Abingdon School

A level 2023 - 90% grade A* to B

GCSE 2023 - 81% grade 9 to 7

Abingdon combines over 750 years of history and tradition with a modern outlook.  It offers day and boarding with the senior school housing around 1070 students aged 11 to 18, of whom 360 are in the sixth form, and approximately 130 are boarders. There is also a preparatory school at Frilford, near Abingdon, for 215 students aged 4 - 13. The two establishments together form the Abingdon Foundation, an independent charity, governed according to a scheme approved by the Charity Commissioners. Full particulars can be found in the Independent Schools Year Book.

The School stands in beautiful grounds close to the centre of Abingdon, six miles south of Oxford. Day students are drawn from a region that includes the University and City of Oxford, a number of large scientific establishments such as those at Harwell and Culham, and a wide area of the Upper Thames Valley and the Berkshire Downs. A wider region supplies weekly boarders, and there is a thriving international community of full boarders.

Students are selected for entry by examination, and the curriculum is geared towards the academic pupil. The expectation is that the vast majority of students who enter the school proceed to university, with a significant number winning places at Oxford and Cambridge every year.

The School has developed considerably over the last half-century, and has benefitted from a major building programme, including a new arts centre and a multi-million pound sports centre. Recent additions include a superb science centre housing 21 teaching labs and a new sixth form centre, a library and art facilities which opened in 2018. Autumn 2020 saw the Computer Science and Business & Economics departments move into a purpose built new three-story building. New and refurbished boarding facilities as well as a flexible new dining pavilion were completed in Autumn 2023.

The strength of the teaching staff is seen as the key to Abingdon’s continuing success.  The Head seeks recruits of the highest possible standard, with a powerful professional vision and who are prepared to exert themselves wholeheartedly for the benefit of their pupils and the School.