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School Name

Summer Fields

Category

UK Prep Schools

Types

Prep school

Pupil type

Boys only

Boarding-Day

Boarding

Day

Curriculums

UK curriculum

Pupil age range

4-13

Location

Oxford

Summer Fields

Focus 

Nurturing confidence and independence

Day fees 2025/26

$25,900-$45,600

Boarding fees 2025/26

$65,400

Term dates

  • Term 1: 3 September to 10 December 2025
  • Term 2: 7 January to 25 March 2026
  • Term 3: 22 April to 4 July 2026

Ages

4-13

Pupil count

255

Spear’s Review

Boys’ school Summer Fields is as beautiful as it sounds, set in 70 acres of grounds close to central Oxford.

A traditional approach prioritises health and character as a way of encouraging academic success, and all boys can complement a ‘varied, stimulating and demanding’ curriculum with performing arts, team and individual sports, and a range of extracurricular pursuits such as cooking, gardening, archaeology and more. Boys also have the opportunity to attend concerts, plays and museums in Oxford, and embark on residential trips in the UK and abroad.

The school motto is mens sana in corpore sano – a healthy mind in a healthy body – and the number of scholarships and offers from first-rate senior schools bears out the sense of the strategy. 

Head teacher

David Faber became the 10th headmaster of Summer Fields in 2010. An alumnus of the school, he also served as a governor for nine years. He was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford, where he read modern languages. After university, he worked for the Conservative Party in a number of roles and served as an MP from 1992 until 2001.

Senior school destinations

Eton is the most common destination for Summer Fields students, followed by Harrow and Radley.

Admissions

According to the school, prospective Summer Fields pre-prep and prep pupils are asked to sit an entry assessment. Parents and guardians are encouraged to visit the school and, if possible, meet with the head before entering their child for the entry assessment. Individual appointments are available, and there are regular open mornings in September and May. Families can register their child for a place from birth, and prospective students need to be registered before they can sit the entry assessment.

Notable alumni

Notable ‘Old Summerfieldians’ include:

  • Tom Parker Bowles (writer)
  • Harold Macmillan (prime minister)
  • Christopher Lee (actor)

Accessibility

Heathrow Airport: 1 hour

Location

Click for more information about the research process and expert insight behind the Spear’s Schools Index.

Rank: Top 100

Top 100 Spear’s Schools Index 2026, UK Prep Schools

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