Primary Schools in Oxford

[Academicallyminded]

Hello everyone!

I'm an academic moving to Oxford in July 2019, and scouting for schools for our 6 year old son. He will join Year 2 in September 2019.

I have read through various threads on primary schools in Oxford, but I wasn't sure if the advise in them is dated (or not), so thought I'd check here for the most recent advise.

We have heard good things about Phil & Jim, St Ebbes and St Barnabas. Are these good? Are others better? We would love some advise on the three best primary state schools we should put down on our application, and thus the areas we should be looking to rent in. Our son is quite academic, but enjoys art, craft and other activities too.

We would prefer to stay in Oxford, as I don't drive and will need to rely on public transport to get around to my college, faculty, his school etc.

We would be most grateful for advise. Many thanks, in advance!

I think your first port of call should be Oxford LA admissions dept. Are any of these schools likely to have places? There’s not much point loving a school and not being able to get a place. If any of these schools regularly have places or definitely have places, then I think you could make an informed choice. You might be able to find the current situation on the LAs web site. Of course that doesn’t help for next summer but it might give you an indication of popularity.

I agree about contacting the schools or LA to see where spaces are likely to be available. In general I would look at schools in the vicinity of North Oxford (especially Summertown) North Hinsky, Wolvercot.

Thank you Bubblesbuddy and Allmysmellysocks for those helpful messages. I have written to the LA and to these schools but haven't heard back yet. It will be a in-year application, so places might be trickier to get.

In the meantime if you have any thoughts on Phil & Jim, St Barnabas or other schools in that area, I would appreciate if you could share them. Thanks.

Oxford is hard because it's very much a private school city. That's why the Dragon and such are so big in comparison to other prep schools elsewhere in the country and there are so few local schools to choose from. Anybody who can afford it does send their kids private and as such a lot of local schools get left behind. If I could give you advice ot would be try and look slightly further out if you can. Small towns like Woodstock have terrific local schools, especially their secondry school which I think is the best within commuting distance to Oxford, but in general local schools within Oxford are primarily trust schools, all leave a lot to be desired.

Phil & Jim is a fabulous school. Great community. High achieving kids and parents. New head, who is good. Lovely area to live but expensive. Easy walk into town, port meadow nearby.
Wolvercote also a great school, villagey. Buses into Oxford.
St barnabas also good, poss not as high achieving as other 2

Ring the LA they were most helpful when we moved to the area. Combe and Woodstock have great primary schools.

OP you are aware the deadline for applications is Jan 15 I hope?!

OP you are aware the deadline for applications is Jan 15 I hope?!

That doesnt apply to in-year applications as OP's child is going in to year 2 it will be an in year application

Thanks to you all for your helpful messages!

Yes, the LA advised me that I needed to apply in June for an in-year application. I'm visiting Oxford on work in end-February, have a day free to visit schools, so was hoping to get a short list of schools to visit. Thanks for you all your feedback.

Sorry just saw newspaper re deadline. I nearly missed it when doing it for own kids a while back.

You can always email the individual schools before you visit. In year spaces are difficult to determine in advance but you might not be the only parent moving to Oxford and doing exactly the same as you.