Last week, Oxford University published its latest annual report on undergraduate admissions. Of UK students accepted for undergraduate courses at Oxford in 2025, 70% are white (compared to 64% across all UK universities) and one in three was educated at an independent school. www.ox.ac.uk/adstats

Oxford will be crowded with visitors on Wednesday and Thursday as Oxford University departments and colleges hold their annual open days for prospective undergraduates. A third open day will take place on Friday 18 September. www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/u...

Oxford drinkers may finally be able to swear in the Three Goats’ Heads after the death of Humphrey Smith, the irascible owner of Sam Smiths Brewery, at the age of 81. The pub chain enforced strict bans on swearing and mobile phone use. Smith was described in a Facebook pubs group as “an absolute tit

The belt between Carterton, Brize Norton and Witney is to take the brunt of West Oxfordshire’s new housing, according to the first draft of a Local Plan released today. Some 7,600 new homes will be built across seven sites in the area.

New plaques have been installed on benches around Oxford with quotations to fit their locations. Thirteen benches were installed last year in places chosen by Oxford Pedestrians Association using a bequest from Dr Keith Holly (1926-2019), augmented by local councillors. bsky.app/profile/oxfo...

Oxfordshire news, twice a week. Your latest Clarion newsletter features: 🔥 Oxford’s hottest June ever 🦹‍♂️ Researchers: “LTNs cut crime” 🚎 Mass rapid transit for Witney 🔬 University news, AI and politics 🦆 A lovely picture of some ducks Join thousands of subscribers: oxfordclarion.uk/clarion-week...

The current Warden (headteacher) of St Edward’s, an independent school on Woodstock Road popularly known as “Teddies”, has been appointed as the new head of Eton College. Alistair Chirnside will take up the post in September 2027. David Flower has been appointed as his successor at St Edward’s.

The 50-year old Wantage Leisure Centre has replaced its end-of-life gas boilers with air source heat pump units and solar panels. Along with the addition of triple glazing, replacing and insulating the roof, carbon emissions are forecast to reduce by over 25%.

Housing affordability is rising across Oxfordshire. Figures from ONS show inflation outpacing house prices in every district and Oxford city since the pandemic.

RAF Brize Norton is to cease flights from July until November to carry out essential resurfacing and improvement works on the airfield operating surface. Planes will relocate to MoD Boscombe Down, Prestwick, East Midlands and Stansted airports.

Do you run? One of Oxfordshire's friendliest (but also 'bumpiest'!) club races, the Hooky 6, celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, and is being supported by the eponymous brewery, with all finishers receive a specially designed commemorative T-shirt featuring the Hook Norton Brewery.

Civic leaders joined together to cut the ribbon on the new office of the Dialogue Society, which promotes interfaith discussion and friendship. Their Life of a Chickpea project engages young people to explore diversity, equality, and inclusion. www.dialoguesociety.org/branch/oxford/

Once more for the weekend long read crowd.

🚨Clarion weekend read🚨 In 2019, most of Oxfordshire's councils declared a Climate Emergency. We felt this week was the right time to take a look at their progress, and ask if the actions match the words. How do you think YOUR council is doing? oxfordclarion.uk/its-an-emerg...

We put this out last summer - but we're just going to leave it here... in case your garden is looking a bit crunchy... oxfordclarion.uk/climate-proo...

We put this out last summer - but we're just going to leave it here... in case your garden is looking a bit crunchy... oxfordclarion.uk/climate-proo...

New signs are going up to welcome visitors to the North Wessex Downs – one of three National Landscapes in Oxfordshire, together with the Chilterns and Cotswolds. The Downs cover the high ground up to the Ridgeway and the county border beyond.

In a sentence we never expected to write, a landowner near Banbury has submitted a retroactive planning application for a Neolithic style Long Barrow, built in 2021 as an ornamental folly. At Paradise Farm, near South Newington, it is intended to “replicate traditional long barrows like Belas Knap”.

Tickets for Didcot's Cornerstone Arts Centre's new season are now on sale - its biggest season yet, following a hugely successful 12 months with membership growing by over 200% and its annual pantomime attracting its biggest audience in recent years. (Oh yes it did! etc etc) cornerstone-arts.org

Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber has unveiled a fund to support smartphone free schools. Schools can apply for grants for secure storage such as lockable pouches, lockers or boxes. Funding comes from sale of stolen goods that cannot be returned to their rightful owners.

Requires picture :)

In what is definitely PR dressed up as news, but also rather cute, St Peter's School in Cassington has discovered that horse bedding pellets are ideal for keeping its five white Pekin ducks clean, dry and comfortable. The pellets were donated by a biomass manufacturer Land Energy.

A temperature of 34.3 °C was provisionally measured at the Radcliffe Meteorological Station on Tuesday, equalling the record for temperatures in June set exactly fifty years ago today. The highest temperature ever recorded at Oxford was 38.1 °C on 19 July 2022. www.instagram.com/p/DaAqE8KIlSe/

Once more for the weekend long read crowd.

The Government’s unexpected announcement of an asylum accommodation centre at MOD Bicester has been criticised by the local MP and district council. Calum Miller called it “the wrong site, in the wrong place, with no credible plan for local services, safety, social cohesion or proper support”.

In continuing mango news, Mowgli Street Food (in Westgate Ctr) is giving away free mango lassis with a minimum £15 spend, to give "a little refreshment to guests... during the warm weather spell". May we recommend the yoghurt chaat bombs & the bhel puri if you're wondering how to spend your £15.

Your essential weekend news roundup for Oxfordshire. Featuring today: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ‘Raise the Colours’ defeated 🤫 12 proposed Quiet Lanes 🍻 Historic pub reopens 🅿️ Pavement parking ban? 📅 Events and weekend indie reading 🐸 4,554 origami frogs Join thousands of subscribers: oxfordclarion.uk/clarion-week...

