St Mary’s Strengthens Access and Celebrates Academic Success
St Mary’s School, Gerrards Cross, was recently featured in The Sunday Times Parent Power, recognised for its renewed and forward-thinking commitment to widening access through an enhanced bursary and scholarship programme. The feature highlighted how, at a time of considerable financial pressure across the independent sector, St Mary’s is choosing to invest in opportunities for local families.
In the article, Head Lars Fox reflected on the changing financial landscape facing independent education, including the introduction of VAT on school fees and rising operational costs. While acknowledging the difficulties, he reaffirmed the school’s determination to remain accessible to families who value its outstanding opportunities.
“We recognise the challenges many families face, and we want to ensure that aspirational local families continue to benefit from an exceptional education,” he said.
A refreshed approach to bursaries and scholarships
The Parent Power feature explored St Mary’s recent overhaul of its scholarships and bursary provision, designed to ensure that financial support is targeted, fair and sustainable, while continuing to reward excellence and potential.
Scholarships are traditionally awarded to girls entering Years 7 and 12 for exceptional talent in Drama, Music, Art, Dance, Sport or academic ability. This year, St Mary’s has also introduced a highly prestigious new Excellence Award for Year 11 girls who achieve an average grade 8 across all subjects in their mock examinations, reinforcing the school’s strong academic ethos.
Bursaries, meanwhile, are means-tested and intended to support families experiencing genuine financial difficulty through no fault of their own. Awarded for a fixed period and reviewed regularly, they ensure that the school’s charitable funds are used responsibly and reach those who need them most.
Reflecting on the importance of this support, Mr Fox added:
“Having seen my own daughter go through private education, I understand the immense sacrifice families make. I want to honour that by making bursaries more accessible, while ensuring our funds are used effectively and for the greatest impact.”
Value Added: helping girls go further than expected
This commitment to access sits alongside St Mary’s proven success in enabling girls to thrive from the moment they join the school. At St Mary’s, every girl begins her journey from a different starting point, but through exceptional teaching, high expectations and personalised support, students consistently make progress beyond initial predictions. This is the school’s Value Added approach in action.
Value Added measures how much better a student performs in examinations compared to their predicted outcomes. On average, girls at St Mary’s achieve one full grade above their initial GCSE predictions, a powerful indicator of the impact of the school’s teaching and academic culture.
In the Sixth Form, Value Added is also reflected in the opportunity for students to complete the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) alongside their A Levels. Worth half an A Level, the EPQ allows girls to pursue individual interests in depth, developing university-level skills such as critical thinking, independent research and project management.
Beyond the classroom, the Value Added approach enriches St Mary’s extensive co-curricular programme. Academic societies and clubs range from the Literary Society and Robotics Club to Japanese and History Club, complemented by scholars’ lunches, music theory sessions and bespoke GCSE and A Level study support. Students are encouraged to enter local and national competitions across a wide range of subjects, often with notable success.
Access, excellence and opportunity
The inclusion of St Mary’s in The Sunday Times Parent Power places the school among a small number of independent schools recognised for protecting access during a period of significant change. Combined with its strong Value Added outcomes, it underlines a clear message: at St Mary’s, widening opportunity and academic excellence go hand in hand.
Through its bursary programme and its proven ability to help girls exceed expectations academically, personally and socially, St Mary’s School, Gerrards Cross continues to ensure that talented girls, regardless of background, can flourish.
Find out more at the Open Week, 2- 6 March
stmarysschool.co.uk/visitus