Cheam High School is a mixed gender comprehensive school

Comprehensive school

A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...

 located in Cheam

Cheam

Cheam is a large suburban village close to Sutton in the London Borough of Sutton, England, and is located close to the southern boundary between Greater London and Surrey. It is divided into two main areas: North Cheam and Cheam Village. North Cheam includes more retail shops and supermarkets,...

, Greater London

Greater London

Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...

, England. It consists of a lower school, for those aged between 11-16, and a sixth form

Sixth form

In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...

 for 17-18.
The school holds dual Specialist Language College

Language College

Language Colleges were introduced in 1995 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, modern foreign languages...

 and Arts College

Arts College

Arts Colleges were introduced in 1997 as part of the now defunct Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, the performing, visual and/or media arts...

 status. The current Headteacher is Miss R Allott who succeeded Mr TJ Vaughan upon his retirement in 2000.

Awards

The school holds the Artsmark Silver Award from the Arts Council to recognise the high quality of work in various aspects of the curriculum including Art, Drama, Music and Dance. It also has the Sports Mark Award recognising the strong sporting ethos of the school. Cheam High School received "Outstanding" Ofsted reports in both 2007 and 2010.
This is the highest grade Ofsted award and only 8% of schools receive it.
Cheam High School has recently (1/6/11) become an academy although it fully retains its character, ethos and appearance.