Originally a boys school, Cheam was founded in 1645 by George Aldrich.

One boy had to leave when his father was found to be a tradesman, with a shop in London selling cutlery.

[1] In 1934 the school moved to its present site on the borders of Hampshire and Berkshire, previously a country house known as Beenham Court, when its part of Surrey was developing from a quiet village into a busy suburb.

There are four houses (known as divisions): Aldrich (yellow), Beck (green), Gilpin (red), and Tabor (blue).

Cheam educates both boys and girls between the ages of three and thirteen and takes day-pupils as well as boarders.