A Guide to Yehudi Menuhin School Admissions

Written By Tim Agent

Inchwise Research · Independent Schools Policy Unit

中文版

In brief

The Yehudi Menuhin School takes just under 100 pupils, aged 8 to 19, at Stoke d'Abernon in Surrey. It admits on instrumental audition alone: no entrance exam, no school report, no 11+ or 13+ gate. Published 2026–27 fees are £49,260 day and £50,564 boarding excluding VAT — about £59,112 and £60,677 once 20% VAT is added — but the school states that around 90% of its pupils receive some form of financial support, and on the 2026/27 Music and Dance Scheme scale a household with £100,000 of relevant income pays £18,587 for a boarding place. This guide covers the two audition rounds, what to prepare, the fee and funding arithmetic, how Menuhin differs from Purcell, Chetham's and Wells, and the three mistakes applicants make most often.

  • Applicants must be no younger than 8 and no older than 16 in the academic year before entry. There is no fixed entry year — a place exists in a given year for a given instrument, or it does not.

  • Principal study is offered in violin, viola, cello, double bass, classical guitar, harp, piano and composition. No wind, brass or percussion.

  • The school publishes no acceptance rate and no annual intake figure. With 95 pupils spread across 11 year groups and eight principal studies, most instruments have one or two places in a year, and some have none.

  • Music and Dance Scheme funding turns on residence, not nationality: two years ordinarily resident in the British Islands before 1 January of the year the place is taken up.

Ninety-five pupils, ages eight to nineteen, eight instruments. That is the whole school. Almost every question about getting in follows from that number.

01 What is the Yehudi Menuhin School?

A specialist music school at Stoke d'Abernon, near Cobham in Surrey (KT11 3QQ), founded in London in 1963 by the violinist Yehudi Menuhin with fifteen pupils and moved to its present site the following year.

The school describes itself as “just under 100 boys and girls aged from 9 to 19” with “over fifty staff” — a staff-to-pupil ratio close to one to two. The Department for Education's register records a statutory age range of 8 to 19 and 95 pupils on roll; the Good Schools Guide profile records 98 pupils, 77 of them boarders.

Pupils come from more than twenty countries, among them Albania, Australia, China, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine and the USA, as well as the UK.

The 300-seat Menuhin Hall opened on the site in January 2006 and runs a public programme: roughly twenty pupil Showcase concerts a year plus a dozen Celebrity concerts given by visiting professionals.

The Head is Robin Harskin; Rosalind Ventris has been Director of Music since 2025; the violinist Tasmin Little has been President since December 2019. Alumni include Nicola Benedetti, Nigel Kennedy, Tasmin Little, Daniel Hope, Melvyn Tan, Kathryn Stott, Colin Carr and Paul Watkins.

02 How old do you have to be to apply?

The school's stated rule: applications are welcome from any candidate “no younger than 8 and no older than 16 in the academic year (September to August) before proposed entry”. In practice that means pupils enter somewhere between about 9 and 17.

Entry is normally in September. Christmas or Easter entry is possible “if a place is available”.

There is no 11+, 13+ or 16+ gate. This is the single most misread fact about the school. Because there is no standard entry year, the question is not “what age should we apply at” but “does the school have a vacancy in this instrument, in this year group, this year”. That is a question the Registrar can answer in an email.

The published figures do not all agree, and it is worth knowing why. Admissions sets the floor at 8; the DfE register gives a statutory range of 8 to 19; the school's own prose says “aged from 9 to 19”; the Good Schools Guide profile says 11 to 19. The first is the rule; the rest describe who happens to be on roll.

03 Which instruments does the school take?

Principal study is offered in eight disciplines: violin, viola, cello, double bass, classical guitar, harp, piano and composition.

Harpsichord, conducting, singing, music technology and jazz are available as further study rather than as principal study.

Two requirements apply to everyone: all pupils whose first study is not piano must also study piano, and all pupils study composition as part of their coursework.

There is no wind, brass or percussion provision. This is the school's defining structural difference from Purcell, Chetham's and Wells, all of which take those instruments. A gifted clarinettist or trumpeter is not a Menuhin candidate, however strong.

Chamber music is described by the school as central to the education, and every pupil plays in ensembles. Assessments are held each term, with different criteria each time.

