Headington School is an independent girls' school in Headington, Oxford, England, founded by a group of evangelical Christians in 1915.
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 rapidly 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, in recognition of the benefits that it provides to its pupils and the wider community.[1]
Headington Prep
The preparatory school is located on a separate site across the junction where Headington Road and Headley Way meet. The premises which house the prep school were originally known as Brookside. 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.[1] 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.
All necessary educational materials (unless otherwise specified)
School lunches
Morning snacks
Fees per term
Day
Half-Weekly Boarding
Weekly Boarding
Full Boarding
Sixth Form Current Pupils
£6090
£8282
£10475
£12210
Sixth Form Direct Entrants
£6635
£9090
£11545
£13395
Upper 3 – Upper 5
£6090
£8282
£10475
£12210
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.[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] and is one of the few schools in the country to offer equestrian facilities.[6]
Houses
There are ten competitive houses named after landmarks in Oxfordshire or notable historical figures associated with Oxford. Each House is led by a member of staff and a Sixth Form prefect.
Headington offers both full-time, part-time or flex-boarding to girls aged 9 and above. Approximately one third of its pupils are boarders.[7] They are grouped by years and reside in four boarding houses.
In 2018 Headington School achieved an average IBDP points score of 38.5 per student out of a maximum score of 45 points, making them the 7th best IB school in the UK and the 12th best IB school in the World as per the league tables published by Education Advisers Ltd.[citation needed]
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.[6][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]
This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (January 2022)
