The Blue Coat School

Thank you for considering our wonderful school. Since our earliest days we have been proudly providing an education that is second to none for the children of Birmingham and beyond. The School today is unrecognisable from its humble beginnings. The mantra 300 years on is ‘limitless learning for tomorrow’s achievers’ where our children thrive and achieve through an extensive academic programme balanced by outstanding offerings in creative arts, performing arts, sport and music.

The School has been shortlisted for three consecutive years for the TES Prep School of the Year Award. In 2020, our unique e-assessment programme, The BCS Blue, was also shortlisted for the TES Strategic Education Initiative of the Year and we were recognised as one of the country's top 25 schools in the i25 Awards.

With facilities that rival senior schools, pupils have the perfect resources for limitless learning. As a Prep School, Blue Coat’s sporting facilities are unrivalled. The addition of an all-weather AstroTurf pitch, cricket nets and two new gym studios have raised the bar even further - BCS Sport is going from strength to strength! We enter many national competitions and have achieved notable regional and national success in swimming, hockey and netball. 

A wide-ranging extra-curricular programme is enhanced by partnerships with local clubs including, Bournville Rugby Club, Aston Villa Football Club, Diamond Swim Academy, Complete Cricket, Edgbaston Kestrels Hockey Academy, Edgbaston Priory Club and Edgbaston Golf Club.

In Prep, the children join one of our four Prep Houses. Unique to Blue Coat, these former boarding houses now offer a ‘home from home’ at the start and end of each day, the children can play games, enjoy a movie night, relax and have lots of fun. Inter-house competitions such as the House Shout, House Mastermind and House Matches are keenly fought!

The standard of musicianship at Blue Coat is simply breath-taking! Morning Recitals, BCS Young Musician of the Year and other termly concerts offer performance opportunities for our children. Many aspire to audition for the Chapel Choir which sings at weekly chapel services and joins with the Choral Society and Birmingham Cathedral Choir at special events throughout the year. Through Ensembles and Music Groups such as the Jazz Band, Percussion Group and Flute Ensemble, the children experience playing with their peers and this in turn raises their cognitive skills and improves them as players. The Music Department is supported by a team of Visiting Music Teachers who teach over 300 individual music lessons each week.

Thanks to a blend of brilliant teaching, genuine care and joint endeavour, our pupils leave us ready to make their mark in a thousand different fields. Each year we celebrate outstanding success in the senior school examinations with many pupils in receipt of scholarship awards not just in the academic field, but also for music, sport and the performing arts. Pupils progress to the region's most renowned schools including the Independent and Grammar Schools of the King Edward VI Foundation, Solihull School, Edgbaston High School for Girls and Bromsgrove School. Others progress to schools across the country including Cheltenham College and Wycombe Abbey, as well as 13+ entry to the likes of Repton School and Eton College.