Christ’s Hospital: a boarding-led school with substantial fee assistance

Would the whole school week work for your child?

The school’s weekend description includes Saturday-morning lessons, afternoon sport and evening activities. It describes a three-week cycle, with every third weekend a leave weekend, half-term or the end of term. This is a fuller commitment than a weekday school with accommodation attached.

On leave weekends, pupils normally go home or to guardians from Friday afternoon until Sunday evening. Houses may remain open for pupils genuinely unable to leave, but that is not a promise that school will cover every closure. Put the actual departure and return dates into your family calendar.

A weekly-boarding fee does not tell you exactly when a child comes home. Ask about normal departure and return times, Saturday obligations, optional weekend stays and the notice needed to change plans. Day families should ask the same questions about evenings and Saturdays, rather than assume everything outside lessons is optional.

Consider two fictional families. One child loves a busy shared routine and finds a long daily commute exhausting; boarding might give them more energy for friends and activities. Another depends on quiet evenings with a parent to recover from school. For that child, a workable local day place may be the better choice, even if the boarding offer is financially attractive.

Who notices when something is not going well?

The April 2026 inspection described structured boarding induction, mixed-age houses and coordinated welfare support. It also found that pupils with special educational needs made good progress. Those are encouraging findings, but they do not establish whether a particular child’s needs can be met.

There was a practical improvement point: parents were not always sufficiently informed about academic progress and how their child could improve. Who contacts you between formal reports, and how quickly would you hear about slipping work or persistent difficulty?

For a child with additional needs, discuss lessons and residential life separately. A classroom adjustment may not address sleep, noise, medication, friendships or asking for help at night. Bring existing reports and ask who will coordinate support across teachers and house staff. Our learning-support guide sets out the questions to take into that meeting.

Before your child starts, agree who you and your child should contact for ordinary worries, urgent concerns and problems that have not improved. The first-term boarding guide can help you stay involved without making every difficult evening feel like a verdict on the school.

A bursary is a financial arrangement, not just a discount

The school’s September 2025 bursary policy allows means-tested help up to the full fee. Assessment considers the family’s wider finances, not salary alone, and includes the need for a boarding education for that route. Awards are reviewed annually, and the school checks for changed circumstances before confirming the final pre-entry award.

One important limit: the policy says future increases in an award are usually capped at ten percentage points above the original award. An 80% bursary would therefore normally have a 90% ceiling, not a promise of full funding if circumstances worsen. Ask for your own ceiling in the offer. The award covers tuition and boarding fees, not extras.

There is also a fee-assisted day route for academically suitable children with financial need who live within commuting reach. The public page does not define a mileage radius.

What would your family actually pay?

The 2026/27 fees are quoted per term, including VAT. For Years 7–8, day fees are £8,518; Year 9 day fees are £10,423; Years 10–13 day fees are £11,151. Full boarding is £15,402 in Years 7–9 and £16,480 in Years 10–13. Weekly boarding is £13,500 and £14,500 respectively.

These are published fees before individual assistance, not a prediction of your bill. They are also not a 2027/28 quote. International pupils have a separate tariff, so a family moving to Britain should establish which category applies before comparing costs.

The Tudor-style uniform is included. Domestic registration is £120, and the deposit can be up to £1,800, reduced for bursary families. The entry FAQs say the registration fee is waived for applicants receiving free school meals. The fee page also mentions discretionary help with travel and sportswear.

After acceptance, withdrawing before entry can trigger a term’s fee in lieu of notice, according to the fees page. Read your issued contract and establish the withdrawal deadline before accepting. Do not assume that losing the deposit is the most you could owe.

Request a worked first-year bill with music, trips, transport, sports kit and any separately priced optional specialist provision. Then compare the second-year bill without joining costs. Keep a separate line for journeys home and leave-weekend arrangements: those costs can be easy to underestimate when tuition is heavily assisted.

First establish which application route you need

The usual joining points are Year 7, Year 9 and Sixth Form. The school’s entry guide also mentions occasional Year 8 and Year 10 places. These are possibilities to enquire about, not regular intakes to build a plan around.

Tell Admissions your child’s current year, intended start date, preferred boarding pattern and whether you need financial assistance. Ask for one written timetable covering both admission and funding. Non-bursary day and boarding applications are described as year-round on the Key Dates page; that does not promise an available place at any time.

For September 2027 entry, confirm the funding deadline now. The dedicated Key Dates page gives 18 September 2026 for Year 7 and Year 9 bursary and scholarship applications, but the Entry Process page still gives 11 September. We would work towards the earlier date while asking Admissions to confirm, rather than risk losing a funding opportunity.

Keep the application moving even if you are unsure how much help you might receive. A family’s need for assistance and a child’s suitability for the school are separate parts of the decision.

What happens at 11+ and 13+?

The Year 7 and Year 9 page describes an initial computer assessment covering verbal, quantitative, non-verbal and spatial reasoning. Successful boarding-bursary candidates then attend an overnight assessment in January, which considers academic potential and suitability for boarding.

Day applicants have one October assessment round; the entry FAQs describe computer testing and written English and mathematics. The school requests a report from the current headteacher. Because the boarding explanation begins with the bursary route, full-fee, weekly and international applicants should confirm whether their sequence is identical.

For candidates following the dated bursary/scholarship timetable, initial assessments are on one of 16, 17 or 19 October 2026, with the residential on 7–8 January 2027. Residential results follow in the week beginning 15 February, with acceptance due by 15 March. Use the school’s individual invitation for your child’s attendance details.

The overnight visit is not just another exam day. Help your child practise packing, managing their belongings and asking an unfamiliar adult for help. Talk through what they can do if they feel homesick. The aim is to make an unfamiliar overnight stay more manageable without guessing how individual tasks are assessed.

Use the school’s sample papers to understand the sort of work shown, but ask what your child will actually complete. A sample paper does not establish every residential task or its weighting. If your child needs assessment adjustments, arrange them in advance and explain what support they normally use at school.