Interactive Tour
View the layout of Oakham School here with our interactive map. There are four sites to explore, Oakham School, Upper School, Lower School and the Wilson Playing Fields. Please navigate around the site maps and click on each hotspot to access more information.
Main School Campus
Farside Playing Fields & Hockey Astros
Additional playing fields for rugby and athletics, as well as netball and tennis courts, and two hockey astro pitches can be found in this area of the School.
CCF Headquarters
Originally established as the Officer Training Corps (OTC) in 1910, Oakham School has a long and proud history of cadet training. The Combined Cadet Force (CCF), as it is now known, incorporating Army and RAF sections, forms a core part of Oakham’s total curriculum. Pupils learn skills such as teamwork, leadership, self-reliance, resourcefulness and responsibility through its structured, military themed and adventurous activities programme.
Over the course of the CCF Programme, pupils typically learn about weapon handling and safety, field craft and First Aid. They can also learn to shoot in our outstanding indoor shooting range.
BAFS Cricket Pavilion
Overlooking Doncaster Close, BAFS Cricket Pavilion provides changing facilities, a viewing platform, and a 100-seat dining area with kitchen for sporting events, most notably cricket matches.
It is also a popular venue for other functions, including informal talks, drinks receptions and alumni reunions.
Boys' Day Houses Barrow & Clipsham
Our two Middle School Boys Day Houses – Barrow and Clipsham – provide an excellent base for 13–17 year olds as they go about their busy lives.
Day pupils at Oakham are very much part of our 24/7 boarding environment, and benefit from the same extensive programme of activities and opportunities as our boarders.
The Houses are open every day from 7.30am–7.30pm, allowing flexibility for working families, with the Housemaster and his team, including a Day Matron, on hand to help the boys with their day-to-day needs. The Houses have large common rooms, a kitchen, many different areas for quiet work, including a study base for each pupil, and changing facilities. All Houses have space outdoors where the students can relax and let off steam.
Because of the range of activities on offer, pupils sometimes end up starting and finishing the day at different times, depending on which event or club they are taking part in. Day pupils may therefore opt to arrive for breakfast and stay on for supper and prep if they need to be in School for evening and weekend events at no extra charge. This free service provides invaluable flexibility at the beginning and end of the school day.
Girls' Day Houses Gunthorpe & Hambleton
Our two Middle School Girls Day Houses – Gunthorpe and Hambleton – provide an excellent base for 13–17 year olds as they go about their busy lives.
Day pupils at Oakham are very much part of our 24/7 boarding environment, and benefit from the same extensive programme of activities and opportunities as our boarders.
The Houses are open every day from 7.30am–7.30pm, allowing flexibility for working families, with the Housemistress and her team, including a Day Matron, on hand to help the girls with their day-to-day needs. The Houses have large common rooms, a kitchen, many different areas for quiet work, including a study base for each pupil, and changing facilities. All Houses have space outdoors where the students can relax and let off steam.
Because of the range of activities on offer, pupils sometimes end up starting and finishing the day at different times, depending on which event or club they are taking part in. Day pupils may therefore opt to arrive for breakfast and stay on for supper and prep if they need to be in School for evening and weekend events at no extra charge. This free service provides invaluable flexibility at the beginning and end of the school day.
Girls' Boarding Houses
The three Middle School Girls Boarding Houses – Buchanans and Rushebrookes for full boarders and Stevens for flexi-boarders – offer comfortable, well-appointed accommodation, designed to be a home from home for 13–17 year olds.
All Boarding Houses have well-equipped study areas, large sitting rooms with relaxing sofas and chairs, TVs, DVDs, Wi-Fi and games, and kitchens stocked with fresh fruit, snacks and hot drinks. Most study bedrooms are twins and tor the oldest pupils single rooms are available.
Each House has its own outdoor space for pupils to enjoy, as well as being close to the playing fields and wider facilities offered by the campus.
Each House is also home to the Housemistress and her family, so the girls are very much part of their extended family. The Housemistress is supported by two Resident Tutors, a Matron, and tutors who do evening duties in House, in addition to their work with their tutor group.
