Malvern College

Malvern has taught the International Baccalaureate Diploma since 1992 and offers it alongside A Levels and BTEC courses in the Sixth Form. IB students take six subjects with Theory of Knowledge, a 4,000-word Extended Essay and Creativity, Action and Service. The school notes that its IB course is recognised on the German Vector school list for Abitur-equivalent university entry. Before the Sixth Form, pupils follow a Foundation Year and then GCSE and IGCSE courses, with a one-year Pre-Sixth Form course for pupils able to complete their GCSEs in a single year.

Malvern College covers the senior years from age 13. Pupils enter the Foundation Year (Year 9), following the Key Stage 3 curriculum with a toolkit for independent learning, then move into the Remove and the Hundred (Years 10 and 11) for GCSE and IGCSE courses. The Sixth Form (Years 12 and 13) offers the IB Diploma, A Levels or BTEC courses. A one-year Pre-Sixth Form course is available for some pupils.

Malvern sets out to develop young people emotionally, intellectually and culturally, using the shorthand of EQ, IQ and CQ. Through the house system, pastoral care and leadership opportunities it aims for pupils to become confident communicators, team builders, free thinkers, change makers and path finders. As a Church of England foundation, its chapel worship is Anglican in style and inclusive in approach.

The hillside campus is built around Victorian buildings, including the main building and a separate chapel with a crypt chapel beneath it. Facilities include a sports complex opened in 2009, a fitness centre, two match-standard rackets courts and fives courts, multiple sports pitches and a well-known cricket ground, a swimming pool and climbing walls. Creative subjects use a Design and Technology building and the Faculty of Art and Design, and the Music School has numerous practice rooms; Malvern is an All-Steinway School. There is also a contemporary Sixth Form Centre.

Learning Enhancement provides support for organisation, study skills and specific needs, including one-to-one or small-group tuition with specialist teachers, alongside EAL lessons. Every pupil has a tutor, and Sixth Formers may choose their own. Scholarships recognise academic, artistic, musical and sporting talent, and means-tested bursaries can, in exceptional cases, cover the full fee. In summer the college runs a residential Summer School for 10 to 16 year olds.

Boarding is at the heart of Malvern College: around 75% of pupils board, and the campus stays lively at weekends. There are 11 houses, six for boys and five for girls, each led by a housemaster or housemistress with resident staff, and every house has kitchens, common rooms and a piano. Families can choose full boarding, day boarding with up to three nights a week, or day attendance; younger pupils share larger rooms and Sixth Formers usually have private rooms.

The school offers over 20 sports, with cricket, hockey, rugby, netball and football as the main team games and options such as athletics, badminton, cross country, equestrian, fives, golf, rackets, swimming, tennis and yoga. A partnership with Chelsea Football Club supports football development. The wider co-curriculum runs to more than 180 activities, including art, music ensembles and choirs, drama, debating, coding, mountaineering and mountain biking on the Malvern Hills, outdoor education, the Combined Cadet Force and the Duke of Edinburgh's Award.