The catchment area for this school is Cotham, Clifton, Kingsdown, Southern Redland, Bishopston, St Paul's and Easton.

The Cotham campus is situated in Charnwood House, although sixth form lessons also take place at the main school site.

Construction on a new teaching and dining block was finished in 2018 and increased the school's capacity significantly.

[1] Cotham School is one of the few schools in the UK to have educated two Nobel laureates: Paul Dirac, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1933, and Peter Higgs, who received the same award in 2013.

A £20m redevelopment and expansion was completed in 2012, using funding from the Building Schools for the Future programme.