Headington Rye Oxford

Headington Rye Oxford stands in Headington, a suburb of Oxford. It began in 1915 as Headington School, started by evangelical Christians to give girls a strong education after the First World War. In 2024 it merged with the neighbouring Rye St Antony School, which opened in 1930, to form the present co-educational prep school and girls’ senior school. The senior school moved into a neo-Georgian building in 1930, while the prep school occupies the former Rye St Antony site on Pullens Lane. Both schools share a single governing body and belong to the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools. The school is one of the highest-achieving independent schools in Oxfordshire. It offers A Levels and once ran the International Baccalaureate until 2020. Pupils take part in more than fifty extracurricular activities, including sport, music and the Duke of Edinburgh Award. The rowing club is among the county’s most successful, winning national titles and sending members to the 2010 Youth Olympics. In 2013 a group of girls won the Oxford Music Festival, and the sixth-form choir took the top choral prize. Visitors find a campus of twenty-three acres with playing fields, tennis courts and an Astroturf pitch. Recent buildings include the Hive, a professional theatre, a sports centre and a music school. Boarders live in four houses named Davenport, Hillstow, Napier and Celia Marsh, with a fifth house for sixth-form boarders. The neo-Georgian main building still stands at the heart of the site, surrounded by landscaped grounds and the school’s boat club.