{{short description|Public school in Woodcote, Oxfordshire, England}} {{For|similarly named schools in the United Kingdom and the United States|Oratory School (disambiguation)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}} {{Use British English|date=February 2023}} {{Infobox school | name = The Oratory School | seal_image = 180px | image = The Oratory School, main building - geograph.org.uk - 1005597.jpg | image_size = | coordinates = {{coord|51.532562|-1.058421|type:edu_region:GB_dim:100|format=dec|display=inline,title}} | motto = Latin: ''Cor ad cor loquitur''<br /> (Heart speaks to heart) | established = 1859 | closed = | type = Public School<br/>Private day and boarding<br/> | religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic Oratorian | president = Nicholas Purnell{{citation needed|date= February 2025}} | head_label = Head master | head = Matthew Fogg | r_head_label = | r_head = | chair_label = Chairman of the Governors | chair = Frank Gargent | founder = Saint John Henry Newman | specialist = | address = | city = Woodcote | county = South Oxfordshire | country = England | postal_code = RG8 0PJ | local_authority = Oxfordshire | urn = 123282 | ofsted = | staff = | enrolment = 373 | gender = Boys and Girls | lower_age = 11 | upper_age = 18 | houses = 5 | colours = Oratory gold & black {{color box|#FFD700}} {{color box|black}} | mascot = | publication = ''The Oratorian''<br/>''The Buzz'' | free_label1 = Former pupils | free_text1 = Old Oratorians | website = {{URL|https://www.oratory.co.uk}} }}
'''The Oratory School''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɒ|r|ə|t|ɒr|i}})<ref>{{cite book |last=Wells |first=John C. |year=2008 |title=Longman Pronunciation Dictionary |edition=3rd |publisher=Longman |isbn=978-1405881180 |page= }}</ref> is an HMC<ref>{{Cite web |title=HMC Independent Schools {{!}} Headmasters' & Headmistresses' Conference |url=https://www.hmc.org.uk/ |access-date=2022-01-19 |website=HMC }}</ref> co-educational private Catholic boarding and day school for pupils aged 11–18 located in Woodcote, {{convert|6|mi}} north-west of Reading, England. Founded in 1859 by John Henry Newman, The Oratory has historical ties to the Birmingham Oratory and the London Oratory School.
Although a separate entity from the nearby Oratory Preparatory School, it shares a common history. Newman founded the school with the intention of providing boys with a Catholic alternative to Eton College.<ref name="auto">{{cite book|title=A Catholic Eton? Newman's Oratory School|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q6yhgA-nHAMC|location=Leominster|publisher=Gracewing Publishing|date=2005|pages=26, 29, 41–43|isbn=9780852446614|last=Shrimpton|first=Paul}}</ref> Until 2020, when it first admitted girls, it was the only boys' Catholic public school left in the United Kingdom. According to the ''Good Schools Guide'' (last review: Oct 2021), the school is "an active choice for families looking for a small, nurturing environment."<ref>{{cite web |title=The Oratory School, Nr Reading |url=https://www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/schools/the-oratory-school-nr-reading |access-date=2022-01-19 |website=The Good Schools Guide}}</ref>
The Oratory has received the highest grade of 'Excellent' for both Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI Report: Nov 2021) categories: pupils' academic & other achievements and pupils' personal development.<ref>{{cite web|title=Independent Schools Inspectorate report 2021|url=https://www.isi.net/school/the-oratory-school-7158?results=true|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220202163112/https://www.isi.net/school/the-oratory-school-7158?results=true|archive-date=2 February 2022|access-date=|website=isi.net}}</ref>
== History == left|thumb|The Oratory School aerial view The Oratory School was founded in 1859. The first boys arrived before work began on 1 May that year.<ref>''Newman's Letters and Diaries'', Volume XIX, p.120.</ref> The objective was to provide a Roman Catholic alternative to other schools, particularly for the sons of converts from Anglicanism who considered existing Catholic schools culturally and socially inferior.<ref name="auto"/>
The school was originally in Edgbaston, Birmingham, attached to the Birmingham Oratory Fathers' House and the Oratory Church. In 1923, under pressure for additional space, it moved to Caversham Park, a Victorian stately home near Reading. Following the outbreak of the Second World War, that property was requisitioned by the government, initially with the intention of being used as a hospital, but in the event being purchased in 1941 by the BBC as a base for its Monitoring Service. The school acquired a new site not far away in Woodcote, where it has remained since.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of The Oratory School |publisher=The Oratory |url=https://www.oratory.co.uk/about/history-of-the-oratory |access-date=10 November 2020 }}</ref> According to a Freedom of Information Request the school withdrew from the Teachers Pension Scheme on 31 December 2020.<ref>[https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/763181/response/1830358/attach/3/FOI%20Response%20Smail.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1] https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/763181/response/1830358/attach/3/FOI%20Response%20Smail.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1</ref>
thumb|The playing fields
==Real tennis== The Oratory is one of five schools in the United Kingdom with a real tennis court (others being Clifton College, Radley, Canford, and Wellington College), and plays the sport, hosting championships and international tournaments.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}} The UK Professional Singles Tournament has been held at the court, and in April 2006 the World Championships were held there.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.irtpa.com/index.php/realtennis/world_champs|title=Website of the International Real Tennis Professionals Association|website=irtpa.com|access-date=27 April 2018|url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080622203348/http://www.irtpa.com/index.php/realtennis/world_champs/|archive-date=22 June 2008}}</ref> In January 2020 the World Championship Eliminator match took place between Camden Riviere and Old Oratorian, Nicky Howell.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}. The Oratory School hosted the Ladies Real Tennis World Championship in 2023, in an event won by Claire Fahey.
