The City of Oxford High School for Boys (a.k.a. Oxford High School for Boys and City of Oxford School) was founded in 1881 by Thomas Hill Green to provide Oxford boys with an education which would enable them to prepare for University. History It was administered by the City of Oxford Education Committee, with around 400 boys enrolled. The school finally closed in 1966, when it was combined with what was then Southfield Grammar School to form a grammar school, known as Oxford School at that time (the present Oxford Spires Academy). The building The Victorian stone building, bearing the arms of both the City and University, was designed by Sir Thomas Jackson in Oxford, England, and still stands at the corner of George Street and New Inn Hall Street. Additional classrooms were later added in the playground, a space that was contained on the south side by an extensive length of the city's mediaeval wall. The school remained here until 1966, when it moved to the Southfield Grammar School site (now occupied by Oxford Spires Academy) in Glanville Road off Cowley Road. The George Street building for some years housed the Classics Department of Oxford University, but was transferred to the History Faculty in the summer of 2007. The school's playing fields were in North Oxford, along and beside Marston Ferry Road and which later housed the Old Boy's Rugby Club. Inscription The George Street building has the following inscription on it: Thomas Hill Green (1832–82). Educationalist, Fellow of Balliol, White's Professor of Moral Philosophy, elected (1876) first University Member of Oxford City Council to help found and establish the High School for Boys (1881–1966), thereby completing the city's 'ladder of learning' from elementary school to university— A project dearest to his heart. Thus were united town and gown in common cause. The staff During the late 1940s, the headmaster was F. C. ("Freddy") Lay (a plaque to him is sited on the back of the New George Street Building as he was the first old boy to become head); he was succeeded by Mr R. W. Bodey in 1962. Headmasters 1881–8 Arthur Pollard 1888–1925 Arthur Cave 1925–32 Wilfrid Parkinson School tradition The school motto "Labor Vincit Omnia" ('tis work that conquers all) was carved above the prefects' door, and became the basis for the school song that every boy knew by heart: In tranquil days of long ago