WHAT? WHERE?

St Mary’s School is an all-through, non-selective girls day school in the affluent South Buckinghamshire town of Gerrards Cross. Established 150 years ago by an Oxfordshire Anglican foundation in Paddington before moving to Gerrards Cross in 1937, the school retains a broad Church of England outlook and teaches 420 pupils from 3-18 years in its handsome gothic building (all wood panelling, tall chimneys and ornate ceilings) and its recent additions in a compact site of 6 acres.

Class sizes are small here with an average of 16 in senior school and three classes per year group, so the girls get plenty of academic and pastoral attention. Long seen as a steady pair of hands locally, the school’s rising reputation over the last two or three years with strong academic results and a strong community spirit has resulted in both the nursery and the senior school now being full, with a few dotted places remaining in the prep.

FACILITIES

/SPORTS

Sport has become a focus for St Mary’s since the current head took over, so aside from the fitness suite and trampolines, there’s a newish astroturf with floodlights (opened winter 2021), an increase in PE teachers on staff, a fuller fixtures list, and a breadth of sports offering that has seen girls reach the national finals in gymnastics, badminton, athletics and netball (2021-2022). 2019 saw the first dedicated sports awards presentation at the school, a reflection of the priority now being given an area previously underdeveloped. Whilst gymnastics, dance and trampoline are the specialities of the school, the likes of netball, football, cricket and basketball are all enjoying enthusiastic take up too.

/CREATIVE ARTS

Music-wise, there are plenty of ensembles on offer include Swing Band, Flute Ensemble, Clarinet Choir, Classical Guitar Ensemble, Senior Orchestra, rock band and a Chamber Group. Perhaps due to the small student numbers, staff and parents are also involved – the chemistry teacher plays cello and head of drama was involved in the Autumn concert playing some percussion instruments. There’s a community choir that includes parents, governors, staff and girls, in addition to school choirs who come together for key events such as the carol concert.

Drama is popular here, with the vast majority of the girls taking part in productions – either back of house or jazz handing it on the stage – and the prep and senior schools each put on 4 shows per year. Currently performances take part in the main hall, but there are plans to create a large space for productions, music and art.

Art takes place in a large, light studio, with a connected, but separate area around the corner for the A-level students. The art teacher I talked to was full of good humour about “letting the girls loose” in her lessons.

/GENERAL

There’s been an ambitious building investment programme over the last decade with a purpose-built Cedar House Sixth Form opened in 2016, with its quiet study area, common area with kitchen, IT Suite and a green screen room. In 2018 Cherry Tree House opened, a new 6 classroom block. And a charming wooden cladded new Early Years building, Little St Mary’s, was completed in 2020, a new multi use games area in 2021 and most recently in 2022 a new science classroom was opened. The Summer of 2023 saw a canopy added to the Rose Garden for outdoor dining and a wellbeing pod for students.

The architectural highlight though is surely the gorgeous senior library, cosy and inviting – once the drawing room of the aristocratic private owners – with ceiling plasterwork like sugar icing and a lovely tucked away corner for reading.

There’s not one but three librarians here – I met two of them and they were full of enthusiasm and love of books, just as you’d wish. Writers regularly come to talk, no doubt helped by the proximity of the renowned Gerrards Cross Bookshop and its role call of celebrity authors.

ACADEMICS

St Mary’s clearly caters well on academics, offering a largely traditional roster of core subjects, though you can also take the likes of Art & Design, Business Studies, Drama, Food Preparation & Nutrition, Religious Studies and Textiles. There’s even a “twilight” Dance option, which is GCSE dance taught in the mornings and after school, with these twilight sessions also used for the elite dance squad, sports Acro team and gym squad.

2024’s GSCE results will warm the hearts of prospective parents and confirms St Mary’s academic appeal – the school saw half of all grades 9-7, (formerly A*-A) with 70% of grades at 9-6 (A*-B). For A levels, it was a similar story – 80% A*-B, with a 100% pass rate.

