Headington Rye Oxford A GSG School

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All-through school (for example 3-18 years). - An all-through school covers junior and senior education. It may start at 3 or 4, or later, and continue through to 16 or 18. Some all-through schools set exams at 11 or 13 that pupils must pass to move on.

Sports

Rowing

Fencing

What The Good Schools Guide says

Head

Since 2011, Caroline Jordan. A pupil herself at St Helen and St Katharine, a school Headington knows well from the netball court. Then onto geology at Oxford (St Edmund Hall). Spent her twenties running her own business before a PGCE at Manchester, ten years at Wycombe Abbey – latterly as head of sixth form and deputy senior housemistress – and six at St George’s Ascot as head. Previously president of the Girls’ Schools Association; Mrs Jordan knows a thing or two about girls’ education then - it's a cause she is ‘wedded to’.

Principled and forthright. ‘She reminds me of the teachers at my all-girls’ school in the 80s,’ says one parent, ‘a strong belief in female empowerment without worrying about what’s cool.’ Proud of the flexibility offered by Headington’s curriculum and their recent push on character education; felt ‘really emotional’ hearing ISI feedback on this after recent inspection (it was, indeed, gushing). ‘As a school we’re never at the forefront of the curve but we keep an eye on it,’ she says, not pretending that there’s anything revolutionary about what they’re doing here.

No resting on laurels, though: in September 2024 Mrs Jordan will become head of Headington Rye Oxford, possibly her biggest challenge yet. Having peered at each other over the fence for almost 80 years, Headington and neighbouring Rye St Antony announced a merger in late 2023. The news, a surprise to parents at both schools, inspired some strong opinions (though those seem to have mellowed). Existing Headington site will be HRO’s senior school and the Rye site will be its prep.

The two schools offer something quite different from one another, but ‘the intention is to combine and build on the strengths of both,’ says Headington. Sixth form offering will widen to include a couple of BTECs; beautiful site at Rye will be enjoyed by a greater number of young children and Headington will have some boys in its care, because the junior school will be co-ed (as it was until 2005). ‘Family life suits co-ed preps,’ Mrs Jordan says, ‘and HRO will be looking to get the boys into Abingdon, Magdalen College School etc.’

As is standard in a school of this size, parents don’t feel they know her well. ‘I do see her at everything I go to,’ says one, but ‘I wouldn’t expect her to know who people are unless there are issues,’ says another. We imagine that her no-nonsense, direct approach would be just what’s needed in those circumstances, though she’s also a happy chatter (‘I talk and talk!’) who enjoys ‘repartee’ with the girls. Very un-corporate: in a rare slip of the poker face, we felt compelled to compliment the bright pink cardi she was wearing when we met.

Currently being taught viola by the pupils as part of charity ‘Gradeathon’, though she’s postponed grade 2: ‘I haven’t been as good a girl at practising as I should’ve been.’ Son and stepson, both grown-up, live locally with their families. Spends school holidays renovating an old farmhouse in France with her husband: ‘The Good Schools Guide always mentions that!’, she says (and why break the habit of a lifetime?).

Entrance

Everybody interviewed. School’s own exams and taster day for 11+, ‘very useful for levelling the playing field’. Candidates for 13+ usually take pre-test in year 7. At 16+, exams in maths, essay writing and critical thinking. Automatic entrance from Headington Prep unless ‘borderline’, in which case conversations about alternative schools start early. Otherwise, pupils come from primaries and preps in Oxford and its surrounds, many using the school bus to dodge the traffic. Domestic boarders are generally quite local.

Competitive but not ruthless: ‘We are oversubscribed,’ says school, though the number of applications per place ‘varies’. Parents told us that the academic range was wider than they’d expected, in a good way, with girls bringing lots of different strengths to the mix.

Exit

Bristol, UCL, Durham, King’s particularly popular recently; quite London-leaning, with Imperial, LSE, Royal Holloway and Queen Mary all turning Headington heads. Spread of interests, lots of social sciences (business management, economics, politics, law). Steady trickle overseas, mainly to north America, though not as much noise about this as at other boarding schools we’ve visited recently. Four to Oxbridge and seven medics in 2023.

Latest results

In 2023, 75 per cent 9-7 at GCSE; 49 per cent A*/A at A level (75 per cent A*-B). In 2019 (the last pre-pandemic results), 77 per cent 9-7 at GCSE; 50 per cent A*/A at A level (78 per cent A*-B).

