Taking up the mantle of the School Captain positions are Maame-Yaa (pictured centre-right) and Will (left), who’ll be leading the Captaincy team and chairing regular staff-student liaison meetings.

Our newly appointed Vice Captains are Stella (centre-left) and Alexei (right), who’ll help highlight important issues for their peers.

The concept of student leaders has been a tradition since our beginnings as a music school. It’s an important one that requires close working between students and staff, ensuring that the voices of all our students are heard and acted upon.

Nicola Smith, Joint Principal 

Nicola Smith, Joint Principal at Chetham’s, expressed her delight for the new School Captaincy appointments:

The determination from all our student applicants to make our School an even better place was humbling to hear and impressively delivered by each and every one of them.

I’m delighted for our new School Captains and I’m looking forward to working closely with Maame-Yaa, Will, Alexei and Stella. We know what a positive impact they’re going to make on the School and among their peers this year.

We look forward to welcoming Maame-Yaa, Will, Stella and Alexei back in September as our new School Captains.

Two years of hard work has led to some really wonderful and well-deserved grades for our year 11s, as well as for some of our year 10 students who took exams a year early.

We are delighted to see a 95% grade (9-4) pass rate, with 67% of grades at grade 7, 8 or 9 .

As with all schools nationwide, it isn’t possible to compare with the non-exam assessment-based grades of 2020 and 2021. These achievements are worthy of celebration in their own right.

This group has overcome the challenge of studying through a pandemic, with periods of online lessons, but have clearly triumphed due to their diligence, the dedication of their teachers and the support from home.

Our entire Chetham’s community is proud to celebrate with our students today. The future is bright, and we look forward to the sixth form journey together.

Nicola Smith and Tom Redmond, Joint Principal

Harry, Ben and Oliver celebrate GCSE results

We are incredibly proud of our students’ individual and collective efforts to achieve grades that they have worked so hard for.

Our 2022 leavers have achieved remarkable outcomes in an examination series where their first year of A-Level study was partly online.

Today, their hard work, resilience and tenacity has paid off. Our students have achieved great results in a range of subjects, which will open the doors to the next stage of their musical and academic pursuits.

Due to the changes in Grade Boundaries set Nationally because of Covid-19 disruption, it is not possible to compare results to previous years, however it is particularly pleasing to see 78.3% of the grades were at A*- B, showing that excellence and ambition is very much alive in all A-Level subjects at Chetham’s.

We are so excited for our students as they begin their next steps. With many students blessed with multiple brilliant offers and choices, it looks like around 30 are heading to conservatoires around the country and the world while around 16 others are heading to such prestigious institutions as University College London and The University of Cambridge, studying subjects as diverse as Medicine and Air Transport Management.

Nicola Smith Joint Principal said: “Chetham’s offers both a specialist music education and an outstanding academic curriculum. This year’s results show the determination our young people have to succeed. On behalf of the whole Chetham’s community we wish all our leavers much good luck for their next adventure!”

Nicola Smith and Tom Redmond, Joint Principals

Join us in congratulating our Year 13s today and watch out for the hashtag #chetsresultsday on social media as students share their own successes!

A huge round of applause to all our A Level students today. Congratulations on your fantastic results. Musical AND academic superstars! #ChetsResultsDay #AlevelResults@ChetsVIForm pic.twitter.com/EYi8HeChcJ

— Chetham’s School of Music (@Chethams) August 18, 2022

Congratulations Saul!

Chetham’s offers an exceptional academic education alongside its unparalleled music programme. Although there are no academic criteria for entrance, Chetham’s students regularly celebrate outstanding A-Level results and progress to leading conservatoires and universities across the world. Our teachers work hard to help each student reach their full potential, and students’ success is supported by small class sizes, a motivated teaching team, and a school community which encourages hard work and high achievement.

The first phase, focussed on the fifth floor of the Millgate block, will create ten four-bed rooms, each split across two levels to create a mezzanine bed deck for two of the boys in each space. Individual study areas and storage will provide space for academic work and social activity, whilst a refreshed staff flat will maintain a high standard of supervision and support for all of the boarders in our care.

We hope that the first rooms in the new-look Boys’ House will be occupied by September 2019. Based on the students’ reactions to the plans over our recent Open Weekend, they’ll be a very welcome improvement!

The work has been generously supported by the Oglesby Charitable Trust. We’re delighted that, with their support, we’ll soon be able to offer accommodation to match the quality of our music and academic programme, providing a genuinely joined up approach to boarders’ overall wellbeing.

Kwanda and Mbali came to Manchester as part of Arco, an alliance between the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Cape Gate MIAGI Centre for Music in Soweto. The partnership allows young players from a deprived township in South Africa to access video lessons with Conservatoire teachers on a regular basis, culminating each summer in a music festival in South Africa led by music teachers from the UK. This year, the project was extended to include the Arco Exchange, which arranged the girls’ visits to Birmingham and Chetham’s.

The exchange was a fantastic opportunity for students from both Soweto and the UK, as they spent the week learning about teaching methods, life and music in one another’s countries. Kwanda and Mbali were ably looked after by current Year 8 students, who helped them quickly adapt to life here at school, navigating timetables and our buildings. Special mention should be made of Margot Field, who took the lead on making sure they were fully involved in all aspects of school life! The girls certainly made the most of the Victoria House hoodies they were given as presents to keep them warm during their week in a very wintry Manchester. Kwanda and Mbali also joined 1st Chetham’s Scout group for an evening, giving a presentation on life in Soweto and what their experiences of learning music is like there. They even took 1st Chetham’s neckers home with them as a thank you! It was a particular pleasure that their visit took place in a week when a major concert was already planned, giving the whole group a chance to cement their friendships through a shared performance.

Kwanda said,“I have learnt so much from the ARCO project so far and there’s still so much more to learn. I would really like to thank my family, for their constant support; my Skype teacher Matt; Ma’am Olga at the Cape Gate MIAGI Centre for Music; my role model and viola teacher, Tiisesto Mashishi; and last but not least, God. I will always be thankful until the day after forever for this incredible opportunity.”

Chetham’s Lunchtime Concert, Friday 29 September

If you’d like to contribute to The Commonwealth Resounds! or to purchase tickets for the concert in Bolton (£12 each including a pie supper), please contact us on hello@chethams.com