School History

Burford is one of the oldest schools in the country and has seen many changes since its foundation in 1571.

Founded by the townsmen of Burford, with merchant Simon Wysdom at their helm, the school initially offered an education to the sons of the ordinary men of Burford, charging four pence for enrolment and a further eight pence for schooling per year.

Originally housed in what is now the Boarding House, the school began taking girls in 1924, thanks to the generosity of Elmslie John Horniman, and has now grown to just over 1500 students. The young people of Burford still take up places at the school but today our net is cast much wider, and alongside day students, our community includes 100 boarders from both the surrounding area and abroad.

Over the years, a very successful farm was run and although this is now gone, there is still a strong, rural feel about the school.

Now more than 450 years since the founding of the school, Burford remains popular and successful. As members of the school, both staff and students are immensely proud to be part of Burford School and we hope that our founders would be equally proud of what their legacy has become.

For any archival enquiries, please contact our School Office.

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