Established on a founding vision which is over 400 years old, our educational provision continues to be tailored for girls.
Our independence allows us to incorporate the best combination of traditional and modern teaching and learning approaches to be a strong and welcoming school which achieves ‘excellence in every possible area of educational provision’, according to our latest Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) report.
Girls from the age of four are welcomed into the Junior School, where we take great pride in nurturing their progress to Senior School at age 11, where, in turn, we develop their independence, both personal and intellectual, ahead of A Level studies in our Sixth Form from age 16.
Our girls delight in and long cherish their particular memories and friendships from their time with us, and all students are personally known and cherished by our teachers and support staff.
The school’s favourable location in the heart of Cambridge, one of the most culturally exciting of all of Britain’s cities, provides a wonderful array of educational and leisure opportunities.
State-funded or independent
93 percent of children between the ages of three and 18 are in education in state-funded schools without charge. About seven percent of school children in England attend fee-paying Independent schools, which rises to 15.5 percent at Sixth Form stage. Sometimes Independent schools are called ‘public’ or ‘prep’ schools for children under 13 years old, or, more generally, they may simply be called ‘private’ schools. These schools value their independence from central government control which gives them freedom to innovate in terms of their curriculum and to offer much smaller class sizes and a much broader curriculum amongst many other advantages.
Day or boarding
There is a long tradition of boarding schools in Britain. Boarding students live on the school premises during term time and return home in the holidays. At day schools, students return home to their families at the end of each school day. Some schools have a mixture of day and boarding students whereas other schools are exclusively day or boarding. There are nearly 780 Independent day schools and 500 Independent boarding schools in the UK. St Mary’s School, Cambridge offers places for both day and boarding students.
Co-education or single-sex
There are single-sex schools which educate boys or girls separately. There are also co-educational schools, known as ‘co-ed’ schools, which educate boys and girls together. St Mary’s School, Cambridge is a single-sex school for girls. Single-sex schools allow students to develop academically, personally and socially without the added distractions from, and competitive pressures of, the other sex.
Size
Independent schools vary considerably in size, with the smallest having fewer than 50 students and the largest with more than 1,700 students. The average size of an independent school is roughly 400 students. St Mary’s School, Cambridge has about 650 students, with 170 girls in our Junior School. This is an excellent size since it offers us the opportunities of scale including a very broad academic curriculum and innovative extra-curricular programme, whilst being small enough to provide outstanding pastoral care and many opportunities to value the individual girl.
GCSE
All students in England follow the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) curriculum or its equivalent. The GCSE course is usually taught over two years. Students usually take between five and 12 GCSEs, although the government benchmarks its standards against pass rates in five GCSEs. Girls at St Mary’s School, Cambridge generally take 10 subjects although since our curriculum is tailored to individual needs there are some who take more and some who take fewer. The compulsory subjects are: English Language (or English as an Additional Language, EAL, for learners whose first language is not English), Mathematics, and Science. All other subjects are optional for UK students, although different schools may specify different requirements – for instance at St Mary’s School, Cambridge, students must also take Religious Studies (RS). The qualification is graded A* to G, with A* being the top grade.
A Levels
A Levels are studied by most students in the UK who are in education after the age of 16 (some students follow vocational courses) and are highly regarded by both British and international universities. No subjects are compulsory. The A Level programme is a two year course and students usually study three or four subjects. The qualification is awarded from A* to E grades with A* being the top grade.
Academic year
The academic year in the UK runs from September to July and this is split into three terms of about 12 to 16 weeks. At St Mary’s School, Cambridge we call these terms the Autumn Term (September to December), Spring Term (January to March/April) and Summer Term (March/April to July). Each term has a week-long holiday in the middle called ‘half term’.