The Maynard School

#MadeForGirls is the phrase the Maynard puts front and centre, and for one of the oldest girls' schools in England the claim carries some weight. Founded in 1658 in the centre of Exeter and given its present name in 1912, this is a selective independent day school for girls aged 4 to 18, with around 425 on roll across its pre-prep, junior, senior and sixth-form phases. It is the top-ranked school in Exeter at both GCSE and A-level, and its sixth form sits inside the top 3% in England. Music, drama and sport all run deep, pastoral care is a genuine strength, and the compact size keeps the atmosphere close rather than anonymous. Liz Gregory has led the school as Head since September 2022. For families who want academic ambition without a production-line feel, the Maynard makes a serious case.

The Maynard traces its origins to 1658 and has educated girls in central Exeter ever since, taking its current name in 1912. Few schools in the South West can point to that kind of continuity, and the heritage is not merely decorative: the place carries a settled sense of purpose that the most recent inspection captured neatly. Inspectors described a caring school where pupils work happily together and support each other.

Scale defines the daily experience. With roughly 425 girls spread across every year from Reception to the upper sixth, this is a school where staff know pupils as individuals and where the youngest and oldest mix through the house system. The four houses, Armourers, Goldsmiths, Haberdashers and Merchants, borrow their names from historic craft guilds and drive inter-house competition across sport, music and charity, giving even the newest Reception child a wider group to belong to.

Behaviour is calm and rarely a problem. Staff steer lessons with low-key, quietly delivered correction rather than raised voices, and the school's own records show that serious misbehaviour and bullying are uncommon and dealt with promptly when they surface. The tone is purposeful and warm at the same time. Girls take on mentoring and buddy roles readily, and a strong sense of shared responsibility runs through the school, from the classroom to the leadership roles pupils hold across the houses. That combination, high expectation held alongside genuine kindness, is the defining texture of the place.

The Maynard performs at a level that places it among the strongest schools in England, and it is comfortably the leading school in Exeter at both GCSE and A-level. The positions below come from FindMySchool's proprietary rankings, built from official results data.

At GCSE the picture is emphatic. Around 49% of grades were awarded at 9 or 8, the top of the scale, and just over 70% reached grade 7 or above. In FindMySchool's England ranking the school sits 149th of 3,895 for GCSE results, a top 3.8% position, well above the England average (ranked against all schools in England with published GCSE results, state and independent). On the overall measure, which blends results with the FindMySchool inspection score, it ranks 118th of 3,887, and within Exeter it is first. Because GCSE results are best read against England standing rather than a single average figure, the point to hold onto is that more than two in three grades land in the top three marks.

The sixth form is stronger still. At A-level, 37% of entries were graded A*, 61% reached A* or A, and 87% landed between A* and B. Set against the England averages of about 24% at A* or A and 47% at A* to B, the gap is wide and consistent rather than the product of one strong year. FindMySchool's ranking places the sixth form 74th of 2,562 in England for A-level results, a top 2.9% standing that again sits well above the England average, with an overall position of 64th of 2,561 and first place in Exeter. Taken across both phases together, the school ranks 86th in England on the combined GCSE and A-level measure.

Read side by side, the two phases tell one story: girls arrive able, are pushed hard, and leave with grades that open competitive doors. Parents can line the Maynard up against other Exeter and Devon schools using the FindMySchool local hub to see the results compared directly.

Teaching is well organised and effective, built on a broad curriculum that holds its breadth right through to GCSE. Pupils across the school engage well in lessons and make good progress, and the results bear that out at every stage. The classroom culture is one of high expectation delivered without theatre: girls are stretched, but the tone stays supportive rather than pressured, which suits a school that treats wellbeing and outcomes as equally important.

The sixth form runs a full menu of 23 A-level subjects, wider than many schools of this size manage, with options that stretch from Classics and Computing to Fashion and Textiles, Food and Nutrition, and Psychology. That breadth lets the strongest girls build unusual combinations and reach specialist university courses without leaving the school to find a subject.

Specialist teaching reaches the youngest pupils too. The early years curriculum is well planned and engaging, enriched from the start by specialist swimming and by outdoor learning at the school's Forest School, so the academic habits that surface at A-level are seeded in Reception. The continuity of a single school from age 4 to 18 means a girl can be taught by subject specialists earlier than in many settings, and senior staff know the children long before the examination years arrive. Support for different learners is structured rather than improvised: the school's SENCo, Mrs Smart, coordinates a graduated approach to additional needs, and quality-first, dyslexia-friendly teaching runs from Reception through to Year 13.

The Maynard runs as a continuous school from Reception to Year 13, so the most important transitions happen inside its own gates. Girls move up from the Junior School into the senior years, and Year 11 students continue into the sixth form by meeting the published entry requirements rather than reapplying from scratch. The sixth form also recruits from other schools, which keeps the post-16 cohort fresh and widens the friendship group at exactly the point when girls are weighing university choices.