Teaching and learning

Life is fast-paced here; girls push themselves but not each other (or not too much, anyway). ‘We have more tests this year,’ said year 8s, ‘but that’s okay, because you don’t get homework after a test.’

At A level, no blocking system: ‘You just choose what you want and some magic computer thingy works it out,’ pupils explain (these girls are brilliantly articulate but would never be so smug as to not use ‘thingy’ in a sentence). Maths, biology, economics, English dominate; social sciences draw crowds with psychology growing fast. Only twelve modern language A levels taken last year, spread across five languages. Drama, music, dance all available, with reasonable numbers at GCSE but fewer at A level. Computer science at both points too. Girls need 7s in the relevant GCSE to progress to A level, a policy which will carry into HRO, but won’t apply to new BTECs in entrepreneurship & enterprise and sport science.

We found year 12 chemists making Lego-like models of butane (‘Oooohhh, I get it!’ said one on cue). Highlighters, worksheets, bulging ring-binders, pupils confident speaking up when they didn’t understand. ‘In sixth form, teachers are even more nice and human,’ say pupils; ‘They’ve been so accommodating even though I’ve changed my A levels five times.’

Taking nine GCSEs (rather than 10) creates time for super-curricular offering, the ‘plus ones’ as they’re called here, including philosophy, finance or the HPQ. ‘They don’t need a string of GCSEs,’ says head, ‘so we start with the basics of English, maths, a science, and build shelves upwards from there.’ Pupils thrilled: ‘I really like the arts and they were all available to me,’ said one. Almost everybody ends up taking three sciences, but taking just one is an option for someone who, say, wants to do three languages.

Teaching is ‘creative’, ‘relevant’ and ‘modern’, according to parents. Year 9s describe a business-style geography project involving materials, manufacturing costs, supply chains: ‘I’m going to propose a factory in mainland Europe’, one said (gone are the days of endless oxbow lakes). Girls were recent winners of their category in ‘Women Pioneers in Science’ competition and gold medallists in the physics Olympiad. Busy and buzzy.

Learning support and SEN

All included in fees. Pupils screened on entry; around 12 per cent (just below national average) on SEN register. Four staff, three full-time, on Learning Development team. Adjustments made depending on pupil needs, most often dyslexia, ADHD and ASD. Can support mild hearing and sight impairment. Lifts in all teaching spaces allow access for those with limited mobility.

‘They’re really nice up there,’ our guide says, waving towards the top floor, ‘very welcoming’. Another laughed about getting ‘94 per cent in the test to see if I have ADHD – it’s the highest mark I’ve ever got!’. Subject clinics, open to anyone, are well-used: ‘Chemistry help club is a lifesaver,’ we hear.

The arts and extracurricular

‘We want a girl who’s going to get involved’, says school, ‘who’ll try out something she’s never tried before.’ There’s opportunity aplenty for that, with a thriving art scene. Productions deservedly hyped: for pupils, they are major highlights. We visited in the run-up to the big reveal of which production younger girls were going to be doing next – ‘They keep giving us clues about what it’s going to be!’ they squeaked. In the meantime, we found the band rehearsing Oom-Pah-Pah at break time in preparation for upcoming performances of Oliver!. Over 40 per cent learn an instrument. We dropped into GCSE drama, pupils hanging on their teacher’s every word: ‘Facially, what would you be doing in the middle of a blazing row with your mother?’ he asked, and every hand went up (they may be great, but they’re still teenage girls). Dance also available at GCSE; a huge, sunny studio looks out over the trees.

Creativity and innovation centre, the Hive, has beautiful Emma Watson Gallery at its heart (‘It’s what made me sure I wanted to stay for my A levels,’ says a budding fashion designer). Gorgeous art department; that lovely smell of painting, clay and messy creativity hit us as we climbed the stairs. We lost track of the different rooms, light, bright, heaving with pupil work. Textiles draped over drying racks; pupils making dye out of avocados (unrelatedly, another had used oil paints to create a ‘perfectly textured’ guacamole). Animation a big thing – pupils thrilled by Aardman workshop the previous week, and described how they were learning to create walk cycles that don’t ‘look like ice-skating’. Fashion & textiles and food & nutrition taught on carousel in years 7 and 8; in year 9, girls select three creative subjects. Creative engineering & design (Headington’s packaging of DT) also popular; ‘They trust us a surprising amount with the machines.’ Photography, fine art and textiles available as distinct A levels.

