St Barnabas' Church of England Aided Primary School | Ofsted Ratings, Reviews, Exam Results & Admission 2026

St. Barnabas Parish established St. Barnabas' Primary School in Oxford as a church school in 1854. Today, the Oxfordshire County Council finances the school in collaboration with the Church of England's Diocese of Oxford.
In 1977, the school relocated to its current location.
To enable the school to become a full primary school in September 2003, four new classrooms, new offices, and a computer room were erected in 2002.
The Jericho neighbourhood and the region immediately to the north of the city centre are served by St. Barnabas' School.
The parish church of St. Barnabas and the neighbourhood have positive relationships with the school and its active and engaged PTA.
In 2006, the stained glass windows (seen at the top of this page) were made.
The windows were provided to the school thanks to former Chair of Governors Peter Corlett (See article below for more information on Peter Corlett.)
The windows depict the vital connection to St. Barnabas' Church as well as the diversity of the surrounding Jericho neighbourhood.
This is most likely connected to June 11, St. Barnabas Day, and the time of year.
We always attended church on St. Barnabas' Day while I attended St. Barnabas', and we always wore red roses.
Despite not being one of the original 12 apostles, St. Barnabas has been accorded the title of apostle because of his relationship with St. Paul.
The new church was dedicated to St. Barnabas' in honour of the cooperation between Barnabas and Paul because St. Paul's was already there when St. Barnabas parish was formed out of the parish of St. Thomas (down by the station).
The school was inaugurated by the Bishop of Oxford.
When the new school was constructed and opened in 1977, the students from St. Barnabas' First School kept a journal of the construction activity.
The school has two of the scrapbooks on display after they were saved.
The school has seen numerous changes over the years.
All of the older structures in the Foundation Stage and KS1 have new roofs.
The community can use the new climbing structure, trim trail, table tennis table, and goal area that have been added to the field.
A competition to create a sculpture for the school's playground was held in 1980.
Sam sadly died last November aged 44, but he will be remembered for creating something that has been played on by St Barnabas' pupils over the past 30 years, and will be continued to be enjoyed in future.
Thank you to Sam and the Class 2 students.
In 1977 there were no trees around the school field, but today that is a very different story (black and white photo), there is a photo in the early days of the school just after the trees were planted.
The pictures of the library below show it when the school opened in 1977 and how it is now.
In 2012 the school was able to update the library with hundreds of new books.
The PTA generously donated and still supports the library.
When he retired from teaching for 35 years at St. Edward's School he came to worship at St. Barnabas church and developed a great love of Jericho.
The restored tower is something of a memorial to him.
After retiring from the position of Churchwarden he was elected Chairman of the School Governors and threw himself wholeheartedly into the task giving great support to both staff and pupils.
Peter was infinitely kind and would help anyone in need, including supporting a family in Sheffield who wanted a better life for their children through education.
In his spare time he played in the St Edwards' school orchestra and wrote some of the earliest programmes for educational computer Maths games.
Peter sadly died in January 2001, aged 69, after battling with cancer.
In his will Peter left a sum of money to St Barnabas' school, some of which was used to purchase new staging for the hall, some spent over a number of years to fund building improvements, and some most obviously for the creation of the stained glass window in the foyer.
It was dedicated and blessed in an unveiling ceremony in 2002, when the new wing of the school was opened as a Primary.
Peter's ashes are in the memorial garden of St Barnabas church.