Sofia holding her debut novel Streddatope: The Exiled Shadow

Introducing our Year 8 published author

March 8, 2023

Congratulations to Sofia Gianni in year 8 who recently published…

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Author Lily Bailey visits Cheney

Cheney welcomes the author Lily Bailey

January 23, 2023

On Friday 20th January, we were delighted to welcome Lily…

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David C, Laurie B and Theo GJ on the 'thrones' at the head of the debating chamber

Year Nine Debaters join 8 other schools at the Oxford Union Debate Competition

February 2, 2023

On Saturday 21st January our four Cheney teams of Year…

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A message from our Headteacher, Mr Rob Pavey

Cheney School has been part of the life and education of Oxford since 1797.

We are a school: we will educate a new generation to view the world critically, make their own decisions, and act in a way that benefits the wider community, not just themselves. This is summed up in our motto, “think for yourself, act for others”

Cheney is a genuinely comprehensive school, in the best sense of the term, with a fully inclusive intake, which represents not just our catchment area, but also modern Britain. The ideals of the comprehensive movement have been met in Cheney, in a way that is very rare.

We value creativity over conformity; education over league tables; the needs of students over data; self-discipline over sanctions; nuance over simplification; curiosity over acceptance; honesty over reassurance; the judgement of our community over the judgement of the official world. We value emotional intelligence equally to academic intelligence; well-being equally to success; self-knowledge to factual knowledge; humanity to rigour.

This is not to say that the things we value less are worthless; in their place, and in their time, quite the reverse. In fact, we believe that if we get the first things right, the second will follow.

Cheney is very fortunate to be the only school in the UK which has its own museum spread throughout its site. The Rumble Museum, which is a unique partnership with The Iris Project educational charity, works within the Arts Council Museum Accreditation Scheme and contains over 200 artefacts

Educating and supporting our students is the work of a  team of dedicated and skilled teachers and support staff.  I invite parents and carers who wish to recognise this work to complete our simple "Thank someone at Cheney" form:

https://forms.gle/GZxi6weX2t33D1nJA

Mr Rob Pavey
Head of School