The COHS school building is part of the Oxford City conservation area and its frontage is considered to significantly enhance the general streetscape of George Street. The University is in charge of its conservation although the building belongs to the City.
The Founder
This is a photograph of Thomas Hill Green whose vision it was to found the School and, as it says on the Plaque shown below, (which can be found to the right of the main door of the School), to complete the ladder of learning from elementary school to university.
The Foundation Stone
The School’s Foundation Stone laid by Prince Leopold, the 8th child and youngest son of Queen Victoria. A haemophiliac, he was to die in 1884 following a fall.
Prince Leopold 1853-1884
The School They Built
Images of proposals from the architectural competition
An early print of the final proposed school
The school today
Interiors
The main staircase
The School Hall
This photograph shows the windowsill where the School Bell was kept. It was rung by the caretaker to signal the change of lessons. Over the years the bell eroded the sill to the extent seen in the photograph.
The School Bell
Exteriors
1930/40 The school playground with the added geography classroom. The old bastion can be seen on the left
The view in May 2013
1960 The same view further down the playground towards the bike sheds and the toilets. A new teaching block can be seen on the left
The view in May 2013
The toilet block today
The old school front garden to the left of the entrance, the site where the master’s house was supposed to have been built (see the Christmas card below and the last paragraph on this page from the school magazine)
The photo corner where many a photo of staff or boys was taken
The prefects’ door
The school mottoes on the front (prefects’) door
The restored clock face
The school mottoes on the stone frontage
The school steps to the main entrance
The school frontage has been photographed many times:
1952: the school frontage with its covering of ivy
A later view with the ivy removed
April 2020
2020
It even figured on a Christmas card one year
