WHAT? WHERE?

St Mary’s School is a highly-regarded all-through, selective girls’ day and boarding school spread across several sites near the centre of Cambridge.

Founded in the Catholic/ Christian tradition 125 years ago by the nuns of the Congregation of Jesus (who also founded St Mary’s Ascot), the school promotes an education centred around Christian values such as integrity, justice and freedom.

St Mary’s is unique in being the only remaining single sex school in Cambridgeshire. The school currently teaches 630 girls from the ages of 3 to 18 in a series of historic and more modern buildings surrounding the beautiful Botanic Gardens, and all within walking distance of one another. There are 160 pupils in the Junior School, 370 in the Senior School and 100 Sixth Formers, and 85% of students are day pupils, with the remaining 15% of the community being full, weekly or flexi boarders. The school has a really strong international community too, with around 20% of its students coming from overseas.

Class sizes here are fairly small with an average of 20 in the Junior School and 10 – 15 in the Senior School, so the girls get plenty of individual academic and pastoral attention. The school is well-known locally for its brilliant pastoral care as well as its holistic approach to education, encouraging girls to aim high whatever their passion may be, while still achieving strong academic results and a smattering of Oxbridge candidates every year. It’s a forward-thinking school too, with plenty of focus on building up skills and confidence that prepare the girls to look after themselves and thrive when they leave.

St Mary’s is a member of the Girls’ Schools Association and is proud to be perfectly set-up to cater for girls’ needs and academic and co-curricular desires. It’s certainly not all pink and fluffy here though. The school boasts some pretty outstanding stats when it comes to girls studying STEM subjects and holds its own when it comes to competitive sport.

The current Junior School is a relatively new addition to St Mary’s. It opened in 2005 and since 2011 has been housed in a charming and historic former university building on Chaucer Road. The main Senior School is on Bateman Street, but the school has also recently expanded into No. 2 Brookside to create a dedicated Sixth Form Centre and free up space for an entire building dedicated to the popular and highly-regarded art department. The final piece of the puzzle is the award-winning Mary Ward House on Brooklands Avenue that opened in 2017 and provides a modern, spacious and homely environment for the boarders. Also, set to launch in early 2024 is the new Mary Ward Educational Suite that will house state-of-the-art classrooms on the senior school site. These classrooms will be a cornerstone of educational excellence for generations to come, offering an inspiring and empowering space to support High Performance Leaning.

FACILITIES

SPORT

Sport has become much more of a focus for St Mary’s in recent years with a ‘Sports For All’ policy that encourages every pupil to get involved and find a sport that improves their confidence and self-worth. It’s less about filling up the trophy cabinet and more about taking part and building skills that counts here.

There’s limited room on the compact senior school site, so don’t expect rolling playing fields as far as the eye can see. That said, the school has invested in plenty of excellent facilities a short bus ride away. In keeping with its location, the school opened the St Mary’s Boathouse on the River Cam in 2017, giving all students in Senior School and Sixth Form the chance to learn the city’s most loved sport – rowing. They’ve already seen plenty of competitive success, with the club achieving British Rowing affiliation in 2023, two Year 9 students being selected for the Eastern Region team in 2023, winning the U14 double sculls for the Eastern Region in 2023 and four wins in the Cambridge Winter League 2022.

There are also state-of-the-art outdoor sports facilities just off Long Road. This site was developed in partnership with the University’s Homerton College in 2021 and has athletics facilities for track and field, AstroTurf pitches for hockey, rugby and football, cricket nets, and netball and tennis courts. There’s a pavilion and changing rooms too, and it’s all floodlit.

Within the school campus there’s a large gymnasium that’s set up for gymnastics, dance, netball, trampolining and aerobics and there’s an area of outdoor space behind Paston House that’s big enough for tennis and netball.

Being a girls’ school, netball, hockey and gymnastics are naturally strong (notable successes include being county champions in hockey and winners of the GSA Senior Netball Tournament). However, the girls also have plenty of other sporting opportunities and are shining in less traditional girls’ sports such as football, cricket and rugby.

PERFORMING ARTS

St Mary’s has a deserved reputation for its excellent art department and every year sees talented artists head off to study the subject at university. No surprise then that the art facilities are excellent – Studio 47 is a dedicated Art and & Photography Centre on Bateman Street with a kiln, digital suite, lighting studio, dark room and printmaking facilities for use from Year 7.

