We are a non-selective school so there is no entrance exam but we always feel that an initial meeting and showround is essential. Most families then move on to a few taster days – we advise a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 5. There is no charge for this. We then collect all the required information, registration fee, set up a new Chromebook, and we're up and running. Mid-year and mid-term entry is very normal in international schools.
Our Admissions Policy can be found here.
Our fees can be found here. Fees are all-inclusive except for big school trips, and for some electives if we have to bring in professionals, such as judo and fencing. Flexi days are charged through a different formulae that is available on request.
We have a page here which explains in detail. In brief, MYP1 is Year 7 when students turn 11, MYP5 is Year 11, when students turn 16.
Term dates can be found here.
Yes we offer means-tested bursaries. We also offer sibling, staff and key worker discounts. Please discuss with us in person.
While we have a school minibus, we currently do not offer home-to-school transportation. Many of our students from Stroud find the train to be a more cost-effective, faster, and reliable option.
Yes, the train station is a 10 minute walk from school. Buses go past our front door regularly to and from Cheltenham. We are just 3 miles from Junction 11A for the M5 motorway; out of rush hour this takes 7 minutes to drive, but it can sometimes take more like 20 minutes on a busy day. From Junction 11A it is only 30 minutes' drive to Bristol Temple Meads to the south and an hour’s drive to Birmingham New Street to the north. Oxford is 1 hours and 10 minutes to the east and Cardiff is the same distance to the west.
We have a maximum class size of 14
Students need to bring their food for the day in the form of a packed lunch. An equipped dining area allows students and staff to eat together from 12.30 - 1.00pm.
Our students have gone on to do the Diploma Programme, A levels, apprenticeships and Btecs. They have gone abroad, they have gone to Hartbury, Marling, Cirencester College, Stroud College….the list goes on!
We are very lucky to have access to some amazing learning environments including The Wilderness Centre in the Forest of Dean which is our sister site and the School Farm. We use the University’s sports halls for basketball and tennis, we take a short minibus trip to a lovely swimming pool and we visit the local dry ski slope each Lent term.
Yes, because we have small class sizes we find that our setting works very well for children with certain SEN. We also have a designated Annexe for children with high functioning ASD and we run a bespoke curriculum for them where they can straddle mainstream and extra support as required.
We are flexible by nature and philosophy! We offer a flexi-schooling package throughout prep (years 3 - 6 ) and MYP years 1 and 2. It becomes much harder to be flexible in the higher years but if we can, we do. We would be happy to discuss these options with you.
Absences are reported by emailing or phoning the school office.
Yes we can hire out our spaces, please contact the office for more details.
We don’t take boarders, however, we have excellent relationships with homestay families who offer a ‘home away from home’ setting.
Whilst we consider ourselves to be progressive and rigorous whilst fiercely protective of our sense of fun, the school day looks rather similar to other schools. The only real difference is that we have an elective ‘club’ session built into the school day instead of after school.
Absolutely. After all, it takes a village to raise a child.
Yes. We would like to offer the IB Career-related Programme. At the moment there is some uncertainty over whether BTecs will continue to exist. Once this is clarified we will move forward with our application.
We are registered with JCQ and can accept private candidates for most GCSEs and some A levels. Please email exams@iveuk.com for more details.
We are primarily a Google-tech school. This is partly because we think Google are the least bad of the big-tech companies, partly because they are very low-cost, but mostly because their products are generally so user-friendly and easy to learn.
It's complicated - there will be a page on Assessment within the Curriculum section of the website. It is currently under construction.
An IB World School is a school that has been authorised by the International Baccalaureate (IB) organisation can offer any of its four academic programmes: the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the Middle Years Programme (MYP), or the Diploma Programme (and in addition the IB Career-related Programme).
The International Baccalaureate (IB) teaches programmes at more than 5,000 schools worldwide, with more than 70,000 educators, teaching over one million students.
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The organisation's programmes aim to do more than most curricula, by developing inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who are motivated to succeed.
An IGCSE is an International GCSE. They’re offered in many independent and private schools in the UK, and are recognised globally as equivalent to GCSEs. They are assessed mainly through exams, not coursework, so they’re better suited to online learning.
