Dragon School - History

History

The Dragon School was founded in 1877, and was originally named the Preparatory School and sometimes called Lynam's Preparatory School. The school was started by a committee of Oxford dons. The school's original remit was to provide a high standard of academic grounding and pastoral care to the children of professors of the University of Oxford. Indeed, many early teachers were or had been 'dons' themselves. Among the most active of the dons was a Mr George, so the first pupils decided to call themselves "Dragons" after Saint George and the Dragon. The 'Dragon' name, which has been attributed to an off-hand quip by a teacher at rival school Summer Fields, gained popularity, and in time, the school was officially renamed to the Dragon School.

Teaching started in September 1877 at rooms in Balliol Hall, located in St Giles', central Oxford, under A. E. Clarke. The school expanded and moved within two years to 17 Crick Road, which became known as "School House". Charles Cotterill Lynam (known as the "Skipper") took over as headmaster in 1886. In 1894, C. C. Lynam took out a lease on land at the current site at Bardwell Road. £4,000 was quickly raised through subscriptions from local parents for the erection of new school buildings. and the move was completed within a year. The school was known as Oxford Preparatory School and also Lynam's, but gradually its current name was adopted.

The present site in Bardwell Road in central North Oxford is just to the west of the River Cherwell. It became the second school to take part in the Harrow History Prize in 1895, and many of its pupils have won this over the years, an early winner being Miss Kit Lynam. The school was run for many years by the Lynam family.