St Mary's Calne and St Margaret's Prep

"Win Your Own Race" is the motto at St Mary's Calne, and it captures how the place actually works: success is measured against a girl's own potential rather than a single yardstick. Founded in 1873 and all-girls ever since, St Mary's is an Anglican boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18, paired with St Margaret's, a co-educational prep and nursery for children aged 2 to 11 on the same Wiltshire campus in Calne. Around 498 pupils and students attend across the two schools. Boarding sits at the centre of daily life, though roughly a fifth of girls are day pupils. Mrs Anne Wakefield has led the school since 2024. GCSE and A-level results both rank inside the top 5% in England, and the February 2025 ISI inspection judged that every required standard is met.

The recent bringing together of the senior school and the prep under one identity prompted a full review of values and aims, and the result reads as a coherent community rather than two schools sharing a postcode. Relationships are marked by respect, tolerance and inclusion, and girls behave well and mix easily across year groups. Three words anchor the ethos here: Curiosity, Compassion and Courage. They are not wall decoration; they shape how girls are asked to approach work, each other, and setbacks.

Two structures reinforce that sense of belonging. The boarding houses are organised horizontally, mixing ages so that older and younger girls share daily life and friendships form up and down the school. Alongside the houses, every pupil belongs to one of five School Companies, each named after a local bishop, which she keeps throughout her time at Calne and which drives inter-year competition in drama, music, charity and sport. A new girl therefore arrives into two ready-made networks in her first week.

Physically, the campus has been steadily reinvested in. The Lumi Library spans two floors with more than 14,000 books, project rooms, a multimedia suite and a central amphitheatre for talks, its windows looking out over an orchard. The Lime Kiln Garden, opened in 2021 to a design by landscape architect Sally Harley-Martin, adds a quiet outdoor space of sunken stone, sculpture and water for study and downtime. At the younger end, St Margaret's brings its own character: a co-educational pre-prep and prep of boys and girls, with the Bluebird Nursery taking children from age 2, so the campus holds everything from first steps in early years to sixth-formers preparing for university. The tone the school cultivates is purposeful without being pressured, in keeping with a motto that prizes personal progress over comparison.

St Mary's takes public examinations seriously, and the outcomes place it among the stronger academic girls' schools in England. At GCSE, the school ranks 176th of 3,895 schools in England for results, which puts it in the top 4.5%, well above the England average (ranked against all schools in England with published GCSE results, state and independent). These are proprietary FindMySchool rankings built from official data. Its blended overall position, which combines results with our inspection score, is 270th of 3,887, and within Calne it ranks first. The grade profile is genuinely high: around 63% of GCSE entries are awarded grade 9 or 8, and 82% reach grades 9 to 7. In a girls' school of this size, that consistency across subjects matters more than any single headline figure.

Sixth-form results carry the same story upward. St Mary's ranks 129th of 2,562 in England for A-level results, again inside the top 5.0%, measured against every school in England with published A-level results. Its overall blended rank is 195th of 2,561, and it is first in Calne. About 62% of A-level entries are graded A* or A, against an England average close to 24%, and 83% reach A* to B compared with roughly 47% across England. Put plainly, the typical Calne A-level result sits well clear of the England average, and the ceiling for able students is high. Because the school is all-through, these results relate to the senior school and sixth form; the co-educational prep and nursery feed the school rather than sit any published national examinations.

Progress is good across the school because planning and teaching are matched to how girls learn rather than delivered in a single register. Girls demonstrate strong critical thinking and work well together, and the curriculum covers all the required areas. In the sixth form, timetables are built around individual subject combinations rather than fixed option blocks, so a student's choices are less likely to collide. Underpinning it all is the personal tutor system: each girl is assigned an academic member of staff responsible for her coaching as well as her welfare, which keeps her academic tracking and her pastoral care in the same pair of hands rather than in separate silos.

From Year 7, a weekly Futures Friday programme runs alongside lessons, using seminars, coaching and careers talks to build skills in leadership, communication and digital confidence and to help girls make informed choices about GCSEs, A-levels, university and careers. One honest qualification sits against the strong teaching picture: the consistent teaching of technological skills is the clearest area the school still needs to strengthen, and girls' digital literacy is not yet as developed across the board as it could be.

Progression through the school is designed to be smooth, and it starts early. Children can begin in the Bluebird Nursery from age 2 and move up through the co-educational pre-prep and prep at St Margaret's, following the Early Years Foundation Stage and then a broad primary curriculum. Girls at St Margaret's Prep then move up into St Mary's senior school, while boys at the co-educational prep leave at the end of Year 6, since the senior school is girls-only. Entry into the sixth form is not automatic: Year 11 students, and external applicants, are expected to meet GCSE and subject requirements to continue into Year 12, and the sixth form recruits from outside as well as from within.

