Wells Cathedral School

Wells Cathedral School traces its origins to 909 AD, when the school was founded as the choir school of the newly established Wells Cathedral in Somerset — the seat of the medieval Bishops of Bath and Wells. The school's 1,117-year history places it among the very oldest schools in England, behind only the King's School Canterbury (597 AD) and St Peter's School York (627 AD). The school sits today in the medieval precincts of Wells Cathedral, which is one of the most beautifully preserved medieval English cathedral closes — the Wells Vicars Close (built 1348) is the only complete medieval street in England with all buildings continuously inhabited since the fourteenth century.

The school is co-educational ages 3-18 with around 734 pupils. The Head Master is Alastair Tighe. The school is a member of the HMC and the Cathedral Schools Association and the Boarding Schools Association.

Wells Cathedral School's distinctive contemporary status is as one of only five UK schools formally recognised by the Department for Education as a "Specialist Music School" — alongside the Yehudi Menuhin School, the Purcell School, Chetham's School of Music in Manchester and the Royal Ballet School. The Specialist Music School status means the school operates a substantial music conservatoire programme alongside the academic curriculum, with around 100 "Specialist Musicians" who divide their time roughly equally between academic schooling and instrumental practice. The DfE Music and Dance Scheme provides substantial funding for music-scholarship places.

Graduates progress to the major UK music conservatoires (Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music, Royal Northern College of Music, Trinity Laban, Guildhall) and to leading international music conservatoires (Juilliard, Paris, Vienna). The school operates a substantial bursary programme via the Wells Cathedral Schools Foundation.