Dean Close School

Dean Close School is a public school in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school is divided into pre-prep, preparatory and senior schools located on separate but adjacent sites outside Cheltenham town centre, occupying the largest private land area in the town at 50 acres. The school is now co-educational, with both day and boarding pupils, who may be enrolled as young as 3 in the pre-preparatory school, and continue through to 18 at the senior school. Dean Close is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. The Headmaster of the Senior School is Bradley Salisbury and the Headmaster of the Preparatory School is Paddy Moss. DCPS is a member of the IAPS and the Choir Schools' Association. Fees are currently £28,785 pa for day pupils and £42,750 pa for boarders in the senior school. Fees in the prep school are up to £23,085 pa for day pupils and up to £30585 pa for boarders. History The school, originally "The Dean Close Memorial School", was founded in 1886 (79th of the 103 Victorian public schools in order of foundation) and named after the Very Reverend Francis Close, Dean of Carlisle Cathedral. Alumni include the poet James Elroy Flecker, whose father was the School's first headmaster (the old Flecker Hall was named after him), and the artist Francis Bacon. In the First World War more than 120 former pupils were killed; their names, along with the names of 71 young men killed during the Second World War, are recorded in the school's memorial chapel which was consecrated in 1923.