Step inside and it’s like entering a professional art gallery with the many walls bedecked in stunning artwork from the floor to the high ceilings. Even if you haven’t got a budding Yayoi Kusama or Tracy Emin in your midst, they’ll certainly reach their artistic potential here.

The results speak for themselves. 79% of students received a 9 – 7 grade in Art & Design GCSE in 2023, with 100% receiving an A or A* at A Level. The department has also won a number of external awards including a National Education Business Award for Outstanding Practice in Arts and Crafts.

Music-wise there’s a lot on offer with plenty of ensembles including jazz, pop, classical and world music, as well as 15 extra-curricular musical clubs every week. There’s a lovely light music department on the top floor of the Senior School overlooking the Botanic Gardens, with two large well-equipped music classrooms and lots of small individual music rooms for the many students who learn an instrument. Students also get to perform at amazing venues across Cambridge, including the University’s West Road Concert Hall and for competitive types there are the annual Young Pianist and Young Musician of the Year Competitions.

In the Junior School, every pupil participates in a choir and all have weekly music lessons with a specialist teacher as well as the chance to take up individual lessons. Music highlights for the Junior School include the annual Carol Concert, Summer Concert and Summer Music Festival. In 2023, the girls also performed at the Cambridgeshire County Show.

Drama is popular here, with the vast majority of the girls taking part in productions – whether they’re treading the boards or helping out with the backstage production side of things. Annual performances include the Reception nativity, Shakespeare in the Junior School gardens as well as a Junior School musical impressively performed entirely in French (this year’s was La Belle et La Bête). There are also a number of Senior School/Sixth Form productions. As well as a theatre in the Senior School building, the pupils have amazing new facilities in a well-equipped drama studio with a touch screen lighting desk and fully equipped stage space.

The girls can also choose to do individual LAMDA lessons, which take place in designated rooms in the main house as well as in a brand new outdoor area. The school has a brilliant track record with 100% of students gaining merit or distinction. Dance is another area of the creative arts that St Mary’s does particularly well, with students having the chance to study the subject at GCSE, attend after-school dance clubs and take park in an annual, and very professional, dance showcase.

OTHER SCHOOL FACILITIES

No beans on toast every night for St Mary’s students who head off to uni because the school has a fully equipped kitchen where the Sixth Formers can gain a professional cooking qualification accredited by Leiths School of Food and Wine. There’s also a Food Preparation and Nutrition option at GCSE level and further down the school the girls also take regular cookery lessons, plus there’s a cooking club for Years 7 – 9.

There are three large and bright science labs in the Senior School reflecting the school’s strength when it comes to STEM subjects. The big news in this area though is the brand new Yingting Qian STEM Lab in the Junior School giving the younger students access to the excellent STEM teaching in a stunning space that was highly commended by the Architects’ Journal.

There’s an ambitious £6m building investment programme taking place at the school and other recent improvements and investments include a new outdoor learning classroom in the beautiful Senior School grounds and a biophilic classroom in the Sixth Form Centre (that’s a classroom filled with plants that’s been proven to reduce stress and enhance mood).

The large senior school Dining Room has also been remodelled and modernised to look less school canteen and more cool contemporary brasserie, and Paston House is undergoing extensive building work to provide four new state-of-the-art classrooms and increase public space on Bateman Street.

LITTLIES

St Mary’s opened its pre-school for girls aged 3-4 in 2021 on the Acton House site, home to the Junior School. The littlest girls enjoy a purpose-built early years setting in the leafy grounds with their own sweet play area and mud kitchen and the chance to use the forest school, woodland play area, vegetable patch and outdoor sports courts in the Junior School.

You can expect specialist teaching in a number of subjects (art, science, and French) from the get-go here and, with the arrival of the new head in September 2023, there’s going to be a lot more focus on outdoor learning as a key part of the early years curriculum.

With the new STEM lab, these subjects are taught to the girls from Reception age up, plus the Junior School has a unique digital enrichment programme that encourages problem solving and independent thinking. As part of the programme, girls from Year 3 and above can choose from a series of Pathfinder Challenges, selecting topics that reflect their natural interests and passions.

The Junior School site has a wonderfully warm and nurturing presence. The older girls are in the main Victorian house, while the younger ones are in the Coach House, which has bigger rooms for them to move around more freely. The whole campus is hidden down a quiet Cambridge road, surrounded by trees and with cows grazing on the field nearby, so it doesn’t have a city centre vibe to it at all.

Acton House is a bit of a Tardis, with multiple floors and a surprisingly large main hall and dining area as well as a gorgeous library with cosy reading area and lovely views – just perfect for a school that encourages a love of books from a very young age.

