We are committed to supporting your child’s education pathway here in Malvern. Our Admissions Team is alongside you at every step, offering clear guidance, reassurance and care as you navigate this next chapter.
A tailored pathway at Malvern for each child.
Malvern St James has recently announced its likelihood to close at the end of the current academic year. We understand how challenging this news will be for families and pupils.
Malvern College and The Downs Malvern are here to support families who wish to continue their child’s education in Malvern from September 2026.
Our priority is simple: to provide a carefully managed, supportive and affordable transition that ensures stability and confidence at a crucial time. We are doing this by waiving fees for the 2026 Summer Term for families wanting to move over immediately and by committing to maintain their current school fee levels from September 2026.
We will ensure families have clear next steps and access to a high-quality, sustainable educational pathway within the Malvern College Family of Schools. We will work with MSJ’s academic and pastoral teams to ensure each child’s individual needs are understood and supported.
We recognise that minimising disruption is critical, particularly for pupils approaching important examination points.
Particular care is being taken to:
We encourage MSJ families to speak with our Admissions Team and make an appointment to visit the school so they can experience Malvern College first-hand.
Share details of your child with us by completing our MSJ Families Enquiry Form, sending us an email admissions@malverncollege.org.uk or calling us on +44 (0)1684 581 515.
Experience the magic of Malvern first hand with a personalised tour of the campus to meet staff and pupils.
Following the initial enquiry, prospective MSJ families will need to complete a Registration Form, please select ‘Malvern St James’ as current school and the Registration Fee will be waived. We request copies of a pupil’s two most recent school reports so that we can ensure that Malvern College is a place where they will thrive.
Once all elements of the admissions process have been completed, successful applicants will then be offered a place.
Once a place has been accepted, our Admissions Team will work closely with families to complete enrolment and prepare for a smooth transition into school life. Families will also receive guidance on practical next steps, including priority access to second‑hand uniform where appropriate.
We understand that the news of the potential closure of MSJ will be difficult and unsettling.
Malvern College and The Downs Malvern can offer a pathway of education, with individual guidance to support integration into the Malvern family of schools for the start of the 2026/2027 school year.
We hope to provide a pathway for all children who wish to join us, subject to individual discussions.
Our Admissions Team are on hand to support families on an individual basis, and so please contact them as soon as possible to discuss your family’s needs.
To support an education pathway for pupils, we will be working with families on the following basis:
Fees will be matched, aside of annual fee increases, until the end of the current key-stage:
As a child moves towards the end of the key stage, parents will be supported through our means-tested bursary review process.
Parents who are keen to receive early reassurance of continued financial support can choose to be fast-tracked through this process via our admissions team over the coming weeks.
We understand that parents may be concerned about continuity of financial support once their child’s current key stage comes to an end. While existing fee arrangements cannot automatically continue beyond this point, you may be eligible to apply for a means-tested bursary.
To help parents plan ahead, we are happy to offer a desktop bursary assessment, providing an early indication of likely eligibility. This initial assessment is straightforward, requires no supporting documents, and we aim to provide an indication within one week of receiving a completed form.
Your current deposit with Malvern St James should be returned to you, as per your Parent Contract.
Upon accepting the offer to join Malvern College / The Downs Malvern, you will be asked to sign a new Parent Contract and a deposit is required to confirm enrolment. The payment of this new deposit can be deferred until such time as your previous deposit is returned, if this assists you financially.
Families should contact the Malvern College Admissions Team by sending us an email admissions@malverncollege.org.uk or calling us on +44 (0)1684 581 515. Kelly Rogers, Head of Admissions, and her team are available Monday to Friday 8.30am-6pm and will aim to reply to families within the same day, where possible.
Families can also complete a dedicated enquiry form on our website.
We have simplified our application process for current MSJ families. As such, once you have had all your questions answered by our admissions team, you will be asked to:
Families of children with specific needs or concerns are advised to speak to us as soon as possible to ensure that The Downs Malvern / Malvern College will be the best fit for your family.
The Academic Team at Malvern College have completed initial subject and timetable mapping to ensure as much continuity of education can be provided. Our Admissions Team will work with families on a 1:1 basis to coordinate discussions with the academic team at Malvern College ahead of enrolment.
The choice of school is understandably individual to each family, and there is no obligation to consider Malvern College / The Downs Malvern as a next step.
However, there is also no downside to starting an application with Malvern College / the Downs Malvern and then ultimately choosing not to join.
An offer of enrolment will be made once the application process has been completed. Parents will then sign a new contract with Malvern College to confirm acceptance of the offer. If they choose to decline the offer, then they would simply need to complete the withdrawal process from Malvern St James, as instructed by them.
Of course, this is highly recommended. Please contact Kelly Rogers who is on hand to book visits and coordinate contact with our Academic and Pastoral Teams.
At The Downs Malvern, children will join their current year group class. As such, they will be with other children from Malvern St James if more than one child joins us.
At Malvern College, children will be allocated to one of our 11 single-sex boarding houses, and so may be in Houses with other MSJ pupils including with children who joined our family in September 2025.
If families / children have a preference of friends they would like to be with, or friendship groups they would rather they were not allocated with, please make this clear to our admissions team. Depending on their subject choices, pupils will also see each other in class and during sport / co-curricular activities.
Our admissions team will work with families on their preferences in relation to friendship groups and House allocations for Malvern College. Where possible, we will do all that we can to allocate pupils (of the same sex) who want to stay together to the same House.
We understand that this may be a very unsettling time for your child, and that each child will process this news differently.
Malvern College has a reputation for exceptional pastoral care, as well as being highly-experienced in welcoming new pupils to its community. Each child will be under the care of their House team, as well as academic tutors and will be able to access a range of well-being and support services to support their transition.
For most children, their first day at Malvern College or The Downs Malvern will be the first day of term in September 2026. There are different start dates during the first week of term depending on the year of entry and details will be communicated with each family.
Malvern College and The Downs Malvern already operate a daily bus service to and from school. We will aim to ensure that these routes are enhanced to provide transport to all pupils joining from Malvern St James.
Please share details of your current route with our admissions team and enhanced routes will be confirmed once demand has been reviewed.
In order to assimilate into the new school communities, we recommend that children joining in September wear the correct Malvern College and The Downs Malvern uniform.
We are mindful of the financial investment and so for those families wishing to access it, we will prioritise the availability of items from our second-hand uniform shops.
A full list of uniform for Malvern College and The Downs Malvern can be found here.
Both The Downs Malvern and Malvern College have a long tradition of providing excellent boarding provisions, including flexible options for those families who require this support.
At The Downs Malvern, we have a small full-boarding community, and a large number of pupils who board on a flexible basis.
At Malvern College, we have a mix of Day, Day Boarding (up to 3 days per week), and Full Boarding pupils. Day pupils have up to 15 nights of boarding including in their fee point and House team work with our full-boarding families to ensure responsiveness to each family’s need.
Our Admissions Team are on hand to discuss what may work best for each family.
Our Admissions Team, led by Mrs Kelly Rogers is the best place to start. She will coordinate connections with any member of staff who parents would like to speak to, including our Headmaster and Senior Leadership Team.