Sky’s the limit when it comes to societies – ‘We’ve set up law club, femsoc, Caecilius society’, sixth formers say – and ‘If you find something you really like, you can do lots of it.’ Crochet club exceptionally cosy and calm, girls happily chatting as they looped and hooked – we’d have stayed all day. New Leith’s cookery programme imminent.

Sport

‘Inclusion, participation, performance’ are the names of the game here. Hockey and rowing lead the pack. Hockey programme has been rationalised and professionalised, with commitment carrying weight when it comes to who’s picked. Those who don’t get the nod seem happy enough about it (‘I am anti-hockey; it’s not the sport that’s the problem, it’s the weather!’ bemoans one). Brand new boathouse will be used not just for rowing but activities too, like year 7 bonding day.

Recent pat on the back for fast-growing cricket programme when school named one of the top 20 all-girls’ schools in the country; lots of space on existing Rye site to play. Softball in lessons, hardball for fixtures, nets are on the shopping list to allow year-round training. Football also on the up, ‘We’ve got 20 or 30 players now of a really high calibre’. ‘Everybody still loves playing rounders in PE,’ pupils admitted, ‘even though we know that’s not very feminist.’

Weekdays packed with fixtures but Saturdays remain free as most competition comes from local day schools. The expectation to commit makes it difficult, parents say, to balance a bit of sport amongst other activities – ‘If you’re not going to be able to attend the fixtures, you’ll quickly find yourself without any,’ one explains. As a result, some enthusiastic-all-rounder types don’t get as many chances to play as parents would like.

Nonetheless, school promotes sport as something for life, trying to buck national trend for teenage girls skipping physical activity. Pupils have noticed: ‘There’s a big effort to get everyone involved whatever your level of interest, like if you go to netball on a Monday there are no drills, just the fun bits.’ Yoga and spinning popular amongst sixth formers, ‘they really want to be there’.

Sports scholarship and athletics development programmes mean those who are serious get looked after; recent tours to France and Switzerland (rowing) and Holland (hockey). More will join from Rye; school aware of challenge in terms of integrating two sets of teams. Scholarships available to internal candidates, too.

Boarders

Boarding marks Headington out from other girls’ options locally. Around 25 per cent board, the majority full boarders, of whom three-quarters live overseas: biggest market is Hong Kong. Weekly or half-weekly both growing, particularly amongst rowers who find it eases the early starts.

Houses organised by age group: younger houses are clustered in pretty gardens a short walk away from the main school, giving a nice feeling of coming home. Years 7 to 9 are in dorms of up to five in cosy, quirky Davenport, where they do their homework around the big kitchen table. Years 10 and 11 go into purpose-built Hillstow or Napier, which offer similar accommodation (singles and doubles, some triples in Hillstow and a quad in Napier) but slightly different personalities - pupils give a preference. Sixth form house – Celia Marsh & MacGregor – right in the heart of things above the sixth form centre. Recently refurbished; singles or doubles; all study rooms. Shared bathrooms throughout. Rye site will add two new houses but plans for those are to be confirmed.

Ethos and heritage

Established by evangelical Christians in 1915 as women embraced new roles on the home front, Headington’s very existence is founded in female empowerment and modernity. ‘We do parading and stuff, obviously, for remembrance,’ our guides told us (actually surprisingly knowledgeable on the school’s history: kudos to them). Moved to current site in 1920; main building is 1930s, pleasingly institutional red-brick neo-Georgian, complete with tastefully-weathered copper cupola. Inside, it’s all wide corridors, warm and schooly. Girls carry enormous rucksacks as they hurry between lessons. We caught snippets of conversations about charge particles, predicted grades, whether anyone had written the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie essay yet (‘When’s it due again?’).

Single sex works well here and the ruthless-teenage-girls cliché doesn’t ring true: ‘I went for an art scholarship and I didn’t get it,’ says one pupil, ‘but I didn’t mind, I was surrounded by amazing artists’; ‘My friend’s happy because she got moved down a maths group,’ says another.

