Address: The Oratory School, Woodcote, South Oxfordshire RG8 0PJ
Website: oratory.co.uk
Founded: 1859 by Saint John Henry Newman
Pupils: 350, co-ed
Ages: 11-18
Termly Fees: £8,280-£17,760
Head Teacher: Mr Matthew Fogg, BA (Dunelm), FTIOB
Religious Affiliation: Roman Catholic
Entrance Procedure: Selective: 11+ through an Assessment Day; 13+ through ISEB Common Entrance; 16+ through
predicted GCSE grades and Entrance Assessment.
Contact: Dani Rose, registrar, and Kate Ryan, admissions manager; [email protected]
School Visits: Open mornings take place in September, March and May. Personal tours, experience days and taster days also available
The Curriculum
GCSE through to A levels for all mainstream subjects, including Latin, and an extensive cocurricular programme of over 50 activities.
Sports & The Arts
Outstanding sporting and arts facilities include an all-weather pitch; a 25m swimming pool; six lawn tennis courts; one real tennis court (one of only four schools in the country); three squash courts; a nine-hole golf course; an indoor cycling studio; an indoor sports hall; a gym; a theatre; and an art gallery. Padel courts coming soon.
Pastoral Care
Four boarding houses with live-in housemasters and staff, residential tutors, school counsellor an school chaplain. The community is defined by very strong pastoral care, the nurturing of each individual pupil is at the very heart of school life. The school remains, quite deliberately, small enough that staff know every one of our students in the way that their parents know them. The atmosphere is challenging yet not intimidating, because education at The Oratory happens one student at a time.
University Places
A level grades are above the national averages with the majority of students reaching their first choice university, many of which are Russell Group. Leavers’ destinations in 2025 include Edinburgh, Exeter, Imperial College London, King’s College London, SOAS University of London and Warwick.
Head Teacher’s Philosophy
The Ex Umbris Learning Culture: one of the key features that distinguishes a great school from a mediocre school is a clear learning culture. The school’s founder Saint John Henry Newman’s vision of education was of a holistic process of active engagement in learning that would develop not just the knowledge of facts, but a deeper understanding of reality, wiser judgement, and profound personal flourishing. Ex Umbris aims to keep Newman’s educational vision alive in the twenty-first century.
Outstanding Characteristics
- All-weather pitch
- A dynamic Ex Umbris learning culture
- Inclusive family atmosphere with strong pastoral care
- Smaller school size means that every student is known and valued as an individual
- Situated in a 100-acre Oxfordshire estate providing space to study, play sport or just unwind
- Full, weekly and flexi-boarding available, with excellent transport links to central London (one hour’s drive) and Heathrow (45 minutes’ drive).
- Outstanding sporting tradition
- Padel courts coming soon
