WHAT? WHERE?

This newly formed co-ed Prep (ages 3-11) is now located on the former Rye site which is an oasis of 12-acres, while the Senior day and boarding Headington Rye Oxford school will remain on the adjacent 23-acre Headington site.

Headington Rye Oxford Prep School is a smart, selective co-educational day school with a Christian foundation in the well-heeled suburb of Headington, two miles east of Oxford’s city centre. The school will take approximately 400 boys and girls from 3-11 yrs (so from Nursery to Y6) and is now situated on the tranquil, wooded 12-acre site right next door to the senior school. Class sizes for the Prep are a maximum of 20, but generally around 16.

One of Headington Rye Oxford Prep’s calling cards is the direct entry it gives the pupils to the increasingly popular Senior school, Headington Rye Oxford next door, since it’s academically selective and conducts formal assessments from Year 3. The secondary school is set in a grand brick 1930s deco building built in Neo-Georgian style and regarded as a strong all-rounder option for day pupils and boarders.

The boys have a new Deputy Head this year, Alexandra Prockter who has many titles – Deputy Head, Head of Boys and Head of Pre-Prep. She’s keen to support boys and their parents through the future schools process and help them find the right fit for them.

FACILITIES

SPORT

There are playing fields, 2 netball/tennis courts,1 astro pitch, a large sports hall with gym and a grass running track – with the senior school just next door that’s just the beginning – the kids go over regularly for swimming (there’s a heated 25m job), and access to the impressive £3.4 million 270m2 Dance and Fitness Centre. Outdoor play at Headington Rye Oxford Prep takes place in an attractive, large open wooded area, refurbed with plenty of climbing and roaming in mind.

CREATIVE ARTS

Headington Rye Oxford Prep School’s 12-acre site retains the original landscaping of Langley Lodge, a beautiful Victorian Villa located at the heart of the school. The traditional is enhanced with more modern facilities; a Performing Arts building, ICT suites, Science Labs, light and airy Sports hall with traversing wall, plentiful outdoor learning facilities including a much loved Forest School area and a dedicated Food and Nutrition department. For the budding artists, a vaulted art and design room.

The Library has been reconfigured with the younger pupils in mind and is now a large, tranquil space that overlooks Langley Lawn leading to the Headington Rye Oxford’s Forest School site. Surrounded by mature trees, Forest School is a real inspiration for future explorers and naturalists.

The new site offers a vaulted, dedicated Art and Design Studio which is overseen by Helen Clarke who was recently highly commended in the Learning Innovation category at the coveted NSEAD awards. The senior school’s Creativity & Innovation Centre, known as The Hive, is also used by the prep school – a replete art space plus lecture theatre, exhibition gallery, and 3D workshop, with teaching spaces and creative studios. Sometimes the relationship and facilities ‘flow’ between Prep and Senior schools can be overstated but it seems to me that Headington Rye Oxford Prep School actively grasps the opportunity to use its bigger sister’s prized assets.

In terms of music, the school offers an orchestra, two choirs, and the usual chamber ensembles with lessons and practise taking place in the dedicated Performing Arts Block. Last year the school won an Artsmark Gold Award for the richness of its arts offering, so it’s fair to say that Headington Rye Oxford Prep is no creative slouch.

ACADEMICS

The Prep is academically selective so as to ensure that girls going through to the Senior School meet the same criteria as those sitting for places in Year 7 and 9. There are special programs to challenge those that are excelling, as well as extra support for those who may be struggling.

From the get-go (Nursery onwards) the kids are taught French, Dance, Computing, Music and PE by specialist teachers, with weekly and fortnightly Forest School sessions offered up to and including Year 2. French, Mandarin, and Latin clubs are available as the girls rise through the school. From Year 3 onwards Science, Art & Design and Drama are also taught by specialists.

Computing is a big deal at Headington Rye Oxford Prep – there are flash computer suites, and the kids do robotics and coding as part of the curriculum. All pupils from Year 3 have a school iPad as another tool to help their learning.

As in the Senior School, extra-curricular is a huge calling card here – over 80 clubs offered after school every week including a 40-member orchestra – huge for a prep school of over 250 kids. The kids take swimming lessons weekly from Y1 (no need for parents to take them to hot leisure centres – yay!), a focus that saw Headington Prep reach the IAPS National Swimming Finals in 2019 and 2023 and 2024.

