Headington Rye Oxford is an independent day co-educational prep school for girls and boys aged 3âÂÂ11 and a day and boarding school for girls aged 11âÂÂ18, in Headington, Oxford, England.
Headington Rye Oxford was formed in 2024, when Headington School, founded in 1915, merged with the neighbouring Rye St Antony School, founded in 1930.
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 garden and another 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.
The preparatory school is located on a separate site on Pullens Lane. It used to be called a junior school, but changed to the prep in 2004. The premises which house the prep school were originally known as Rye St Antony. 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. It is a member of the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools.
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), the Music School (2008-9), the Diamond Jubilee building (nicknamed Diamond by students and staff, 2011-2012), the Sports Centre (2015), the Library extension (2016), sixth form centre redesign (2016-2019) and most recently, the Hive (2021). 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.
Headington used to use its own nomenclature for the year groups. However, they stopped using it for the prep school in the early 2010s, and as of September 2025, the senior school stopped using it as well.
Preparatory School
Senior School
Headington offers both full-time, part-time or flex-boarding to girls aged 11 and above. Approximately one third of its pupils are boarders. They are grouped by years and reside in four boarding houses.
Headington is one of the higher achieving independent schools in Oxfordshire.
The International Baccalaureate was offered alongside A Levels from September 2009. Headington School ceased to offer the International Baccalaureate from September 2020.
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.