PASTORAL CARE

Definitely proactive on this front and a recognised strength of the school having come highly commended in our Muddy Awards and in the national ISA Awards category of Excellence and Innovation in Mental Health and Wellbeing. There’s a strong community element within the school that internally they call the St Mary’s Spirit (and yes, it has it’s own hashtag – #smsspirit) and there’s a fitting acronym TAKE CARE that the school uses as the basis for its pastoral programme which stands for Team work, Ambition, Kindness, Enthusiasm, Curiosity, Adventure, Resilience, Excellence. Any school can launch these pastoral initiatives but St Mary’s does seem to breathe it – walking around there’s a palpable sense of calm, classes are well-behaved but relaxed, and there seems none of the tense energy that can sometimes surround self-proclaimed ‘busy’ schools.

St Mary’s is a ‘Girls on Board’ school, a training approach that helps girls, their parents and their teacher to understand girl friendships and empowers the girls to understand them and solve problems when they arise. And there are regular evenings put on for parents to help support their daughters, so far they have hosted evenings on exam preparation, dyslexia, personal organisation and online safety. They also add parenting tips to their weekly newsletters as well.

Counselling is readily available for the pupils with at least one counsellor onsite full time at any one time. The school uses the E-Praise software to reward pupils for good behaviour and school spirit. There are Transition Prefects whose job is to smooth the way for girls moving from junior to senior departments, and what sounds like an effective Student Council – latest changes for the better include a free tuck shop (previously items cost a princely 50p each) and the ability for Years 10/11 to wear their hair down.

And lastly, the school now has a wellbeing dog, Bertie, alongside the wellbeing pod.

LITTLIES

The nursery is full for a reason! Built in 2021, the nursery building is a wooden-clad, light and airy space with low-level interactive screens. Then there’s the creative outdoor space with a sweet story area and obstacle course. You can expect specialist teachers in French, Dance and Music from the get-go here, leading to across-the-board specialist teachers as they rise from Year 3. There’s a Forest School for all children in the Pre-Prep, starting at 3 years old. The Pre-Prep space opposite the nursery is a sweet, bright space with all the bells and whistles necessary and a warm, nurturing presence in the form of Mrs Mairead Carney, Head of Prep.

Wooden outdoor area with gate and play equipment for children looking onto a playground

Unusually phonics are taught to Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 at the same time, allowing for a free flow of pupils between classes based on ability at any given time and removing the stigma of pupils asking for and receiving learning support throughout their time at St Mary’s. Moving up to Prep (Years 3-6), there’s a strong emphasis on problem solving and independent thinking that’s hardwired into the curriculum on Friday afternoons, such as engineering problems to solve with Connex, coding with Lego, or taking on a business enterprise.

In Years 5 and 6, the girls are put into academic streams and as with higher up the school, it feels like St Mary’s puts a lot of store on giving the girls a voice with ‘Speakers Corner’ in assembly every Monday where the girls share anything they like, how they like (recent subjects include explaining exzema and talking about Queen Elizabeth) and taking part in Youth Speaks events.

SIXTH FORM

Sixth Formers at St Mary’s are treated to home clothes instead of a uniform, their own small but perfectly formed Sixth Form block with common room and kitchen, and a smorgasbord of 25 subjects to choose from which, aside from the usual suspects, includes new additions Sociology and History of Art along with the likes of Food Technology, Media Studies, Business Studies, Textiles, Dance and Philosophy & Ethics.

For A levels, pupils tend to select three, but can take four (usually dropping one to end up with three – the norm for most Sixth Forms), plus there’s an opportunity in Year 12 to work towards the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ), which is worth half an A Level.

Years 12/13 study in vertical tutor groups which is quite unusual and I guess is partly to do with group numbers in various subjects, but there are plenty of benefits in mixing year groups – introducing different class dynamics and creating a strong sense of Sixth Form community.