At the end of Year 13, leavers head to a mix of Oxbridge, Russell Group and other leading universities, alongside a growing number of degree apprenticeships with employers such as Rolls-Royce. Of the 52 leavers tracked in the 2023-24 cohort, just under half progressed directly to higher education, with others taking up further education, apprenticeships and employment. Oxbridge entry happens, though numbers are small at a school this size: in a recent cycle the school made ten Oxbridge applications and secured one place, at Cambridge. The destinations spread is genuinely varied, and the alumnae the school points to make the range concrete, from the BAFTA-winning filmmaker and journalist Zoe Flood and the actor Isobel Pinsky to Flora McKinney, a nuclear reactor operator at Hinkley Point, and the volcanologist Alex Daniels. Science, media, the arts and industry all feature, which is no surprise given the breadth of the A-level results.

Entry to the Maynard is selective and runs directly through the school rather than through the local authority, since this is an independent school. Girls can join at several points: Pre-Prep at Reception, the Junior School in Years 3 to 6, the Senior School at Year 7 (11+) or Year 9 (13+), and the Sixth Form at 16+, with places in other years where they exist.

Assessment is matched to age. The youngest applicants are seen informally, through a relaxed taster session rather than a formal test. Entry to the Junior School involves papers in English, Mathematics and Non-Verbal Reasoning. At 11+, candidates sit English, Maths, verbal and non-verbal reasoning and a piece of creative writing, with Science added at 13+. Sixth-form entry rests on an interview with the Head and heads of department together with a GCSE threshold: candidates are expected to achieve at least six grade 7s, including grade 7 in both Maths and English. The school's own Year 11 students progress on the same academic terms rather than being waved through automatically, which keeps the sixth form focused while opening it to strong students arriving from co-educational or state settings.

International students in the sixth form are supported through homestay accommodation arranged with established third-party consultancies, placing girls with vetted local host families, alongside an hour of English as an additional language teaching each week. Because year groups are small, individual cohorts fill quickly and early registration matters; families are best advised to contact the school to confirm current assessment formats and deadlines, and can use the FindMySchool map search and saved-schools shortlist to weigh the Maynard against nearby alternatives before arranging a visit.

Pastoral care is one of the school's defining strengths, and it is recognised well beyond the gates: the Maynard has held the Wellbeing Award for Schools twice, in 2019 and again in 2023. The 2025 ISI inspection found all standards met across leadership, quality of education, pupils' physical and mental health and wellbeing, and safeguarding. The small scale helps here. Staff notice quickly when a girl is struggling, and the buddy and mentoring systems mean pupils look out for one another rather than leaving it all to adults.

The culture is one of shared purpose. Pupils are fully involved in school life and take on leadership roles across the houses and the wider school, which builds confidence and a sense of belonging, and older girls act enthusiastically as mentors to younger ones. A caring environment where girls support each other runs right through the school, and behaviour records confirm that bullying is rare and handled well on the uncommon occasions it arises. Active citizenship and community engagement are well understood by the girls, an ethos that traces back to the school's charitable founding.

Safeguarding is secure, with a well-established culture, policies that are reviewed regularly and arrangements that keep pupils safe. For parents, the reassurance is concrete: the academic ambition here does not come at the expense of how girls are looked after day to day, and the wellbeing structures are built into the school rather than bolted on.

Co-curricular life is where the Maynard's character really shows, and it rests on three clear pillars, sport, music and drama, with a strong outdoor and enrichment strand alongside.

Sport is unusually well resourced for a school of this size. On site, girls train in Bradley Hall, the sports hall, on The Astro Turf and The Double Courts, and sixth formers have a Health and Fitness Suite of their own. What lifts the offer is a web of professional partnerships that would be hard to match on a single campus: hockey and fitness at the University of Exeter, athletics at Exeter Arena, swimming at St Sidwell's Point and St Luke's, rugby links with the Exeter Chiefs, Topsham Rugby Club and Saracens, football coaching through Exeter City FC, and outdoor education at Haven Banks. The school also sponsors the Exeter Chiefs Women's team, a neat statement of intent for a girls' school. Day to day, clubs run in cricket, tennis, athletics, swimming, cheerleading and pickleball, so a girl can chase representative honours or simply find a sport she enjoys and stick with it.

Music reaches deep into the school from the Tregear Music Rooms outward. The list of ensembles is long for a roll of 425: a Concert Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra for advanced players, the Maynard Chamber Orchestra for those at earlier grades, Senior, Chamber, Middle School and Junior Choirs, a Jazz Band, a Wind Quintet, a string group called 24 Strings, a Recorder Group for the juniors, and, charmingly, the Ukuladies, a twenty-strong ukulele orchestra. That spread means a beginner and a Grade 8 player both have somewhere to perform, and it builds the discipline and stage confidence that carry over into every other part of school life.

