We are pretty stuck with DD’s schooling (she’s about to turn 6) and could do with much more experienced advice when it comes to Oxford girls schools.
DD has had a bit of a rough time at Headington Rye prep over the last two years. She was the first year of the new move to the old Rye site and the first Reception intake of co-ed kids. Feels like we’ve been on the receiving end of an experiment to be honest, where nothing was thought through properly and all those who made the decision to change the old Headington school, jumped ship. DD has lost 10 teachers including the headmistress and one form teacher half way through her school year, has had constant issues with the co-ed setting and toilets; was one of the few girls to end up in a class with all the boys (the other class for her year is exclusively all girls) and has had difficulty with some bullying behaviours from an older child. For the amount we pay and given Headington Rye has the longest holidays out of any other private school in Oxford (which for two working parents is immensely stressful), it feels like we are being shafted and she’s bearing the brunt of poor school management and leadership.
I’ve been looking at Oxford High again (the school she was originally meant to join but thanks to the traffic filters, we had to withdraw) and also the Dragon School. I hear really mixed things about both schools but hope that surely, one of these will be better than Headington.
DD is bright and keen to learn, but leans much more to the arts and drama/performance/music/writing so my initial thought was that Dragon might be a good fit but I am worried about the focus on boys (from what I’ve heard) and her feeling sidelined. OHS has a great reputation but on the flip side to Dragon, the facilities feel a much poorer standard than Dragon when it comes to the so called “non academic” pursuits or indeed, anything that isn’t STEM focused.
I also would like to meet more parents and other children who are a better fit for us too - we are not paying for this education ourselves as we are not wealthy, but rather using an inherited trust. We both work very long and demanding jobs, but are
not doctors or based at the JR or stay at
home parents who don’t need to work, which seems to be the norm at Headington. Though we are Headington based so getting to North Oxford still presents an issue re LTN and traffic filters…
There are so many pros and cons all round - any advice?? It would be nice to see DD happy somewhere and more settled