04 Is the Yehudi Menuhin School hard to get into? What is the acceptance rate?

The school publishes no acceptance rate and no annual intake figure, and no reliable third-party figure exists. Any stated percentage should be treated as invented until a source is produced.

What can be said from the published numbers: 95 pupils across 11 year groups averages fewer than 9 per year group. Even on a generous assumption of 15 to 20 pupils turning over each year, that is a handful of new places annually, divided across eight principal studies. For most instruments that means one or two places in a given year, and for some, none. (This is an inference from roll size, not a school figure.)

So the meaningful question is not the acceptance rate but availability: whether a vacancy exists this year, on this instrument, at this stage. Ask the Registrar directly before building a plan around the school.

On what the school is assessing, its own wording is unambiguous: decisions are made “purely on the School's assessment of musical potential and the applicant's desire and suitability to undertake a specialised course”. No mention of grades, competition results or examination marks.

05 What happens at the audition?

There are two rounds.

Round one, the preliminary audition, is on video. You request the application form from the Registrar and return it with links to three contrasting pieces of your own choice uploaded to YouTube, together with a non-refundable application fee. The Director of Music reviews the submission and decides whether to invite you further.

Round two, the full audition, has five parts: two one-hour consultation lessons with the Principal teacher of your instrument; a musicianship test; interviews with academic and pastoral staff; a performance of two contrasting pieces from different stylistic periods; and an interview with the Headmaster and the Director of Music, with parents or guardians present. Funding and means-tested bursaries are discussed at that interview. A further fee applies to this round, payable in advance.

The school would prefer candidates to come in person, but states that the full audition “can take place online”. For families abroad, that removes the need to fly for a first attempt.

There is also a route most applicants miss: you can book a single lesson with a Menuhin teacher before applying, to find out whether your child is anywhere near the standard.

06 How many pieces do you need, and to what standard?

Three on video and two live, five in all, every one of them contrasting. The two live pieces must come from different stylistic periods.

The school publishes no grade requirement, no scale list and no sight-reading specification — only “a Musicianship test”. This differs from Purcell, which publishes indicative standards (for instance Grade 6–8+ for an eleven-year-old pianist, Grade 5–7+ for an eleven-year-old violinist or cellist). Menuhin gives you no such yardstick, by design.

The structure of round two tells you what is actually being measured. Its largest component is not the performance but two hours of teaching. Consultation lessons test how much a candidate hears, how much they can change, and how fast — not what they have already polished.

The practical consequence: a piece drilled to the point where nothing can be adjusted works against a candidate. Repertoire with headroom is a better choice than a concerto beyond reach.

07 When are the open days, and when should you apply?

The school holds three open days a year, one per term. The dates currently published are Friday 9 October 2026, Friday 5 February 2027 and Friday 30 April 2027.

Register with the Registrar and the Headmaster's PA to be notified and to book; arrangements vary from one open day to the next.

An open day is a visit, not an audition — no one hears your child play. The equivalent of a hearing is the optional single lesson described above.

There is no common deadline. Applications are handled individually by the Registrar. Working back from a September entry, and allowing for a video submission of a standard worth sending plus a full audition that may fall in the winter or spring beforehand, a year of preparation is a realistic minimum.

08 How much does the Yehudi Menuhin School cost?

Roughly £59,112 a year for a day place and £60,677 for a boarding place in 2026–27, VAT included.

The school's published list price is £49,260 day and £50,564 boarding, and the page states these exclude VAT. UK independent school fees have carried 20% VAT since January 2025, which produces the figures above.

You will encounter other numbers. The Good Schools Guide currently shows £57,058 day and £58,567 boarding — the 2025–26 fees with VAT, not a contradiction.

Almost nobody pays the list price. The school's own statement: “Approximately 90% of our pupils receive some form of financial support.” Chetham's reports a comparable figure, over 90%, with around a quarter of its pupils fully funded through the Music and Dance Scheme.

09 How much does the Music and Dance Scheme cover, and who qualifies?

The Music and Dance Scheme is a Department for Education grant scheme covering eight schools — four for music (Menuhin, Purcell, Chetham's, Wells Cathedral) and four for dance (the Royal Ballet School, Elmhurst, Tring Park, the Hammond) — plus twenty Centres for Advanced Training.

