Sibford School was established in 1842 as a co-educational boarding school for the children of Quaker families.
The school was originally based in Walford Manor in the centre of Sibford Ferris and opened with just 26 boys and 22 girls. The first recorded pupil was nine-year-old Lucy Endall, she arrived by carrier cart from Banbury on 16 January 1842. Fees ranged from £6 - £16 a year when the school first opened.
Sibford School initially occupied only 18 acres of land and had a strong agricultural bias. The boys worked part-time on the farm while the girls did household duties.
The school expanded to a site to the south of the village with the opening of The Hill building by Dame Elizabeth Cadbury in 1930, known today as the main school. It was on this site that all future building projects took place, including several boarding houses, the science block, the dining hall, sports hall and an art and music building.
The Junior School opened its doors in 1989 and in 2000, the original school building, ‘The Manor’ was sold with the proceeds used towards the building of a new Art and Music centre, centralising the school at the Hill campus. The Centre officially opened in 2001, followed by the new Swimming Pool in 2002.
More recently, Sibford School has built a state-of-the-art climbing wall that opened in 2018 that serves both the school and the local community.
Source. A view from the Hill by Michael Finch.
Houses
The students and staff are each assigned to a Day House
Despite Sibford Schools rich history spanning over 177 years, there have only been 12 Heads during this time.
