Rye St Antony School is an independent

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boarding and day school for girls aged 3 to 18 years and boys aged 3 to 11 years in

Headington Headington is an eastern suburb of Oxford, England. It is at the top of Headington Hill overlooking the city in the Thames valley below, and bordering Marston to the north-west, Cowley to the south, and Barton and Risinghurst to the east. Th ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, England. The school's name is commonly abbreviated and referred to by both pupils and staff as 'Rye'. Rye is unique as a girls' independent

Catholic school Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...

due to the fact that it was founded by two women rather than by a religious order. In 2024, it will be merging with Headington Girls School to become a new school, named "Headington Rye Oxford".

History

The school was founded by Elizabeth Rendall and Ivy King in 1930 after a visit to the Church of St Anthony of Padua in

Rye, East Sussex is a small town and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England, two miles from the sea at the confluence of three rivers: the Rother, the Tillingham and the Brede. An important member of the mediaeval Cinque Ports confederatio ...

. There have been only seven Headmistresses in Rye's history. In 1960, Miss Rendall died, and in 1963 the school became an educational trust with a Governing Body. Miss King continued as Headmistress until 1976 and, unfailing in her interest and encouragement, spent her retirement in a house in the school grounds until her death in 1993. Miss King's younger sister, Miss Gwen, joined the school in 1939 and faithfully served the school until her death in 2000 at the age of ninety-nine. Miss King’s successor as Headmistress was Patsy Sumpter who came to the school in 1959 and worked alongside Miss King in various posts before succeeding her as Headmistress from 1976 until 1990. Alison Jones was appointed as successor to Miss Sumpter, and the fifth Headmistress, Sarah Ryan, succeeded Miss Jones on Miss Jones's retirement in 2018 however, she stayed for just two years. Miss Joanne Croft was then the head until 2023, when she was replaced by an interim head to support the school through the merge with Headington Girls. The school was first situated in central Oxford before moving to its present site of in

in 1939. The school grounds include a Victorian house built by

Alfred Waterhouse Alfred Waterhouse (19 July 1830 – 22 August 1905) was an English architect, particularly associated with the Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, although he designed using other architectural styles as well. He is perhaps best known f ...

, the Architect that designed The Natural History Museum, both in Oxford and London. A new high specification Performing Arts centre was opened in February 2005. The school also opened a new Sports Centre (the Morton Sports Centre) in 2008 and renovated the Sixth Form Centre and Boarding house in 2010. The school was rated "outstanding" in all aspects during their recent 2017 ISI inspection. The school was criticised on

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for the wording of its 2020 exam results release in the midst of the controversial government algorithm used to determine grades, which was criticised by many for using the prior performance of a school to help determine results, causing pupils in low-income areas to achieve significantly less than similarly-performing students in more affluent areas. On 13 August 2020, the day the A-Level results came out, Joanne Croft, the headteacher, posted on Twitter; “#ResultsDay I’m so very proud of all our girls today for their #alevels2020 Ambitious and determined, no pandemic was going to stop them! #DreamBig #WorkHard #Success”. Her tweet caused substantial backlash on social media and was even covered by the Financial Times, which commented that the algorithm led to the school "overturning its normally below-average performance with a stunning set of grades this year."

Tangerine Party

One tradition at Rye St Antony is the 'Tangerine Party', held on the last day of the

Michaelmas term Michaelmas term is the first academic term of the academic year in a number of English-speaking universities and schools in the northern hemisphere, especially in the United Kingdom. Michaelmas term derives its name from the Feast of St Micha ...

, after the traditional Christmas Bazaar. This originated after the girls knitted clothes for the WW2 soldiers and in return they sent gifts like fruit, especially tangerines to pupils whilst rationing was enforced during the Second World War. All members of staff, pupils and parents congregate informally in the Rendall Hall to sing Christmas songs, including 'All I Want For Christmas Is You', 'Merry Christmas Everyone', 'Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer', 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town', and, finally, 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' (featuring Year 13 singing the coveted 'Five Gold Rings'). The school shares Christmas cake and everyone is given a tangerine. Songs are usually led by the Lay Chaplain and accompanied by the Director of Music; they become increasingly raucous as the Party progresses. Commonly, some male members of staff are required to stand up and sing '

We Three Kings "We Three Kings", original title "Three Kings of Orient", also known as "We Three Kings of Orient Are" or "The Quest of the Magi", is a Christmas carol that was written by John Henry Hopkins Jr. in 1857. At the time of composing the carol, Hopki ...

' in front of the congregation.

Extracurricular Activities

The school offers the

Duke of Edinburgh Award The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (commonly abbreviated DofE) is a youth awards programme founded in the United Kingdom in 1956 by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, that has since expanded to 144 nations. The awards recognise adolescents and young ...

. Sport is also a popular aspect of the school with many pupils being members of sports teams and competing at county and national level.

Houses

There are four houses to which pupils are assigned and they generally remain in the same house throughout their time at Rye. These houses compete against one another in both academic and extra-curricular activities throughout the year, each led by a staff Housemaster. They are named after places with a significance Catholic history around Oxfordshire. *Stonor (yellow) *Hendred (green) *Holywell (red) *Binsey (blue)

Boarding

The two boarding houses are each in the charge of two Housemistresses and their team of Under-Graduate Assistants. Girls have a choice of choosing full boarding, weekdays-only or flexi-boarding. *The Cottage for Years 11 and Sixth Form *The Croft for Year 3 to Year 10

Head Mistresses

* Miss Elizabeth Rendall (joint founder) 1930–60 * Miss Ivy King (joint founder) 1930–76 * Miss Patsy Sumpter 1976–90 * Miss Alison Jones 1990–2018 * Mrs Sarah Ryan 2018–2020 * Miss Joanne Croft 2020–2023

Former pupils

Those educated at the school include: * Teresa Freeman-Grenville (b. 1957) - Scottish peer, 13th Lady Kinloss'KINLOSS, Lady (13th in line, of the Lordship cr 1602) Teresa Mary Nugent Freeman-Grenville' in '' Who's Who 2014'' (London: A. & C. Black) *

Annie Tempest Anne Valerie Tempest (born 22 August 1959), known as Annie Tempest, is a British artist, sculptor and cartoonist initially known for her cartoon strip ''The Yuppies'' which ran for seven years in the '' Daily Mail'', and now for her strip ''Totter ...

(b. 1959) - artist, sculptor and cartoonist *

Emilia Clarke Emilia Isobel Euphemia Rose Clarke (born 23 October 1986) is an English actress. She is best known for her portrayal as Daenerys Targaryen in '' Game of Thrones''. She has received various accolades, including an Empire Award, a Saturn Award, ...

(b. 1986) - actor * Jude Tsang (b. 1992) - singer-songwriter, photographer, Hong Kong * Victoria Aguirre Vila-Coro (Bibi) - academic, eye research, Spain * Julie Furber (Julie Marriott) - business person

References

External links

School website

Profile
on the

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MyDaughter MyDaughter was a British website set up by the Girls' Schools Association (GSA) offering advice to parents of daughters on all aspects of raising and educating girls. Advice was provided by headteachers from the member schools of the Girls' Scho ...

Church of St Antony in Rye, Sussex
{{coord, 51, 45, 35, N, 1, 13, 33, W, type:edu_region:GB, display=title Girls' schools in Oxfordshire Private schools in Oxfordshire Schools in Oxford Boarding schools in Oxfordshire Educational institutions established in 1930 1930 establishments in England Catholic boarding schools in England Member schools of the Girls' Schools Association Roman Catholic private schools in the Archdiocese of Birmingham Girls boarding schools