Scale: 2,074 pupils held an MDS bursary in 2024–25. Funding was £36m for 2025–26, and a Commons answer of 18 June 2026 confirmed 2026–27 with an increase of £1.3m. Nothing is committed beyond that, subject to the next spending review.

Eligibility turns on residence, not nationality. The pupil must “have been ordinarily resident in the British Islands throughout the two-year period immediately preceding 1st January in the calendar year in which the pupil will take up an aided place”. For a September 2026 entry that means UK residence from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2025.

The school's own worked example is the clearest statement of what this costs a family arriving from abroad: a pupil starting in September 2026 with no prior UK residence becomes eligible from the Spring term of 2029. Two years at full fees, then funding.

Time spent boarding counts toward the two years. Menuhin's wording is that overseas pupils who have lived in the UK, or boarded at the School, for two full calendar years may qualify — boarding at Menuhin itself. Wells words the same concession more broadly, as boarding in the UK. If a plan depends on two years at a different UK school first, confirm it with the Registrar in writing before relying on it.

What a family actually pays is set by a contribution scale the DfE issues each year and all the schools apply. The 2026/27 scale, as published by Wells Cathedral School:

Relevant income — day contribution / boarding contribution

  • £10,000 — day £0, boarding £0

  • £20,000 — day £357, boarding £477

  • £30,000 — day £1,497, boarding £1,554

  • £40,000 — day £2,637, boarding £2,811

  • £50,000 — day £4,532, boarding £6,084

  • £60,000 — day £6,206, boarding £8,482

  • £70,000 — day £8,136, boarding £10,886

  • £80,000 — day £10,134, boarding £13,388

  • £90,000 — day £12,139, boarding £15,955

  • £100,000 — day £14,144, boarding £18,587

  • £120,000 — day £18,148, boarding £23,846

  • £150,000 — day £24,152, boarding £31,716

  • £190,000 — day £32,155, boarding £42,210

Read that against the fees above: at £100,000 of relevant income a boarding place costs £18,587, not £60,677. At £50,000 it costs £6,084. Purcell reports that around 75% of its UK students pay reduced fees or none, and that families below £15,000 pay no school fees at all.

10 What if you do not qualify for MDS?

The school runs its own Bursary Fund, explicitly for “pupils who are not eligible for the Music & Dance Scheme”. In practice this is the route for overseas families who have not yet met the residence test.

It is means-tested on gross household income and on the number of applicants in a given year.

The school sets out the limits plainly: “The Bursary Fund is limited”; income must be declared annually; “there is no guarantee that the same level of bursary will be awarded each year”; and parents may need to look for individual sponsors or other charitable sources.

The planning implication is straightforward. A family not yet resident should budget at or near the full £60,677 and treat any bursary as a reduction that may come, not a premise to build on.

11 Boarding or day — does it change the cost?

At list price, barely. Boarding costs £1,304 a year more than day before VAT — a 2.6% difference. At a conventional boarding school the gap is typically 60% to 100%.

Under MDS the gap is real. On the 2026/27 scale a household at £100,000 pays £14,144 for a day place and £18,587 for boarding, a difference of £4,443. At £50,000 the figures are £4,532 and £6,084.

So the answer inverts depending on how you are funded: a full-fee family is choosing on practicalities rather than price, while an MDS family is making a decision worth several thousand pounds a year.

Most pupils board — 77 of 98 on the Good Schools Guide's figures — which reflects the school's catchment more than its policy: a school of 95 drawing from twenty countries cannot be a commuter school.

12 How good are the academics, and where do leavers go?

A level 2026, announced on 13 August 2026: a 100% pass rate, with 68% of grades at A*–B.

A level 2025: a 100% pass rate, 63% of grades at A*–A against a national figure of 28%, and 86% at A*–B.

GCSE 2025, announced on 21 August 2025: 37% of Year 11 entries at grade 9, 71% at 9–7, and every pupil at grade 4 or above. Including Year 10 early language entries, 43% at grade 9 and 74% at 9–7.

Academic subjects are Art, English and EAL, History, IT, General Music, Maths, Modern Languages, Science and Sport. The school teaches in four flexible groups set by ability as well as age, in small classes.

2025 leavers went to the Royal College of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Maastricht Conservatoire and the Norwegian Academy of Music, among others.

