Number of pupils. 338 (189 boys, 149 girls), including 40 full, weekly or flexi-boarders.
Fees per term (from January 2025). Boarders: £10,189 (weekly); £12,045 (full). Day: Senior Prep (Years 5–8) £7,325; Junior Prep (Reception–Year 2) £4,067; (Years 3 & 4) £7,062. All fees inclusive of VAT. Visit our website to view a full breakdown of the fees for Nursery, Kindergarten and Pre-Reception.
We provide an enriched education to boys and girls aged 2–13. Set within 65 acres of Oxfordshire countryside with outstanding facilities, we nurture happy, balanced, confident and inquisitive children. Our commitment to the pastoral care, wellbeing and all-round development of each child, with an ethos of broad-minded and inclusive learning, is at the core of our education. We strive to strike a balance between encouraging children to step out of their comfort zone, seek adventure and develop resilience, while ensuring they feel stretched, fulfilled, secure and supported in being the very best that they can be.
Academic challenges and pursuits combined with self-expression through sport, music, art and drama are central to the confidence and self-discovery of our children and equip them with essential skills for life beyond school. In all that we do and teach, our children grow and learn under our founder St John Henry Newman’s, motto ‘Cor Ad Cor Loquitur’ [Heart speaks to Heart]; encouraging our children to model the key values of compassion, humility and forgiveness. Such values, including our school virtues: Curiosity, Kindness and Wisdom, are at the heart of our education, shaping the moral awareness and convictions of our pupils.
Pupils become ambitious and independent learners, immersed in a skills-based, thematic curriculum, meaningful and highly relevant to their everyday experiences and life beyond school. We enable our children to make connections across subjects and think more deeply about their significance, applying their learning across different contexts and developing core, transferable skills, such as critical thinking and strong reasoning skills, to judge the value of ideas and knowledge presented to them. This includes Forest School from the age of two, science experiments in our woodlands and art classes in our gardens.
The school boasts an Astroturf for an array of sporting fixtures. The 25-metre indoor swimming pool for Year 3 upwards is the venue for galas and a starting point for Mini-Triathlons. The smaller pool for children from Kindergarten upwards allows for weekly lessons.
The children have so many opportunities to discover themselves and their talents through our after-school activities programme. Running on Saturdays during term time, The Newman Programme is open to pupils in Year 5 upwards and is designed to further develop skills in leadership, collaboration and critical thinking. Modules range from entrepreneurship and presentation skills to Artistic Hour, Yoga and Podcast Club.
The school’s Boarding House has a mix of nationalities with pupils in Year 3 upwards from China, Spain, France and Nigeria.
The Oratory Prep School is part of Bellevue Education (www.blvue.com).