Why Cherwell College Oxford
What a small tutorial college can do that a large sixth form cannot — how we teach, what students get beyond the syllabus
An education built around a student — in the centre of Oxford since 1972.
Highest mark in the world. In the June 2025 series a Cherwell student gained the highest mark in the world in Cambridge International A Level History, recognised with an Outstanding Cambridge Learner Award from Cambridge International Education.
The examination board is chosen for the student, not the year group. Different boards emphasise different periods and skills. In a large cohort the board is fixed for everyone; here it is selected around an individual’s interests and strengths.
The Principal chairs the ATOM Festival of Science and Technology. Which is why students have heard Professor Brian Cox and Professor Frank Close speak — and have spoken with them afterwards. One student came away with a direct contact.
Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship Bootcamp. Run with UC Berkeley’s Sutardja Center at Keble College, Oxford, and open to participants worldwide rather than only to our own students.
Oxford Union membership for every full-time student: debates, weekly workshops and library access.
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How we teach
One-to-one tutorials and small groups. Not “small classes” — genuinely individual teaching, agreed at interview and shaped around each student’s examination board and specific gaps.
Dialogue rather than delivery. Question, discuss, investigate, argue. Socratic in method, which develops critical thinking rather than recall.
A programme that begins with a diagnosis. Which topics, which papers, which examination skills cost the marks — and then the year is built around that rather than repeated identically.
Monthly written reports from every subject tutor, so that parents can intervene in October rather than in May.
Regular progress tests and mock examinations under timed conditions — particularly important for students whose results have not reflected their ability.
Entry at points in the year a conventional sixth form cannot manage, because teaching is individual rather than class-based.
Programmes
Two-year A Level — the traditional route, at a pace that allows a student to grow into the subject.
One-year Fast Track A Level — two years compressed into one, for academically mature students. We say honestly that it is not right for most, and assess background and English before offering a place.
Retake courses — full-year programmes rebuilding subject knowledge, confidence and examination technique.
Grade Booster courses — one or two terms, targeting specific papers and units.
University reapplication support, including for Medicine, Law and Architecture.
Oxbridge and university preparation — course and college choice, personal statement, written work, admissions tests and mock interviews with detailed feedback.
Easter Revision — running for over four decades; among the first in Oxford to pioneer structured revision.
Oxford as part of the education
Frewin Court, in the centre of the city and adjacent to the Oxford Union.
Lectures from world-class scientists and thinkers — and conversations with them afterwards.
Oxford’s libraries, museums and galleries, including the new Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities.
Forums and conferences which students help to prepare rather than simply attend.
Structure to the weekends. Exhibitions, sport, May Day at dawn. As one student put it, at his previous school you did not really go out and do things.
Cultural visits — Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, Oxford colleges, Blenheim Palace, museums and theatres.
Boarding and care
Cherwell House — purpose-built residence a short walk from the study centre.
Facilities: single en-suite study bedrooms, full-board catering, weekly housekeeping with linen and towels, laundry, medical room, common area, garden, bicycle storage and Wi-Fi.
Safeguarding: the Designated Safeguarding Lead is the head of boarding, supported by a deputy DSL from the leadership team and a nominated board member. Annual training including Prevent duty training.
Boarding is overseen by the Vice-Principal, with weekly meetings with house staff and regular meetings with boarders.
One of the residential house parents is a qualified nurse.
Trust and transparency
Founded 1972 — more than fifty years in the centre of Oxford.
Independently inspected. At its November 2024 inspection the Independent Schools Inspectorate found that all standards relating to the quality of education, training and recreation are met, and recorded that each pupil’s timetable is personalised. Reports are published in full on our policies page.
Member of CIFE.
University destinations published in full.
We say when a programme is not right for a student. Turning down someone who would struggle is not lost revenue; it is the job.
What happens to the person
Students leave more independent than they arrived. In a large boarding school the system manages them; here they manage their own timetable.
They study alongside people at a different stage of life — undergraduates and university students, through the Oxford Union.
They research because they want to know. One group made a film about the Fermi paradox after a lecture. Nobody set it as an assignment — which is the measure of enrichment worth using.
They arrive uncertain and leave with a direction they chose themselves.
Read our Vice-Principal on what a small college can do that a large school cannot, or explore our two-year A-level programme and university and Oxbridge preparation.
To discuss a place, register your interest or telephone +44 (0) 1865 242670.
