History
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', central Oxford. 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 Sir Thomas Graham Jackson, just south of the location of another Jackson building, the Acland Nursing Home.
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. The junior section was opened in 1989 and further expanded in the 1990s to meet the growing demand. 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.
In 2001, the school was threatened with a lawsuit by the Freud family, who accused the administration of excluding their daughter because her academic results were not of a high enough standard, when the junior school refused her admittance to the Senior Department.
Although priding itself on high academic standards, the High has been criticised for putting too much emphasis on its standing in league tables and not giving enough support to pupils who have chosen not to go on to study a traditionally academic subject at Oxbridge.
Read more about this topic: Oxford High School (Oxford)
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