{{Use British English|date=February 2023}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}} {{Infobox school | name = Cokethorpe School | image = Cokethorpe School Logo 2021.jpg | caption = Cokethorpe's new school branding 2021 | motto = Inopiam Ingenio Pensant ('Ingenuity overcomes scarcity' or 'They make good their needs by their wit') | established = 1957 | type = [[Private schools in the United Kingdom|Private]] day school | gender = Boys until 1992<br>Coeducational from 1992 | lower_age = 4 | upper_age = 18 | enrolment = about 660 | religious_affiliation = [[Church of England]] and [[Roman Catholic]] | head_label = Head | head = Sarah Squire<ref name="f396">{{cite web | title=Dr Sarah Squire DPhil, MA, PGCE, NPQH | website=Cokethorpe School | date=1 September 2025 | url=https://www.cokethorpe.org/people/dr-sarah-squire-dphil-ma-pgce-npqh/ | access-date=2 September 2025}}</ref> | chair_label = Chairman of Governors | chair = John Bennett | free_label1 = Former Pupils | free_text1 = The Cokethorpe Society | houses = Senior School: Feilden, Gascoigne, Harcourt, Queen Anne, Swift, Lower House and Vanbrugh. Prep School: Baker, Gwyn, Lockwood and Symonds.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cokethorpe.org.uk/383/junior-school/pastoral |title=Welcome from the Head of Sixth Form}}</ref> | colours = Navy blue and gold | publication = The Ocellus- The termly newsletter & The SHEDule- The list of the academic year's event | free_label2 = Setting | free_text2 = Rural (150 acres) | city = [[Witney]] | county = [[Oxfordshire]] | country = England | postal_code = OX29 7PU | website = {{URL|www.cokethorpe.org.uk}} }}
'''Cokethorpe School''' is a [[Private schools in the United Kingdom|private]] day school in [[Witney]], West Oxfordshire, England. The school was founded in 1957 by Francis Brown.<ref name=VCH>{{cite book |editor-last1=Crossley |editor-first1=Alan |editor-last2=Currie |editor-first2=C.R.J. |last1=Baggs |first1=A.P. |last2=Chance |first2=Eleanor |last3=Colvin |first3=Christina |last4=Day |first4=C.J. |last5=Selwyn |first5=Nesta |last8=Townley |first8=Simon C. |year=1996 |title=A History of the County of Oxford |volume=13: Bampton Hundred (Part One) |isbn=978-0-19722-790-9 |pages=110–118 |publisher=Archibald Constable |url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15962 |access-date=27 January 2012}}</ref> It is a member of the [[Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference]] and [[Independent Association of Prep Schools]]. The school has approximately 660 students from ages 4 to 18.
==History== [[File:Cokethorpe School Geograph-3428838-by-Stephen-Richards.jpg|thumb|left|Cokethorpe School]] The country house was used by [[Simon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt]].<ref name=goat>{{cite web |title=Cokethorpe School, Oxfordshire |work=Venues |publisher=Remotegoat |url=http://www.remotegoat.co.uk/venue_view.php?uid=27312 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130421061304/http://www.remotegoat.co.uk/venue_view.php?uid=27312 |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 April 2013 |access-date=27 January 2012 }}</ref> When Major Percy Henry Guy Feilden and his wife, Dorothy Louisa Brand, moved there in 1908, they undertook extensive renovations.<ref>{{cite web |title=People of Headington: Katharine Feilden |work=Headington, Oxford |publisher=Stephanie Jenkins |date=3 January 2012 |url= http://www.headington.org.uk/history/famous_people/feilden.htm |access-date=27 January 2012}}</ref> He died on 25 March 1944 and was buried there.
His son, Major-General [[Randle Feilden|Randle Guy Feilden]], who was later knighted, was his successor. In 1957, it was left with part of the grounds to Francis Brown, who opened the school as a secondary boys' boarding school with 14 pupils. In about 1960 [[Yarnton Manor]] was used as a dormitory of the school.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Crossley |editor-first1=Alan |editor-last2=Elrington |editor-first2=C.R.| last1=Baggs |first1=A.P. |last2=Blair |first2=W.J. |last3=Chance |first3=Eleanor |last4=Colvin |first4=Christina |last5=Cooper |first5=Janet |last6=Day |first6=C.J. |last7=Selwyn |first7=Nesta |last8=Townley |first8=Simon C. |date=1990 |title=A History of the County of Oxford |volume=12: Wootton Hundred (South) including Woodstock |series=[[Victoria County History]] |isbn=978-0-19722-774-9 |pages=475–478 |url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=1261 |access-date=3 February 2012}}</ref> In 1963, a charitable trust was formed, and in 1966, the school buildings and grounds were sold to the school trustees.<ref name=VCH/><ref name=goat/> [[File:HardwickCokethorpe StMary DedicationStone.jpg|thumb|Stone commemorating restoration and extension of the school chapel in 1973]] Cokethorpe School is a joint [[Church of England]] and [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] foundation.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.cokethorpe.org.uk/index.cfm?page=senior.content&cmid=30 |title=Pastoral Care |publisher=Cokethorpe School |access-date=12 October 2014}}</ref> The chapel is on the golf course on the school grounds. It is the former parish church of Hardwick and was restored and extended in 1973.
In 1985, the roof of the northwest wing was studied while the building was being repaired.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Steane |first=John |title=Cokethorpe Park (PRN 11202 SP 37100620) |journal=The Newsletter of the Council for British Archaeology Regional Group 9 (Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire) |number=16 |publisher=The Council for British Archaeology |year=1986 |url=http://www.cba-southmidlands.org.uk/CBA%20SMA/SMA%201986.PDF |access-date=3 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002154356/http://www.cba-southmidlands.org.uk/CBA%20SMA/SMA%201986.PDF |archive-date=2 October 2013 |url-status = dead}}</ref> In 1986 work began on the construction of further buildings. The school started admitting girls in 1992 and opened a Prep School in 1994. The boarding facility was closed in 2003.
== Facilities == The school is in a [[Grade II* listed]] 18th-century [[Queen Anne Style architecture|Queen Anne style]] country house.<ref>{{NHLE|num=1048970|desc=Cokethorpe School|grade=II*|accessdate=7 June 2014}}</ref>
==Notable former pupils== {{see also|Category:People educated at Cokethorpe School}} {{alumni|date=September 2025}} * [[Martin Edwards]], former [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United]] chairman * [[Andrew Loog Oldham]], record producer, talent manager, impresario and author{{cn|reason=sourced in article about him, but offline source I cannot verify|date=February 2026}} *[[Toby Sebastian]], actor{{cn|reason=unsourced in article about him|date=February 2026}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Schools in Oxfordshire}}
{{coord |51.753|-1.465|type:edu_region:GB|display=title}}
[[Category:1957 establishments in England]] [[Category:Educational institutions established in 1957]] [[Category:Grade II* listed buildings in Oxfordshire]] [[Category:Grade II* listed educational buildings]] [[Category:Private schools in Oxfordshire]] [[Category:Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference]] [[Category:People educated at Cokethorpe School| ]]