A Message from the Headmistress
St Mary's is an academically selective and vibrant school of just under 300 girls aged 11-18; around fifty girls attend on a daily basis but the vast majority are boarders, and all the girls participate in the life of this fully boarding school.
A good school is much more than the curriculum it offers: St Mary's girls achieve excellent results in public examinations, but they leave school with a much richer education than that provided solely by their academic subjects. We feel strongly that inner development - academic, personal, social and spiritual - is of paramount importance.
I hope you will enjoy your first look at St Mary's, Calne and that afterwards you will contact us for further information. I look forward to welcoming you in person to the school.
School Aims
St Mary's is a Christian Foundation which welcomes staff and pupils of all faiths.
Everyone is valued as an individual.
The School Aims
- To provide an education for girls which will motivate, challenge, encourage and inspire them.
- To enable each girl to grow in experience, wisdom and understanding.
- To develop in each girl regard for all people and the world in which we live.
- To give each girl the confidence to strive for high standards in all she does.
A vision for the future
At St Mary’s we aim to continue to be recognised as, without question, one of the top girls’ boarding schools in the UK, and to provide for our pupils the best possible educational foundation for life.
One of the top girls’ boarding schools in the UK
Our strategic plans for the next few years include the following:
- To build on and develop a high expectation and success culture amongst pupils and staff.
- To continue to develop and strengthen a fully integrated education for each girl which responds to her individual needs.
- To develop a cutting edge curriculum and extra-curriculum that anticipates and responds to the needs of the workplace and life in the 21st century and allows girls to develop their agility of mind, their independence in learning and their adaptability.
- To develop school structures, systems and facilities to support and enable our curriculum aims.
- To ensure the high profile of St Mary’s is recognised in the local, national and international community.
We believe that the education offered to girls at St Mary’s is second to none.
The Curriculum and Academic Subjects
All teaching at St Mary’s shares a common goal: to enable girls to engage with their subjects and with the cross-curricular skills that will allow them to be successful later in life - flexibility, curiosity, self-criticism and thinking skills.
Critical Thinking is taught throughout the school and in the Sixth Form and builds on the skills developed in all subjects, where girls are encouraged to challenge assumptions, argue their case and weigh evidence before making judgements. IT skills are seen as an essential component of the ‘toolkit’ with which pupils leave us and are taught both in a timetabled lesson in each year group and in the context of specific subjects.
Girls are taught research, coursework and study skills and are prepared for the rigour of public examinations. They develop independence of thought, and enquiring minds and sound powers of judgment. They consistently achieve superb results in public examinations and go on to higher education, with a good number each year often successfully applying to Oxbridge. |