SIXTH FORM

Sixth Formers at St Mary’s have a very nice deal with their own large building on Brookside, with the aforementioned biophilic classroom, beautiful light subject classrooms, a silent study room, a social study and computer room, a Careers and Higher Education advice suite, spacious common room and a gym/dance studio. They also wear their own clothes and have a brilliant choice of over 25 subjects for A Levels, including all the usual suspects as well as some more unusual ones such as Latin, Professional Cookery, Classical Greek, Chinese and Textile Design.

For A levels, pupils typically select four in Lower Sixth and then drop down to three, plus there’s an opportunity in Year 12 to work towards the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ), which is worth up to up to 28 UCAS points. All students undertake a leadership and service programme called Philosophy, Ethics and Religion (PER) too, in which they debate and discuss a range of contemporary issues as well as working with and forming relationships with institutions overseas, most recently with a women’s university in Pakistan.

PASTORAL CARE

As a high achieving girls’ school, St Mary’s has wisely given a huge amount of thought and resource to its pastoral care offering. There’s a Deputy Head of Pastoral here, School Counsellor, School Nurses, a School Medical Officer and two mental health and wellbeing leads, as well as a head of outdoor learning. There’s also the usual deck of form tutors, subject teachers and support staff, a student-led Wellbeing Committee, the Girls on Board programme and a tutorial programme in the Sixth Form that covers themes ranging from managing exam stress to sleep hygiene, digital safety, sexual health and self-esteem.

The strong Christian values of the school further enhances the Pastoral Care offering with a Lay Chaplain on site and teaching and support staff providing a strong moral and spiritual framework for students. The Chapel is central to the school and there’s a regular mass every Wednesday morning at 8.05am, as well as other optional masses throughout the year, plus class assemblies take place in this tranquil space. The school welcomes students of all faiths and secular backgrounds, however all girls are expected to study Religious Education until Year 11, and taking a GCSE in the subject is compulsory.

BOARDING

Mary Ward House opened in 2017, providing around 90 boarders with a gorgeous clean and spacious place to call home, just a ten minute stroll from the Senior School site and close to all the amazing sights of Cambridge city. Girls can start boarding from Year 5, initially sharing rooms before having their own space as they move up the school. There’s a kitchen and dining area, comfortable common rooms and well-being room, and boarding staff live on site looking after the girls. Weekends are full of activities, so there’s plenty of time for socialising. Full, weekly and flexi boarding is available.

ACADEMIC RESULTS

Although St Mary’s favours a holistic approach to education and has a fairly relaxed selection process, it really delivers academically. The 2023 results confirm its academic appeal and will delight prospective parents. The school saw 65% of all GCSE grades as 9-7 (A*-A), with 90% gaining 9-5 (A*-B). For A Levels, it was a similar story – 45% gaining A*-A grades and 88% A*-C, with a 100% pass rate.

St Mary’s also consistently ranks in the top 5% of schools for value-added scores for as many as 12 subjects.

It’s not all about leaderboards and results here though. The school’s enrichment programme is fabulous, giving senior students space within the weekly timetable to embed core skills, develop new interests, experiment and be creative, building a skills portfolio covering five key areas: international knowledge, digital skills, environmental awareness and action, adventures and leadership. Enrichment timetable opportunities include activities such as the sports leader award, driver’s IQ, self defence, music, drama, rowing, and debating.

THE HEAD

For a girls’ school that promotes hard work, self-belief and aiming high, Charlotte Avery couldn’t be more perfect as Headmistress. Since she took over the headship 16 years ago after a stint as Deputy Head at Highgate (where she oversaw the introduction of girls into the school), she’s made a huge number of changes. These include the acquisition of the new Junior School campus, transforming the boarding facilities to gain St Mary’s a place in the world’s list of top boarding schools, creating a partnership with Homerton College to create state-of-the-art sports facilities as well as acquiring the boathouse.

Charlotte has also opened up the curriculum, introducing cookery classes and making St Mary’s one of the first schools to introduce computer studies from KS3. She’s also created a reputation for the school as being extremely strong in STEM subjects and enabling girls to head off to uni to study subjects like engineering and veterinary medicine. And, those are just the highlights!

Charlotte attended a girls’ school herself and is a former president and vice president of the Girls’ School Association, so she really gets the single-sex system and if you need convincing on its virtues, she’s the woman to speak to.

