Headington School is an independent girls' school in

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

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, England, founded by a group of evangelical Christians in 1915. In 2024, it merged with Rye St Antony School to form Headington Rye Oxford.

History

Headington School was founded in 1915 by a group of

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

Christians to provide "a sound education for girls to fit them for the demands and opportunities likely to arise after the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

". 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 Pullens Lane (a.k.a. Pullen's Lane) is in Headington, east Oxford, England. It is located at the top of Headington Hill, leading north off Headington Road to Jack Straw's Lane and Harberton Mead. The cul-de-sac Pullens Field (a.k.a. Pullen's ...

) was taken over by the school. The house had a garden and another 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.

Headington Rye Prep

The preparatory school is located on a separate site on Woodlands Road. The premises which house the prep school were originally known as Rye St Antony. They were taken over by the school in 1916. Built in 1886, they were first occupied by Thomas Arnall, Oxford's Head Postmaster. The school renamed them Napier House when they moved out of the original Headington house with that name. Since the prep school moved in, the facilities have been extended but the main house is still in use. 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. Until the 2007–08 school year it admitted boys up to age 7. It is a member of the

Independent Association of Preparatory Schools The Independent Association of Prep Schools (IAPS, formerly Independent Association of Preparatory Schools) is a schools association, representing more than 660 Preparatory school (United Kingdom), preparatory schools. The majority of IAPS' sch ...

School Fees

Fees at Headington School include: * All necessary educational materials (unless otherwise specified) * School lunches * Morning snacks

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), and most recently the new Music School, which opened in 2009. 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. The school also owns the Headington School Oxford Boat Club and is one of the few schools in the country to offer

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

facilities.Sport

Year groups

Headington uses its own nomenclature for the year groups. Preparatory School Senior School

Boarding

Headington offers both full-time, part-time or flex-boarding to girls aged 9 and above. Approximately one third of its pupils are boarders. They are grouped by years and reside in four boarding houses. *Davenport: U2 (Year 5) to U4 (Year 9) * Hillstow: U4 to U6 (Year 13) *Napier: L5 (Year 10) to U6 *Celia Marsh: L6 & U6 (

Sixth Form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

) *MacGregor: L6 & U6 – attached to Celia Marsh House

Curriculum

Headington is one of the higher achieving independent schools in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

. The

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), more commonly known as the International Baccalaureate (IB), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the I ...

was offered alongside

A Levels The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational a ...

from September 2009. 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 The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (commonly abbreviated DofE) is a youth awards programme founded in the United Kingdom in 1956 by the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, which has since expanded to 144 nations. The awards recognise adolescents and ...

. Headington's Combined Cadet Force is one of only four all girls contingents in the country. Sports teams and athletes regularly take part in competitions at county or national level. The

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...

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 and completed the rare "Women's triple" in 2009, 2014, 2015, and 2016 by winning the National Schools, Schools Head and Henley. It has also performed well in the South of England Indoor Rowing Championships, winning five overall classes in 2008 and finishing runners-up in 2010. Two of its members were chosen to represent Great Britain at the

2010 Summer Youth Olympics The 2010 Summer Youth Olympics, ) officially known as the I Summer Youth Olympic Games, and commonly known as Singapore 2010, were the inaugural edition of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG), an Olympic Games-based event for young athletes. Held ...

in Singapore and claimed a gold medal in the girls' pair category. 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.

Notable former pupils

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)'' *

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, cardiologist * Katie Greves, Olympic Silver Medallist, European Champion and Triple Olympian in rowing *

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, Member of the Nigerian House of Representatives * Lady Elizabeth Longford, biographer *

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References

External links

*
Headington Preparatory School website

Profile
on the

Independent Schools Council The Independent Schools Council (ISC) is a non-profit lobby group that represents over 1,300 private schools in the United Kingdom. The organisation comprises seven independent school associations and promotes the business interests of its ...

website
Profile
on the

Good Schools Guide ''The Good Schools Guide'' is a guide to British schools, both state and private. The guide's contributors are predominantly parents, but include researchers and former headteachers. It uses a conversational tone. Selection of schools is made ...

Headington School Boat Club

Profile
on

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 ...

* ISI Inspection Reports �
Prep School

Main School
{{Coord, 51, 45, 27, N, 1, 13, 17.4, W, type:edu_region:GB, display=title Schools in Oxford Girls' schools in Oxfordshire Boarding schools in Oxfordshire Private schools in Oxfordshire Educational institutions established in 1915 International Baccalaureate schools in England 1915 establishments in England Member schools of the Girls' Schools Association