Charterhouse School
Deo Dante Dedi
Founded in 1611 by Thomas Sutton on the site of a former Carthusian monastery in London, Charterhouse moved to its present home above Godalming, in Surrey, in 1872, where it stands today across some two hundred and fifty acres of countryside. It is one of the great historic schools of England, now fully co-educational across every year group, and it sets real academic ambition alongside an unusually broad creative and co-curricular life, from a distinguished musical tradition to its own Artifex arts festival. For all its history, it remains a forward-looking community, one that encourages every pupil to explore widely and to grow in character as much as in learning.
Key Facts
Location : Godalming, Surrey
Type : Co-educational, boarding and day
Age Range : 13 to 18
Pupil Numbers : Approx. 1,000 pupils
Founded : 1611
Motto : Deo Dante Dedi ("God Having Given, I Gave")
Academic Profile
In the Fourth Form, pupils at Charterhouse explore the full breadth of academic learning across the sciences, humanities, languages, and the arts, before taking their GCSEs. In the Sixth Form they choose between A Levels and the International Baccalaureate Diploma, and Old Carthusians proceed to Oxford and Cambridge, alongside leading universities such as UCL and Durham, with a strong annual flow to universities in the United States.
Co-Curricular Life
Music has a strong presence, centred on the Ralph Vaughan Williams Music Centre, named for the composer and Old Carthusian, with chapel choirs, House singing, and a full range of orchestras and ensembles. Drama has its own Ben Travers Theatre, staging a major production each term alongside the annual school musical, and the visual arts and design have a dedicated Art and Design Engineering Centre, with the creative arts coming together each year in the school's Artifex festival. Sport is played across some two hundred and fifty acres, with a footballing tradition that traces to the school's part in the origins of the modern game, alongside cricket and hockey, supported by the Queen's Sports Centre and its twenty-five-metre indoor pool, climbing wall, and sports hall, an athletics stadium, and a nine-hole golf course.
Admissions Essentials
Pupils join Charterhouse in Year 9, at age thirteen, with further places available in the Sixth Form. Most Year 9 places are offered following registration in Year 6 and the ISEB Common Pre-Test, with an assessment day and interview, and a number of places are held for families who register later, in Year 7. Academic and other scholarship assessments take place in Year 8. Sixth Form candidates register in Year 11, ahead of assessment in their chosen subjects and an interview. Scholarships are available for academic distinction, art, drama, music, dance, design, and sport.
In Essence
For a pupil who wants the reach of one of England's great historic schools alongside a thoroughly modern outlook, Charterhouse pairs deep tradition with a fully co-educational spirit, wide horizons, and the room of a great Surrey campus in which to grow into themselves.