About
'Be you. Become more' at
The Oratory
Much of this formation of the whole person is made possible by our size. We are big enough to have established our own route to academic success – The Oratory Ex Umbris Learning Culture – which goes well beyond preparation for exams to preparation for a life of curiosity and exploration. We are big enough to offer an impressive, high performing array of teams in many sports and to have a top flight co-curricular programme. For example, as well as all the major sports, we play Real Tennis and golf, we row, we fence, we hike. Therefore, unsurprisingly, we have an enviable reputation within our sector. And yet we remain, quite deliberately, small enough that we can know every one of our students in the way that their parents know them – the hopes and fears, the enthusiasms and trepidations. We have created an atmosphere that is challenging yet not intimidating, because education here happens one student at a time.
We are not, and do not aspire to be an academic hothouse. Think of us more as a greenhouse, where growth and flourishing happen naturally in a place of joy and safety. Walk around our hundred acres overlooking the beautiful Oxfordshire countryside. We think you will find it to be a place with a profound capacity for happiness. That is why our students perform beyond expectation. We add to their lives. We make them more. Put simply, that’s our job.
The Oratory. Be you. Become more.
Values
Our educational philosophy is underpinned by the values of :
- Curiosity
- Confidence
- Endeavour
- Integrity
- Joy
- Kindness
- Respect
These core values are shared by every member of the Oratory community, shaping who we are and what we do.
Cor ad Cor Loquitur
'Heart Speaks to Heart'
An Oratory education is an education for life
We are really proud of our broad and rich curriculum and strong exam results; however, an Oratory education is about developing our young people in a much wider sense than exam results alone can demonstrate. There is 'something deeper' in an Oratory education - hard to define but undeniable - by virtue of its unique ethos and history as the only school founded by arguably the greatest educational thinker of the Victorian age, Saint John Henry Newman.
An Oratory education gives our young people every opportunity to draw out and find their individual innate gifts and qualities, and instils in them a sense of joy and a genuine love of learning. At The Oratory everyone will find their place to excel.
As a Catholic school that welcomes pupils of all faiths or none, visitors often comment on the inclusive family atmosphere of our school, and it is this supportive environment and our strong pastoral care that nurtures the confidence, self-expression, and resilience that are vital for success and happiness in the world of today.
By the time they leave the school at the end of Sixth Form, having reached their academic potential, the majority of our pupils gain entry to their first choice of university, including many Russell Group universities. Our pupils leave the school as confident young adults, equipped not only with a well-rounded education, but also with a thirst for further learning, a strong moral compass, and lifelong friends.
"We chose The Oratory as a small nurturing school where the individual really matters."
An Oratory Parent