==Notable head masters==
*1862–1865 Tom Arnold *1910–1921 Edward Pereira *1933–1939 Illtyd Trethowan *2000–2014 Clive Dytor<ref>[https://www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/the-oratory-school/5594/Head-decides-to-quit-after-walking.html Head decides to quit after walking old pilgrims’ trail] dated 3 November 2014 at henleystandard.co.uk, accessed 3 May 2019</ref>
==Controversy==
===Sexual abuse===
In February 2013, it was discovered that Jonathan O'Brien, a former teacher, had been involved in sexually abusing boys aged ten to sixteen while working at The Oratory in the 1980s. O'Brien was sentenced to thirteen years imprisonment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/reading-berkshire-news/jonathan-obrien-appeal-former-oratory-8457926|title=Jonathan O'Brien appeal: Former The Oratory School teacher loses bid to cut sentence|first=Lucy|last=Thorne|date=16 January 2015|url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822134236/http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/reading-berkshire-news/jonathan-obrien-appeal-former-oratory-8457926|archive-date=22 August 2016}}</ref>
===Disciplinary===
In February 2014, there were allegations that older pupils had been beating younger students and killing animals outside school - including the skinning of a cat. A teacher resigned and alleged that she had done so because her concerns over the pupils' behaviour had been repeatedly ignored.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/industrial-tribunal-told-appalling-behaviour-6680250|title=Industrial tribunal told of 'appalling behaviour' of pupils at Oratory School|first=David|last=Millward|date=6 February 2014|url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822121912/http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/industrial-tribunal-told-appalling-behaviour-6680250|archive-date=22 August 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Public schoolboys 'stoned birds and skinned cats'|url=https://www.thetimes.com/best-law-firms/profile-legal/article/public-schoolboys-stoned-birds-and-skinned-cats-5cpx2ps02wc|work=The Times|date=5 February 2014}}</ref> She filed a claim against the school for "forced dismissal" but the claim was thrown out by the Reading employment tribunal as she had voluntarily resigned and was not "forced to quit". The then-headmaster Clive Dytor stated that the incidents she mentioned had already been dealt with.<ref>{{cite news|title=Housemother loses claim for constructive dismissal against Oratory School|url=https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/housemother-loses-claim-constructive-dismissal-7108701|publisher=Berkshire Live (getreading)|date=12 May 2014}}</ref>
==Notable Old Oratorians== {{Main|List of Old Oratorians}} {{See also|Category:People educated at The Oratory School}} {{alumni|date=May 2025}} * Gervase Elwes (1866–1921) – tenor * Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953) – orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist * John Pius Boland (1870–1958) – Irish Nationalist politician, Member of Parliament (MP), gold medallist Olympic games for tennis (1896) * George Henry Morris (1872–1914), Irish Guards officer<ref name=Clutterbuck>{{cite book | editor-last = Clutterbuck | editor-first = Colonel L. A | title = The Bond of Sacrifice |url=https://archive.org/details/bondofsacrificeb01clut |page=[https://archive.org/details/bondofsacrificeb01clut/page/275 275] | publisher = The Anglo-African Publishing Contractors |year = 1915}}</ref> * Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart (1880–1963) – soldier and diplomat * Simon Elwes (1902–1976) – war artist * Christopher Tolkien (1924–2020) – academic editor * Igor Judge (1941-2023) – judge who served as Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales * Michael Tolkien (b. 1943) – teacher and poet * Michael Berkeley (b. 1948) – Baron Berkeley of Knighton, composer, broadcaster * Ayoola Erinle (b. 1980) – rugby union player * Danny Cipriani (b. 1987) – rugby union player * Benny Howell (b. 1988) – cricketer * Jonathan Bailey (b. 1988) – actor * Afonso, Prince of Beira (b. 1996) – Portuguese royal
==Notable staff==
* Walter Abel Heurtley, classical archaeologist, taught at the school in the early 20th century, and was its bursar during the Second World War.<ref>{{cite book| last=Hood| first=Rachel| year=1998| title=Faces of Archaeology in Greece: Caricatures by Piet de Jong| publisher=Leopard's Head| place=Oxford| isbn=0904920380| pages=147–148}}</ref> * Gerard Manley Hopkins, poet, taught at the school in 1867-68.<ref name="Feeney 2016 p. 12">{{cite book | last=Feeney | first=J.J. | title=The Playfulness of Gerard Manley Hopkins | publisher=Taylor & Francis | series=Nineteenth Century | year=2016 | isbn=978-1-317-02119-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wOSqCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA12 | access-date=28 Nov 2023 | page=12}}</ref>
==See also== *The Oratory Preparatory School *List of rowing blades by school and university
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book |first=Tony |last=Tinkel |title=Cardinal Newman's School: 150 years of The Oratory School, Reading |location=London |publisher=Third Millennium Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=9781906507091 }}
==External links== {{Commons category|The Oratory School}} * [http://www.oratory.co.uk/ The Oratory School website] * [https://www.isc.co.uk/schools/england/oxfordshire/reading/the-oratory-school/ Profile] on the Independent Schools Council website
{{Schools in Oxfordshire}} {{Berkshire CCC}} {{Archdiocese of Birmingham}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oratory School, The}} Category:Boarding schools in Oxfordshire Category:Educational institutions established in 1859 Category:Oratory of Saint Philip Neri Category:Catholic private schools in the Archdiocese of Birmingham Category:Private schools in Oxfordshire Category:Catholic boarding schools in England Category:1859 establishments in England Category:Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference Category:Real tennis venues