From dreamy hamlets to dreaming spires, Blenheim Palace to Bicester Village, you’re bound to find your tribe in Oxfordshire. Oxford offers city life (‘London lite’, émigrés call it). Bike up the canal, fleeing tourists and Harry Potter memorabilia, to Jericho or Summertown; take a dip in the river at Port Meadow or wander around the coffee shops. You’ll get more bang for your buck (and a Waitrose) in Headington; Oxford’s edgier hang-outs are up Cowley or Iffley Roads (‘it’s where we go to scratch our Hackney itch’, locals told us).
Head north or west for bucolic country living. Drive towards Gloucestershire for classic Cotswolds villages, Farrow and Ball front doors and Cath Kidston crockery. Towards Warwickshire the landscape gets rugged and the four-by-fours muddier. Nip into Chipping Norton (‘Chippy’) for your groceries; sort your Christmas shopping at Daylesford Organic or Burford Garden Centre (a misnomer: it’s more a lifestyle emporium); trains from Banbury, Bicester and Oxford Parkway (Chiltern line) or Charlbury (Cotswolds line) will have you into Marylebone or Paddington in a jiffy. Hook ‘Hooky’ Norton for local ales, Woodstock for homemade ice cream or Diddly Squat, Jeremy Clarkson’s infamous farm shop, for fine local produce including gin-in-a-tin and a baseball cap with a tractor on it. The Camerons and the Beckhams have been here for years; it’s no wonder that so many joined them in the great covid ‘Oxodus’, when most of Notting Hill upped sticks to this #blessed part of the world.
| Local Education Authorities in Oxford and North Oxfordshire |
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| Oxfordshire County Council |
For a thousand years, clever boys (and latterly girls) have been coming to Oxford to get even cleverer. Since then, a lively school landscape has emerged in Oxford and its surrounding countryside. Village primaries, often with Church of England foundations, give pupils an idyllic start. Town primaries are super, too, particularly in Oxford itself. For C of E schools (unlike Catholic schools) you don’t usually need to attend church, though being active in the parish sometimes helps so check admissions criteria. They’re not as oversubscribed as you fear, particularly if you’re coming from London; many lose pupils to preps from year 2 onwards, creating space to join higher up the school.
Pupils move to comprehensive secondary schools in year 7. There are no grammar schools in Oxfordshire and the county's comprehensives vary considerably; we’ll steer you towards the best. Admissions are organised around designated areas, again, and managed by the County Council. At the most desirable secondaries you aren’t guaranteed a place even if you live within catchment.
As well Oxford itself, this guide takes in a broad look at North Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds with Banbury, Bicester, Burford, Charlbury, Chipping Norton, Witney and Woodstock receiving particular attention.
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We examined the value-added from KS2 to GCSE for 2022 to see which state selective grammar schools added the most value to their offspring. A note of caution - the more highly selective a grammar school, the less scope there will be to add value.
Grammar schools are state-funded, academically selective senior schools. The education a child receives at grammar school is paid for by the state unlike at private schools which provide education for a fee. There are currently around 163 located in 36 English local authorities, with around 167,000 pupils between them. Northern Ireland has a further 67 grammar schools, but there are none in Wales or Scotland. A word of caution: there are private schools that have the word 'grammar' in their name but this is purely for historical reasons.
At specialist music, dance or performing arts schools, the arts aren't optional extras. They’re intrinsic to the school curriculum. Students are expected to fit in high level training and hours of practice alongside a full academic provision. It's a lot to ask any child to take on, but for those with exceptional performing ability this kind of education can be transformative.