Dragon/Wychwood/Rye for one year?

[EBoulder]

Hello! We are moving to the Oxford area for one year and are trying to decide between Wychwood, Rye-St. Antony, and Dragon school for our DDs. Wychwood would be only for the DD who will be entering year 7, while the other two would be for both our year 7 and year 5 DDs. I'm curious if anyone can share thoughts on the three schools. Specifically, we want to find a place where the children can "find their people" for the one year we are there, and where they can be supported and challenged academically, while still having their interests (art!) encouraged. We've visited and liked all three, so this feels challenging. (We will be coming from the States, where we fear our DDs' educations haven't necessarily prepared them as well as we'd like, so it's possible they will need to catch up, especially in math.) Thank you in advance for any thoughts!

Wouldn’t agree with any of the Wychwood comments there. Very happy with the school

Nothing wrong with the academics at Wychwood!!

I can speak to the Dragon School question. So many problems since the new head came in and many stories of families leaving. Some families that have been with the school for generations are changing because they are so unhappy. Much of it seems to be tied to the new head and you can see her Instagram presence for yourself under "Head in Heels." The school deny that there is a problem with bullying but if you speak to parents, choose a random parent at the school gates and ask them if they have had an issue and in my experience the answer is nearly always yes. Currently they are obsessed with a potential change in parking instead of focusing on some serious financial issues the school is facing and most importantly the bullying issue. There are some good teachers there but if you have a concern it will go nowhere.

Behaviour stories just from the last couple of weeks include a 'joke' about rape, a parent allowed to meet alone with his child and another she had a conflict with, frequent race jokes, children calling each other 'autistic' as an insult, a broken bone, and so many others that parents might not be comfortable sharing. And the parents of many of these bullies have no idea their child is even doing these things because there is no record of it and it is all smoothed over.

Talk about safeguarding issues. It seems like a nice school because of the facilities and is a very different story inside.

Wychwood is fine for academics, in fact many of the teachers there are outstanding.

Its stats are poorer than its school competitors in Oxford because it's not an academically selective school, and the others mostly are, and that absolutely shows at exam time, but it's a factor of the cohort, not the teaching. A lot of the brighter girls leave to do their A-levels in bigger schools en route to uni, unfortunately.

The other issues are a different conversation, but I wouldn't dismiss it on the grounds of academics, because if your daughter is bright the teachers certainly have the ability to guide her towards top results, but she might not have a huge amount of competition in her class, which some girls prefer/need.

Can’t understand why you would think WW isn’t academic, my daughter got top grades in all her GCSE’s recently. She wouldn’t have got that going to any other school. Her teachers really understood how to help her achieve her best.
No issues at all with safeguarding - no idea where these comments come from.

yes, a quick look at WW's 'destinations' page confirms academics are just fine!
I think when you have such small cohorts of pupils, the statistics will always look skewed.

I wrote a longer message detailing bullying concerns at Dragon and it seems it was removed. Before you consider the school seriously please speak to parents who have been there more than three years and who have several children to get a full picture. Ask about bullying and also about the new HM (and consider her Instagram).

I'm curious to hear what you decided. We are in the same situation as you - moving to Oxford for one year and looking at schools for our DD who will be entering year 7. Wychwood and D'Overbroeck's are currently on the top of our list.