Boarding for Military Families
Cheltenham College has a long and distinguished connection with the military dating back to 1841. It is a connection and understanding that remains just as strong within our community today. We are one of only three schools in England to have its own military colours.
Fee Information
Cheltenham College supports the Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) from the Military of Defence.
At Cheltenham Prep School (boarding for 7 to 13 year olds), our Military families, who are in receipt of CEA and have children boarding, pay only 10% of the fees.
At College (boarding for 13 to 18 year olds), Military families who have children boarding and are in receipt of CEA, are eligible for the following discounts, depending on rank. These discounts can be combined with a means-tested bursary. Our fee information is here.
Discount | 30% | 25% |
Army | All ranks Captain and below | All ranks Major and above |
Navy | All ranks Lieutenants and below | Commodore, Captain, Commander and Lt Commander |
Air Force | All ranks Flt Lieutenant and below | Air Commodore, Group Captain, Wing Commander and Squadron Leader |
Cheltenham College also offers a 15% discount to day and boarding families serving within the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office who are in receipt of the FCDO support.
The Perfect Location
Cheltenham College is based in the centre of Cheltenham and is only five minutes by car from Cheltenham Spa train station, with a direct train to Paddington and links to Bristol, Birmingham, Bath and Oxford. Local major road and motorway links include the A40, M4, M5 and M6. Heathrow, Bristol and Birmingham airports are all easily accessible in under two hours.
Cheltenham is a thriving town, with over 118,000 people. Also known as ‘The Festival Town’, Cheltenham’s festivals attract thousands of regional and international visitors. The town is famous for holding the world’s oldest Literature Festival, along with Jazz, Science, Music and Food Festivals.
The world-renowned Cheltenham Festival takes place at The Racecourse in March and Cheltenham College is home to the annual Cricket Festival, which is the world’s longest running cricket festival.
Cheltenham College is also within easy reach of the main Army and RAF bases across the South West.
ARRC at Innsworth | 25 minutes by car |
RAF Brize Norton | 42 minutes by car |
Salisbury Plain | 1 hour and 50 minutes by car |
Shrivenham | 47 minutes by car |
MOD Abbey Wood | 54 minutes by car |
Moving from The Prep School to College
Nearly all the pupils in Year 8 at The Prep move onto College for Year 9, together with around 70 new pupils coming from schools across the UK and other countries. All pupils at The Prep have an opportunity to have an annual taster day at College from Year 4 onwards, this helps when the children move up to Year 9 at the end of their Prep School journey.
We encourage our Prep School parents to visit College before their child moves up, and you can arrange a tour or join a Small Group Visit on a Saturday morning through our College Visits Team on visits@cheltenhamcollege.org.
“Definitely one of the best boarding schools in the UK, especially for military families! Our son was at The Prep boarding from Year 3 and he is now at the College and our daughter started in Year 4 and is loving it…the school focuses on growth mindset in a huge way and the staff are incredibly supportive. As a family, we love Cheltenham Prep and the boarding house has a fantastic ‘home away from home’ environment – highly recommend to any military family looking for that ‘forever school’ for their children”
Current parent