Gresham’s School（格雷舍姆学校）is a co-educational boarding and day school in North Norfolk, England, founded in 1555. It educates boys and girls from age 2 to Sixth Form on a 300-acre estate in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, four miles from the North Norfolk coast. This guide is written for international families: it covers the programmes on offer, entry requirements and assessments by year group, the fees published for Michaelmas Term 2026 onwards, key dates, and the support services the school describes for overseas pupils. Everything below comes from the official website (greshams.com) as of August 5, 2026; fees, dates and requirements change every year, so always check the latest official version.
About Gresham’s School
Gresham’s Schooldescribes itself as providing a high quality, fully rounded education to boys and girls from the age of two to Sixth Form, from across the UK and overseas. The school is organised into three divisions: Senior School (ages 13-18), Prep School (ages 7-13, with a new purpose-built Prep School due to open in 2027), and Nursery and Pre-Prep (ages 2-7). The campus covers 300 acres within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty; the Dyson Building, opened in September 2021, houses the school’s STEAM centre for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, made possible by former pupil Sir James Dyson. The music department is based in the Britten Building with a recording studio, and a woodland outdoor activity centre serves the whole school, including the Year 9 Survival Course. The Headmaster is Douglas Robb, and the school is a registered charity. The Prep School sits on its own purpose-built site just outside Holt town centre, close to the main estate.
Programs and Curriculum
Gresham’s Schooloffers the full English independent-school path from Nursery to Sixth Form. In the Senior School, Year 9 pupils study the complete curriculum — all sciences, humanities, creative subjects and up to two languages — before Years 10 and 11, where pupils take up to ten IGCSE and GCSE subjects (departments choose between GCSE and IGCSE per subject). For pupils joining from overseas in Year 11, the school runs a One Year GCSE Course, also known as Pre-IB: eight GCSE subjects with a core of English Language, Mathematics and, where applicable, English as a Second Language, plus one humanity (History or Geography), one or two sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Physics), one modern foreign language (French, Spanish or Latin) and an option such as 3D Design, Fine Art, Graphics, Music, Drama or Computer Science. Pupils on this course are fully integrated into mainstream classes, with extra ESL lessons and supervised study periods for non-native speakers. In the Sixth Form, pupils choose between the IB Diploma, three or four A Levels, or a mix where one or two A Levels are replaced by BTEC diplomas. A Levels are offered in more than 20 subjects — including art, biology, business studies, chemistry, computer science, economics, English, French, geography, graphic communication, history, history of art, Latin, mathematics, music, photography, physical education, physics, psychology, religious studies, Spanish and three-dimensional design — with three subjects the norm. The IB Diploma has run at Gresham’s since 2007: six subjects with at least three at Higher Level, plus the core of a 4,000-word Extended Essay, Theory of Knowledge and Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS). Learning Support covers specific learning difficulties including dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, ADD/ADHD and ASD.
Entry Requirements for International Students
Gresham’s Schoolpublishes six main entry points: Nursery, Reception, Year 3, Year 7, Year 9 and Year 12. The first step is a registration form with a non-refundable fee of £216. Assessment depends on the year group: Nursery and Pre-Prep have no formal assessment, but the school requests a school report from the child’s previous school; Year 3 entry is based on a taster day in the January before entry; Years 4 and above sit an entrance assessment in Maths and English; Year 7 assessments take place in the Lent Term, with the registration deadline for Years 3 and 7 falling in the Michaelmas Term; Year 9 applicants sit entrance tests, have a short informal interview with a Deputy Head, and submit school reports and references. Optional pre-testing is available in the Michaelmas Term of Year 7, but every applicant must still sit the Year 9 entrance assessments in November of Year 8 to confirm their place. Sixth Form applicants are assessed through an interview with the Headmaster and Deputy Head Academic or Assistant Head about their chosen subjects, a reference with predicted grades from their current school, and recent school reports; the school also weighs a candidate’s willingness to engage with extracurricular life. For the One Year GCSE Course, the published requirements are explicit: pupils must be 15 years old on entry in September and have English at a level equivalent to B2 of the Common European Framework or 5.0 at IELTS.
Costs and Published Fees
Gresham’s Schoolpublishes fees effective from Michaelmas Term 2026, all including VAT where applicable, payable in full on or before the first day of each term. Senior School: Day (in a Boarding House) £12,255 per term, Boarding £17,560, and Day at Arkell House (Sixth Form only) £8,710 — with an additional £910 per term for Sixth Form boarders or day pupils joining a Boarding House. Prep School: Day for Years 3 and 4 £7,390, Day £9,085, Boarding £12,730 per term. Pre-Prep: Year 2 £5,430, Year 1 and Reception £5,040 per term, with Nursery charged by the day or week depending on age group. Extras are itemised: Learning and Language Support lessons £63 per lesson, Music and LAMDA £46 per lesson, one-to-one sports coaching £55 per hour, and occasional boarding £97 per night at the Prep School and £147 at the Senior School. The registration fee is £216 (non-refundable); no deposit is required for Nursery or Reception, while other year groups pay a refundable Acceptance Deposit of £1,000 on taking up a place. For pupils whose normal residence is outside the United Kingdom, an Additional Deposit is required alongside the Acceptance Deposit — the school does not publish a fixed amount for it on the fees page.
Key Dates and Deadlines
Gresham’s Schoolhas published its key dates for September 2027 entry: the application deadline is Wednesday 14 October 2026; Year 9 entrance assessments take place on Monday 9 November 2026; results are communicated in early December 2026; and offers must be accepted within two weeks of receiving them. Sixth Form entrance interviews are on Saturday 14 November 2026, and Year 12 (Arkell House) applications share the 14 October 2026 deadline, with places subject to availability and offered to external candidates first. For 2026/27, the term calendar runs: Michaelmas Term from Sunday 6 September 2026 to Tuesday 15 December 2026 (half term 16 October to 1 November); Lent Term with boarders returning Tuesday 5 January 2027 and day pupils starting Wednesday 6 January, ending Thursday 25 March 2027 (half term 12-21 February); and Summer Term with boarders returning Sunday 18 April and day pupils Monday 19 April, ending Saturday 3 July 2027 after Speech Day (half term 28 May to 6 June). Boarding pupils may stay overnight at the end of each half and full term to catch flights the following day, and the boarding houses close at midday the day after the stated end of term.
Application Support and Student Life
Gresham’s Schooldescribes several services that matter to international families. Airport transfers are organised for international students to coincide with school holidays, with cost depending on the journey; daily bus routes serve Fakenham, Thursford, North Walsham, the Norwich airport direction and Norwich’s Eaton area, and a weekly bus runs to Cambridge. Boarding is available from the Prep years: Prep pupils can board full time, weekly or flexibly (one to five nights per week), with the combined boys’ and girls’ boarding wing at Kenwyn House, refurbished in 2024; Senior pupils live in the House system across Arkell, Edinburgh, Farfield, Howson’s, Oakeley, Queens’, Tallis and Woodlands. The One Year GCSE Course provides the main structured language pathway for overseas joiners, with English as a Second Language lessons built in, while the Learning Support department covers a range of specific learning difficulties. For planning purposes, the school’s own guidance points to visiting before applying, registering with the £216 fee, completing the relevant assessment, and allowing time for deposit, visa and travel arrangements — for most families, comfortably more than a year ahead of the intended entry point. As with every figure in this guide, fees and dates were read from the official website on August 5, 2026 and will be superseded by newer versions. If you would like to assess how Gresham’s School fits your child’s age, English level and target entry year, our advisers on this site can talk through the details with you.