Summer Fields School

A very warm welcome to Summer Fields. We are a full-boarding and day school for boys aged 4-13, situated in a prime location in the heart of Oxford and within easy reach of London and several airports. We have 70 acres of beautiful grounds and the boys take full advantage of this exceptionally pleasant environment.

At Summer Fields we nurture the boys academically, morally, spiritually and culturally to develop their confidence and sense of independence. In doing so, we help them to discover talents, interests and values that not only prepare them for the next stage of their education, but which stay with them for life.

Summer Fields has an outstanding record of winning awards and scholarships to top public schools like Eton, Harrow, Radley, Stowe and Winchester, among others. This success is dependent upon dedicated teachers who inspire the boys to work with enthusiasm and enjoyment.

We are fully committed to boarding life: there are a vast number of activities on offer and the school’s exceptional facilities provide an ideal setting for the boys to cultivate their talents. The extra-curricular life of the school is active both during free time and in more structured clubs.

It is paramount that every boy is happy and feels secure at school; only then will he be able to engage fully with the academic and extra-curricular activities available. Pastoral Care is embedded into everything we do, and the content and rhythm of every day is arranged with pastoral issues at the forefront.

We aim to provide education of the highest quality, whether it be intellectual, moral, technical or physical. We seek to instil a love of learning in our boys, and we endeavour to offer them the fullest opportunity to stretch the boundaries of their individual ability. The curriculum is varied, stimulating and demanding, but flexible enough to suit the ability of each boy. Self-motivation, an enquiring mind and an eagerness to learn are all cultivated. Most importantly, boys learn how to learn - a skill that lasts a lifetime.

We teach a traditional curriculum, with Common Entrance the ultimate goal for the majority of our pupils. This involves structured teaching in all the core subjects (English, Maths, Science, French, Latin and Humanities), with regular practice in the exams which they will ultimately sit when they approach the end of their time here. However, we intend, in most cases, to go further and wider than the constraints of the exams. Lessons are varied and stimulating, often involving collaboration and pairwork, and always involving challenge and discovery.

Against this backdrop we take every opportunity to open our boys’ minds to other areas of learning: Drama, Art, Music, Sport and PSHE are non-examined subjects which constitute an important part of the curriculum, providing an essential complement to the work in the classroom. We view them as just as important as the core subjects; we aim to prepare boys for life in the 21st century, for lives and careers where creativity, imagination and curiosity will be as important as a clutch of top exam grades.

It is an inevitable fact of senior schools today that most boys will be required to sit assessment tests before they take Common Entrance. These assessments focus on both academic and extra-curricular ability. To prepare boys for these, we run a structured programme of interview practice and familiarisation with the computer-based IQ tests. Our expectation is that boys will enjoy these assessments and will give a good account of themselves; they should certainly have no fear of them!