Concord College

Focus 

Encouraging kindness and creativity

Day fees 2025/26

$30,500

Boarding fees 2025/26

$85,300

Term dates

• 11 September to 11 December 2025
• 7 January to 27 March 2026
• 13 April to 19 June 2026

Ages 

13-18

Pupil count

540

Spear’s Review

Concord College was founded to bring together bright young people from around the globe, and its ethos is unmistakably international: there are 43 nationalities represented within its student population. Academic ambition is celebrated here, but so too are kindness, curiosity and cultural awareness, creating an environment where students flourish both intellectually and personally.

The school’s approach is distinctive: there is no uniform, its sports programme champions participation as much as elite performance, and all pupils take part in a compulsory outdoor education programme that challenges them beyond the classroom. With over 100 clubs and societies – many of which are student-led – Concord fosters initiative and creativity, from charity fundraisers and peer mentoring schemes to the annual international food fair.

Trips, cultural showcases and Model UN events are intended to broaden perspectives, and students leave Concord confident in their abilities, aware of the wider world and ready to shape their own futures.

Academics

In 2025:

• 87 per cent of GCSE results were grades 7-9
• 83 per cent of A-Level results were A* or A

School Profile

Founded to educate students from around the world, Concord is a unique academic community. The college promotes a culture of excellence and joyful learning infused with rigour, kindness and creativity. Concord students pursue their dreams in a safe, calm and supportive place, where ideas can be shared and where inquisitiveness and independence of thought are celebrated. Students are expected to display mutual respect and to promote harmony, decency and trust. The result is a happy, kind and hard-working community in which students are polite, articulate and conscientious, without ever losing their sense of fun.

Students achieve excellent results. Last year over two-thirds of Concord students got 3 As or better and 45 got three or more A*s at A-Level. GCSE results are equally impressive, with 57 per cent of grades at 9. Many students secure places at top universities. This year 12 Concordians started at Oxford or Cambridge. Thirty took up places on medical, dental or veterinary medicine courses. Over 60 are now studying at World Top 10 Universities.

With impressive facilities including 73 acres of stunning campus, a state-of-the-art 22-laboratory science building, a theatre, a swimming pool, social spaces and soon a new sports centre, Concord creates a haven for the academically inquisitive student.

All students have their own bedroom in a welcoming residence supervised and supported by boarding house parents. A comprehensive induction programme helps new starters find their feet quickly.

Outside of the curriculum, an extensive enrichment programme offers a wide range of extracurricular activities, including sports, outdoor education, charity organisations, creative arts and other clubs and societies with over 100 choices. The emphasis is on personal development for each individual student. Some activities are geared to supporting students with specific university ambitions.

Head teacher

Dr Michael Truss has been principal at Concord since 2021. After taking a first-class honours degree in physics at Balliol College, Oxford, he continued his academic studies with a PhD in theoretical astrophysics at the University of Leicester and a postdoctoral fellowship in astrophysics at the University of St Andrews. Prior to joining Concord College he was deputy head at Barnard Castle School.

University and college destinations

In 2025, 97 per cent of the graduating class continued their education into university, with 8 per cent gaining places at Oxford or Cambridge. 

Admissions

Students typically join Concord in Form 3 (age 13), Form 4 (age 14) and Sixth Form (age 16 or 17). Applicants are asked to complete an online application form and submit copies of recent school reports, certificates or other evidence of achievements. All applicants sit Concord’s entrance tests, with tests for Sixth Form entry in subjects that the student intends to pursue at A-Level. Interviews then take place after the applicant’s tests have been marked.

Notable alumni

• Aun Qi Goh (Emmy-nominated international documentary film maker)

• Fehintola Akinlose (finance director of the UK House of Lords)

Accessibility

Birmingham Airport: 1 hour 15 minutes

Location

Click for more information about the research process and expert insight behind the Spear’s Schools Index.