Oxford High School, England

{{Use British English|date=February 2023}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}} {{Infobox school | name = Oxford High School GDST | image = Oxford High School (England) Logo.svg | image_size = | motto = Latin: ''Ad Lucem''<br />(''Toward the light'') | established = 1875 | closed = | type = Private day school | president = | head_label = Headmistress | head = Marina Gardiner Legge | r_head_label = | r_head = | chair_label = Chairman of governors | chair = Katherine Haynes | specialist = | address = Belbroughton Road | city = Oxford | county = Oxfordshire | country = England | postal_code = OX2 6XA | local_authority = Oxfordshire | ofsted = | urn = 123310 | staff = 120 | enrolment = 952 | gender = Girls | lower_age = 4 | upper_age = 18 | free_label1 = | free_text1 = | free_label2 = | free_text2 = | free_label3 = | free_text3 = | website = {{Official URL}} }}

[[File:Oxford High School - geograph.org.uk - 1049442.jpg|thumb|View of the old main entrance at the top of Charlbury Road.]] '''Oxford High School''' is a private day school for girls in Oxford, England. It was founded by the Girls' Day School Trust (GDST) in 1875, making it the City of Oxford's oldest girls' school.

==History== [[File:Oxford University Computing Services, Banbury Road, Oxford - geograph.org.uk - 82198.jpg|thumb|View on Banbury Road with No. 21 on the right, next to the current Oxford University Computing Services.]]

Oxford High School was opened on 3 November 1875, with twenty-nine girls and three teachers under headmistress Ada Benson, at the Judge's Lodgings (St Giles' House) at 16 St Giles', Oxford.<ref name=headington>[http://www.headington.org.uk/oxon/stgiles/tour/east/16.htm St Giles' House (Judge's Lodgings), 16 St Giles' Street, Oxford] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060715112858/http://www.headington.org.uk/oxon/stgiles/tour/east/16.htm |date=15 July 2006 }} (where OHS was founded).</ref> It was the 9th school opened by the Girls' Public Day School Company. Pupils were given a holiday when the Assize Judge visited. The school moved to 38 St Giles' in 1879 and then to 21 Banbury Road at the start of 1881, in a building designed by Thomas Graham Jackson, just south of the location of another Jackson building, the Acland Nursing Home.<ref>Sherwood, Jennifer, and Pevsner, Nikolaus, ''The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire'', Penguin Books, 1974. {{ISBN|0-14-071045-0}}. Page 317.</ref> By this time, the headmistress was Matilda Ellen Bishop.

Rapid expansion led to the ultimate removal of the school to Belbroughton Road in 1957. It became a direct grant grammar school in 1945 under the Education Act 1944 and chose to become independent in 1976 after the scheme was abolished. It absorbed two preparatory schools, Greycotes and The Squirrel, which meant girls could now be educated at Oxford High School from age 3 to Sixth Form.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.oxfordhigh.gdst.net/about-us/school-history/ |title=School History |access-date=18 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120612190732/http://www.oxfordhigh.gdst.net/about-us/school-history/ |archive-date=12 June 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Examination results== Oxford High School regularly ranks as one of the country's highest achieving independent schools in terms of examination results.<ref>{{cite news|title=Private schools make top grade|url=http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/archive/2001/08/28/Oxfordshire+Archive/6609087.Private_schools_make_top_grade/|work=Oxford Mail|date=28 August 2001}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Oxford High School's A-Level results – 2008 – another stunning year|url=http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/archive/2008/09/22/Education+Update/3693676.Oxford_High_School_s_A_Level_results___2008___another_stunning_year/|work=Oxford Mail|date=22 September 2008}}</ref> The school was ranked first in the South East in a ''Sunday Times'' survey based on exam results and "value for money".<ref>{{cite news|title=Oxford High named top of class in south east|url=http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/archive/2001/10/22/Oxfordshire+Archive/6607078.Oxford_High_named_top_of_class_in_south_east/|work=Oxford Mail|date=22 October 2001}}</ref> In the 2011 examinations it was ranked amongst the top 20 independent schools nationwide for GCSE results and the best performing girls' school in the A Levels.<ref>{{cite news|title=New GCSE results show the difference in how youngsters improve at secondary school|url=http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/headlines/9494563.New_GCSE_results_show_the_difference_in_how_youngsters_improve_at_secondard_school/|work=Oxford Mail|date=26 January 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Oxford schools top the league tables|url=http://www.cherwell.org/news/academic/2011/09/02/oxford-schools-top-the-league-tables|work=Cherwell|date=2 September 2011}}</ref>

