WHAT? WHERE?

Oxford High School GDST is a highly regarded Prep and Senior girls’ school set across three sites (two from the end of 2025) close to the city centre in leafy North Oxford and a jaunty 10-minute walk from the city centre and its dreaming spires. Holding the accolade of being Oxford’s oldest girls’ school and only all girls through-school, founded in 1875, ‘Oxford High’ teaches around 790 pupils from 4-19 years. Of those, approximately 230 are within the Pre-Prep and Prep, set within two traditional red brick 19th century mansions within walking distance of one another (soon to be one site). Read our review of the Prep here. By contrast, the Senior site, a few minutes’ walk down the street, is a purpose-built school from 1957 with modern additions for its 560 girls. Oxford High’s undisputed calling card is its academic excellence, and it has the small classes sizes to facilitate it – around 20 in Y7, whittling down to 7-8 for Sixth Form.

FACILITIES

Despite being the oldest girls’ school in the city, don’t expect to see quadrangles and gargoyles. Oxford High is a practical, purpose-built campus with a series of single and two-storey buildings around a few courtyards. Inside is everything your daughter needs to fly academically including eight science labs, computing suites, dedicated subject departments and a two floor library (upstairs is for Year 11 GCSE students only where quiet study means just that). The classrooms are light, bright and spacious and the corridor noticeboards are filled with opportunities, from visiting speakers and societies to the many school trips on offer (a history trip to Berlin, physics to CERN, Italian and RE to Rome, and a diving project in Cornwall are among some of the 2025 undertakings).

SPORT

Oxford High is an academic school, but it takes its sport pretty seriously. At the Senior School there’s a 25 metre, six-lane indoor swimming pool; large sports hall; four outdoor netball and tennis courts; extensive fields including three football pitches in the winter; and a 400m athletics track plus two cricket pitches in the summer. Off-site, the school uses the Oxford Hawks Hockey Club’s pitches for hockey lessons, clubs and fixtures; padel and tennis courts at North Oxford Tennis Club; and squash courts and gym facilities at Ferry Leisure Centre. Main sports here are hockey, netball, football and cricket with many other sports also held in high regard, such as athletics, swimming and badminton. Up to Year 11 it’s two sports sessions a week with the chance to add on more if you join clubs. Those who don’t like team sports can, from Year 10, pick from a carousel including table tennis, gym, dance, swimming or running. There are plenty who want to compete though, and Oxford High has regular fixtures against local schools and also county, regional and national competitions in hockey, netball, football, swimming, badminton, cricket and athletics. Some of the school’s results that are worth bragging about include the U15 Cross Country team qualifying for the English Schools National Finals for the third year in a row, U16 Badminton team competing in the Victor Cup National Finals, and getting runner up. The 1st XI football team captain is now in the U17 England Women’s Football squad and was selected to play in both the U17 Women’s Euros and World Cup competitions. She plays for Oxford United Women’s 1st team and trains with Arsenal U21s squad. Lionesses look out!

THE ARTS

The Art and Sixth Form centre that opened in March 2020 still feels right up to date. In a school where practical Fifties architecture looms large, this cool contemporary building is a welcome injection of style (and has a firecracker of a café).

The new Arts and Textiles facilities are excellent – with their light, airy rooms, animation and filming facilities, photography studio, and Mac suite and, unsurprisingly, there’s been a sharp uptake in the subjects over the last year. There’s no DT here but the elements of it are picked up elsewhere – art has a ceramic kiln and there’s capacity to build and sculpt, meanwhile the engineering/design side is picked up by the various clubs like robotics.

Drama is popular at OHS and the school has the Miriam Margoyles Drama Studio to prove it (yes, she’s an active alumna). The studio is used for rehearsals, lessons and smaller performances, whilst the larger ones tend to take place in the Main Hall. The school puts on a wide range of productions a year – including one Senior school musical and one Lower school musical – but there are many other opportunities for students to perform. House Drama is very popular as are the year group plays for Years 8, 9 and 10. Students are encouraged to direct and produce their own plays and there are Drama scholarships on offer. Students can access Speech and Drama lessons for Trinity and Guildhall examinations with excellent results. Dance is big too and the school recently started its own invitation-only dance company, with Pineapple Dance Studio choreographers visiting for workshops as well as competitions and performances for all levels from eager amateur to rising starlet.

Music has its own separate building and there are the usual peri teachers, choirs and orchestras (to get into the senior orchestra pupils need to be Grade 6+ so the standard is high). Added to which there’s a relatively new Steinway piano to tinkle upon and a samba band that’s just struck up so there’s plenty of chance to play here and join in (I counted 16 orchestras, groups and ensembles on the music notice board as well as house music and lip sync contests). Approximately 50% of the senior girls play a musical instrument here, with around 60% of those having lessons within school.

