Longer Reads – The City of Oxford High School for Boys

13 March 20263 August 2026

Nixon’s School: A Precursor

From THE CITY OF OXFORD HIGH SCHOOL MAGAZINE VoL. LVI, ii March 1964 no 180

From Ian (Spud) Taylor

The Reformation had led to the establishment of grammar schools in many sizeable towns in England but not in Oxford. Wolsey, who had bestowed such liberality on Christ Church, had preferred to build a school in his native Ipswich. Yet, as time went on, it became apparent that neither Magdalen Grammar School, incorporated as it was within the walls and community of the College, nor the choir schools of New College and Christ Church by concentrating on their primary purpose were meeting the needs of many local boys.

11 March 20263 August 2026

Lord Salter (1890-99)

From THE CITY OF OXFORD HIGH SCHOOL MAGAZINE VoL. LIII, ii MARCH 1961 No. 171

Lord Salter, after whom Salter House was named, was at the School from 1890-99, and was the first Treasurer of the Old Boys Club between 1903 and 1906.

9 March 20263 August 2026

The School Magazine: End of an Experiment

THE CITY OF OXFORD HIGH SCHOOL MAGAZINE VoL. LVIII, iii JULY 1966 No. 186

A Tribute by FC Lay (1908-1915) and Headmaster (1944-1962): ‘The Headmaster [R. W. Bodey] has kindly invited me to add my tribute to the value of the MAGAZINE throughout its sixty-three years of life.‘

The Magazine

2 March 202610 September 2026

Impressions d’Angleterre

THE CITY OF OXFORD HIGH SCHOOL MAGAZINE VoL. LV, iii JULY 1963 No. 178

C’est avec un grand plaisir que j’ai accepté d’écrire ces quelques lignes à la veille de repartir pour mon pays.

23 February 20263 August 2026

Sir Thomas Graham Jackson

From THE CITY OF OXFORD HIGH SCHOOL MAGAZINE VoL. LVIII, ii April 1966 no 185

Ian Taylor writes:

18 February 20263 August 2026

The Site of the School

From THE CITY OF OXFORD HIGH SCHOOL MAGAZINE Vol XLVIII,ii MARCH 1956 No 156

Ian (Spud) Taylor writes:

14 February 20264 August 2026

March 1959 Future of the School

From THE CITY OF OXFORD HIGH SCHOOL MAGAZINE VoL. LI, ii MARCH 1959 No. 165

School Notes

At the time of the issue of our December number we were on the edge of a crisis.

9 February 20264 August 2026

Thomas Hill Green by F. C. Lay (1962)

From THE CITY OF OXFORD HIGH SCHOOL MAGAZINE Vol LIV,ii April 1962 no 174

F. C. (Fred) Lay, Old Boy and then Headmaster, writes:

Although T. H. Green was recognised by his contemporaries as playing a large part in the founding of the School it is surprising that we have never reproduced in the Magazine a copy of either of the two portraits which are so well-known to all who have been here, nor has any account been given in these pages of what this remarkable man was like.

6 February 20264 August 2026

Western Europe 1962

THE CITY OF OXFORD HIGH SCHOOL MAGAZINE Vol LV, iii JULY 1963 No 178

“The Six’, European Coal and Steel Community, Euratom, Council of Europe – new organizations for a New Europe; novel constructions rising high over the ruins of the Second World War, a war expressive of ancestral feuds and political bigotry allied to a nationalism (not Germany’s alone) that was both self-seeking and self-destroying.

10 December 20253 August 2026

The perfect rag

by Brian Bowler (1944-1951)

Submitted by his contemporary, Alan Trinder (1944-51)

It was traditional at the High School for the sixth form boys to indulge in ‘rags’. These were more or less harmless pranks, outside of the school rules but generally tolerated by the staff as an expression of youthful high spirits.