The Government has announced plans to house asylum seekers in “basic accommodation” at MOD Bicester – 21 years after a previous scheme was cancelled for not being value for money. The barracks would replace hotel accommodation, including the former Four Pillars Hotel in Witney.

Oxford residents are being asked if they would support “a local ban on footway parking”, and if they have encountered “issues with obstructive parking on the footway”. The question is one of several in a review of the city’s Controlled Parking Zones (aka residents’ parking).

With thousands of new homes planned for Carterton, a new study is underway to plan walking and cycling improvements on Upavon Way, the town’s inner relief road. Oxfordshire County Council envisages it will identify schemes that can be funded by housing developers.

A Thame-based startup which rates businesses on their environmental performance has launched a new online directory where anyone can look up a company’s score, from 0 to 5. Earthmark uses publicly available data to generate environmental and governance scores. oxfordcalling.co.uk/cleantech-en...

A fire-fighting practice area has come under suspicion in investigations to find the source of “forever chemicals” (PFAS) at Heyford Park in North Oxfordshire. Fire-fighting foams were used at the former airbase, including an “Adjacent Fire Practice Pond” which emptied into storm-water drainage.

A controversial motocross park at Wroxton, just west of Banbury, could face new planning controls – but not immediately. The track currently operates without planning permission as a “temporary use”, but locals say there has been a “cynical upgrade over time into an international motocross venue”.

After the red weather warning was extended into Friday, Oxfordshire's household waste recycling centres will again open at 8am but close early at 1pm tomorrow due to the heat news.oxfordshire.gov.uk/extreme-heat/

Yet more AI news: Oxford University-incubated venture Lumenai has secured backing to link its 'Human Capability Indexing' to an AI-powered knowledge system. The HCIx system "captures information about individual attitudes.. behaviours, and values" to provide employers with "development guidance".

East Oxford is to get its first Climate Cafe - this Sunday at East Oxford Community Centre at 1.30; "a chance to share feelings about the climate crisis and build resilience" www.facebook.com/events/17397... For more detail on Climate Cafes, see our collab with them oxfordclarion.uk/what-on-eart...

Heatwave escapes for Mini Clarions: Oxford City Council have announced extended opening hours for Cutteslowe and Hinksey Splash Parks - now from 10.30am until 8pm. (Our article on other cool spaces is a very live document right now oxfordclarion.uk/cool-spaces-...) #publicservicejournalism

Oxford University Hospitals are testing whether integrating AI into routine clinical care can cut NHS waiting times, fast-track diagnoses, & provide better care for patients. Clinicians in A&E depts. are testing if AI-assisted head CT interpretations help them make faster, more accurate diagnoses.

If you've ever wanted to see 4,554 origami frogs in one place, here is Cutteslowe school's recordbreaking display (pending confirmation from Guinness World Records). The children raised £1,000 for two charities. The previous record of 3,542 was set by in 2019. (Has anyone told Reddit?)

It is ALREADY hot. ICYMI, and in case you need it. we're just going to leave this here oxfordclarion.uk/cool-spaces-...

Yesterday evening saw the Rose Ceremony at Earth Trust Centre at Wittenham Clumps. Ted Fenton, Chair of Oxfordshire County Council presented a rose to the Trust in payment for public access to the Trust's green spaces, the largest available to the public in Oxfordshire.

The Diocese of Oxford and Christ Church Cathedral have marked Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month with a series of events celebrating heritage, building understanding and strengthening relationships with local communities. www.oxford.anglican.org/news/onward-...

West Oxfordshire District Council (WODC) have issued 17 Fixed Penalty Notices for fly-tipping and littering offences this year, plus 11 more for abandoned vehicles. This is part of their crackdown on fly tipping including targeted CCTV, a new Environmental Crime Officer and work with police.

Beer news: Hook Norton Brewery, one of England’s historic independent brewers, has joined forces with London-based craft brewery Five Points Brewing Co to create a new limited cask ale ‘celebrating modern British brewing rooted in tradition. ‘

170 new houses are proposed for the eastern edge of Benson in South Oxfordshire. Developers Elivia Homes are planning 40% affordable houses, with the main route through the site connecting to “a network of short streets including characterful shared-surface spaces that give priority to pedestrians”.

Nine Oxfordshire parish councils have applied for ‘quiet lanes’, where a road is closed to through motor traffic to improve safety for residents, walkers and cyclists. Each one will go through an initial assessment and design phase and then, if selected, be trialled for 6–18 months.

Following the red alert for extreme heat, Oxford University relaxed its 'usual expectations regarding formal attire' at today's honorary degree ceremony. The Chancellor, Lord Hague, led by example, wearing his black silk gold-laced gown without a jacket underneath. www.ox.ac.uk/events/encae...

The Ultimate Picture Palace is celebrating its 30th birthday with an unusual competition: the best idea to use the cinema for anything *except* watching films gets to use the cinema for free. Everything from hip hop for toddlers to lectures on quantum gravity welcome savetheupp.com/updates/2026...

The Didcot Festival of Cultures kicks off Sat. 11th July, with events including an African drumming workshop, performances from the Military Wives Choir, and Folk Dances Remixed, a 'unique mix of maypole, clogging and ceilidh with.. house, breakdance and bhangra' cornerstone-arts.org/show/didcot-...

The North Star in Steventon, one of only two Oxfordshire pubs to be rated as a three-star heritage interior by CAMRA, has reopened after restoration works that began in late 2025. The building is renowned for its low ceilings and for having a serving hatch in place of a bar.