Oxford House School is an independent day school for boys and girls from risingthree to eleven years of age. The school is located in a large and extended detached Victorian house in Colchester. It is non-selective. The school was established in 1959 and became part of the Cognita group in 2006. There are 144 full-time pupils at the school. There are two children under three years of age and 34 aged three to five, all of whom receive nursery education funding. The lower Nursery for the youngest children operates in the mornings only, five days a week. The school aims to ‘understand and to develop the potential which all children possess and to send them on to senior schools as literate, numerate, well mannered and happy individuals’ . About one in five children speak English as an additional language, being mostly of Indian or Chinese or Middle Eastern heritage. There is a low number of pupils with additional needs and none with a statement of special educational needs. The school prepares pupils for entry into independent and maintained secondary schools. The school was last inspected in December 2008. There is a breakfast club and after-school activities organised and run by the school.