The Dragon School is a
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...
school across two sites in
Oxford
Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town.
The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
, England. The Dragon
Pre-Prep (children aged 4–7) and
Prep School (children aged 8–13) are both co-educational schools. The Dragon Prep School was founded in 1877 as the Oxford Preparatory School. It takes day pupils and
boarders.
Originally established for boys, the Dragon School also accepted a small number of day girls with a close connection to the school, first admitting girls as boarders in 1994. The school educates children aged 4 to 13 in two sites in
North Oxford
North Oxford is a suburban part of the city of Oxford in England. It was owned for many centuries largely by St John's College, Oxford and many of the area's Victorian architecture, Victorian houses were initially sold on leasehold by the co ...
:
Bardwell Road and Richards Lane. Boarding starts at 8 and there are 10 boarding houses, including one
weekly-boarding
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...
house.
Dragon Lane runs along the edge of the school immediately to the west.
History
The school was founded by a committee of Oxford
dons, among whom the most active was a Mr George. In honour of
Saint George
Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...
, the group decided to call themselves Dragons.
Teaching started in September 1877 at rooms in Balliol Hall, located in
St Giles', central Oxford, under A. E. Clarke. The school expanded and moved within two years to 17
Crick Road, which became known as "School House".
Charles Cotterill Lynam (known as the "Skipper") took over as headmaster in 1886.
In 1894, Lynam took out a lease on land at the current site at
Bardwell Road in central
North Oxford
North Oxford is a suburban part of the city of Oxford in England. It was owned for many centuries largely by St John's College, Oxford and many of the area's Victorian architecture, Victorian houses were initially sold on leasehold by the co ...
, just to the west of the
River Cherwell. £4,000 was raised through subscriptions from local parents for the erection of new school buildings and the move was completed within a year. The school was known as Oxford Preparatory School and also Lynam's, but gradually its current name was adopted.
The Dragon School became the second school to take part in the
Harrow History Prize
The Harrow History Prize or the Townsend Warner Preparatory Schools History Prize is an annual history competition for children at British preparatory schools. It currently attracts around 800 entrants each year.
History
The prize was establish ...
in 1895. Over the years, many of its pupils have won this prize, an early winner being Kit Lynam. The school was run for many years by the Lynam family.

The school has become notable for its large number of eminent alumni.
Heads
The following have been Heads of the school, several from the Lynam family:
* A. E. Clarke 1877–1886
*
C. C. Lynam ("Skipper") 1886–1920
* A. E. Lynam ("Hum") 1920–1942
* J. H. R. Lynam ("Joc") 1942–1965
*
R. K. Ingram ("Inky") 1965–1989
* M. W. A. Gover ("Guv") 1972–1989 (head of day pupils, co-headmaster with "Inky")
* N. P. V. Richardson 1989–1992
* H. E. P. Woodcock 1992–1993
* R. S. Trafford 1993–2002
* J. R. Baugh 2002–2017
* Crispin Hyde-Dunn 2017–2021
* Emma Goldsmith 2021–present
Other teachers
*
PJ Wilson, Olympic hockey player
Old Dragons
Former pupils of the Dragon School are referred to as ''Old Dragons''. The following people were pupils at one time:
See also
*
Wychwood School, located at the opposite end of Bardwell Road
References
Further reading
*
James Bruce Lockhart,
Alan Macfarlane
Alan Donald James Macfarlane (born 20 December 1941) is a British anthropologist and historian, and a Professor Emeritus of King's College, Cambridge. He is the author or editor of 20 books and numerous articles on the anthropology and histo ...
, ''Dragon Days: The Dragon School, Oxford, 1949–1955'' (CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2013, )
External links
*
{{Authority control
1877 establishments in England
Educational institutions established in 1877
Schools in Oxford
Boarding schools in Oxfordshire
Co-educational boarding schools
Preparatory schools in Oxfordshire
Private schools in Oxfordshire
*