Headington Rye Oxford Prep School

Since 2014, Jane Crouch BA, MA. First headship was 10 years at Dame Bradbury’s School, Essex, though before that she was head of the junior section of Ashford School, Kent and deputy head of Great Walstead, West Sussex. Degree in French and geography from Keele; Master’s in education management from the University of London; gigs as an ISI inspector, a governor at Felsted and on the education committee of the GSA. A very experienced pair of hands.

What a shame, then, for Headington Rye Oxford, that Mrs Crouch is retiring in the summer of 2025. ‘I want to leave while I’ve got the energy,’ she says, ‘I never go home thinking I need a nap.’ It’s been a decade since she took over here, but the most jam-packed year of her headship will undoubtedly be this final one, overseeing the creation of HRO Prep out of two neighbouring schools. ‘Somebody has the most amazing slate from which they can create the next stage – they’ll have all the raw materials,’ she says, excited for whoever her successor is. Like all long-timers, she ‘can’t imagine coming away from education completely’; ‘I love school, love the learning, love the socialisation, love the play.’

So, indeed, do her lucky pupils. ‘The brilliant thing about here,’ she says, ‘is the academics are taken as read, it’s the breadth and co-curricular that stand out.’ The previous weekend had seen the school’s busiest open morning ever – staff and pupils were still buzzing about how many parents wanted to come and have a look – and the new space, formerly Rye St Antony, is fabulous. ‘All the green, it has an impact on their wellbeing and on their brains,’ Mrs Crouch believes, ‘these glorious vistas! The children are so happy and who wouldn’t be, with double doors opening onto that lawn?’

What jobs is she leaving for whoever moves into the post? Growing and retaining numbers of boys is critical to the sustainability of co-education; navigating the introduction of new hotly-anticipated Oxford traffic restrictions (traffic being a favourite topic amongst all Oxford families); building strong pathways to senior co-ed and boys’ schools, since boys must move on from the HRO family when girls move up to the still-single-sex senior school at 11.

From September 2025, Bertrand Leullier, currently senior deputy head at south Oxfordshire co-ed prep, St Hugh’s. A dual French-British national, he brings over 16 years of experience in prep education and a strong background in business leadership.

‘Well over 90 per cent’ of girls expected to go on to the senior school. Boys will seek local co-ed options (D’Overbroecks, Cokethorpe) or single sex (Magdalen College School, Abingdon). Tailored exam preparation for boys, who’ve just had their own future schools event. Small numbers to local state options (Cheney, Cherwell, Lord Williams College).

HRO was a mere babe when we visited, and we don’t like to judge one so young, but we knew and loved both Headington and Rye St Antony; the coming together of these two stalwarts of the Oxford landscape has, as you can imagine, been the talk of the town (rivalling even the traffic for airtime). Headington was a girls’ prep, Rye was co-ed: their progeny is also co-ed and occupies the lusciously green former Rye site (albeit more autumnal reds and golds when we visited). The handsome Edwardian buildings have been converted, in part, to accommodate younger pupils, though there are lots of renovation and refurb plans still in the pipeline and some of the former Rye spaces are not being used yet.

Parents worried, as you’d expect, about the change (after all, they’d chosen Headington or Rye for a reason), but everybody we spoke to was relieved, indeed pleased, by how things were going. Hooray. ‘All of my initial worries have gone,’ says one. ‘It’s fantastic!’ says another. ‘We were very concerned that her needs wouldn’t be met,’ says a third, ‘but she’s really flying.’

Class sizes now an average of 13 or 14 though there is room for the school to grow in every year group. Girls outnumber boys significantly – even at Rye, boys were in the minority, and now all those former Headington girls have been added to the mix. School says there’s lots of interest from families with sons, particularly at the younger end, and we’re not surprised: there’s only one other co-ed prep in Oxford, and that’s a tedious traffic jam away in a different part of the city. Watch this space.

‘My favourite thing is the teachers’, one pupil tells us, ‘they make lessons fun not boring.’ Parents also praise the inclusiveness and open-mindedness of teaching methods – ‘her teacher introduced a couple of simple reading aids and her reading has gone to another level overnight,’ one tells us. We enjoyed meeting ‘Persevering Pearl’, ‘Collaborative Clara’, ‘Reflective Ruby’ and friends, teddy bears dotted around the school which make learning habits cuddly and cute. Able writers club and scholarship preparation takes place outside of lessons to get pupils ready for English, maths or science scholarships to senior school. School is applying for NACE Challenge Award at the moment to recognise their provision for more able children. Access to iPads from nursery; year 3 upwards have a named device which stays at school.

Children join EYFS after their third birthday. ‘We are a school nursery and offer a tailored curriculum,’ head of early years tells us, ‘so it’s a play-based ethos but with a bit more structure,’ for which children have to be developmentally ready. Free-flow between nursery and reception in newly knocked through rooms with high ceilings and easy access to the pretty gardens. Planning permission pending for a new playground, which staff are hopeful for; nonetheless when we visited all the tinies were out on the grass, rolling in the mud, oblivious of the lack of a climbing frame. Forest school takes place in the wilds of the senior site.

