Our School's History

A Brief History of our School

West Oxford Council School opened on January 14th 1914 and has been continuously providing education for children from the local area.  The school's arrival was recorded in the Oxford Journal Illustrated newspaper with the briefest of captions:

'The West Oxford Council Schools, built to replace the St Frideswide's Schools, have been completed and are of a most up-to-date character.'

The previous school, which had operated for 40 years, had become extremely run down, with an inspector's report describing in 1912 as it has having a leaky roof and windows and a set of rafters having collapsed whilst children were on site.

Once built, the school originally catered for infant pupils (4 to 7yrs) on the ground floor and older girls on the first floor.   Boys went to a separate school, which was built on Helen Road in 1905. 

Initially there were 350 girls enrolled at the school but by 1956 numbers had dropped so much that the building was turned into two separate schools.  A secondary modern on the first floor used for teaching senior girls, whilst boys from the now closing boys school were taught alongside the infant and junior pupils on the ground floor.  The school renamed itself West Oxford County Primary School.

By 1963 the secondary school fully closed and the school became a junior school.  In 1971 the school gained 56 new pupils after a nearby school closed, adding a nursery class, three infant classes as well as now 2 junior classes.

In 1976 the school briefly changed its name to West Oxford County First School, with pupils finishing school at 9 years old, before moving back, two years later, to teach 5-11 year olds again, returning to the previous name of West Oxford County Primary School.  It wasn’t until 1999 that the school settled on its current name of West Oxford Community Primary School.

The school when it was first completed in January 1914. Click here to read the newspaper description of the school upon its opening.

Headteachers

Over the years there have only been 9 headteachers at the school who have overseen over a century of societal, technological and educational change. 

Melville Summers in the hall at his leaving celebration 1981

Mike Jenkins preparing for a teacher and parent sponsored slim in 1987!

Alongside these, there have been countless life-changing teachers, teaching assistants, site managers and cooks, who have shaped the lives and built memories for tens of thousands of children.

We have a wealth of history linked to our unique school and regularly hope to update this page with interesting historical facts, pictures and stories. 

Christmas Play in the school hall, 1928