At 18, destinations point mainly to university. In the 2024 leaver data, 44% of a cohort of 57 progressed straight into higher education, with a further share moving into employment; the year-after snapshot does not always capture students who defer through a gap year and take up places later, which is common at selective independents. The sixth form actively supports competitive routes, including medicine, dentistry and veterinary science. Oxbridge ambition is real, if selective in outcome: across recent cycles the school lodged 18 applications to Oxford and Cambridge and secured one offer, from Cambridge. Strong universities remain well within reach for the wider cohort. The Donaldson Award, a six-strand sixth-form programme overseen by a dedicated tutor, gives students a framework for wider skills, interests and reflection alongside their A-levels, which supports the personal statements and interviews that competitive courses demand. Governors take an active role in supporting, monitoring and challenging leaders, and the review of values that followed the joining of the two schools has left the leadership with a clear sense of direction for where the school is heading.

Entry to St Mary's comes chiefly at 11+ (Year 7) and 13+ (Year 9), with sixth-form places and occasional mid-year vacancies filled as they arise. Assessment is considered rather than a single high-stakes exam: adaptive online tests in maths, English, verbal and non-verbal reasoning, a creative writing task and an informal interview together build a picture of each girl. Families are advised to register by the end of the Autumn Term of Year 5 for 11+ and 13+ entry, which secures an invitation to the Summer Term taster and experience days that let a girl try the school before deciding; sixth-form candidates are asked to register at least a year ahead.

As an Anglican foundation, the school's Church of England character is real but inclusive. There is no faith test for admission: girls of all faiths and none are welcomed, and the chaplaincy is offered to everyone regardless of background. No distance or catchment rule applies either, so a place depends on assessment and availability rather than where a family lives. The co-educational nursery and pre-prep at St Margaret's admit children from age 2, which gives girls a natural early route into the senior school. To weigh St Mary's against other Wiltshire independents, the FindMySchool local hub lets you line up their results side by side.

Pastoral care is structured and visible rather than left to chance. Each girl has her personal tutor as a first point of contact, backed by wellbeing practitioners who run tailored workshops and one-to-one support, and by professional counsellors for confidential help. A weekly review takes a team-around-the-child approach, looking at each girl's emerging academic and pastoral needs together so that support arrives before difficulties harden. An on-site Health Centre staffed by nurses, healthcare assistants and first-aiders handles day-to-day health, with links to local physiotherapists and dentists, and a PSHE curriculum runs throughout the school.

The chaplaincy, led by Father Jonathan, offers pastoral support to girls of any faith or none, giving the Anglican foundation a gentle everyday presence rather than a demanding one. The weekly wellbeing review is where the system earns its keep: staff look at each girl's academic and pastoral picture side by side, so a dip in one is spotted alongside the other rather than in isolation. Safeguarding is effective: the designated safeguarding lead and wider team are suitably trained, respond quickly to concerns, work closely with external agencies, and maintain firm internet filtering and monitoring.

Co-curricular life at Calne is broad and, unusually, genuinely central to the week rather than bolted on. Sport is a major pillar. A 25-metre, six-lane pool anchors swimming; twenty tennis courts and a dedicated Tennis Academy support year-round coaching; eight netball courts and a full-sized artificial turf pitch keep lacrosse, hockey, football and athletics running through the seasons. Teams compete in lacrosse, hockey, netball, tennis, athletics, swimming, rounders and skiing, with weekly timetabled practices, fixtures against other leading schools, and trips and tours in the UK and overseas. The message the school sends is that there is a sport for every girl, whatever her ability, rather than a first team and everyone else. A sports hall with its own climbing wall and cricket nets, plus a fitness suite refitted in 2025, round out the facilities, and the Equestrian Club fields a competitive team and hosts an annual show jumping competition.

Music has a long-standing reputation here, and a building to match: a four-storey Music School with fifteen practice rooms, a recording studio and a top-floor recital room with wide views and strong acoustics. Ensembles run from Jazz Band upward, and choral music is significant enough to be one of the school's scholarship strands. Drama is ambitious in equal measure. Productions play in the Delscey Burns Theatre, a professional-standard venue, and reach as far as the Edinburgh Fringe, while Junior Drama and workshops with visiting practitioners draw younger girls in early. The three Art Studios extend the creative offer into ceramics, sculpture, textiles, printmaking and photography, with design-technology equipment and Adobe Creative Cloud on hand.

Beyond the headline pillars, the breadth is real and named: Writer's Guild, Illustration Club, Lego League, Young Enterprise, Girl Guides, Junior Baking and the Duke of Edinburgh's Award all feature on the timetable of activities. It adds up to a week where a girl is expected to do more than attend lessons, and where the five School Companies give even the youngest a stake in the school's competitive life.