Proving it’s possible to be a high-flying female and promoting an incredible work ethic, Charlotte is also a Governor at St Bede’s Inter-Church School, Cambridge, Mill Hill Independent School and Haileybury Independent School, as well as being an ISI Inspector, a Board Member for the International Coalition of Girls’ Schools (ICGS), and a Judge for the Independent School of the Year (ISOTY) Awards. She also sits on the Editorial Advisory Board of Independent School Parent magazine, sits on the Education Leaders’ Council for the Foundation for Education Development (the FED), and is a Fellow and member of the Education Advisory Board at High Performance Learning (HPL).

Olivia Buchanan st mary's school cambridge

From September 2023 the Junior School welcomes a new headmistress, Olivia Buchanan, who replaces Joanne Christian. Olivia comes straight from the complete opposite to St Mary’s – Falcon’s Prep in Richmond, an all-boys school. I met Olivia during my tour and she’s young, ambitious and excited to start work improving the Junior School’s outdoor learning programme, which is a real passion of hers. Watch this space, because I have a feeling she’s a woman on a mission.

SEND

The SEND provision here is good with a dedicated Learning Support team from Preschool up to Sixth Form. The Learning Support Centre offers regular timetabled classes in small learning groups or one-on-one in specific subjects as well as generic study skills. St Mary’s teachers are excellent at supporting girls with learning concerns early on to ensure they don’t lose confidence and are equally good at spotting girls with specific talents and coming up with ways to help them flourish.

WRAP AROUND CARE

Pretty good. In the Junior School students can arrive at 8am and stay until 6pm. In the Senior School and Sixth Form it’s slightly earlier – 7:30am, and after school there’s a whole host of after-school clubs. There’s also an excellent Late Stay provision at Mary Ward House until 8:30pm. There’s always the flexi boarding option too, from Year 9 up, if you can’t bear to battle the Cambridge traffic anymore.

WHAT ELSE?

The school runs an extensive minibus network (parking is almost non-existent!) and the city’s main train station is a short walk away, so travelling in by train is an excellent option.

QUIRKS

dog show at st Mary's school Cambridge — Image: Matthew Power Photography

You wouldn’t describe St Mary’s as a particularly quirky school. It is proudly Catholic though (although all faiths and none are welcome), and as a result the school is extremely active in helping out with charitable causes. There’s an annual Lourdes Fundraising Fortnight to raise money for sick and disabled children to take a pilgrimage, including a much-loved a dog show. There’s also an annual fancy dress fun run to raise funds for charities chosen by Charity Prefects.

Some of the extra-curricular offerings are pretty quirky too, with favourites including Kung Fu, eco-brick sculptures and Model United Nations.

ISI REPORT

You can read the latest ISI report from 2022 – judged excellent across the board.

FEES

Excellent value for the central Cambridge location and considering the huge investment in facilities recently. Per term: Preschool £4221 (funded childcare up to 15 hours per week can be applied); Reception – Year 2 £4221, Year 3 – 4 £5,526, Year 5 – 6 £5827, and Year 7 to Upper Sixth £6580. Throw boarding into the mix and the fees rise to £13,148 – 13,892 per term.

There are three types of scholarships available – enrichment scholarships (recognising talent in a specific subject), and new for 2023 High Performance Scholarships (recognising academic achievement), and Community Scholarships (recognising leadership in a key area of school life). The enrichment scholarships consist of a one-off fee remission of £500, while the High Performance and Community Scholarships, are more about the bragging rights.

THE MUDDY VERDICT

GOOD FOR: Parents who are looking for the ease of an all-through education starting as young as 3, and who value and understand the benefits of the single sex system. Girls who will thrive in an intimate, supportive and encouraging environment will love it here, as will those with a passion for creative arts or an aptitude for STEM subjects. The school is well-known for turning out confident, kind and well-rounded girls who are ambitious without being precocious. You’ll find quiet and shy girls really come out of their shell here.

There’s also a really strong sense of community here, so if you want to feel involved as a whole family in your child’s education you’ll love it here. The school proudly uses the phrase ‘once a St Mary’s girl, always a St Mary’s girl’, and as a former student myself I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment.

NOT FOR: If you’re after sweeping driveways, acres of green space and super shiny facilities across the board then this isn’t the school for you.

DARE TO DISAGREE? Be my guest and check it out for yourself! Upcoming Open Days are on 28 September for the Preschool and Junior School and 5 October for Senior School. Book here.

St Mary’s School, Bateman St, Cambridge CB2 1LY. Tel: 01223 353253.

St Mary’s School, Cambridge

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