Living and Working in Oxford

Having an understanding of what Oxford and the surrounding area have to offer in terms of living and working is crucial when considering a job move. To help you with this process we have categorised into three topics: housing, childacare and the surrounding area; follow the links below for more information. Obviously details fluctuate so your own research will be necessary but this will hopefully give you a general idea of what a move to this area could mean to you and your family.

Housing

Childcare

The surrounding area

Housing

Property prices do fluctuate depending on what area of Oxfordshire you are considering moving to. To give you a general idea here are some average prices in the local area to the Academy: (as of May 2011)

More information regarding house prices and the market can be found at http://www.home.co.uk/ or http://www.primelocation.com/.

In Oxfordshire, your council tax pays for about one third of your local services, while taxes raised by central government pay for remaining two thirds.

Council tax charges on an average Band D house in the Abingdon area (10/11) are currently £1,538.71 per year for example. Further information regarding Council tax and other local costs can be found at http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/.

Information about teacher recruitment and retention at Oxfordshire County Council can also be found on the website http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/. It offers a range of incentives to teachers relocating to Oxfordshire including key worker accommodation, affordable housing schemes, mortgage and rent subsidies, equity loans for house purchase and relocation expenses.

Childcare

Oxfordshire Children's Information Service (OCIS) offers a comprehensive service to help meet your childcare needs. The service can be contacted by ringing 08452 262636, emailing enquiries@oxoncis.org.uk or visit the website http://www.oxoncis.org.uk/. They can provide information on childminders, playgroups, and nurseries and out of school schemes.

What Oxford and the surrounding countryside have to offer...

Oxfordshire is the most rural county in the south east of England with its internationally famous city at its heart. It offers a vibrant culture, rich heritage and bustling rural and urban towns and villages situated within beautiful countryside.

Transport links are good. Oxford is connected to London, the M25 and the Midlands by the M40 motorway. The Oxford ring road provides direct access to the south and west coast ports of Southampton, Portsmouth and Bristol via the A34. There is a frequent direct train service from Oxford to London Paddington plus other services to the south and west via Reading and north to Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham, There is a direct train from Oxford to Birmingham International Airport besides the many bus and coaches which run to Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton airports. There is also a 24-hour bus service to London.

Oxford is celebrated all over the world as a prestigious centre of learning. Oxford has more published writers per square mile than anywhere else in the world and it is also the home of the world famous Oxford English Dictionary which provides authoritative definitions of over 500,000 words. The many famous colleges that comprise Oxford University have educated 25 British prime ministers including Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.

There are leisure centres in the neighbourhood with the nearby one at Blackbird Leys offering badminton, basketball, 5-a-side football and an Aspires fitness suite. Blackbird Leys swimming pool is a few minutes walk away from the leisure centre. Oxford United Football Club run holiday and weekend training courses and there is an ice skating rink close to the city centre. The Horspath Road Athletics Track is a state of the art facility available to everyone and designed to encourage both the beginner and expert to try their hand at track and field disciplines. There are organised coaching sessions run by Oxford City Athletics Club.

Lovers of the outdoor life will find lots to enjoy around Oxford. Locations include twenty nature parks and reserves and several Sites of Specific Scientific Interest providing a wide range of habitats and landscapes. The Thames Path (184 miles) follows England's best known river from its source near Kemble in Gloucestershire to the heart of London. The river enters Oxfordshire near Kelmscott meandering through Oxford, Abingdon and Wallingford before leaving the county in Henley. In the south of the county are the Chilterns, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, with rolling chalk hills, magnificent beech woods, quiet valleys and charming brick and flint villages.

Venues in Oxford are plentiful. Theatres include the New Theatre and the Oxford Playhouse, which present entertainment across the board, and a good selection of cinemas showing both the latest box office hits and art house films. Music fans will enjoy the many venues of Oxford's thriving music scene while the Oxford Academy hosts both international and home-grown bands. There are regular art exhibitions put on in the Gallery in Oxford Town Hall and also at Modern Art Oxford.

There are restaurants, pubs and clubs to suit everyone's taste and purse in the city but if you like to do your own cooking there is a weekly market operated by the council and a farmer's market twice a month.