Headington Rye Oxford

Headington Rye Oxford
Location
Headington Road

Oxford
,
OX3 0BL

England
Information
TypePrivate day and boarding school
MottoΑγωνίζου τον καλόν αγώνα της πίστεως
(1 Timothy: 6:12. English: Fight the good fight of Faith)
Religious affiliationChurch of England
Established1915
Local authorityOxfordshire
HeadmistressCaroline Jordan
GenderGirls
Age3 to 18
Enrolment1020~
HousesDavenport House

Hillstowe House Napier House McGregor House

Celia Marsh House
Colour   
SongFight the Good Fight
Former pupilsHeadingtonians
Boat ClubHeadington School Oxford Boat Club
Websitewww.headington.org

Headington Rye Oxford is an independent day co-educational prep school for girls and boys aged 3–11 and a day and boarding school for girls aged 11–18, in Headington, Oxford, England.

Headington Rye Oxford was formed in 2024, when Headington School, founded in 1915, merged with the neighbouring Rye St Antony School, founded in 1930.[1]

History

Headington School was founded in 1915 by a group of evangelical Christians to provide "a sound education for girls to fit them for the demands and opportunities likely to arise after the war". It started at Headington Lodge on Osler Road with ten boarding and eight day girls. As the school expanded after the war, more buildings were bought and added to the school.

In 1920, Davenport House, one of the current boarding houses, (on the corner of London Road and Pullens Lane) was taken over by the school. The house had a 2-acre (0.81 ha) garden and another 19 acres (7.7 ha) of farmland attached stretching as far east as the White Horse pub. The main school then moved to its current building, built in the neo-Georgian style, in 1930. In 1942 it was registered as an educational charity.[2]

Headington Rye Prep

The preparatory school is located on a separate site on Pullens Lane. It used to be called a junior school, but changed to the prep in 2004. The premises which house the prep school were originally known as Rye St Antony. Its pupils uses some facilities of the senior school, such as the swimming pool, playing field, all-weather surface and theatre.

Both the prep and senior schools share the same governing body. It is a member of the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools.

Facilities

The school embarked on a series of building projects during the early 2000s, beginning with the Art Department, the professional-standard Theatre at Headington (2002), Napier Boarding House (2003), a large Dining Hall (2005), the Music School (2008-9), the Diamond Jubilee building (nicknamed Diamond by students and staff, 2011-2012), the Sports Centre (2015), the Library extension (2016), sixth form centre redesign (2016-2019) and most recently, the Hive (2021).[3] These complement the original neo-Georgian senior school building constructed in the 1930s.

There are 23 acres of grounds and playing fields, tennis courts, swimming pool and a floodlit Astroturf pitch.[4] The school also owns the Headington School Oxford Boat Club.[5]

Year groups

Headington used to use its own nomenclature for the year groups. However, they stopped using it for the prep school in the early 2010s, and as of September 2025, the senior school stopped using it as well.

Preparatory School

Name Year
Nursery Nursery
Pre-Kindergarten Reception
Kindergarten Year 1
Transition Year 2
Form 1 Year 3
Lower 2 Year 4
Upper 2 Year 5
Lower 3 Year 6

Senior School

Division Name Year
Lower School Upper 3 Year 7
Lower 4 Year 8
Middle School Upper 4 Year 9
Lower 5 Year 10
Upper 5 Year 11
Sixth Form Lower 6 Year 12
Upper 6 Year 13

Boarding

Headington offers both full-time, part-time or flex-boarding to girls aged 11 and above. Approximately one third of its pupils are boarders.[6] They are grouped by years and reside in four boarding houses.

  • Davenport: U3 (Year 7) to U4 (Year 9)
  • Hillstow: U4 to U5 (Year 11)
  • Napier: L5 (Year 10) to U5 (Year 11)
  • Celia Marsh: L6 & U6 (Sixth Form)
  • MacGregor: L6 & U6 – attached to Celia Marsh House

Curriculum

Headington is one of the higher achieving independent schools in Oxfordshire.[7][8]

The International Baccalaureate was offered alongside A Levels from September 2009.[9] Headington School ceased to offer the International Baccalaureate from September 2020.

Extra-curricular activities

Headington offers over 50 different extracurricular activities ranging from sport to the Duke of Edinburgh Award. Headington's Combined Cadet Force is one of only four all girls contingents in the country.[4]

Sports teams and athletes regularly take part in competitions at county or national level.[10][11][12][13]

The rowing team (Headington School Oxford Boat Club) is one of the county's most successful school teams. It won the girls eights category at the National Schools Regatta in 2001[14] and completed the rare "Women's triple" in 2009, 2014, 2015, and 2016 by winning the National Schools, Schools Head and Henley.[15] It has also performed well in the South of England Indoor Rowing Championships, winning five overall classes in 2008[16] and finishing runners-up in 2010.[17] Two of its members were chosen to represent Great Britain at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore and claimed a gold medal in the girls' pair category.[18]

In 2013 seven Headington girls won their category in the Oxford Music Festival and the sixth form vocal ensemble The Eleven received the top choral prize.[19]

Notable former pupils

See also

References

  1. ^ "Change and Evolution". Headington Rye Oxford.
  2. ^ "Our history". Headington Rye Oxford. 23 December 2024. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
  3. ^ "Headington School Oxford - Facilities". Archived from the original on 20 November 2008. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
  4. ^ a b "Breadth and balance at Headington School". Oxford Mail. 11 March 2011.
  5. ^ "Headington School BC". British Rowing.
  6. ^ "Headington School Oxford - Boarding". www.headington.org.
  7. ^ "Full GCSE round-up". Oxford Mail. 25 August 2006.
  8. ^ "Students across county celebrate outstanding GCSE results". Oxford Journal. 2 September 2011. Archived from the original on 6 September 2012.
  9. ^ "International Baccalaureate". Headington School Oxford. Retrieved 23 March 2009.
  10. ^ "Sport". Headington School Oxford. Archived from the original on 8 March 2012.
  11. ^ "BADMINTON: Colts set strong pace". Oxford Mail. 20 December 2007.
  12. ^ "SCHOOL SPORT: Headington are happy with third". Oxford Mail. 6 February 2009.
  13. ^ "ATHLETICS: Inspired Beth in England call-up". Oxford Mail. 26 March 2010.
  14. ^ "Headington and Radley rule the waves". Oxford Mail. 2 June 2001.
  15. ^ "ROWING: Headington complete top treble". Oxford Mail. 25 June 2009.
  16. ^ "ROWING: Headington pull together". Oxford Mail. 7 February 2008.
  17. ^ "ROWING: headington and Hinksey in the frame". Oxford Mail. 11 February 2010.
  18. ^ "Headington girls on top of their game". Oxford Mail. 26 August 2010.
  19. ^ "Schools Guide 2013: Headington School". Tatler. 2013. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  20. ^ "Princess Cirilla of Cintra on Netflix's The Witcher: Who is the actress Freya Allan?". monstersandcritics.com. 2019.
  21. ^ "Elinor Lyon children's author". The Times. London. 14 June 2008. Archived from the original on 23 May 2010. Retrieved 5 April 2010.

51°45′27″N 1°13′17.4″W / 51.75750°N 1.221500°W / 51.75750; -1.221500

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