A Guide to the Four English Specialist Music Schools Compared
Inchwise Research · Independent Schools Policy Unit
Data current to 8 October 2026, except the 2027-28 application dates, which were read on 11 October 2026. Figures are those published by each school, recorded with their sources in the individual Inchwise guides.
In brief
England has four specialist music schools: the Yehudi Menuhin School, The Purcell School, Chetham’s School of Music and Wells Cathedral School. This guide sets their published facts side by side — roll, age range, first studies accepted, fees, funding and what each school does and does not publish. Each figure is drawn from the school’s own pages and is recorded with its source in that school’s individual Inchwise guide.
The four differ most in three places: which instruments they accept as a first study, whether the specialist musicians sit inside a mainstream school, and how the fee is built.
Menuhin accepts strings, guitar, harp, piano and composition. The other three accept wind, brass and percussion as well.
Wells is the only one of the four in which specialist musicians sit inside a larger mainstream school.
Purcell is the only one of the four that publishes indicative grade standards by age and instrument.
All four take part in the government’s Music and Dance Scheme, which carries a published residence condition; the wording of that condition differs between the schools.
01 The Four Schools at a Glance
The rolls below are the figures on the Department for Education’s Get Information About Schools register, as recorded in the individual Inchwise guides. Wells’s figure is for the whole school; its specialist music course is one part of it.
Yehudi Menuhin School — Cobham, Surrey. 95 pupils on roll. Statutory age range 8–19. Stated entry ages 8 to 16 in the academic year before entry. Wind, brass and percussion: no. Voice as a first study: no. Specialists inside a mainstream school: no. 2026–27 boarding fee £50,564 before VAT, about £60,677 with VAT. Published grade standards: none.
The Purcell School — Bushey, Hertfordshire. 192 pupils on roll. Statutory age range 8–19. Stated entry ages 11 to 18. Wind, brass and percussion: yes. Voice as a first study: yes, with a second instrument. Specialists inside a mainstream school: no. 2026–27 boarding fee £54,262 including VAT. Published grade standards: yes, by age and instrument.
Chetham’s School of Music — Manchester. 331 pupils on roll against a published capacity of 355. Statutory age range 8–19. Entry from Year 9 onward, with choristers from 8. Wind, brass and percussion: yes. Voice as a first study: yes, from Year 9. Specialists inside a mainstream school: no. 2026–27 boarding fee £54,947 including VAT. Published grade standards: none.
Wells Cathedral School — Wells, Somerset. 670 pupils on roll for the whole school. Statutory age range 2–19. Stated entry ages 8 to 18 for specialist places. Wind, brass and percussion: yes. Voice as a first study: yes. Specialists inside a mainstream school: yes. 2026–27 boarding fee £52,224 including VAT for Years 9 to 11, plus a specialist music supplement of £20,586, giving £72,810. Published grade standards: none.
02 Location and Setting
Three of the four are schools whose entire intake is specialist musicians: Menuhin at Stoke d’Abernon in Cobham, Purcell at Bushey, and Chetham’s in central Manchester.
Wells Cathedral School is structured differently. It is a mainstream school of 670 pupils aged 2 to 18, with a specialist music course inside it. Its 2026 inspection recorded the specialist cohort at around a third of the roll. Wells also runs the cathedral choristership alongside the specialist course.
03 Age and Entry Points
The statutory age ranges on the DfE register are 8 to 19 for Menuhin, Purcell and Chetham’s, and 2 to 19 for Wells, which covers the whole school rather than the specialist course.
The ages each school states for entry are narrower:
Menuhin: no younger than 8 and no older than 16 in the academic year before entry. The school publishes no fixed 11+ or 13+ point, and states that a place depends on whether there is a vacancy in that instrument that year.
Purcell: 11 to 18. The school states that it does not admit into Year 11 or Year 13.
Chetham’s: entry from Year 9 onward, with choristers admitted from age 8. The school states that it does not admit into Year 11 or Year 13, and that voice is normally available as a first study from Year 9.
Wells: 8 to 18 for specialist music places.
04 First Studies Accepted
This is the point on which the four differ most, and it decides how many of them a given applicant can apply to at all.
Menuhin: strings, guitar, harp, piano and composition.
Purcell: strings, keyboard, woodwind, brass, percussion, voice, jazz, composition and audio production.
Chetham’s: eight departments covering strings, woodwind, brass including the full brass-band range, percussion, keyboard including organ and harpsichord, harp, guitar, saxophone, voice from Year 9, jazz, composition and a historical performance pathway.
