Dr Challoner's reputation extends back to the early 17th century when the school began educating the boys of Amersham and the surrounding area. Now the school is widely recognised as one of the leading state grammar schools in the country, and is home to 1300 students aged 11-18, including girls in our co-educational Sixth Form. Our aim is to help all our students develop into young adults with the right habits, attitudes and qualifications to take on the challenges of the rapidly changing modern world. Our motto, Excellence with Integrity, is supported by a focus on core values of Aspiration, Kindness and Resilience which help our students develop their academic strengths and a positive place in society.
Those academic strengths regularly yield outstanding results, consistently placing Challoner's among the top 50 state schools in Britain. We are proud of the fact that our leavers move on to a huge range of university courses at home and abroad. Around 20 students each year win places at Oxford or Cambridge, with a similar number going on to medical school. We are equally proud of those students who identify their particular passion and pursue it at the best locations for that course. When they come back and see us our alumni often tell us how well they feel the school has prepared them for the next phase in their lives. To us this is the true measure of our success. In November 2019 Ofsted visited us, and judged us Outstanding under the framework introduced in September 2019. We are very proud of this judgement, which is part of our track record of excellence and innovation.
DCGS converted to academy status in 2011 and is proud to be a National Teaching School. In 2016 we became a SCITT (School Centred Initial Teacher Training) Centre and in 2021 were designated as the new Teaching School Hub for Buckinghamshire, one of only 87 designated schools in the country. These functions enable us to recruit and train the very best teachers to DCGS and other local schools, improving the quality of teaching and leadership. We want the people who leave us to be kind, caring, comfortable in themselves and open minded to new challenges. We want them to be happy and optimistic because they are proud of what they have achieved and know how to go about fulfilling their own ambitions for the future. In order to achieve that the school offers a friendly and creative learning environment, with superb opportunities for students to explore new interests, whatever they may be. Challoner's is a place of energy, life and vigour. We hope this website, much of which is produced by the students themselves, gives you a flavour of the school and that you will enjoy exploring it further.
David Atkinson