Sports Centre
Refurbished in 2017, our Sports Centre provides a wide variety of fitness facilities for pupils and staff to enjoy. It contains a 25-metre indoor swimming pool, a fitness studio for yoga and pilates, a strength and conditioning room, a gym, squash courts, fives courts and a viewing balcony.
Private membership of the Oakham Leisure Club is also available.
Doncaster Close & Playing Fields
Named after Dr Doncaster, a former Headmaster at Oakham, the Doncaster Close Playing Fields are where 1st XV rugby and 1st XI cricket fixtures are held. Such is the quality of the grounds that Leicester Tigers regularly hold training sessions on these pictches and County Cricket matches take place here.
Boys' Boarding Houses (Chapmans, Haywoods)
The three Middle School Boys Boarding Houses – Chapmans and Haywoods for full boarders and Wharflands for flexi-boarders – offer comfortable, well-appointed accommodation, designed to be a home from home for 13–17 year olds.
All Boarding Houses have well-equipped study areas, large sitting rooms with relaxing sofas and chairs, TVs, DVDs, Wi-Fi and games, and kitchens stocked with fresh fruit, snacks and hot drinks. Most study bedrooms are twins and tor the oldest pupils single rooms are available.
Each House has its own outdoor space for pupils to enjoy, as well as being close to the playing fields and wider facilities offered by the campus.
Each House is also home to the Housemaster and his family, so the boys are very much part of their extended family. The Housemaster is supported by two Resident Tutors, a Matron, and tutors who do evening duties in House, in addition to their work with their tutor group.
Mehra Faculty of Science
The Mehra Faculty of Science provides stimulating teaching spaces to educate and inspire our future scientists. The well-resourced Biology, Chemistry and Physics Departments are housed under the same roof with their teams of specialist teachers and technicians.
Jerwood School of Design
The Jerwood School of Design is a purpose-built £2 million facility that contains cutting edge equipment, including CREO 8.0 CAD software, 10 3D Rapid Prototype Printers, and an extensive range of CNC machinery. As well as large workshops for pupils to work with wood, metal and plastic, there are also studios dedicated to computer-aided design and to electronics.
The Design Technology Department is open for pupils to use beyond their timetabled lessons with activities on offer to pupils of all ages as part of the wider Activities Programme. It is also open at the weekends for older pupils to work further on their coursework.
Richard Bull Art & Design Centre
The Richard Bull Art and Design Centre is home to the Art Department with six dedicated studios and workshops for Art, Sculpture, and Textiles. Within the complex is the Wheelhouse Art Gallery, which hosts exhibitions by students and visiting artists and is open to the public. This 18th century building, with its fine stone floor and full height windows, was transformed into a dedicated exhibition space for the School in 2015. The Art Department is open for pupils to use beyond their timetabled lessons with activities on offer to pupils of all ages as part of the wider Activities Programme. It is also open at the weekends for older pupils to work further on their coursework.
Barraclough Dining Hall
An extensive choice of food is served in the Barraclough Dining Hall to cater for all dietary requirements. The School benefits from two dining areas, where everyone – pupils and staff alike – comes together to share the day’s experiences.
Our experienced team of catering staff care about giving pupils a balanced, nutritious diet. They understand children’s palates and enjoy finding new recipes to fit into their seasonal menus.
Pupils can choose from a wide selection of food at every mealtime, most of which is sourced locally. From breakfast, through to lunch, match teas, House snacks and then dinner, there’s always lots of choice. There is a sandwich bar, a pasta bar, a daily choice of different hot dishes, a salad bar, a daily hot vegetarian dish – there is something for everyone.
Queen Elizabeth Theatre (QET)
Opened by the Queen in 1984 to celebrate the School’s Quatercentenary, the QET is a 230-seater professionally fitted theatre. It stages five major productions each year – from full-scale musical productions to more intimate theatrical pieces, from Shakespeare to contemporary classics. The theatre and its surrounding rehearsal spaces also host an eclectic line-up of pupils’ own experimental pieces.
In addition to our dance curriculum lessons, we offer free dance classes to pupils of all ages in The Courtyard, our purpose-built dance studio.
