Due to the merit of very‐short end turns, Gramme‐ring windings are widely used in high‐speed permanent‐magnet motors (HSPMMs). This study investigated the thermal issues of a 300 kW, 12,000 rpm Gramme‐ring‐winding HPSMM with housing water jacket and forced air cooling, based on the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and numerical heat‐transfer calculations. The reasons that cause the overheat of the prototype in the experimental test are thoroughly analysed. The high wind resistance of air gap as the ventilation duct and the large interface gap between the stator lamination and housing water jacket is thought to be the main reasons. Then improvement of the ventilation structures is studied to decrease the wind resistance. Besides, the modification of water channels is also investigated to avoid the influence of a large interface gap on the water cooling performance. Finally, a new cooling structure, combining the slot ventilation ducts and inside water channels, is proposed for the HSPMM with Gramme‐ring windings. With the new cooling structure, the temperature rise of the motor is decreased, and the power density can be increased.