Wells: ten published first-study routes, including jazz, composition, popular music and songwriting. Organ is taught within the keyboard department rather than listed among the ten.
A wind, brass or percussion player can apply to three of the four. A singer seeking voice as a first study can apply to three, with the age conditions each school states.
05 Published Standard
Purcell is the only one of the four that publishes an indicative standard. It gives grade levels by age and instrument — a pianist applying at 11 is given as approximately Grade 6 to 8+ — and states that these are a general guide, that it weighs promise above attainment, and that it applies no rigid criteria.
Menuhin, Chetham’s and Wells publish no grade standard at any age. Chetham’s states that graded examinations are not vital to being accepted and that it assesses potential alongside current attainment.
06 Fees for 2026-27
Two of the four publish fees including VAT and two do not, so the published headline figures are not directly comparable until VAT is added.
Menuhin: £49,260 day and £50,564 boarding, before VAT. With VAT at 20 per cent these are about £59,112 and £60,677.
Purcell: £42,498 day and £54,262 boarding, VAT included.
Chetham’s: £42,024 day and £54,947 boarding, VAT included.
Wells: the year-group fee, £52,224 boarding for Years 9 to 11 with VAT included, plus a specialist music supplement of £20,586 a year, giving £72,810. An overseas family pays a further international supplement of £1,599. Wells also publishes two hourly tiers of music provision below the specialist course, at £109 and £90 an hour.
None of the four publishes a fee for 2027-28. Wells states that its 2027-2028 fees will be published in April 2027.
07 Music and Dance Scheme Funding
All four take part in the Music and Dance Scheme, under which the Department for Education sets an annual contribution scale by household income. On the 2026/27 scale, a household with £100,000 of relevant income pays £18,587 for a boarding place at Menuhin and at Purcell, and £17,957 at Chetham’s.
The Scheme carries a residence condition, and the schools word it differently. Chetham’s states two full calendar years of residence in the United Kingdom ending on 31 December before entry, and that the Scheme does not apply to choristers or overseas students. Menuhin states ordinary residence in the British Islands for the two years before 1 January of the year the place is taken up. Wells words the condition more broadly, extending it to pupils who have been boarding pupils in the United Kingdom for two full calendar years; the governing regulations word the test as ordinary residence in the British Islands, with no boarding-pupil route.
Menuhin states that around 90 per cent of its pupils receive some form of financial support. Chetham’s states that over 90 per cent receive some financial support and that around a quarter are funded in full through the Scheme.
08 Application and Audition Fees
Purcell: an application fee of £120 and a separate audition fee of £120, both non-refundable. Neither is published with an entry year attached.
Chetham’s: two different sets are published on two of the school’s own pages, neither naming an entry year — an advice audition at £60 with an application fee of £150 on one page, and an advice audition at £90 with a main audition fee of £162 on the other.
Menuhin: no amounts published. The school states that the application form should be accompanied by a non-refundable application fee, and that there is a further cost for the full audition, payable in advance, with the amount supplied by the Registrar.
Wells: no application or audition fee published.
09 What None of the Four Publishes
As read on 11 October 2026, none of the four publishes an opening date, a closing date, audition dates or a recording deadline for September 2027 entry. Purcell publishes the general rule that applications open in September, one academic year before entry, and states that there is no deadline and that auditions continue until the school is full. Chetham’s publishes a recommendation to apply by December for entry the following September, with no year attached. Wells states that it accepts applications year-round when space permits.
None of the four publishes an acceptance rate, a number of applicants per place, or a 2027-28 fee.
The dates each institution does publish for the current cycle are collected separately in the Inchwise guide to application dates published for September 2027 entry.
10 The Individual Guides
Each school has its own Inchwise guide, with the full set of published facts, the exact wording of the school’s own statements and an explicit list of what that school has not published.
Sources
The Yehudi Menuhin School: https://www.menuhinschool.co.uk/how-to-apply-2
The Purcell School: https://www.purcell-school.org/admissions/how-to-apply/
Chetham's School of Music: https://chethamsschoolofmusic.com/apply/
Wells Cathedral School: https://wells.cathedral.school/application-process/
Department for Education, Get Information About Schools: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/
Department for Education, Music and Dance Scheme: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/music-and-dance-scheme-mds
About This Guide
Inchwise is a London education consultancy working with families whose children study music seriously. This guide records what each school publishes, and the date each fact was retrieved. Inchwise is not affiliated with any of these schools and does not predict admission outcomes.
Where a decision depends on something this guide records as not published, that school’s own admissions office is the only source that can confirm it.
Application dates for the current cycle are collected separately, with every unpublished item stated: application dates published for September 2027 entry.