I wondered if I could get some advice and personal accounts of two schools in Oxford - Oxford High and Dragon.
My daughter (6) has been at HRO for the last two years but we are massively disappointed. There’s been no end of disruption with teachers coming and going (sometimes half way through the term) and logistical issues with having gone co-ed (no boys toilets for instance which caused an issue with them peering over toilet doors). She’s found it a bumpy ride to say the least. She’s also found herself in the “other” class on two occasions now. There seems to be a better class and the other class - at least this has been the case since Reception where our class never got any updates and the parents in the “better class” seemed to walk around constantly saying how wonderful their teacher was by comparison. A similar situation occurred this year with all the boys ending up in one class and the “girls class” being the other group. My daughter was in with the boys which shad found disruptive (I don’t actually think this is an issue with boys so much as a very odd decision by the school to put them all in once class where the girls end up the minority and feel that way). There’s been an added layer to do with a falling out with an older child that resulted in some difficulties for her (stress, upset and asking to leave) but the main issue is it doesn’t seem to be good value for money when she’s not getting the sort of education you’d expect when paying so much for it. At least, I don’t feel she’s as happy and settled as she could be for the cost of a private education
So… we are moving her, but I’m now unsure where to go. Short version of all this is it is actually simplest to keep her where she is now in terms of short term logistics (I work in Headington and we live nearby) but I don’t think it’s fair to use this as an excuse when she could be happier elsewhere.
She has two offers - OHS and Dragon, but I have no idea which to choose. Both are going to make life slightly harder re commute and getting her there every day, but are worth it for the right fit. OHS seems possibly a little too studious for her and Dragon seems great, but I’ve read and heard things that make me think we might find she’s unhappy. And at 8k a term (this is all funded by trust funds from my parents) I wonder if we are jumping out of the frying pan into the fire…
She’s a headstrong, very capable and bright child but very likely has ADHD or similar. She loves drama, singing, fashion, writing etc and I think it likely she will get quite into the arts and performing arts of some kind as she gets older (hence Dragon) but likely does need an environment which will look to support her as an individual.
Any experiences of OHS, Dragon and HRO (I could be persuaded to change my mind!) would be massively appreciated!