This is a big green patch in an otherwise urban part of Oxford; Oxford Brookes close by, the John Radcliffe round the corner, buses to London and Heathrow rumbling past. The dreaming spires are just ten minutes downhill on a bike, though Headington (school is named after the area) is slightly removed from all of that. The city’s international diversity is well represented, with lots of families somehow connected to the university or the hospital. Alumnae include actors Emma Watson (a pupil at the height of Potter-mania) and Freya Allan; rower Katie Greves; newsreader Julia Somerville and Baroness Young, the only woman ever appointed to Thatcher’s Cabinet, a very Headington claim to fame.

Pastoral care, inclusivity and discipline

At over 800 pupils, Headington’s the biggest out of its immediate competitors, though it doesn’t behave like it. Screens around the school wish ‘happy birthday’ to those celebrating. Complex Venn diagram of friendships, straddling sports teams, school buses, previous schools etc, though we didn’t find it especially cliquey. Friendship issues ‘do happen, but they’re fixed quickly’, pupils report. Socials with boys’ school are balloted, they’re that popular; lower sixth supper club with Radley particularly oversubscribed. ‘They were like a different species!’ a younger pupil giggles, wrinkling her nose at the memory of a recent quiz night, but it was ‘definitely fun’. A sociable feel to the school, a buzzing lunch hall. Spag bol is a favourite and there’s always a hot veggie meal; the crumble is delicious. Hot chocolate and snacks laid on after school for those staying for activities, ‘or just if they fancy a chinwag with friends’, one mum tells us.

Character education based around six Cs (things like creativity and curiosity), making girls ‘really employable’ at the other end. ‘You can be courageous in maths and confident in a dance lesson,’ says Mrs Jordan. Teachers allowed to be characters, too: this one’s into Star Wars, that one always wears a sparkly jacket. Annual teacher Zumba performance is a highlight and YouTube’s full of evidence that they know how to laugh at themselves. Pupils are equally self-deprecating. ‘If I did physics, I think I would cry everyday,’ chuckled one; ‘I really enjoyed year 9 because I got to stop some of the things I’m bad at,’ said another; ‘I can’t sing to save my life, but I still love it,’ confided a third.

Wellbeing hub looked very inviting, jigsaw puzzles ready for those needing some headspace. ‘I have a card for if I need time out,’ a pupil says, ‘and teachers don’t question why I need to leave.’ No need for punitive disciplinary systems. Most common offence, pupils tell us, is not handing in homework, ‘but depending on who it is and when you tell them, they don’t usually mind’.

Uniform simple and smart: navy blazers and tartan skirts, the latter worn short (‘We wish they were shorter!’). Hoop earrings seem to be in, too. Future HRO uniform was hot topic when we visited – one girl, at least, hopes that there’s a tie, ‘I won’t know how to tie it, though,’ she told us wistfully. No uniform for sixth formers, who are largely in hoodies as if to say, ‘We’re very busy and cool.’

Pupils and parents

Medics, professionals, dual incomes – not as much hanging out at coffee mornings or dinner parties as you get elsewhere (‘thank goodness’, one mum says). Some families Oxford-based but buses, shared with Magdalen College School, ferry the rest from as far as Reading, Chipping Norton, Gerrard’s Cross. Oxford’s international flavour runs throughout but boarders bring ‘even more cultures and perspectives’, pupils say. Girls are clever, self-aware, amusing: we found them great company, actually.

Money matters

Fees typical of the area, though ‘you get a lot for your fees here’, says head, pointing out that headline figure includes everything, no hidden extras. Fee increases smaller than most in recent years. Means-tested bursaries and hardship funding available, though Headington’s not a rich school so money is allocated carefully.

The last word

A lovely energy runs through these corridors: a switched-on, unfussy approach to curriculum and pastoral care infused with more old-fashioned sights, sounds and smells. Girls’ enthusiasm for the rhythms and rituals of school life comes through all over the place, from their excitement about the school musical to their eye-rolling about hockey practice (they love it really). A wonderful school for a capable girl who’ll throw herself wholeheartedly into work and play, enjoying lots of laughs along the way.

Special Education Needs

We make reasonable adjustments for all pupils with SEN whether these are cognitive difficulties or physical disabilities. Such adjustments include access arrangements for examinations, one-to-one weekly support for girls in the lower school and drop-in sessions for the middle school and sixth form.

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