As for the creatives, 140 pupils at the prep took Trinity Guildhall Drama exams last year with over 90% gaining distinction. There are an impressive four drama productions put on each year in Nursery and Reception, Year 2, Year 4 and Year 6. This, plus various showcases throughout the year of work with songs and drama skits. Music is also strong: 59% learn an instrument and there are musical concerts every half term.

PASTORAL CARE

As at almost all schools I now visit, Covid has created a legacy of personal development challenges for the pupils. Headington Rye Oxford Prep has acted fast to put a focus on socialisation, recently creating a buddy system for the younger and older Prep so-called ‘sibs’. There’s a dedicated Deputy Head Pastoral already, and an active programme to increase the number of staff trained in Mental Health First Aid and drawing and talking therapy. There is also a Health and Wellbeing Assistant, and AS tracking has increased for Years 3-6. When I visited the school the theme for the term was Kindness, with various weekly focuses including active listening and caring for others.

HEAD OF PREP

Jane Crouch, the head of Headington Oxford Rye Prep School, has been in the hotseat since 2014, and exudes warmth and enthusiasm. She’s overseen the expansion of the ‘bear’ theme at the school so that the school’s talisman of Edwina Bear now has friends like Collaborative Clara, Curious Cosmo and Persevering Pearl to teach the qualities necessary to be, as she says it, ‘future ready children’. Crouch has overseen a recent revamp of the curriculum, with a new phonics programme in place that works at attainment level rather than chronological age, and creative and critical thinking, rather than learning by rote, is at the heart of her plans.

QUIRKS

Headington Rye Oxford Prep is nurturing and creative but it’s not ‘out there’ particularly. One thing I will say is that what might have been regarded as quirky a few years back was the school’s overt emphasis on community, charity and sustainability – now of course it’s rightly centre stage and clearly percolating to the children.

WRAP AROUND CARE

Pretty standard wrap around provision: there’s free morning care to facilitate early drop off from 7:45am, and after care until 6pm with a light tea. This involves games, crafts and activities for younger children, while older pupils can also do their homework in the library.

SEN PROVISION

Pupils with SEND are provided with in-class support and adjustments where they need them, and can be withdrawn from non-core subject lessons in order to make room for support lessons in the warm, welcoming NEST area. These will (where necessary, on a case-by-case basis) make use of extra and/or different educational input. There is also close liaison with all teachers from the SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator, if you’re not up on your jargon) and other members of the Learning Development Department, so as to make sure they’re offered support and advice about pupils with particular needs.

ISI REPORT

Read the latest ISI 2023 here, which makes for good reading.

MOBILE PHONE POLICY

No mobile phones are permitted during the school day.

TRANSPORT

The shared bus partnership between Headington Rye Oxford and Magdalen School Oxford (HMBus) offers 12 individual bus routes.

FEES

The Prep school fees are very competitive compared to other Oxford preps I’ve visited – Reception £3940, Y1-2 £4682, Y3-4 £5322, Y5-6 £6027.

WORD ON THE GROUND

Nurturing and friendly are the words I hear a lot about Headington Rye Oxford Prep. The children I met during the day there seemed very happy and well balanced. Busy too – there’s not much down time. The proximity of the senior school and its facilities means the Prep punches above its weight in many areas, but the children I spoke to seemed to think that everyone could join in, whatever your ability – that’s not always the case in high-achieving schools.

THE MUDDY VERDICT:

Good for: The huge extra-curricular programme offers plenty of opportunity beyond the classroom. Class sizes of 16-20 allow individual attention but also the ability to mingle with different sets of children and not become too cliquey. Anyone wanting their daughter to move up to the sought-after Senior school – there’s direct entry into the Senior School (academics permitting).

Not for: With the vast majority of the girls moving across to the academically robust Senior School the Prep may not suit those who aren’t life’s natural learners.

Dare to disagree?! Check out the school for yourself by booking onto one of the events here.

Headington Rye Oxford Prep School, Pullens Lane, Headington, Oxford, OX3 0BY. Tel: 01865 759116.

Headington Rye Oxford Prep School

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