SEND

SEN provision here is excellent, with dyslexia, dyspraxia, ASD, hearing loss and mental health issues all catered for in-house with two Specialist Teachers who are also Level 7 qualified Specialist Assessors with SpLD practising certificates. ‘CAKE’ (Cognitive and Kinaesthetic Education), is run as a lunchtime club for groups of 4-5 on their timetable for girls who need extra help in Key Stage 3 (Years 7-9). And yes, I think cake it actually involved! By Y10 support is individual.

In the Prep Department there is in-class support, extra 1:1 boosters and support for reading as well as small group support for fine motor skills, speech and language and social skills.

THE HEAD

Patricia Adams has been in the hot seat for more than six years now, having started this, her first headship, in Sept 2018, after stints as head of Spanish at Oxford High School, head of modern languages at Headington School as well as academic deputy head at Blackheath High. Poised and friendly, she’s clearly ambitious about St Mary’s and is rightly pleased with how strong the academics remain year on year.

She can also take credit for increasing the profile and success of the sport at the school, seeing through the build of the multi-use games area, increasing the number of PE teachers and opportunities to try diverse sports and timetabling extra training. Next on her to-do list is a Performing Arts Centre (architect drawings were made pre-Covid and are now seeing light of day again), an area she recognises could do with its own block. The ‘large school mentality’ she talked of back in 2020 is showing its colours which is exciting to see.

REPORTS

You can read the latest ISI report from 2019 – judged excellent across the board.

WRAP AROUND CARE

Standard for a day school – in the mornings it’s a 7.45am drop off (Nursery and Reception is also 7.45a.m and 7.30am if required). After-school club lasts until 6pm, but Senior girls can do supervised prep in the library instead.

School buses collect from four separate routes – Rickmansworth, Uxbridge, Bourne End, Amersham. For a full list see here.

QUIRKS

One of the benefits of being such a small school is that the girls get a chance to take responsibility and positions of leadership. There’s a sweet flag ceremony where the old head girl hands over the flag over to the new head girl – the flag is lowered and raised again as the new head girl and her team of four take over responsibilities.

MOBILE PHONE POLICY

There’s a strict no mobile phone policy here, with the exception of the Sixth Form pupils at break time.

FEES

Though fees have gently nudged upwards over the last two years, they’re still good value, particularly for a school in such a wealthy area. Per term, Nursery £2,600, Reception £3,610, Y1-2 £5,120, Y3-4 £5,700, Year 5-6 £5,795, and Y7-13 is £7,350.

11+ and Sixth Form Scholarships are available in Academic, Sports, Music, Art and Drama at 11+ and Sixth Form. These days most scholarships are mainly only worth the bragging rights, but here they carry a fee remission of up to 30%, which could come in handy.

WORD ON THE GROUND

The view from parents and those in the know is that St Mary’s is a strong all-rounder all-through school – academically parents know not to worry, but pastorally the school blows the barn doors off too. Mrs Adams is well-regarded, and seen as a safe pair of hands. The lack of expansive grounds doesn’t seem to bother parents, who point out that what is not on site, is still offered away from the school. The pupils I spoke to picked up on the strong pastoral care and the relaxed ‘just be you’ philosophy. One Sixth Former, when prodded hard for something to improve at the school, said she’d like the freedom to leave the school site in study break time, but it was mild dissent to say the least.

THE MUDDY VERDICT

Good for: Parents who are looking for the ease of an all-through education, an girls who will thrive in an intimate, supportive environment. Mental wellness, kindness and support are the calling cards of the school so any child needing extra TLC in this regard is in the right place. The school is a five-minute drive from Gerrards Cross train station, so it’s handy for parents working in London, with Marylebone Station a titchy 20 minute commute. There are good links with Thorpe House school and Dr Challoner’s for those who want to make sure their daughters are learning to socialise with boys too.

Not for: If you’re after a huge school with masses of space, the small grounds relative to some other local schools might put off those who like to luxuriate in what they’re paying for.

Want to see for yourself? Be my guest! Check out the next open events here or feel free to book an individual tour.

St Mary’s School, Packhorse Rd, Gerrards Cross SL9 8JQ. Tel: 01753 883370.

St Mary’s School, Gerrards Cross

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