rest of the students and attend the same additional classes.

GCSE

The program for obtaining a certificate of general secondary education. Required to study 7 subjects, 3 subjects are studied by choice.
What is the difference between IGCSE and GCSE programmes?

A-level

A two-year university preparatory program. Students choose 4 or 5 subjects for in-depth study.
Find out more about A-level program

ACCOMMODATION

Living in a residence on the school grounds in one of the houses. From 20 to 30 students live in each house. This amount is optimal for creating a family and cosy atmosphere. Each house has its own beautiful garden. The houses have common lounges, where each student has his own locker.

SPORT

Team sports are key in the school’s sports program. These are rugby, hockey, netball, cricket and tennis. Students are also encouraged to try other sports and take part in school sports clubs. You can practice basketball, badminton, football, volleyball, swimming, water polo, rock climbing, dancing, fencing, attend the gym.

Wells Cathedral School - спорт

Chelsea Football Academy

In September 2026, the school launched its own Chelsea Football Academy. This programme gives talented students the opportunity to combine an excellent education with high-quality football training from Chelsea Football Club coaches.

The programme is for boys and girls aged 11 to 18 who want to take their game to the next level without sacrificing the quality of their education. The programme is run in collaboration with Chelsea Football Club and combines UEFA-certified coaching with the strong academic programme of Wells Cathedral School. This programme, the first of its kind in the world, will be run alongside the school's two other specialisations: music and mathematics.

Chelsea Football Club is a strategic partner of the school, providing a permanent head of the football programme with UEFA-B qualifications.

Students receive:

• 9 weekly training sessions.
• A comprehensive approach to player development and competition preparation. An individual programme for developing strength and endurance, nutrition and sports psychology.
• Individual mentoring and performance assessment with the head of the football programme.
• Training and visits to Chelsea's training ground in Cobham.
• Opportunity to play at Kingsmeadow Stadium and visit Stamford Bridge Stadium.
• Access to career opportunities in football – thanks to the partnership with Chelsea, children will have the opportunity to advance to professional football.
• Kit.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES

In addition to the main classes, the school offers many clubs and classes of your choice:

• Hobby clubs: computer club, math club, creative writing, French debate club, modelling, photo club, leadership development club, strategy games, orienteering and much more.
• Art: drawing, painting, photography, graphic design.
• Dances: individual and group classes: ballet, modern, tap dance, street dances.
• Theatre: staging classical and contemporary works. Theatre master classes and trips to performances are held.

MUSIC

Wells Cathedral is a strong music school with many musicians among its graduates. It offers unique features not available in other schools. You can make music both as a hobby and on a professional level, planning a future musical career. Classes are taught by world-class professionals who are themselves musicians, and many of them teach at the UK Conservatories.

At school, you can learn to play almost any musical instrument and choose any direction of interest: composer art, jazz, keyboards, percussion, choir, string instruments, wind instruments, vocals and much more.

The school has over 80 ensembles of various styles, including a symphony orchestra and a jazz orchestra. Over the year, over 250 musical performances of students take place. Performing on stage is an essential part of musical preparation. In addition to concerts at the school, students perform in other cities and countries, take part in music festivals.

COST, 2026-2027

£12,043- £17,827 per semester (depending on age).
There are 3 semesters in the school year.

Included in cost

• Teaching
• Accommodation and meals

Extra paid

• International supplement - £533 per year
• Classes of English as a foreign language - £1,739 per semester
• Individual music lessons - £6,339 per semester
• Football programme - £1,354 - £2,238 per semester
• Flights
• Transfers to / from the airport
• Visa
• Services of the company "Paradise"
• Guardianship (as required by British law)

Our services and fees

IMPRESSIONS FROM A SCHOOL VISIT

Natalia Strein
Founder of ‘’Paradise’’

Wells Cathedral is an English boarding school recently celebrated with a round date of 1,100 years. Eleven centuries!

Initially, it was open to the formation of the choir of the cathedral. The cathedral is functioning, however, according to the good tradition, the school holds its assemblies there - weekly general school meetings

This school is one of the 4 specialized music schools in the UK. However, unlike her three competitors, she combines music and everything else that an ordinary boarding school gives. The usual is a sport, a cadet corps with 3 divisions: infantry, air fleet and navy, with the ability to learn how to shoot, plan a battle, control an airplane, yacht or ship. As well as professional visual arts, theatrical performances, dances and high academic performance. In the other three schools, all these components are not particularly important, there is only music, music, music ...

20% of Wells Cathedral graduates enter music departments. They learn Italian, which is rarely taught in English schools, because it is the language of operas, the language of music. The school has high academic performance, the remaining 80% of graduates go mainly to Russell group universities: the country's top 24 universities, including Oxford and Cambridge.

And this local school was called M & M’s. In England, there are statistics proving the direct connection of abilities in mathematics and music. It turns out that the same receptors operate in our brain, allowing us to read musical notes and mathematical formulas. What I am - direct evidence: neither to music, nor to mathematics. Well, at least they consoled: people with a high level of intelligence meet without them!

Of course, the most popular subjects in graduation classes are math and music. Mathematics is the holy grail for universities. And the music is also quoted.

There are several orchestras, choirs and groups at the school: I look at the concert schedule in May - it is full! Concerts almost every day, sometimes twice a day! Either the choir, then jazz music, then winds, then strange instruments, and even rock and pop! Yes, there is a whole program of these areas, and they are led by a teacher-fan of the band Iron Maiden.

You need to rehearse 4-5 hours a day if you are planning a musical career and the day is scheduled. Therefore, practice rooms with complete, by the way, soundproofing, open from 7:30 in the morning and close at 9:30 in the evening. Someone rushes there before breakfast, someone plays music until the end. Here they firmly believe in the rule of 10,000 hours: you can become a pro only by doing this number of hours. Did you know that Bill Gates was programming 10,000 hours by the time he left Harvard and opened his workshop in the garage? In the week of 40 working hours ... so consider it …

The school also has a gym, in which musicians mostly go for work-out: team games - not in their parts, take care of your fingers!

The geology department was also shown - also a popular subject among students! Students in class go to Iceland. Not on textbooks, the same breed to study!

And computer science or computer literacy is no longer taught - children already know everything from kindergarten. Yesterday! Today coding and programming are in high esteem. What time!

We met a boy named Nikita Burzanitsa. Nikita 18, he is in graduation class and is studying here - attention! - TOTALLY FREE! Nikita has a 100% scholarship! I have not yet met guys who received such conditions. Usually a scholarship - 10, 20, a maximum of 30% of the cost. Nikita, apparently, is a rising star, and we will soon hear about him. The fact is that Royal College of Music, this musical Oxford, has already accepted Nikita, and also with a 100% scholarship! What a talent!

So, I have a significant day today - getting to know the future celebrity.

And now - great news of the day for you, dear reader! Do you know how Nikita got such luck? His parents sent him here to the summer music school, just for one week. Which, incidentally, is quite inexpensive. A couple of days was enough for professionals to notice his gift.