Learning support is good, say parents, with HRO benefiting from the inclusive approach and expertise in this area that Rye St Antony always had. ‘I’m thrilled that the world has come to recognise that all brains are different,’ says SENCo. With 13 per cent on the register, the Nest has five dedicated rooms and five specialist teachers, providing one-to-ones and one-to-twos as well as booster groups. A belief that the ‘child belongs in the classroom’ informs decisions about effective support. Neurodiversity training for staff helps teachers to adjust as needed. School can facilitate SLT and OT visits, referring parents to external ADHD or ASD organisations where appropriate. Children need to be able to keep up, though; not the school for a child who will struggle with the pace. Only eight per cent of pupils are categorised as needing EAL support, though many more than that speak an additional language at home, Oxford being a very international city.

Playing fields, courts, pitches and running tracks galore here, with a large sports hall and access to the swimming pool and beautiful dance and fitness centre at HRO Senior. Tag rugby is a new introduction and all sports are played co-ed, including fixtures. They’re good at it, too, with recent accolades in national athletics and IAPS netball. Pupils delighted that fixture list is more extensive than previously.

Vibrant music and drama departments. An impressive collection of bongo drums and xylophones ready for action; curriculum in reception and year 1 covers the treble and bass clefs, so that by the time they’re going into year 2, they can all read music (or at least that’s the idea). Just under half learn an instrument; a carousel of recorder, violin and trumpet in year 2 music lessons gives pupils a taster. Clever policy promotes ‘endangered species instruments’ (spare a thought for the lesser-spotted cornet) by allowing pupils to do first few lessons paired with a friend, ie half price. Orchestra and ensembles ensure that everyone plays at least three times a week, even if there’s no practice at home. Pupils play in the pit orchestra of the annual year 6 musical. Chamber choir widely celebrated, with a distinction in the Oxford Music Festival and a victory in the Edward Rubra Cup for choir of the year. Trinity Speech and Drama popular and successful; lots of girls and boys mention drama as their best bit of school. Comedian David Mitchell is an alumnus of Rye’s prep.

Art studio is gorgeous, light and heaving with colourful work. ‘My favourite thing is art,’ one pupil tells us, describing the Lowry paintings that they’ve been emulating recently, ‘we had to use his special colours’. ‘Oh yes?’ we smiled, encouraging her, ‘And what colours were they?’ ‘Yellow, vermillion, ochre and Prussian blue,’ she told us, putting us firmly back in our box. Pupils use the Hive, an astonishingly lovely, modern space at the senior school, for extra-curricular art. No wonder that some of these young Picassos had their work displayed in the Ashmolean Museum recently for Young Art Oxford.

Girls and boys told us that HRO is a caring place. ‘My friends are really kind and they come up with fun games to play,’ says one. ‘It’s cosy,’ says one parent; small, unthreatening, safe. ‘There are definitely a few girls doing cartwheels and showing off but there are a lot of children there who are not going to be putting their hands up and going to the front,’ says another. Zones of regulation used throughout the school to help pupils communicate and manage their feelings; HRO’s own resilience award scheme, Dreaming Spires, is about to be launched. Residentials in year 3, 4, 5 and 6 to interesting or outdoorsy places.

One natural focus is on supporting the integration of boys and girls, Headington and Rye – ‘we did lots of work before physically joining together,’ and pastoral team meets regularly with boys from each age group to ensure that they are well supported. ‘We are going through every layer, every policy, broadening every offer to raise the profile of boys,’ school says. Currently there’s a head girl and a head boy though policy is to appoint ‘head pupils’ so there won’t necessarily be one of each.

We met the school council: very important people, of course, and yet just the right balance between sweet and sensible. What improvements would they make? ‘I want to make an investigation club, where we go and discover stuff around the school,’ says one; ‘I would like more time in the library, because I like the Daisy books and reading poetry,’ says her friend. ‘Maybe some different equipment for the playground?’ suggests one boy - ‘We’re getting that after half term!’ the rest of the group tell him in unison.

Families mainly walking-scooting-cycling distance, but geographical spread expands in the older years, parents of girls savvy to the prospect of avoiding the 11+ pressure; ‘there is plenty of parking,’ those that drive assure us or there’s the bus network shared with Magdalen College School. Oodles of doctors and academics – lots of families we spoke to were one or the other, or both – predominantly dual income and making sacrifices. Parents are, as a result, quite ‘on it’ and keen to be involved where they can be. A double-edged sword: ‘The WhatsApp group is relentless!’ bemoans one. After school care praised: ‘They do proper activities and get fed.’

There’s real interest in this super-duper little school at the moment and a sense that Headington Rye Oxford will be more than the sum of its parts. We’ll be watching with interest to see how Oxford responds to the new kid on the block as these exciting changes are embedded.