In 2006, the school became the first in Oxfordshire to make Mandarin a compulsory subject. Pupils will study it for at least a year accompanying French and can choose to either continue Mandarin or continue French.<ref>{{cite news|title=School pupils to learn Mandarin|url=http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/yourtown/oxford/696351.School_pupils_to_learn_mandarin/|work=Oxford Mail|date=28 February 2008}}</ref>

==Facilities and houses== As a day school, Oxford High does not have a boarding programme.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://oxfordhigh.gdst.net/admissions/overseas/|title= Overseas Applicants|publisher=Oxford High School|access-date=2024-09-18}}</ref> Pupils in the senior school are divided into four houses, each named after an Ancient Greek deity:

*Zeus (green) *Ares (blue) *Athena (yellow) *Poseidon (red)

==Headteachers==

{{As of|2025}} the head teacher is Marina Gardiner Legge<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090322132542/http://www.oxfordhigh.gdst.net/aboutus/letters/letters.htm Headmistress's letters] on the school website.</ref><ref>[http://www.isc.co.uk/schools/england/oxfordshire/oxford/oxford-high-school-gdst Profile] on the ISC website</ref>

* Marina Gardiner Legge 2019-<ref>{{cite web|url=https://oxfordhigh.gdst.net/about/our-staff/|website=oxfordhigh.gdst.net|title=our staff}}</ref> *Philip Hills 2017–2019<ref>{{cite news|title=Introducing the New Head for Oxford High School|url=http://oxfordhigh.gdst.net/new-head-oxford-high-school/|publisher=oxfordhigh.gdst.net|date=7 September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| title=Male headteacher is historic first for city girls' school | newspaper=Oxford Times | page=15 | date=14 September 2017}}</ref> *Judith Carlisle 2011–2016<ref>{{cite news|title=New Head for Oxford High School|url=http://www.oxfordhigh.gdst.net/news/year/2009-10/new-head.htm|publisher=oxfordhigh.gdst.net|access-date=23 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723133841/http://www.oxfordhigh.gdst.net/news/year/2009-10/new-head.htm|archive-date=23 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> *Felicity Lusk 1997–2010<ref>{{cite news|title=No job for the boys as Abingdon School picks woman head|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6930595.ece|work=The Times|date=25 November 2009}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> *Joan Townsend 1981–1996{{citation needed|date=November 2025}} *Elaine Kaye 1972–1981{{citation needed|date=November 2025}} *Mary Warnock 1966–1972{{citation needed|date=November 2025}} *M.E. Ann Hancock 1959–1966{{citation needed|date=November 2025}} *Violet Evelyn Stack 1937–1959 {{citation needed|date=November 2025}} *Rosalind Brown 1902–1932<ref>{{Cite ODNB|title=Brown, William Haig (1823–1907), headmaster headmistress|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-33634|access-date=2020-07-26|year=2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/33634}}</ref> *Margaret Gale 1932–1936{{citation needed|date=November 2025}} *Edith Marion Leahy 1898–1902{{citation needed|date=November 2025}} *Lucy Helen Soulsby 1887–1897<ref>{{Cite ODNB|title=Soulsby, Lucy Helen Muriel (1856–1927), headmistress|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-48573|access-date=2020-09-20|year = 2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/48573}}</ref> *Matilda Ellen Bishop 1879–1887<ref>{{Cite ODNB|title=Bishop, Matilda Ellen (1842–1913), college head|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-48431|access-date=2020-09-20|year = 2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/48431}}</ref> *Ada Benson 1875–1879{{citation needed|date=November 2025}}