Music School
Our nationally acclaimed Music School sees over 500 individual music lessons and rehearsals for 20 different ensembles take place there each week.
Over half the children in the School play in one of our ensembles – choirs, bands and orchestras – and musical theatre in collaboration with the Drama Department. and they perform in 80 concerts each year with international tours.
Main Teaching & Learning Facilities
The bulk of the School’s academic teaching takes place within this complex of buildings. The state-of-the-art Faculty of Social Sciences is the most recent addition, opened in 2017. English, Maths and History are taught in the Merton Building, named after Old Oakhamian Thomas Merton, who was an author, scholar and theologian in the 1930s.
Geography and Religion and Philosophy are taught in the Johnson Building, named after the School’s Founder, Archdeacon Robert Johnson. Modern and Classical Languages are taught in the Ashburton Building, named in honour of the School’s Shooting team winning the coveted Ashburton Shield at Bisley in 1965.
Medical & Pastoral Centre
Opened in 2017, our Medical and Pastoral Centre is a purpose-built facility providing for the well-being of our pupils and staff. Staffed by a team of senior nurses with the support of a local doctor’s surgery, the team are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In addition to the medical staff, we have a clinical psychologist and two mental health practitioners who, together with our admin staff, make up the medical centre team.
There are 3 consulting rooms, and a large treatment room. If students are too unwell to be in House, they are able to be cared for in one of the ensuite bedrooms overnight by a nurse.
1584
Located on Station Road, 1584 is a new social space on the site of the old School Shop serving hot and cold drinks, cakes and pastries. It is open Mondays to Saturdays for the whole Oakham School community to enjoy. The perfect place to meet and work quietly, collaboratively or independently.
Smallbone Library & Careers Department
Opened in 1995, our university-standard library covers 2,400 square metres over two floors, and houses in excess of 30,000 books (20,000 non-fiction and 10,000 fiction titles), complemented by a wide range of periodicals and online resources,
The Upper Library includes a dedicated room for the teaching of research skills and library-based lessons, while the Lower Library includes a seminar room with a Harkness table around which pupils and staff can discuss ideas in an open-minded and encouraging environment.
The Careers Department is situated at the far end of the Lower Library. Here our full-time Head of Careers and Higher Education, together with her 12-strong team, deliver an impressive in-house careers programme with the latest advice and guidance on career options, work experience, and admissions procedures to universities.
Old School
The original School building dating from 1584, Old School was restored in the eighteenth century and remained the sole classroom for 300 years. It is still in use today for exams, drama rehearsals and productions. Inside Old School there are beautiful frescos, painted by the sister of W.L ‘Tom’ Sargant, Headmaster 1902–1929, which depict the story of Gareth and Lynette, probably taken from Tennyson’s ‘Idylls of the King’. They remain in situ and are protected by shutters.
Wilson Auditorium
Located within the Mehra Faculty of Science, the Wilson Auditorium is a lecture theatre seating up to 250, featuring the most up-to-date audio-visual equipment. From acclaimed authors to notable historians, eminent scientists to leading health practitioners, an impressive array of visiting speakers give talks to our pupils, parents and staff in this venue.
Upper School
Round House
Round House is home to all final year (Form 7) girls, both boarding and day. The buildings provide a combination of traditional and modern accommodation for the senior girls, who are cared for and guided by a Boarding Housemistress and Day Housemistress and their team of staff who are expertly trained to support girls of this age. This team includes a Matron, Resident Tutors and additional tutors.
The aim is to create an informal atmosphere in House where the girls enjoy greater independence and privileges than in younger years, as a preparation for life beyond School.
Round House has excellent facilities both for work and play. Accommodation for boarders and flexi-boarders is in a mix of double and single study rooms, with studies for all day girls. Each of the four buildings is equipped with plenty of bathroom facilities and either a full stocked kitchen or kitchenette area. Every girl has her own dedicated study area and in addition, there are many different pockets of space throughout the House suited to groupwork or silent study, including a computer room. The Common Room boasts a state-of-the-art cinema projection screen providing Sky TV and DVD, a balconied library housing over 250 books ranging from classics to modern fiction, and a huge space filled with homely sofas and cushions enabling the girls to relax in comfort during their free time.
