St Edward’s Oxford – also known as Teddies – is a leading co-educational boarding school situated in this world-renowned city of learning, with just over 800 pupils in Year 9 to Year 13.
The Teddies community is bound together by an extraordinary spirit which stretches around the world and across generations. This spirit is created in the Houses, which are at the heart of the pupils’ experience of the School.
In 2025, we are celebrating 100 years of the creation of the boarding house system here.
Today, each House is home to around 65 pupils from all year groups, and is run by a Housemaster or Housemistress (or HM) supported by a core residential team, including a resident Assistant HM, a resident Tutor, and a Matron. Each pupil has a personal Tutor in House, with whom they meet several times a week for individual guidance on all aspects of their lives at St Edward’s.
House teams are supported by the wider pastoral network, including a Governors’ Safeguarding and Wellbeing Committee, senior pastoral and safeguarding leaders, the School Doctor, Psychologist and Counsellor, the Director of Wellbeing, and the Health Centre and Chaplaincy teams. The Deputy Head Welfare has particular responsibility for our international families. School Prefects, Heads of House and specially trained pupil Peer Listeners play an important part in the support network too.
Pupils and families can choose from one of 13 boarding houses, with the option for single-sex or co-educational, a range of architectural styles reflecting the 160-year history of the School, and a setting on either ‘quad-side’ or ‘field-side’. There are no future plans for further houses: St Edward’s is big enough for there to be an extraordinary range of opportunities but small enough for pupils and staff to know each other very well.
In 1925, the boarding house system was introduced by Henry Kendall, who as Warden (headmaster) created the first seven houses in place of the tutorial system. This spurred on a building programme to provide the tailored accommodation, although the levels of comfort were by no means comparable to the present day! All seven houses continue to this day in modernised form, and their legacy has been added to with a further six houses over the years, most recently in 2019.
One constant throughout this history is that the community and camaraderie of the Houses are at the heart of the Teddies’ experience.
As well as the wide range of school-wide opportunities, each House has its own pattern of events and activities, which build a strong and supportive home-from-home. And some traditions are revisited as part of the evolution of boarding at Teddies: in autumn, we reintroduce the inter-house ‘Bumps’ rowing competition on the River Thames (similar to the University of Oxford college Bumps), last contested here in 1974!
Here is what some of our pupils feel about boarding at Teddies today:
“What I love most about Teddies is the wonderful sense of community felt by every member of the School. The friends I have made through sports, societies, plays, lessons, DofE and in House have created the best possible environment for me to live, learn and have fun at school.” Amber
“In my House, as in all Houses at Teddies, there is great camaraderie through year group events and house meals. All the pupils in the House are in the same situation and we bond together like an extended family, no matter what our backgrounds are. In my short time here, I have made solid and loyal friends, people I can talk to about any issues, and I have a Tutor to help with schoolwork and to look out for my general wellbeing.” Logan
“I have absolutely loved the family feel that I experienced as soon as I took my first steps into my co-ed boarding house. There are friends wherever I turn, all with diverse personalities and from various backgrounds. I treasure the closeness between everybody in the School.” Olivia
By Clare Hamilton, Sub-Warden, St Edward’s Oxford
Categories: School News St Edward’s Oxford
