If these responses fail to answer yours, please get in touch by calling our Prep Marketing and Admissions Registrar on 01865 478655 or emailing admissions@oxf.gdst.net.
What are the class sizes?
On average, class sizes are around 16. We seek to keep class sizes under 20.
Do you have a House system?
We do have a House system comprising of four Houses (Unicorn, Wyvern, Yale and Griffin), with all pupils allocated to a House. Girls are able to earn House Points and these are displayed as a live tally on the screens at both sites. The winning House is declared at the end of each term.
Each House has two House Captains appointed from the Year 6 cohort, and they run House meetings termly or twice termly at the Prep site.
Do you have a breakfast club/after school care?
Breakfast Club and After School Care are available from Reception to Year 6.
Breakfast Club is held on both sites from 07:30
After School Care is held at the Prep site from 15:45. Children from the Pre-Prep are taken over to the Prep site by minibus each day. After School Care runs until 18:00 and is staffed and managed by SuperClubs, with snacks and various activities provided.
For more information on our wrap-around care provision, please click here.
What sports do the girls play?
Sport provision is split into single P.E. lessons, longer outdoor games, games sessions and swimming.
The PE lessons cover dance, gymnastics, cricket, and fitness.
The outdoor games sessions cover football, netball, and hockey. Children in Year 1 and 2 swim every week for the duration of the academic year.
Children in Year 3 to 6 swim once a week until the end of the Spring Term, and then this converts to athletics in the Summer Term.
Girls in Reception have a games session for Autumn and Spring Terms which converts to swimming in the Summer Term. The swimming takes place at the Senior School indoor pool.
What music provision do you have?
All classes are timetabled one music lesson once a week, and each year group has a 30-minute choir session once a week.
We have an array of music ensembles such as wind band, strings group and the chamber choir, with weekly group practice sessions before or after school.
Additionally, our peripatetic music teachers provide expert private tuition during the school day.
Do you offer trips?
Every year group has a trip at least once a term. There are a range of trips that link with topics currently being studied – for example, Year 5 usually go to the Black Country Museum as part of their History lesson. We are very lucky to be in Oxford with museums, colleges and theatres in such proximity that caters for many trips. We do go further afield such as to the National Space Centre in Leicester, attending a forensic workshop in Bristol or seeing an orchestra in Birmingham.
Year 5 and Year 6 have a residential excursion in the Summer Term with Year 5 away for four days to an outward-bound centre and Year 6 enjoy a week sleeping in the woods with The Bushcraft Company.
Do you have clubs?
We have a host of clubs varying from ballet and yoga to German and board games club. Whatever your daughter’s interests are, there is a club for her – be it linguistic, sporting or creative, with instrumental and choral ensembles that highlight her proficiency in the performing arts. Clubs take place either during the lunch break or after school. Some of these clubs need to be paid for and bookings are made at the start of each term.
What languages are studied?
All Prep and Pre-Prep girls have specialist Mandarin lessons every week. Each year group also has weekly Global Studies lessons where they focus on a different country each term, studying the country’s culture and language.
Do they do Art?
All girls have specialist Art lessons every week with the Art teacher.
Do they get homework?
The girls have a small amount of homework which focuses on the core subjects. We encourage the girls to read at home daily.