We have a dream at Wells Cathedral School. We dream of offering ‘an inspiring education, in a musically alive and beautiful environment, as a brilliant foundation for life’. Our dream was created by the whole school community, and we work together every day to make it a reality. I’m focused especially on the ‘brilliant foundation for life’, because that’s the most important thing that a school must do; it enfolds everything. Wells Cathedral School is, as far as we know, unique in the world: co-educational, day and boarding, 3-18 junior and senior school, academically forward looking and successful, creative, innovative, competitive, seeking change, historic, a cathedral’s choir school, – and a specialist music school inside a proper school.
Some schools are good at making people good at being at school. We want to help our children and young men and women to become good at learning, good at being alive, good at being world citizens, good at being themselves. That’s why our school motto means be what you are. We believe that this inspiring education happens best in a warm and supportive community where people can learn from their mistakes, be constantly and appropriately challenged and be happy. Come and see us!
Elizabeth Cairncross, Principal
Our school is comprised of a dynamic mix of boys and girls aged 3-18 who have a variety of talents across our various school stages: Little Wellies Nursery, Junior School, Senior School and Sixth Form which are complemented by our Specialist Music Faculty. Our core belief and motto esto quod es (be what you are) is what ties our school together and lends itself to a happy, stimulating environment where all our pupils can thrive and develop their talents or even discover new ones.
Click here to find out how we incorporate this philosophy throughout the school.
Our beautiful school in the historic city of Wells has inspired people for hundreds of years. It is easy to see why The Telegraph and The Good Schools Guide named us the loveliest school in the UK…
We are the only school in the UK that offers specialist music pre-professional training within a dynamic school where specialists can learn alongside non-specialists studying the national curriculum. All students benefit from this unique combination; specialists remain grounded and non-specialists can take advantage of the extra opportunities our music programme creates. Find out more about our specialist music programme.
Based on our success with our music specialism, we recently introduced a specialist mathematics programme – find out more.
We provide a flexible education so that specialists and non-specialists alike can make the most of their time at school and have a brilliant foundation to build on as an adult. This might mean some pupils take more A Levels than others or some pupils spend more time developing in a specific field. We don’t have a “one-size fits all” mentality; we have a “let’s work out what’s best for your future” mentality.
We have activities to support everybody to be their best self, which include:
If you happen to be interested in something we don’t offer, we are always open to new ideas and will do our best to accommodate.
See our Junior School and Senior School pages for more details on what we have to offer.