One caveat worth weighing before applying: this is a school for people who intend to be professional musicians. It offers far fewer academic subjects than a conventional independent school, and Sixth Form pupils typically take a small number of A levels. A family that wants a full academic fallback should look hard at that structure first.

13 How does Menuhin compare with Purcell, Chetham's and Wells?

  • Yehudi Menuhin — location Cobham, Surrey; pupils on roll (dfe) 95; statutory age range 8–19; stated entry ages 8–16 in the year before entry; wind, brass, percussion No; voice as first study No; specialists within a mainstream school No; 2026–27 boarding fee £50,564 + VAT (≈£60,677); published grade standards No.

  • The Purcell School — location Bushey, Hertfordshire; pupils on roll (dfe) 192; statutory age range 8–19; stated entry ages 11–18; wind, brass, percussion Yes; voice as first study Yes, with a second instrument; specialists within a mainstream school No; 2026–27 boarding fee £54,262 incl VAT; published grade standards Yes, by age.

  • Chetham's — location Manchester; pupils on roll (dfe) 331; statutory age range 8–19; stated entry ages Year 9 onward; choristers from 8; wind, brass, percussion Yes; voice as first study Yes, from Year 9; specialists within a mainstream school No; 2026–27 boarding fee Published on request; published grade standards No.

  • Wells Cathedral — location Wells, Somerset; pupils on roll (dfe) 670 (whole school); statutory age range 2–19; stated entry ages 8–18 for specialist places; wind, brass, percussion Yes; voice as first study Yes; specialists within a mainstream school Yes; 2026–27 boarding fee Published on request; published grade standards No.

The differences that actually decide where to apply:

Instrument. Menuhin takes strings, guitar, harp, piano and composition only. Purcell adds woodwind, brass, percussion, voice, jazz, audio production and popular music. Chetham's takes strings, woodwind, brass, percussion, keyboard, voice from Year 9, jazz, composition and music technology. Wells adds popular music, songwriting and cathedral choristers. For a wind, brass or percussion player the field is three schools, not four.

Scale. Menuhin at 95 is a quarter the size of Chetham's at 331. That is a different daily experience, a different peer group, and far fewer places.

Setting. Wells is the only one of the four where specialist musicians sit inside a large mainstream school — 670 pupils on roll, most of them not specialists. If a family wants a conventional school around the music, that is the structural answer.

Entry age. Menuhin's floor is 8 and Chetham's admits choristers from 8, while Purcell's stated range is 11 to 18. Purcell and Chetham's both decline entry into Years 11 and 13; Menuhin publishes no such rule but the same logic applies mid-course.

Transparency about standard. Purcell publishes indicative grade levels by age. Menuhin publishes none. Neither approach is better, but it changes how a family judges readiness — at Menuhin the only reliable test is a trial lesson.

14 Three mistakes applicants make

Assuming there is an application portal. The school posts a warning on its own site that all communication about applications, submission included, is directly with the Registrar, and that “we have no additional websites or web portals for submitting applications”. Any link presented by an agency should be checked with registrar@menuhinschool.co.uk before anything is sent or paid.

Treating MDS as something to sort out after arrival. Two years of residence is a clock, and no audition performance can restart it. If MDS is part of the plan, the planning has to begin roughly three years before the place is taken up.

Preparing the hardest repertoire available. Two hours of consultation lessons and the phrase “musical potential” point the same way: the school is choosing pupils it can teach, not the ones who already play the most difficult thing.

15 What to do next

Inchwise advises families on UK specialist music school entry. We start with an assessment: one of our teachers hears the child play, we establish the realistic standard and the viable entry year, and we set out the route from there. See programmes, or get in touch.

Longer analysis of UK education and music education is published in Essays and Field Notes.

Compiled by the Independent Schools Policy Unit at Inchwise Research. The Unit tracks admissions policy, public funding and compliance requirements across UK independent and specialist music schools. Every figure is sourced and reviewed annually.

Last updated: September 2026. Fees, funding levels and school policy change every year; this page is reviewed annually.

This is an information guide. It is not an offer or a guarantee of admission, and it is not immigration or legal advice. The school’s own admissions pages are authoritative: menuhinschool.co.uk/how-to-apply-2.

Sources

Tim Agent
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