Royal High School, Bath

Prep School Cranwell House

Girls can start in the Nursery School one and a half months before they are three years old. The Prep School will take pupils in the September after their fourth birthday. The Prep School has around 200 full-time pupils from Reception to Year 6, and around 20 part-time pupils in the Nursery.

The Prep School is in Cranwell House,[4] in Weston Park, near to the Senior School.

The senior school is on Lansdown Road near Bath city centre.

The main building was built in 1856-8 by James Wilson and is a Grade II listed building.[5] There is an Art School; a Sixth Form café; a fitness suite, a separate Sixth Form building and newly refurbished boarding houses; two Performing Arts Theatres (The Sophie Cameron Performing Arts Centre and The Memorial Hall); The Hudson Centre for lectures and meetings; a sports hall complex, netball and tennis courts, an astroturf; a library, a Media Centre, and a new music school and state of the art recording studio.[6] The boarding houses are situated in Lansdown Road. The Senior school has a medical centre.

It regularly comes near the top of league tables for Bath schools for GCSE and A-Level results.[7] The school provides Modern Languages including GCSE French, which girls start to learn in reception class. German, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin, Arabic, and Japanese are also available. The school also provides the IB Programme, where it had an average score of 37 points in 2019 with nearly half the cohort achieving 40+ points.

The school is currently one of the top 50 boarding school in UK.[8]

The school from a hot air balloon (2005)

The art school was opened by Professor Sir Christopher Frayling – Rector of the Royal College of Art and Chairman of the Arts Council, England – in November 2008. There are four studios for activities such as painting, sculpture, printmaking, film and photography. In 2006 it received an award from the 'Good Schools Guide' for gaining the best A level results in the country over a three-year period. Degree choices vary from Fine Art and Fashion through to Architecture and Photography.

The building was designed by Textus architectural practice to replicate other professional art schools, like the Royal Academy Schools and the Prince's Drawing School, which can be transformed from working studios into exhibition spaces. There are well-lit studio spaces for drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, and three-dimensional work.

In 2011 a History of Art A-level began to be offered.

The Music Department (Steinway School Status from January 2020) is housed in a purpose-built Music School and consists of a 60-seat Recital Room with a Model B Steinway grand piano, state of the art, soundproofed recording studios with two Model AS Steinway grand pianos, 10 soundproofed practice rooms each containing upright Steinway pianos, Apple Mac suite, main teaching room, Green Room, reception area, offices and instrument storage facilities.

Ensembles consist of Vocalise (Year 7–9 choir), V20 (Show and Pop choir), Chamber Choir, The Sixth Sense (6th Form Choir), Orchestra, Concert Band, Jazz Band, Brass Ensemble, Sax Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble and Pop & Rock Bands.

The department produces 35-40 concerts during the academic year, both internally and externally, and a whole-school production every Summer Term. International tours take place every two years and there are opportunities for all students to learn any musical instrument, provided by professional visiting instrumental staff.

As part of the department's Steinway Music School status, there is a regular programme of masterclasses and recitals led by leading artists who work closely with the students.

The Drama department has use of the school's two performance venues; the Memorial Hall is a traditional 'end on' performance space and has movable raked seating, the Sophie Cameron Performing Arts is a converted chapel with almost limitless performance possibilities. There is an annual Summer musical, open to all students. Previous productions include, 'Guys & Dolls', 'Annie', 'Oliver!' and 'Stepping Out'.

There is an annual Lower School play for students in Years 7–8 and an upper school play open to Year 9 and upwards. Previous KS3 productions include, 'Cold Comfort Farm', 'Pride & Prejudice', 'The Wind in the Willows', 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', and at KS4; 'The Crucible', 'Antigone', and 'Numbers'. The Year 13 Theatre Studies students run the weekly Year 7 Drama Club and the drama scholars regularly produce their own evening of performances throughout the school year. Students can participate in Speech & Drama lessons, and the school also participates in the National Theatre Connections Festival biannually. Students at the Prep school put on plays too.

The sports facilities at Royal High School Bath are situated on its Lansdown site. Girls play a wide range of sports with elite performers in equestrian, gymnastics, swimming, netball, biathlon, fencing, and martial arts. Royal High School competes with a range of state and independent schools, participates in national leagues and competitions, and accesses high-performance facilities at the University of Bath Olympic Sports Training Village.

On-site facilities include:

• All-weather Astroturf for hockey
• Tennis courts
• Netball courts
• Outdoor swimming pool
• Football field
• Rounders pitches
• Indoor sports hall
• Gym suite
• Dance studio
• Gymnastic equipment
• Cricket pitches
• Off-site, an equestrian team trains at local equestrian centres.

Sporting achievements within the school are awarded by the presentation of "Colours" annually for commitment to clubs and extra-curricular activities.

There are four houses across both the Prep and Senior School:

  Brontë
  Du Pré
  Wollstonecraft
  Austen

• Official website
• Profile on the Independent Schools Council website