Rye St Anthony, Oxford closing???

[ohtobe4]

Heard this on the grapevine today. Anyone know anything more?? Is it true??

Rye isn’t financially viable.
headington has been waiting to buy rye for years and years (I remember discussing it with the head in about 2913) because rye’s land marches with Headington’s and they have a nice big site into which Headington will expand.
It is a brilliant deal for Headington who can move their prep into Rye, join the two playing fields and have room to breathe for the next 200 years. A pity for Rye but not enough people wanted to buy what they were selling. Rye is lucky that its pupils are all going to be taken on by Headington no questions asked and taken through to the end.

This will probably save WW. If Rye was successful it would not be for sale. Who owns it? It’s not that unusual for schools to merge.

Yeah I don't find this lucky at all.
They are completely different schools and my Rye girl is going to suffer no doubt

@ohtobe4 yes massive shame but don't want to jump ship until after GCSEs as they are promising no changes this year and limited changes next for those on A level or GCSE tracks. I will definitely be moving for A levels though.

Lucky to have the option and not be casting about for schools with no notice as would be the case if it had just gone busy.
I appreciate it won’t suit everyone and some children may move but you have time to work out what you want to do.

My daughter is in year 4 at Rye and we are very unsure about Heading as a senior school. It is the complete opposite of all the reasons we chose Rye.

however, I have not spoken to any Headington students or parents which I would like to do as I do t want to just rely on rumours of a hot house and lack of pastoral care… are there any parents who feel Headington is excellent and can you share why?

My two daughters are at Headington (Y10 and Y8) and I would not describe it as a hot house. They are happy. The pastoral care at Headington is quite good. We have had some issues with my eldest and they were very much on top of it and very quick to listen and follow up with me. But I can understand how Rye parents must feel. Headington is so much bigger, but I feel the personal touch is still there.

They are very different schools. Cokethorpe school near Witney is a smaller more nurturing environment. I think it came second nationally for its pastoral care. Definitely worth a look at if a big school like Headington isn’t right for your child.

I have 2 daughters in y11/13. I wouldn’t describe it as a hot house st all. Pastoral care is excellent with 2 tutors attached to each form. They have ambassadors to support new students in y9 already and there is a mixed intake in y7 from prep and state. Go and visit with your daughter.

I think it's a good deal for everyone - given the likelihood that Rye may not have survived long-term - especially under the next government. So rather than an abrupt closure and a scrabble for school places, current Rye seniors get to transition slowly into a very good school. I'm sure quite a few of them applied and failed to get into Headington so this is really their lucky day. Of course it's sad for those who chose Rye in its own right, but I guess if you choose a small independent school there's always going to be an element of risk.

At least Rye will continue as a school - albeit prep only. It's an idyllic location with fabulous outdoor areas for younger ones to explore (personally I can't understand the fuss about having boys in prep. Senior school, yes - but prep no.)

Exactly this. No one is happy from what I've heard.

@Beecham
i think you’re underestimating the amount of parents/pupils that need or choose a smaller school. I don’t think Rye is currently full of Headington wannabes. It would certainly not have been my dd’s “lucky day” to be fed into such a large environment.
WW seems the obvious choice to go to rather than Headington. But then I’m biased 🤣

Thank you so much to Headington parents for your responses, it’s lovely to hear your daughters are really enjoying it and are receiving good pastoral care. Thanks.

As Headington only has around 1050 pupils from age 3 to 18, it would not be that huge in senior school. Many desirable schools are much bigger and if this was a state secondary, it would be considered small. Many DC don’t get near a small secondary school and few “need” one. I would appreciate a smooth transition with no scrabbling for places elsewhere.

@ohtobe4 sorry op, perhaps my phrasing was a bit clumsy. Totally agree Rye isn't full of Headington wannabes - far from it. But there are definitely a few I know of.
Either way my overall point was that if Rye wasn't going to last, it's much better to slowly merge with a good school than to close abruptly.

It's essentially the same thing that happened with Abingdon and Joscas. Joscas became Abingdon prep with about 300 boys then a further 1000 in the senior school. It works really well.

Is it the same re Abingdon and Joscas though? As far as I am aware, Abingdon didn't have its own Prep School, but Headington already has its junior department.

Not really the same. That was the purchase of a prep and some useful playing fields on a site a bus ride away from the main school. This is the purchase of land and school buildings next door to form one larger school site into which an existing squished prep down the road can be moved.