Fees are quoted per term. Day fees run at £11,598 per term for Lower School (Years 7 and 8) and £15,102 per term from Year 9 through the Upper Sixth. Full boarding is £20,346 per term across all year groups, while Lower School girls can day-board for up to three nights a week at £16,170 per term. A £300 registration fee and a £2,400 acceptance deposit apply, along with a one-off Calne Girls Association subscription.

Financial support is available and, importantly, can stack. Scholarships recognise outstanding ability in Academic, All-round, Art, Drama, Music (including choral) and Sport at 11+, 13+ and sixth-form entry. Means-tested bursaries may be awarded alongside a scholarship, so a girl can be both a scholar and a bursary holder, and awards are reviewed each year. As a registered charity, the school states that its income is reinvested in the education, facilities and opportunities it offers. Prep and nursery fees are set separately; for those and for the latest figures, check with the school directly.

Boarding is the heart of St Mary's, and the school is explicit about it: even day girls, around a fifth of the roll, have dedicated overnight spaces and are folded fully into house life. The February 2025 inspection judged boarding to be central to St Mary's Calne, with well-furnished and homely accommodation that welcomes boarders and day pupils alike. Houses are organised by age, so a girl moves through a clear sequence as she grows up. St Prisca's takes the youngest boarders in Years 7 and 8, and also houses Year 5 and 6 boarders who attend lessons at St Margaret's Prep. St Cecilia's covers Year 9. Girls move to single bedrooms in Gibbins and Joyce Walters for Years 10 and 11, and finally to university-style ensuite study bedrooms in Helen Wright and Florence Dyas in the sixth form, deliberately rehearsing the independence of undergraduate life.

Full boarding runs for all year groups, and Lower School girls in Years 7 and 8 can also board up to three nights a week if a full-time move is too big a first step. The horizontal, age-based houses are one of the school's defining features: younger girls in shared dorms build their first friendships, and each stage adds a little more independence, from Year 9 rooms to the ensuite study bedrooms of the sixth form. Supervision is supportive but unobtrusive, and every senior staff member takes a weekly duty in a boarding house, which keeps leadership close to residential life rather than removed from it. For families further afield, an escorted coach runs at exeats and half-terms with stops at the M4 services and in central London, and airport and rail transfers can be arranged for boarders travelling longer distances.

St Mary's draws from across Wiltshire and beyond. Minibus routes serve Marlborough, the Pewsey Vale, Devizes, Melksham, Chippenham and Malmesbury, and are reviewed each year according to demand, so families in an unserved area can ask about a new route. An escorted coach at exeats and half-terms stops at Chieveley and Reading services on the M4 and in central London, and airport and rail transfers can be arranged for boarders travelling further. Precise daily hours are best confirmed with the school, as they differ across the prep and senior phases and around the boarding timetable.

For the nursery and pre-prep at St Margaret's, government-funded early-education hours are available to eligible families; see the school website and our guide to nursery funding for current details, and speak to the school about fees. Families comparing options can use the FindMySchool saved-schools shortlist to keep St Mary's alongside other schools they are weighing up.

A girls-only senior school. St Mary's has been all-girls since 1873, and only the co-educational prep admits boys, who leave at the end of Year 6. Families wanting co-education beyond age 11 should look elsewhere.

Fees and a boarding-first culture. With full boarding at £20,346 per term and boarding at the centre of the week, this is a significant financial commitment, and even day girls should expect house life to shape the rhythm of the day. Scholarships and means-tested bursaries soften the cost for some families, but not all.

Digital skills are the work in progress. The most recent inspection singled out the consistent teaching of technological skills as the area to develop. Parents who place a high priority on a cutting-edge computing and digital curriculum should ask how this is progressing.

Selective entry, competitive destinations. Places depend on assessment rather than distance, and while academic outcomes are high, Oxbridge offers are hard-won: recent cycles produced one offer from eighteen applications. Strong universities are well within reach, but expectations about the most selective courses should stay realistic.

St Mary's Calne is a high-performing girls' boarding school that pairs top-5% academic results with a boarding culture that inspectors judge to be central and homely. Its strengths hang together: results well above the England average at both GCSE and A-level, an unusually broad co-curriculum in sport, music and drama, and pastoral care built around personal tutors and a weekly team-around-the-child review. It is best suited to families, particularly those able to commit to boarding, who want a girls' education that stretches academically while measuring success against each girl's own potential, in keeping with a motto that asks her to win her own race. The main caveats are cost and the boarding-first ethos: at more than £20,000 a term for full boarding, and with daily life shaped by the houses, it will not suit every family or every budget, and those seeking co-education past 11 or a standout digital curriculum should weigh that carefully before committing.