==Notable alumni== {{See also|Category:People educated at Oxford High School, England}} [[File:Lucy Gordon by David Shankbone.jpg|thumb|upright|Lucy Gordon]] * Josephine Barnes (1912–1999), first woman President British Medical Association * Ursula Bethell (1874–1945), New Zealand poet and social worker * Sarah-Jayne Blakemore,<ref name=sarahswho>{{Who's Who | author=Anon|title=Blakemore, Prof. Sarah-Jayne | id = U258273 | year = 2017 | edition = online Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.258273}}</ref> Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge * Vicky Bowman, née Robinson, former British diplomat * Emma Bridgewater, potter * Jacintha Buddicom, poet and childhood friend of George Orwell * Nancy Cadogan, artist * Catherine Conybeare, academic and philologist * Charithra Chandran, actress * Gail Davey, professor of epidemiology * Cressida Dick (b. 1960), former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police * Sian Edwards, conductor * Sos Eltis, author and academic * Rebecca Flemming, classicist * Amelia Fletcher economist, and indie band singer * Diana Fox Carney, economist, climate policy expert and wife of Mark Carney * Martha Lane Fox, entrepreneur lastminute.com<ref>{{cite news|title=Famous Faces|url=http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/archive/2010/08/24/oxfordshire_heritage/8345102.Famous_Faces/|work=Oxford Mail|date=24 August 2010}}</ref> * Mel Giedroyc, actress/comedian * Lucy Gordon, actress/model * Emily Gowers, Professor of Latin literature at the University of Cambridge * Sophie Grigson, cookery TV/writer * Pippa Harris, film producer * Ethel Hatch, British painter * Mary Hockaday, journalist * Margaret Hodge, Labour MP and minister * Verena Winifred Holmes, engineer * Harriet Hunt, chess International Master * Elizabeth Irving, actress and founder of the Keep Britain Tidy Campaign * Elizabeth Jennings (1926–2001), poet * Ludmilla Jordanova, Professor of Modern History at the King's College London * Frances Kirwan, mathematician * Susan Lea, Professor at the University of Oxford<ref name=leaswho>{{Who's Who | author=Anon| title=Lea, Prof. Susan Mary | id = U290639 | year = 2018 | edition = online Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U290639}}</ref> * Anna Lapwood, Director of Music at Pembroke College, Cambridge and television/radio presenter * Rose Macaulay, novelist * Serena Mackesy, journalist and author * Miriam Margolyes, (b. 1941), actress<ref>{{cite news|title=Star attends Oxford High School 50-year reunion|url=http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/archive/2009/10/05/Oxford+news+%28om_oxfordnews%29/4665203.Star_attends_Oxford_High_School_50_year_reunion/|work=Oxford Mail|date=5 October 2009}}</ref> * Ghislaine Maxwell, (junior section, left age 9), socialite and convicted child sex trafficker * Charlotte Mendelson (b. 1972), novelist * Kate Ho, (b. 1972), economist * Anne Mills, health economist * Kate Montgomery, (b. 1965), artist * Teresa Morgan, academic * Eleanor Oldroyd, BBC Radio Sport presenter * Ann Pasternak Slater, academic * Eileen Power (1889–1940), economic historian and medievalist * Rhoda Power (1890–1957), broadcaster and children's writer * Liz Shore, former deputy chief medical officer * Maggie Smith (1934–2024), double Oscar-winning actress, seven times BAFTA Film Awards winner, Triple Crown of Acting * Barbara Strachey (1912–1999), broadcaster and writer * Catherine Tucker, American economist * Ayesha Vardag, Founder & President of Vardags, divorce lawyer * Anna Walker, British civil servant

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Girls' schools in Oxfordshire Category:Educational institutions established in 1875 Category:Schools in Oxford Category:Private schools in Oxfordshire Category:Schools of the Girls' Day School Trust Category:1875 establishments in England Category:Member schools of the Girls' Schools Association