Our School

The Balcarras Trust

The Balcarras Trust  has been established by the Trustees of Balcarras School, Cheltenham. Balcarras is a highly successful 11-18 school, situated in the heart of the Charlton Kings area of east Cheltenham. Consistently rated outstanding by Ofsted, it has also been recognised by The Sunday Times as the highest achieving comprehensive school in the South West. Its highly regarded Headteacher, Mr. Dominic Burke, has assumed a dual role as he is now also Chief Executive of the Balcarras Trust.

The Balcarras Trust has a very strong ethos, a commitment to inclusivity and is always striving for improvement. We will seek to promote these values in all  our schools.

The Trust believe that school should be a golden time in a young person’s life. We want our children to succeed academically and to achieve the best possible educational outcomes so that doors open beyond school. Few schools nationally can claim to have higher progress figures than Balcarras. The pupils there make superb progress academically regardless of their starting point and the Trust has set out to create exactly the same expectations at the High School Leckhampton.

We believe that school should be enjoyable and we want children to actively look forward to coming in every day. Lively and engaging teaching is the best way to achieve this but it is also vital that there is a broad and extensive range of extra curricular opportunities and there will be.

Right from the start The Trustees have always stressed that The High School Leckhampton is a separate school to Balcarras with its own leadership team and uniform etc. However, the two schools do work closely together as ‘sister’ schools, sharing expertise and supporting one another. 

The High School Leckhampton

The High School Leckhampton is an 11-16 comprehensive school which opened its doors in September 2021. The school was commissioned by Gloucestershire County Council to cater for an expansion in pupil numbers at secondary level in the south Cheltenham area. The school has been sponsored and developed by The Balcarras Trust who have been centrally involved in all aspects of the new school's development since 2018. The school opened to Year 7 pupils in September 2021 when it was temporarily located at Balcarras School. In September 2022,  The High School Leckhampton moved to our permanent home on Farm Lane, where the school welcomed a new cohort of Year 7 pupils. Eventually, there we be 900 pupils. The Farm Lane site is located on the southern edge of Cheltenham, just over 2 miles from Balcarras School. The school occupies an idyllic setting, a stone's throw from the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and nestled below Devil's Chimney. It is a superb place for a school site.