Experiences of King's Gloucester and St Edward's Cheltenham for Year 7?

[PeachyG]

Hi all,

We’re relocating to the Gloucestershire area and would really appreciate any first-hand experiences of The King’s School Gloucester and St Edward’s School in Cheltenham.
We’re looking at both for senior school year 7 entry and trying to get a feel beyond the open days. In particular:

• Academic standards vs pressure
• Pastoral care and support
• Sport / co-curricular opportunities
• Overall culture (warm/supportive vs more competitive)
• SEN support for dyslexia

I’m also interested in the religious aspect:

• For King’s — how present is the Church of England foundation in day-to-day life (e.g. cathedral services, assemblies, general ethos), and how it feels for non-religious families?
• For St Edward’s — how noticeable is its Catholic ethos in practice?

Any honest feedback from current or recent parents would be hugely appreciated.

Thank you!

Where will you be living? Will there be suitable buses?

With St Edwards being taken over by an group in the last few years, it is hard to know how it will affect the previous Catholic ethos. With Kings the links to the Cathedral are more established but not too onerous. Overall I would opt for Kings because is more financially stable. ( When another local school announced it was to close,St Edwards were on social media within hours reaching out to parents seeking an alternative, despite not being listed by the closing school as one of 4 they had been having discussions with). St Edwards just felt a bit desperate for pupils to me.

We haven’t figured that out yet. We are thinking of having the school sorted out first.

Have you considered some of the local Grammars? Gloucester/Cheltenham has some fantastic options of schools, which you may wish to consider, other than fee paying schools. The academic results are higher.

Yes, we have checked with grammar schools. But looks like we have missed the boat on that one. My son starts year 7 in September this year, for which places have already been allocated on national offer day in March and schools have long waiting list in case places become available. Don’t think they will even put us on waiting list as my son didn’t appear for 11+ and we haven’t relocated yet.

Balcarras is an excellent state school that achieves high results and has a broad curriculum and extra curricula activities, in Charlton Kings which is a pleasant area to live in. (DD went there)

Ok. Both the school you mentioned have great reputations so I would have an opportunity to look round a get a feel for which one. Personally location wise, I would go for which one is closer to where you move. While on paper Glos/Chelt may be 15 mins apart, the traffic and journey can a nightmare for school runs. Also if attend clubs after school, meet with friends, it really makes a difference to have the school on your doorstep.

Don’t think we will get Balcarras. All places for year 7 might have got allocated on national offer day. I have heard it’s an oversubscribed school, so might be running a waiting list and we haven’t moved to the area yet, so doubt we can get on waiting list.

As we are moving into the area, we have a bit of flexibility in that regards; we can choose to live closer to the school son gets into.
Both the schools look good, hence very confused. My son has dyslexia and dysgraphia and so was looking for experiences of current/former pupils with similar needs.

Yes it usually does fill from the catchment area, but spaces do crop up into the autumn term etc

I only have experience of King’s and would be very encouraging of it. I think the only very noticeable aspect of the CofE there is that they use the Cathedral for many of their services and as it’s a breathtakingly beautiful space they’re all lucky for that I feel. In short I’d say good solid teaching, neither too big nor too small, excellent Head Teacher, strong pastoral care and very down to earth. Also have a child at a Glos grammar school and it’s good but the facilities and staff to child ratio can never compare. Feel free to DM

Even if you miss the grammar test for 2026 entry you can still appeal and you should be offered an opportunity to take the test. You might miss the main round of appeals which are coming up (mine is next week) but you will be offered another date.
Almost all schools will be full for year 7. The ones likely to have space will either be the ones with the poorer reputations (Tewkesbury Academy, All Saints, Gloucester Academy) or ypu might have better luck with a rural school like the Cotswold School which is great.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I have been leaning towards Kings too.

I am not sure we can appeal as we haven’t relocated to the area yet. Earliest we can move is early or mid August. So I think we would miss the grammar or state entry in September. Hence I think private schools is our best option currently. Also a private school with smaller class size works best for my son due to his SEN requirements.