Christ's Hospital

Christ’s Hospital prides itself on bringing together students from diverse backgrounds and cultures, with a holistic, transformational education that inspires all and where friendships are forged that last a lifetime.

Christ’s Hospital is an independent day and boarding school of 900 students with an equal mix of boys and girls aged 11-18. The school is in the south east of England an

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Christ’s Hospital prides itself on bringing together students from diverse backgrounds and cultures, with a holistic, transformational education that inspires all and where friendships are forged that last a lifetime.

Christ’s Hospital is an independent day and boarding school of 900 students with an equal mix of boys and girls aged 11-18. The school is in the south east of England and is situated in 1200 acres of stunning Sussex countryside, just three miles south of the thriving market town of Horsham. The school is very fortunate in having its own mainline railway station with regular trains to London, Gatwick Airport and the south coast.

School fees are means assessed, which enables students from all backgrounds to have the opportunity of a high-quality, independent school education.

Whilst other school fee assistance schemes have come and gone, Christ’s Hospital has stuck to its charitable mission since it was founded in 1552: educating the financially, socially and otherwise less advantaged for free, or at a reduced rate, in a caring and supportive boarding school environment.

Today these students sit happily alongside our full fee payers and the school’s student profile is one of which its royal founder, Edward VI, would have been proud.

Our unique mission is as relevant today as it has ever been – bringing the very best traditions and values to transform lives.

Christ’s Hospital received the top overall award for Independent School of the Year this year and was recognised as ‘the school which embodies accessibility, sensitivity and responsiveness to pupil need’, with an ‘unremitting determination to offer to all the kind of education that every child deserves’.

Music is the beating heart of this remarkable school. Perhaps uniquely, every student hears live music played or sung by their peers on seven days a week in term-time. We aim to be concurrently inclusive and exclusive: students of all ages and abilities are encouraged and inspired to nurture enjoyment and skill in music; our 30 music scholars and other specialist musicians are offered an individual programme, allowing them to fulfil their potential and reach ever-higher standards of music-making. The performance opportunities for soloists and ensembles large and small are many and varied, and include regular performances in London.

The Music School is a happy and vibrant place. Between them, the nine resident members of staff and around 35 Visiting Music Teachers (VMTs) offer a full academic programme (including IGCSE and A Level) and teach over 600 instrumental lessons a week, supported by a full-time administrator. We have a superb team of dedicated VMTs, diverse in age and career background. Some colleagues have dedicated their working lives to teaching; some are recent music college graduates establishing their careers; others balance teaching with high level playing in the country’s best orchestras and band pits.

Students are customarily dedicated, high-achieving, and polite, and they relish the broad range of opportunities that are available to them at Christ’s Hospital. Where appropriate, students are encouraged to take advantage of external opportunities such as junior conservatoires, national ensembles (e.g. NYC and NYO), and summer instrumental and choral courses. The school supports these both in terms of the frameworks and flexibilities they create, as well as, in many cases, financially. Many pupils have gone on to study music at tertiary level, with the ‘Class of 2025’ seeing three students receiving offers to read Music at Cambridge, another with scholarship offers to study Singing at a range of conservatoires, and one student gaining a place in the Royal Marines Band Service.

Musically, Christ’s Hospital is unique in that, through a combination of Band Parade four lunchtimes a week, two weekly Lunchtime Concerts, and Sunday Chapel, it is possible for a student to perform, or hear live music performed by their peers, every day of the week. Beyond this regular schedule, the Department offers solo and ensemble concerts of a wide variety several times each term. The level of student participation is high; we aim to create opportunities for pupils at all stages of their learning, in all genres, and in any combination to gain valuable public performance experience. We have several concert venues on campus including Chapel and Big School, each of which can accommodate around 1000 people, as well as attractive and flexible settings for smaller-scale performances.

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