Here as a former pupil to offer some thoughts/info from the contacts I have at both schools:

• Although in theory all current Rye pupils will be able to transfer to Headington without academic assessment, this apparently isn’t holding true for girls currently in Y11 looking at going into the sixth form. Headington requires six grade 7s for entry into Y13, whereas Rye as far as I know effectively has no entry requirements whatsoever, given how desperate it’s been for sixth form customers in the past few years. I’ve heard through the grapevine that some Y11 girls at Rye have already been taken to one side and told that staying for sixth form isn’t an option for them due to the merger.
• The mood at Headington is pretty hostile to Rye students- given that Headington is considered to be more selective than Rye and has more impressive facilities, sports, etc., many Headington girls, and there’s already been some nastiness on social media. The girls at both schools are aware that Rye is financially struggling and that this is the main reason for the merger, which is creating a social imbalance between the pupils of both schools. This was heard from a Headington parent but I’m sure some of the same stereotypes of HSO girls exist at Rye too.
• As many on this thread have alluded to, this has been long-coming. Ever since the much-beloved headmistress of 30+ years retired in 2018, the school has had deeply inconsistent and ineffective leadership. The first replacement they tried only lasted a year and a half until she was ousted by staff for creating a hostile work environment and imposing nonsensical teaching & learning policies. She was deeply Catholic - apparently she was in Opus Dei - and was thus very traditional in her approach and covertly homophobic, which was deeply troubling for everyone at the school considering how small a minority the Catholic families actually are. After that fisco, they promoted the deputy headteacher, who as far as I know was not disastrous but did very little around the school- she left everything to her SLT, which wouldn’t have been so bad if they hadn’t taken a risk by promoting some internal candidates who were very talented and promising but had no leadership experience- one in particular was very abrasive and rubbed a lot of the staff the wrong way. As you can imagine, the inconsistency caused a very high turnover among both teaching and senior staff- one deputy head handed his notice in before the end of the first term! It was very apparent from how the school dealt with parents that senior leadership and the governors were unaware of the problems that customers were complaining about, and unwilling to fix them or even investigate further. The inconsistency also resulted in inconsistent teaching standards across the school when many new teachers were hired that were frankly poor at their jobs, since Rye didn’t have much option given its declining reputation and the nationwide recruitment crisis. This wasn’t great for already-declining pupil numbers, and many families left because of it- I know of one or two families that entered their daughters for Y7 then went back to their old school (which went up to year 9) after a few weeks because they were so disillusioned with teaching standards. The last headteacher left at the end of this year - presumably because of the merger and was replaced with an acting headmistress hired for this academic year alone. We all assumed it was because the governors hadn’t found a replacement- maybe we should have realised what was to come!

Students need 3x grade 7 for a level subjects they wish to study. At rye the website said 6/7. I wouldn’t advise taking a levels in some subjects such as chemistry without it as they get much harder. Yes as you say there was a lot of shock and some unkindness on both sides. I think this is in the minority and has been addressed by the head. I wouldn’t say it is hostile. Go and visit to see for yourself. It is a multi faith school do all should be welcome

If you want small and nurturing in Oxford, can't go wrong with d'Overbroeck's Years 7-11. Our daughter has flourished there.

@ImaginaryCat do many kids learn instruments there? Would you say music is strong or weak at d'Ov?

@ohtobe4 music's a big deal, they've got so many ensembles at lunch and after school, for all abilities. Mine's done musical theatre club, and has piano lessons. The whole school annual production alternates between straight drama and musical.

The music teachers are adored, and very much favourites amongst the students! (Don't tell them I said that 🤭)

I'm a prep parent at Headington. The pastoral care is good, and, by merging expertise from both schools, this will become a real strength. Quite a number of prep parents live locally, and are pretty happy with the plan. Rye has the better site and is right next to the senior school (no more getting kids across London Road for forest school or swimming).

While the all girls was nice, it's actually a real pain getting small children to two different schools in the morning, and the cost of boys' preps is going through the roof. Do three-year-olds really thrive in a single sex nursery? 🤔

With 400 capacity and larger class sizes, it's not going to be 'cosy', but smallish classes (compared with state) together with all the co-curricular offered by a large independent is good value for money.

Interesting turn of events. My DD has started Upper 3 / Year 7 at Headington direct from a relatively small state primary school. We were, of course, nervous about the transition which included a school bus for the first time, longer days, a whole new set of friends to be made etc. Have to say we have been really impressed with the first few weeks. She is coming home full of beans and excited to tell us what she has been getting up to. Today the whole year group are off on a team building day at a local Scout camp. DD reports all teachers are really lovely and they have been generous with a merit point or two which has been a real boost to her confidence. I can understand the small school vs big school concerns but the class sizes at Headington are still small with two to three tutors per tutor group. My impression is that the girls are well looked after and honestly the last few weeks have been a blast from DDs point of view which is a huge relief from a parents point of view.