Christ Church Cathedral School is an independent preparatory school for boys in

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. It is one of three choral foundation schools in the city and educates choristers of Christ Church Cathedral, and the Chapels of

Worcester College Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...

and Pembroke College. It is a member of the IAPS and th
Choir Schools Association

History

Now a Church of England School, it was originally housed within the

College A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

itself. Today its premises are located across from Christ Church at 3

Brewer Street Brewer Street is a street in the Soho area of central London, running west to east from Glasshouse Street to Wardour Street Wardour Street () is a street in Soho, City of Westminster, London. It is a one-way street that runs north fro ...

and Cardinal Wolsey's house is still used for teaching. In the 19th century, the Dean of Christ Church, Henry Liddell (father of Alice, who was immortalised in the books of

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...

) arranged for the building of a new choir school on its present site. In 1938,

Wilfrid Oldaker Wilfrid Horace Oldaker (13 June 1901 – 28 September 1978) was a clergyman of the Church of England, classical scholar, author, schoolmaster, Chaplain at Clifton College, Precentor of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, headmaster of Christ Church ...

took over as headmaster, finding a school with only nineteen boarders, and set out to enlarge it, roughly trebling the school's size in five years. He was resisted in this by the Dean and Chapter, who did not want a larger prep school on their hands. Oldaker made other big changes, such as joining the IAPS, which meant preparing all boys for

Common Entrance Common Entrance Examinations (commonly known as CE) are taken by independent school pupils in the UK as part of the selective admissions process at age 13, though ten independent schools do select at 11 using different test papers. They are set ...

, appointing prefects, dividing the school into houses called Wolsey, Sayers, and Carroll, and introducing the teaching of

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

. In 1939, he launched a school magazine called ''The Cardinal's Hat''.Richard Lane, Michael Lee, ''The History of Christ Church Cathedral School, Oxford'' (2017), pp. 52–64 In 1945, Oldaker moved on to

King's School, Canterbury The King's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for 13 to 18 year old pupils) in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's ...

, with Oxford seeing the move as being caused by the Dean and Chapter giving him little support in his development plans. More recent developments include the opening of a Pre-Prep department and nursery, and the William Walton Centre which comprises several classrooms and teaching facilities. At this point, the school began to take admit non-chorister pupils as well. The school opened a pre-preparatory department in 1984 and a nursery in 1998.

The school today

All pupils are boys, except a small number of girls in the nursery. The 22 boarders are choristers or probationary choristers for the Cathedral. The dormitories in which they sleep are named after distinguished former organists including Ley, Taverner, Armstrong and Harwood. All other pupils are day boys, among them eighteen choristers who sing in

Chapel. The school used to provide choristers for Exeter College but this ended when Exeter established a mixed choir. In addition to the focus on Music, there is also a distinguished tradition of Art, and the school contributes an annual exhibition to Oxford's Artweeks festival.In 2019, the school also started providing choristers for the Pembroke college choir. Leavers typically move on to local schools such as

Magdalen College School, Oxford Magdalen College School (MCS) is a public school (English independent day school) in Oxford, England, for boys aged seven to eighteen and for girls in the sixth form. It was founded by William Waynflete about 1480 as part of Magdalen College ...

Abingdon School Abingdon School is a day and boarding independent school for boys in Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. The twentieth oldest independent British school, it celebrated its 750th anniversary in 2006. The school was described as "highly ...

St Edward's School, Oxford St Edward's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in Oxford, England. It is known informally as 'Teddies'. Approximately sixty pupils live in each of its thirteen houses. The school is a member of the Rugby G ...

Bloxham School Bloxham School, also called All Saints' School, is an independent co-educational day and boarding school of the British public school tradition, located in the village of Bloxham, three miles (5 km) from the town of Banbury in Oxfordshir ...

and D'Overbroeck's College Leckford Place. There is also a tradition of choristers winning Music Scholarships to destinations further afield, which in recent years have included

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

Uppingham School Uppingham School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils 13-18) in Uppingham, Rutland, England, founded in 1584 by Robert Johnson, the Archdeacon of Leicester, who also established Oakham School. The headma ...

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

Sherborne School (God and My Right) , established = 705 by Aldhelm, re-founded by King Edward VI 1550 , closed = , type = Public school Independent, boarding school , religion = Church of England , president = , chair_label = Chairman of the governors , ...

and

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: *Wellington College, Berkshire, an independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England ** Wellington College International Shanghai ** Wellington College International Tianjin * Wellington College, Wellington, Ne ...

Notable headmasters

, 1938 to 1945

Notable alumni

Simon Carrington Simon Carrington (born 1942) is an English conductor, singer and double bass player. He was a founding member and member for 25 years of the Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble the King's Singers; he subsequently worked for 15 years in the United ...

— conductor and founding member of the

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

group

King's Singers The King's Singers are a British a cappella vocal ensemble founded in 1968. They are named after King's College in Cambridge, England, where the group was formed by six choral scholars. In the United Kingdom, their popularity peaked in the 1 ...

Joscelyn Godwin Joscelyn Godwin (born 16 January 1945 at Kelmscott, Oxfordshire, England) is a composer, musicologist, and translator, known for his work on ancient music, paganism, and music in the occult. Biography He was educated as a chorister at Chris ...

— musicologist *

Toby Jones Tobias Edward Heslewood Jones''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com (born 7 September 1966) is an English actor. Jones made his film debut in Sally Potter's period drama ''Orlando'' in 1992. He ...

- actor *

Jan Morris (Catharine) Jan MorrisJan Morris, Paul Clements, University of Wales Press, 2008, p. 7 (born James Humphry Morris; 2 October 192620 November 2020) was a Welsh historian, author and travel writer. She was known particularly for the ''Pax Brita ...

- author and historian *

Crispin Nash-Williams Crispin St John Alvah Nash-Williams FRSE (19 December 1932 – 20 January 2001) was a British mathematician. His research interest was in the field of discrete mathematics, especially graph theory. Biography Nash-Williams was born on 19 Dece ...

— mathematicianD. J. A. Welsh
"Crispin St J. A. Nash-Williams (1932–2001)"
in ''Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society'', Vol. 35, Issue 6, November 2003, Pages 829–844 *

Dorothy L Sayers Dorothy Leigh Sayers (; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime writer and poet. She was also a student of classical and modern languages. She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between th ...

— novelist, was born at the school during her father's time as Headmaster *

Sir William Walton Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade (entertainmen ...

, OM — composer *

Eric Whelpton Eric George Whelpton (21 March 1894 – 13 February 1981) was a British writer, teacher and traveller. Early life and education Whelpton was born on 21 March 1894 in Le Havre, France, the son of the Revd George Whelpton, minister of Trinity Metho ...

— writer and lecturer *

Roderick Williams Roderick Gregory Coleman Williams OBE (born 1965) is a British baritone and composer. Biography Williams was born in North London to a Welsh father and a Jamaican mother. He attended Christ Church Cathedral School in Oxford and Haberdashers' ...

- composer and singer

References

External links

*
Christ Church Cathedral Choir website
* ISI Inspectio
Report

Christ Church information
{{Schools in Oxfordshire 1546 establishments in England Educational institutions established in the 1540s Boys' schools in Oxfordshire Schools in Oxford Boarding schools in Oxfordshire Choir schools in England

School A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

Cathedral schools Preparatory schools in Oxfordshire Church of England independent schools in the Diocese of Oxford