College House, OO Club and Archives
Over the years this former vicarage has been home variously to the San (Medical Centre) and Sixth Form Scholars. The Old Oakhamian (OO) Club, which looks after our alumni organising reunions and help with careers, can now be found within its walls, together with the Oakham School Archives. The Archives house a fascinating collection of items relating to Oakham School’s rich history, including: photos, essays, past editions of the Oakhamian magazine and items of school uniform.
Chapel
Built in 1924 as a memorial to the 68 Old Oakhamians who died in the First World War, our beautiful Chapel is the focal point of community worship at School. The names of the 68 are listed in the Chapel entrance and a memorial to the 83 OOs who lost their lives in World War II is in the vestibule.
Our School motto is also engraved in the entrance: Et quasi cursores vitai lampada tradunt – ‘Like runners they pass on the torch of life’.
As well as holding regular Chapel services for all pupils, Chapel also provides the setting for the weekly Congregational practice or ‘Congo’, as it is affectionately known. This hymn-singing practice is a great informal opportunity for pupils of all Houses to come together on a regular basis.
School House
Rebuilt in 1858, School House is the oldest House at Oakham School. The beautiful Victorian buildings are home to all Form 7 boys in their final year at Oakham, both day and boarding. The combination of traditional and modern facilities, together with a team of staff – a Boarding Housemaster and Day Housemaster, Matron, Resident Tutor, and additional tutors – who are expertly trained to support boys of this age, offer the perfect environment for our oldest pupils to live and work together as a preparation for life beyond Oakham.
School House has two kitchens, where boys can prepare meals, a common room with a pool table, a projection screen for TV and DVDs, and an entrance hall with table football and daily newspapers. The boarders have single study bedrooms and flexi-boarders are in shared doubles. Day boys can work in one of the seven day rooms spread throughout the House.
Chapel Close and Reception
Chapel Close dates back to the 17th century and until 1987, much of upstairs was used for staff accommodation as well as the Headmaster’s study, which is in the same location as today. In 1989, the building was extended to include the School reception and several meeting rooms, as the number of visitors increased. Also housed at Chapel Close now are the Admissions department and offices for several members of the Senior Leadership Team
Lower School
Lower School 'Out Back' Play Area
The grassed area at the back of the Lower School Jerwoods campus, fondly known as ‘Out Back’, offers a spacious and safe outdoor area, including an all-weather court, in which pupils can let off steam at break times.
Lower School Teaching and Learning
Lower 1 (age 10) pupils follow a timetable that is grounded in primary teaching and each class has a primary specialist class teacher and a classroom base on the Jerwoods campus.
Subject specialists teach Form 1 (age 11) in a dedicated suite of classrooms on the Lower School campus, with pupils in both year groups benefiting from the wider facilities of the School for the Creative and Performing Arts subjects, PE, and Science.
In preparation for their transition to the Middle School, Form 2 pupils have all their lessons in the wider school campus.
Lower School Houses and Boarding
The Lower School Jerwoods campus provides a homely haven in which our youngest pupils, aged 10–12, can live, work and play, within easy reach of the facilities and opportunities provided by the wider School campus.
Each pupil joins one of our four Lower School Houses: Peterborough and Sargants (boys); Ancaster and Lincoln (girls). Each House is led by a Housemaster/Housemistress and his/her team of tutors, plus Day Matron, and offers well-equipped study areas, a large sitting room with relaxing sofas and chairs, TVs and other entertainment, and changing rooms.
At the end of the school day, all pupils go to their respective homes; day pupils go home to their parents and guardians, whilst boarders transfer to the care of Head of Lower School Boarding, Matthew Powell and his team in the comfortable and homely surroundings of Hodges, which is also situated on the Jerwoods campus.
Wilson Fields
Wilson Playing Fields
Additional playing fields with a pavilion that provides changing rooms and a refreshments area are located about a 10-minute walk from Schanschieffs Main School Car Park.
