— 14th February 2020

Chetham’s hailed as “excellent” by Independent School Inspectors

We’re proud to share our latest inspection report, in which the school has been praised by independent inspectors for its “excellence”.

Chetham’s School of Music is highly successful in achieving its aim – to enable musically gifted children, whatever their background or financial circumstances, to achieve excellence in the study and performance of music – according to inspectors from the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI).

More than 80% of Chetham’s students receive full or partial funding through the Department for Education.

Inspectors also observed that “the quality of pupils’ personal development is excellent”, in a newly published report.

Additionally, the quality of the pupils’ academic achievements were reported as “excellent”.

Two thirds of the school’s timetable is spent on academic work, following the British National Curriculum, with the rest of student’s time devoted to developing their passion for music.

Alun Jones, Principal of Chetham’s School of Music, said:

“The parents, students, staff and friends of Chetham’s know what a remarkable place this is. To walk the corridors every day and see the smiles on the students’ faces as they create the music they love is inspiring to us all every day. To now have this verified by independent school inspectors is extremely rewarding.

“We know that many of our students go on to achieve world-class musical careers, but we’re equally proud of their academic results. Our admissions process isn’t academically selective as students are offered a place at Chetham’s solely on their ability as young musicians, so for Chetham’s to outperform so many schools who are is a huge achievement.”

Chetham’s School of Music’s model has led to it becoming the top performing co-educational school (mixed gender school for boys and girls) in Manchester.

Chetham’s is also one of the leading sixth forms in the city for value added A level scores (measuring students’ academic results against their scores from previous years).

The judgement of the Independent Schools Inspectorate Report stated:

“There is no doubt that the school offers its pupils excellent opportunities to develop musically, academically and personally, producing musicians of the very highest calibre who are extremely well equipped for their future education and musical careers.”

The report also highlighted contributions from the school and its students to its communities, through a programme of public concerts and outreach activities.

Chetham’s students regularly perform public concerts in Manchester’s The Stoller Hall. Regular weekday lunchtime concerts are listed on the Chetham’s website and are free to attend.

The school’s full inspection report is available here: https://chethamsschoolofmusic.com/about/welcome-to-chethams/