Save Exeter Cathedral School
Help Build a Sustainable Future
Why Do We Need Your Help?
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?
But 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 900 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.
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.
In the long term, we welcome professional expertise, financial support and community commitment to transform this 900 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 music-centred education should be accessible to more families.
Contribute Your Expertise
We need 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.
What is The Plan?
Our Future Vision
900 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.
Future Vision:
Preserve the philosophy that has worked for centuries while building modern sustainability: proper governance, diversified funding, strategic partnerships, and financial resilience.
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
Future Vision:
Preserve the nurturing environment that ECS is known and loved for, ensuring that individuality and unique needs are met with compassion and understanding.
Providing an environment where children learn, through modelling, about the importance of supporting each other and celebrating our different successes and challenges.
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.
Future Vision:
Expand this model with sustainable funding, making music-centred education accessible to even more families through enhanced bursary programmes.
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
Future Vision:
Expand scholarship funding to make this education accessible to any family who values it, regardless of means.
“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
Updates
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ILG describe their vision for the pre-prep school
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Cathedral leadership met with chorister families to explain the transition to Exeter School. Many questions remain unanswered about safeguarding and pastoral care.
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Governors announced that Years 3-8 will close in July 2026. Reception-Year 2 will continue. Choristers will transfer to Exeter School under a new partnership arrangement.