# Headington School

Headington School is an independent girls' school in Headington, Oxford, England, founded by a group of evangelical Christians in 1915.
In 2024, it merged with Rye St Antony School to form Headington Rye Oxford.

## 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 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.

## 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. 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.

## School Fees

Fees at Headington School include:
* 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 | £7,515 | £10,034 | £12,553 | £15,027 |
| Sixth Form Direct Entrants | £8,180 | £11,048 | £13,918 | £16,466 |
| Upper 3 – Upper 5 | £7,515 | £10,034 | £12,553 | £15,027 |

## 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. 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. The school also owns the Headington School Oxford Boat Club and is one of the few schools in the country to offer equestrian facilities.

## Year groups

Headington uses its own nomenclature for the year groups.
Preparatory School
| Name | Year |
| Nursery | Nursery |
| Pre-Kindergarten | Reception |
| Kindergarten | Year 1 |
| Transition | Year 2 |
| Form 1 | Year 3 |
| Lower 2 | Year 4 |
| Upper 2 | Year 5 |
| Lower 3 | Year 6 |
Senior School
| Division | Name | Year |
| Lower School | Upper 3 | Year 7 |
| Lower School | Lower 4 | Year 8 |
| Middle School | Upper 4 | Year 9 |
| Middle School | Lower 5 | Year 10 |
| Middle School | Upper 5 | Year 11 |
| Sixth Form | Lower 6 | Year 12 |
| Sixth Form | Upper 6 | Year 13 |

## Boarding

Headington offers both full-time, part-time or flex-boarding to girls aged 9 and above. Approximately one third of its pupils are boarders. They are grouped by years and reside in four boarding houses.
* Davenport: U2 (Year 5) to U4 (Year 9)
* Hillstow: U4 to U6 (Year 13)
* Napier: L5 (Year 10) to U6
* Celia Marsh: L6 & U6 (Sixth Form)
* MacGregor: L6 & U6 – attached to Celia Marsh House

## Curriculum

Headington is one of the higher achieving independent schools in Oxfordshire.
The International Baccalaureate was offered alongside A Levels from September 2009.
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.
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.
Sports teams and athletes regularly take part in competitions at county or national level.
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 and completed the rare "Women's triple" in 2009, 2014, 2015, and 2016 by winning the National Schools, Schools Head and Henley. It has also performed well in the South of England Indoor Rowing Championships, winning five overall classes in 2008 and finishing runners-up in 2010. 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.
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.

## Notable former pupils

* Freya Allan, actress (The Witcher, Gunpowder Milkshake)
* Lily van den Broecke, Great Britain Rowing Paralympian: Gold London 2012
* Angela Gallop, British Forensic Scientist
* Fiona Gammond, Great Britain Rowing Olympian
* Frances Gardner, cardiologist
* Katie Greves, Olympic Silver Medallist, European Champion and Triple Olympian in rowing
* Alice Hart-Davis, journalist
* Elizabeth Curzon, Countess Howe, Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire
* Janet Husband, Emeritus Professor of Radiology
* Khadija Bukar Abba Ibrahim, Member of the Nigerian House of Representatives
* Lady Elizabeth Longford, biographer
* Elinor Lyon, children's author
* Ann Mallalieu, Baroness Mallalieu, barrister, politician, and president of the Countryside Alliance
* Ghislaine Maxwell, former socialite and convicted sex offender
* Ann Katharine Mitchell, 1922 - 2020, British codebreaker and social scientist
* Christina Onassis, shipping magnate
* Caryn Agyeman Prempeh, medical practitioner and television personality
* Julia Somerville, former BBC News and ITV News presenter
* Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill, daughter of the 11th Duke of Marlborough
* Sophie Sumner, model
* Jane Tewson, founder of Comic Relief
* Emma Watson, actress
* Barbara Woodhouse, TV personality and dog trainer
* Oluyinka Idowu, 1992 Olympic Games & 1994 Commonwealth Silver Medalist.
* Janet Young, Baroness Young, former Leader of the House of Lords