Drama matches the ambition. Productions have run from Les Misérables: School Edition and Legally Blonde to Spamalot, Mary Poppins and Daisy Pulls It Off, staged in the school's Drama Studio and Performing Arts Centre, and peripatetic LAMDA classes run in small groups at lunchtime and after school, with many girls gaining Distinction in their exams. Beyond the three pillars, the academic co-curriculum is busy: a Year 7 STEM Club and Year 8 Chemistry Club, a LEGO Robotics Club and the YSTEMM award scheme, a Philosophy Society, Model United Nations and Young Enterprise all run through the week. Outdoor challenge is a Maynard signature too, with teams entering the demanding Ten Tors expedition across Dartmoor and working through the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, both of which build resilience in a way the classroom cannot. Trips carry the same reach, from a summer expedition to Peru and geography fieldwork in Iceland to a Classics trip to Rome and a First World War battlefields tour in Belgium. The one area inspectors flagged for development was widening pupils' contribution to the life of the local community and the wider world, an extension of an already strong record of citizenship rather than a gap to worry about.

Fees are pitched in line with leading independent day schools in the region, and they now include 20% VAT following the change to the tax treatment of school fees. For the 2026-27 academic year, Senior School and Sixth Form fees (Years 6 to 13) are £7,475 per term. Lower down, the Junior School (Years 3 to 5) is £6,254 per term, Years 1 and 2 are £4,124, and Reception is £3,581. A useful distinction here is that these figures already cover wraparound care between 8:00am and 5:30pm, so the headline fee buys a long, supervised day rather than tuition alone. School lunches are charged separately at £5.10 per day. Families with more than one daughter at the school receive a 10% discount on subsequent daughters' fees.

Financial support comes in two distinct forms, and the difference matters. Scholarships are merit-based awards worth 5 to 10% of fees, offered at the 11+, 13+ and 16+ entry points and given for talent regardless of family income. Bursaries are means-tested and can reduce fees by up to 45% for families who would otherwise struggle to afford a place; as a rough guide, households with a combined income above about £60,000 are unlikely to qualify. The two can be combined, and a girl may hold up to two scholarships at once.

One award stands out. The Maynard Award offers up to 100% fee coverage for exceptional students entering the Lower Sixth, with a minimum of two fully funded places each year. For an academically able girl whose family could not otherwise consider independent fees, that is a genuine route in rather than a token gesture. Because exact values and income thresholds are reviewed annually, families should approach the school early to confirm what is currently on offer and whether they qualify.

The school day includes wraparound care between 8:00am and 5:30pm at no extra charge, built into the fees and a real help for working households that cannot manage a standard finishing time. School lunches are charged separately at £5.10 per day.

Sitting in central Exeter close to St David's, the Maynard is easy to reach by train and by car, and many families travel in from across Devon. To make that work, the school runs its own Maynard Bus Service in partnership with Vectare and neighbouring Exeter School, covering nine routes into the city from around the county. Because the school is independent and selective there is no fixed catchment, so girls come from a wide radius, and the long supervised day makes a longer commute more manageable. Families judging the journey can use the FindMySchool map search to gauge travel time from home before arranging a visit.

It is a small school. With around 425 girls across every age group, year groups are modest in size. That drives the close pastoral culture and the individual attention, but it also means smaller friendship pools and, in the sixth form, smaller teaching sets and a naturally limited number of Oxbridge applicants in any year. Families set on a large peer group should weigh this carefully.

Fees carry VAT. As with every independent school, tuition now includes 20% VAT. Senior School and Sixth Form fees stand at £7,475 per term for 2026-27, so families should budget for the full annual cost and look closely at the bursary, scholarship and Maynard Award routes before deciding on affordability.

It is single-sex throughout. The Maynard educates girls only, from Reception to Year 13. For families who specifically want a girls' environment this is the central appeal; for those seeking co-education it will not fit, and there is no mixed setting at any stage.

Some specialist sport happens off site. The professional partnerships give girls access to excellent venues at the University of Exeter, Exeter Arena and elsewhere, but several sports are played away from the main site rather than on one large self-contained campus. The trade-off is access to high-standard facilities in return for some travel.

The Maynard School is a genuinely high-performing girls' school with the results to prove it: first in Exeter at both GCSE and A-level, inside the top 3.8% in England at GCSE and the top 2.9% at A-level, with a sixth form ranked 64th in the country on the overall measure. What lifts it above the numbers is the way that academic strength sits alongside serious music, drama and sport and a pastoral culture that has twice earned a national wellbeing award. It is best suited to academically able girls who will thrive in a small, close-knit, all-girls setting, and whose families value a broad and ambitious education from Reception through to A-level. The main caveat is straightforward: it is a small, single-sex independent school with fees to match, so it suits families who want exactly that, and entry is selective. For the right girl, the education on offer is hard to beat in the South West.