PLEASE SHARE OUR STORY
Save Exeter Cathedral School
Help Us Keep Our School OPEN and Build a Sustainable Future
Current Total of online and offline donations: £39,795
Our Crowdfunder Countdown: Please Help Us Reach Our Target to Save The School.
What Happened?
On 8th January 2026, The Board of Governors announced that ECS Prep (Years 3-8) will close in July 2026 and the ECS Pre-Prep (Nursery-Year 2) will be under new ownership.
Why Should we Save Exeter Cathedral School?
Because we believe the educational philosophy at the heart of ECS is too valuable to lose.
The ECS approach to education exceeds academic performance. It focuses equally on providing an environment where children can thrive in their individuality. It's small enough that every child is truly known. It's rigorous without being pressured. It's musically extraordinary without being exclusive. It's academically strong while nurturing creativity. It's a community that feels like family.
This centre of excellence doesn’t have to disappear. We’re working to reimagine it as something even stronger and more sustainable for another 850 years and we need your help to protect this exceptional school.
Who Are We?
We are a large and passionate group of Exeter Cathedral School (ECS) parents, with a wide range of skills and expertise, who have formed a collective to preserve the school. We selected ECS for our own children because the values and ethos of this establishment, along with the incredible talent of its teachers, was the only place we wanted to entrust our children’s future.
We believe ECS is worth preserving and, with help, are determined to save the school and ensure it can thrive for years to come.
What’s the Plan?
The plan to save ECS has two stages.
Stage 1 - WE URGENTLY NEED your help to raise enough money in the short term to stay open while we work on stage 2
Stage 2 - Build a sustainable model to allow ECS to flourish for years to come
Why Will It Work This Time?
There are so many reasons that ECS has maintained its success for as long as it has, but with increasing financial pressures a lot of smaller independent schools are closing. ECS needs to evolve. We need a more sustainable structure and we have a large group of skilled professionals who are determined to build just that.
We have already spoken to a number of other schools that have faced exactly the same possibility of closure and are now thriving. We’re learning from them, seeking other independent advice and have already begun using all of the expertise we have to future- proof the school.
How Can You Help?
In the short-term we need to raise funds to keep ECS open for long enough to finalise our long-term sustainable model. Please donate what you can - every penny counts.
In the long term, we welcome professional expertise, financial support and community commitment to transform this 850 year institution into something sustainable for future generations.
Fund the Transformation
Support the feasibility studies, professional expertise, and planning needed to reimagine ECS as a sustainable, accessible, music-centred school.
Get In Touch
If you have any helpful information and ideas for us, contact us
Share the Vision
Help us reach alumni, potential supporters, and anyone who believes ECS education should be accessible to more families.
Contribute Your Expertise
We have a lot of skilled people on our team but always welcome more. Contact us if you have legal, financial, fundraising, governance, and education sector expertise to build a viable new model.
Tell Your Story
Share what this kind of education has meant to you or your family. Your story demonstrates why this model is worth preserving.
Alumni: You Experienced It
You know what this education can do. Help us preserve and strengthen that model for the children who come after you.
More Details: Our Future Vision
Before we talk about the future, let’s talk about why ECS is worth preserving:
850 Years of Heritage
Since the 12th century, this school has educated children in the shadow of Exeter Cathedral. It has survived wars, plagues, social upheaval, and countless challenges.
The building and traditions don't make a school—the educational philosophy does.
Small Scale, Big Impact
At ECS, every teacher knows every child by name, personality, and need. Not as a marketing claim—as lived reality.
This environment transforms:
Creative children who think differently
Anxious children who need a gentler pace
Musicians and artists alongside academics
Children who flourish with individual attention
Any child who deserves to be truly known
Music as Foundation
Not just music lessons—music as the foundation of everything. Every child has access to this world, regardless of obvious talent or family wealth.
Two orchestras, multiple choirs, jazz bands
Folk groups, rock bands, brass ensembles
Battle of the bands, termly concerts
Flutopia, percussion groups, string quartets
Child-led bands meeting in breaks
All run by extraordinary teachers who create performance platforms for every single child.
Access for All Backgrounds
Through bursaries and scholarships, ECS brings together families across the economic spectrum. It's a genuine mix of backgrounds, perspectives, and circumstances.
This model serves families who:
Value music and creativity deeply
Want a small, nurturing environment
Need scholarship support
Seek a community that welcomes everyone
Incredible Inspection Reports:
Inspectors praised the school’s nurturing environment, where pupils flourish academically and develop strong social and emotional skills. The report highlights the school’s commitment to:
High-quality education: The curriculum is well-planned and engaging, with teachers passionate about their subjects. Pupils make good progress across all areas.
Supportive environment: The school fosters a positive and inclusive environment where pupils feel valued and respected.
Broad range of opportunities: Exeter Cathedral School offers a wide range of extra-curricular activities and opportunities for personal growth.
Strong leadership: Leaders were commended for their clear vision, effective management, and focus on pupil well-being.
High Performance Sports Programme
Launching throughout 2025, the ECS High Performance Sports Programme builds on our ‘Sport 4 All’ ethos, to offer unparalleled high-performance opportunities to our keenest and most gifted athletes.
Future Pathways
Launching in September 2025, ECS Pathway Places is an innovative collaboration with four of the region’s finest Senior Schools – and our four biggest destination schools – to guarantee a Year 9 place for your child when s/he is in Year 6 at ECS.
Future Vision:
Preserve the philosophy that has worked for centuries while building modern sustainability: proper governance, diversified funding, strategic partnerships and financial resilience.
Preserve the nurturing environment that ECS is known and loved for, ensuring that individuality and unique needs are met with compassion and understanding.
Provide an environment where children learn, through modelling, about the importance of supporting each other and celebrating our different successes and challenges.
Expand scholarship funding to make this education accessible to any family who values it, regardless of means.
Expand the ECS model with sustainable funding, making music-centred education accessible to even more families through enhanced bursary programmes.
“What makes ECS remarkable isn't just that it includes music education—lots of schools do that. It's that the school fundamentally understands music as a transformative educational force for all children, not just the obviously talented ones. I've watched it work: the confidence from performing, the discipline of ensemble work, the emotional intelligence developed through music, the sense of belonging from being part of something larger than yourself."
Parent testimonial, January 2026