SIXTH FORM

No surprise that the new Art/Sixth Form centre has been a huge success. Most of the Sixth Form lessons taking place on the top floor and Y12-13s enjoy a sort of ‘campus’ lifestyle – hanging out together in the café with its indoor and outdoor seating, wearing home clothes, and heading off site to Summertown for lunch if they feel like it.

OHS hangs its Sixth Form hat on its exclusive Sixth Form Programme, revamped for 2021, which has been designed to ‘create the women leaders of tomorrow’ (talk about ambition!). What this means in non-school speak is they’re trying to look at the whole picture. So firstly, with academics, you can choose whichever of the 27 A level subjects you like – this is a big deal, as the ‘block’ timetabling at many schools prohibits a fully free choice of A levels.

Secondly, OHS leverages its status as one of 26 Girls Day School Trust (GDST) schools with 100,000 ex-student alumnae to help with advice and placements. And thirdly there’s a focus on wellbeing, self-knowledge and the bigger picture – so Sport is part of the Sixth Form curriculum to make sure the girls are exercising (I like this idea), there are wellness tutorials, and also an emphasis on doing something for the community.

ACADEMICS

This is where Oxford High School lets rip. One in five students here have received an offer from Oxbridge since 2011. Additionally, 90% of students receive offers from the top Russell Group universities and internationally prestigious unis in Paris, the US and Japan also appear on the leavers’ destinations list. Girls come here with high academic ability and a desire to get top grades, and they do – GSCE results for 2024 showed 52% of all grades at Level 9 and at A level 31% of results were A*s.

GCSE 2024 – 52% Level 9; 73% Level 9-8; 87% Level 9-7

A Level 2024: 63% grades A*-A and 87% grades at A*-B

So – how do they do it? It’s not all about streaming here, though there is some in maths, and in Year 7 French and Mandarin. In Science, students are grouped for ‘Double or Triple Science, but within these options, classes are carefully balanced ‘to optimise learning’ rather than strictly set by ability and English groups are intentionally balanced rather than set by ability, to foster engagement and collaboration.

In terms of the subject offering, Modern Languages are pushed at OHS to a level I’ve not seen elsewhere – there are six options – French and Mandarin are both taught from Year 7, and then further up the school Spanish, German, Russian and Italian are all on offer for both GSCE and A Level. At the classical end of the scale, Latin and Ancient Greek can also be taken.

Otherwise, subjects are pretty traditional. DT was removed some time ago, much to the chagrin of the pupils, but Sport has come in at GCSE and A Level and there’s options like Psychology, Philosophy, Textiles and Chinese. When it comes to where these will take you, the school hosts an annual higher education and careers fair and this year had 30 universities attending as well as police, RAF and alumnae and career professionals. For those who want to take their subjects beyond the classroom, there’s plenty of academic stretch, with visiting speakers, academic publications to contribute to, the Warnock Extended Research Programme and a Critical Thinking course you can join.

Extra curricular is strong at OHS and seems to be driven by pupils as well as teachers – chess and archaeology clubs, for example, have been instigated by the girls. There’s a broad mix of clubs for the brainboxy (Robotics, Coding, Poetry, Chemistry, Korean) through to relaxing (Origami, Observational Drawing, Gardening, Cookery, Poker Club – yes really), creative (Crochet, Theatre Props) to more active (Sailing, Dance, Beekeeping, Waterpolo).

PASTORAL CARE

Any high achieving girls’ school is wise to having a close eye on pastoral care, and OHS like many others has upped its game in recent years. There’s a Deputy Head of Pastoral here, two counsellors who visit weekly, the usual deck of form tutors and peer mentors, an extra-curricular Wellbeing Club and Wellbeing reps. From Year 8, your head of year moves up the school with you so that relationship is a constant.

SEND

Learning support is overseen by NASH, the Neurodiversity and Academic Support Hub. Issues are picked up by teachers sharing concerns with tutors to build a picture of where help is needed. It all feels very joined up here and like no-one would fall through the cracks. In the staff room there was one area dedicated to sharing tips from students, fellow teachers or the NASH team about best practice, whether that’s the background colour for slideshows or how to seat girls in a class.

THE HEAD

Oxford High School GDST head Marina Gardiner Legge

You may have noticed the conveyor belt of head teachers over the last few years at OHS. Marina Gardiner Legge, previously head of girls boarding school Heathfield School, in Berkshire, strode into the school in January 2021 and has made herself very comfortable very fast. Taking over after what she tactfully describes as the ‘tumultuous leadership’ of recent years, Gardiner Legge is charismatic, warm and jaw-droppingly passionate about girls’ school education.

