This guide brings together what Christ’s Hospital School (基督公学) says about itself on its official website (christs-hospital.org.uk), checked on 5 August 2026. It covers the school’s profile and campus, programmes, entry requirements, 2026/27 fee rates, application dates for 2027 entry, and the support available to international families. Where the school publishes a figure, the figure and its source page are noted below; where it does not, that is said plainly rather than guessed.
School Profile
Christ’s Hospital School is a co-educational boarding and day school in Horsham, West Sussex, founded in November 1552, which the school describes as one of the oldest boarding schools in England. The official website states it has around 840 boarders, of whom international students are currently about 14%, housed across 18 boarding houses. Admission is academically selective, and places are offered on the basis of the school’s own assessments. The Head and CEO is Matthew L S Judd. Christ’s Hospital describes its mission as challenging inequality by providing a transformative education for young people from all backgrounds; its means-tested bursary programme is central to that mission, and the school states it provides more bursary support than any other independent boarding school in the country. Two self-reported figures appear repeatedly on the site: 98% of students progress to top universities worldwide, and in 2025 all 10 students who received offers from Oxford or Cambridge confirmed their places. These are the school’s own claims about itself, not third-party rankings.
Campus and Location
Christ’s Hospital School’s campus covers about 1,200 acres of countryside in West Sussex, roughly 20 miles from London Gatwick Airport and 45 miles from London Heathrow. Unusually, the school has its own mainline railway station on campus — Christ’s Hospital station — with direct trains to London, which also simplifies airport transfers. The postal address is Christ’s Hospital, Horsham, West Sussex, RH13 0LJ. The school runs termly Open Morning events, bookable through its website, and offers a virtual tour for families who cannot visit in person. Day students are accepted when they live within a commutable distance; like boarders, they are allocated to one of the boarding houses and have their own space there.
Academic Programmes
Christ’s Hospital School structures its education in three strands: the academic curriculum, the broader curriculum (music, sport, drama, clubs and trips), and the pastoral curriculum, which is rooted in the boarding house system and the Learning for Life programme. In Years 7 and 8 students follow a broad and balanced curriculum; in Year 9 they choose five options alongside core subjects; in Years 10 and 11 they study four options alongside core subjects for GCSE; and in the Sixth Form they take A Levels. The extended curriculum in the Sixth Form includes the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ), internationally recognised language qualifications, AS courses and music study; Year 12 students are allocated four periods per week to it, and Year 13 classes stay small at eight to ten students. The subject list published on the official site covers art, biology, chemistry, classics, computer science, design technology, drama and theatre studies, economics, English, food and nutrition, geography, history, history of art, ICT, languages, mathematics, music, physics, psychology, politics, sport and physical education, and theology and philosophy.
Entry Points and Academic Requirements
Christ’s Hospital School normally admits at Year 7 (age 11), Year 9 (age 13) and into the Sixth Form (Year 12), with occasional places at Year 8 or Year 10. The school is academically selective and uses its own assessments. For Year 7 entry, children should be working towards the higher end of the ability range in mathematics and English within the National Curriculum — typically predicted above 100 in Key Stage 2 tests and working above the expected standard. For Year 9 entry, the guide is the equivalent of higher grades in Key Stage 3 assessments, again working above the expected standard. Sixth Form applicants should be on course for a minimum of 4 A grades (level 7) and 4 B grades (level 6), with the A grades in the subjects they wish to study at A level. A report from the candidate’s current head teacher is requested in all cases.
Fees for 2026/27 and What They Cover
Fee rates for the 2026/27 academic year, inclusive of VAT and quoted per term, are published on Christ’s Hospital School’s official fees page. International fees are £17,565 per term for Years 7 and 8, and £18,795 per term for Years 9 to 13. For comparison within the same page: full boarding is £15,402 per term for Years 7 to 9 and £16,480 for Years 10 to 13; weekly boarding is £13,500 and £14,500; day fees are £8,518 (Years 7 and 8), £10,423 (Year 9) and £11,151 (Years 10 to 13). International fees include two 30-minute English-as-a-second-language tutorials per week, support from the International Co-ordinator, the visa application cost, and the Tudor-style uniform. The registration fee is £180 (inclusive of VAT, non-refundable) for international applicants, or £120 for day and boarding applicants; the deposit for international students is one term’s fees, and up to £1,800 for day and boarding places. Day students may stay overnight at £85 per night when space permits. Invoices are raised termly in advance and can be paid termly or by 10 monthly instalments; the school notes that fee rates are reviewed annually.
Application Timeline (2027 Entry)
Christ’s Hospital School’s official key-dates page sets out the 2027 cycle. For Years 7 and 9: the deadline for bursary and scholarship applications is Friday 18 September 2026; initial assessment invitations are sent from 25 September; initial assessments run on 16, 17 and 19 October 2026; results are published in the week of 16 November; the residential assessment for boarding candidates is on 7 and 8 January 2027; and the acceptance deadline is Monday 15 March 2027. For Sixth Form entry in September 2027: the bursary application deadline is Friday 16 October 2026; the initial computer-based assessment is Saturday 31 October 2026; interviews for selected candidates are on Saturday 28 November 2026; offers are made from the week of 14 December 2026; and the acceptance deadline is Friday 5 February 2027, with Sixth Form induction on 28 and 29 June 2027. The school advises starting the process at least 18 months before the intended entry date.
Bursaries and Scholarships
Christ’s Hospital School’s fee-assistance model is a defining feature. The school reports that 11% of students hold a fully supported bursary place, 77% receive some level of bursary support, and 21% pay full fees; the total bursary support provided each year is stated as over £23 million. Bursaries are assessed on family means. Scholarships reward outstanding achievement in academic work, music, sport, art or drama and may reduce the assessed fee by up to 25%; Sixth Form scholarship awards are valued at between 5% and 25%. A student may hold a bursary and a scholarship at the same time. FCO and service families who do not qualify for a means-tested bursary receive a 10% discount on full boarding fees.
Boarding Life and International Student Support
Boarding is the core of life at Christ’s Hospital School. There are 18 houses: eight for girls and eight for boys aged 11 to 17, plus two mixed Grecians houses for Year 13 students. Each house holds roughly 45 to 50 students and is staffed by a resident Houseparent, an Assistant Houseparent, three tutors and a Matron, with a member of staff always on duty. The Health Centre is staffed by nurses 24 hours a day, and doctors from a local practice hold surgeries at the school five mornings a week. International students are integrated into the same houses and receive specific support: the weekly English-language tutorials, the International Co-ordinator, and a visa application cost covered within the international fee. The school’s website is available in Chinese, Korean, French, German, Russian and Spanish as well as English, and it publishes an international student information booklet for 2026 and an international registration form.
Using This Guide
All figures above come from Christ’s Hospital School’s official website as checked on 5 August 2026; fee rates are reviewed annually and dates apply to the 2027 entry cycle, so the official site remains the boundary for current numbers. Self-reported outcomes such as the 98% progression figure and the 90% first-choice acceptance rate for the 2025 UCAS cohort are the school’s own claims and should not be read as comparative or industry data. Visa and statutory eligibility sit with UK authorities rather than the school, and the school website does not publish a universal international checklist, so that part must be confirmed against current official sources at application time. If you would like to work through how these requirements, dates and costs apply to your own child’s year group and circumstances, our advisers are happy to help you check each item against the latest official information.