SE Music Conference 2022

A History of St Edward’s

St Edward’s is an independent, co-educational boarding and day school for girls and boys aged 13-18. Known colloquially as ‘Teddies’, the school was founded in 1863 by the Reverend Thomas Chamberlain, occupying buildings on Oxford’s New Inn Hall Street before moving to Summertown in 1873. The Warden at the time, Algernon Barrington Simeon, had grand dreams for the school and the original Victorian Gothic buildings were built around the second largest quad in Oxford after Christ Church. The school has changed radically since its early days, when it primarily educated the sons of middle-class clergy. Teddies is now at the forefront of inclusive co-education. Having taken the first girl into the Sixth Form in 1982 we have now been fully co-educational for 25 years. Underlying everything we do at Teddies is our mission to prepare our pupils for the rest of their lives by encouraging their passions and talents, enabling them to discover new ones and supporting them to achieve their own potential. Our community fizzes with diverse interests and enthusiasms, and our academic excellence means 90% of our top pupils gain the highest grades in their Sixth Form exams and take up places at the world’s best universities.

We are one of the few boarding schools in the UK to be lucky enough to be part of a vibrant university city and we make the most of our location - our pupils have access to lectures from world-class academics and opportunities to explore the city’s colleges, museums and theatres. The school itself has over 100 acres of grounds which include the Ogston Music School, The North Wall Arts Centre and, the newest additions to our original quad, the Christie Centre, a suite of modern and flexible classroom and study spaces topped with the collegiate-style Roe Reading Room, and our 1,000-seater Olivier Hall. www.stedwardsoxford.org

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