Pupils approve of her (there’s much admiration for the way she asked for the pupil’s views and acted on their wishes in the early days of her headship). Sparky and open, she clearly loves a good debate – ideal for her extra curricular role as Vice-President of the Girls’ School Association. She has worked hard on creating a better connection with parents, and has reinstated the Parent – Teacher Association that was disbanded a few years ago. She’s also highlighted a desire to make sure that all children at OHS get the attention they deserve, looking beyond the elite 10% to making sure the remainder of what is already a talented cohort are supported too, and to recognise the achievements outside of the classroom. The A Place to Shine initiative sees students complete a spreadsheet of their achievements, be it completing 150 park runs or helping to rescue someone from the sea while on holiday. These are then rewarded with house points or a mention at the termly Celebration of Achievement assembly.

QUIRKS

I haven’t come across a girls’ school that ‘owns’ its all-girls school status as confidently as OHS. The website is littered with powerful adjectives talking of the girls as fearless, outspoken, original, brilliant. It’s unusual; it’s not for everyone, but I like it. The virtual student-led conferences hosted at the school are pretty unusual too. The kids come up with the concepts, organise the conferences themselves, set up the speakers and invite other schools to come or watch the stream online. The recent Microeconomics & Business Conference had over 50 schools and 1,600 students attending. The list of speakers included Joana Baptista, an entrepreneur, on social enterprise, Professor Peter Eso of Jesus College Oxford, on decision making, Professor Simon Cowan of Worcester College, on price discrimination and Sir Andrew Dilnot, former Warden of Nuffield College Oxford and author of the Dilnot report, on health and social care. Yes, it pays to be on the doorstep of many of the country’s leading academics.

Going back a few years (OK 138 of them), before the recent celebrity alumnae of Maggie Smith, Miriam Margolyes, Professor Sarah-Jane Blakemore and Anna Lapwood MBE walked through the school gates, a certain Lewis Carroll taught maths here before falling down a more lucrative rabbit hole.

WRAP AROUND CARE

Students are allowed into the block from 7.30am, and can relax in the Crush Hall or meet friends in the Dining Hall. After school, students can stay in the library until 6pm, which many do, though the normal school day is 8.40am-3.50pm.

ISI REPORT

Recently inspected in March 2023 by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI), with the highest possible grade of ‘Excellent’ awarded in all areas. Click here for the full report.

MOBILE PHONE POLICY

Girls aren’t allowed to have their phones on them during the day, and are encouraged to keep them in their locker. If they need to contact home, students may do so during afternoon break. For Sixth Formers, phones can be used in the Atrium of the Sixth Form centre during study periods, lunch and break times, and indeed a few were evident when I looked around, though it was refreshing not to see a whole room of teens glued to their screens.

TRANSPORT

OHS launched its own network of minibus routes in 2023, from Bicester, Chipping Norton, Croughton, Wallingford, Haddenham, Kingston Bagpuize, Witney and High Wycombe, which will be music to the ears of those parents who have tired of the legendary Oxford traffic. There are also direct trains from London Marylebone to Oxford on Chiltern Railways. Those in the centre of Oxford know better than to drive – it’s walk, bike or bus if you want to get to work before midday.

FEES

Comparatively reasonable. Reception starts at £4,220, moving to the Senior school Y7-13 at £7,541 per term, but you need to add a further £373 for lunches in school.

WORD ON THE GROUND

There’s the reputation (super-academic, highly pressured environment) and the reality which, on my look around was – yes, absolutely non-apologetically academic, but also more balanced and relaxed and confident than I thought it would be. When I asked a handful of girls if there were ever discipline issues in class they looked horrified. Everyone here wants to learn and combatting perfectionism is something Marina often speaks of in assembly. The kids seem happy, they like the staff and say that they feel they can always ask for help and explanation if they need it. According to the seven pupils I nobbled, the homework isn’t overwhelming – though it’s 1.5 hours a night so it’s no walk in the park either. School food is good, and has improved in recent years.

THE MUDDY VERDICT

GOOD FOR: Academic girls with an eye on the prize. Parents looking to foster confidence in their daughters – several of the girls I talked to talked about ‘coming out of their shell’ here. There’s also plenty to take into uni and careers with boundless leadership opportunities and learning beyond the curriculum.

NOT FOR: Girls hoping to cruise it academically will struggle here. Parents who picture historic buildings, rural landscapes and ‘traditional’ views are looking the wrong place – OHS is liberal and progressive, and world, you’d better catch up.

Dare to disagree?! Be my guest! You can visit Oxford High School at one of its upcoming Senior School Open events Register here. Also various virtual Meet the Head opportunities throughout the term, please see Oxford High School for details.

Oxford High School, Belbroughton Road, Oxford OX2 6XA. Tel: 01865 559888

Oxford High School GDST

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