The School, with 290 girls from three to eighteen combines a highly-qualified staff, and an unusually generous teacher/pupil ratio, so that every pupil is encouraged to achieve her full academic potential in a caring and happy but disciplined atmosphere.
St. Mary's was founded in Paddington in 1872 and moved to its present site in 1938. It is grouped around two gracious old houses set in beautiful grounds.
The infant and junior children have separate buildings well equipped with computers and video and with their own Science Laboratory and Library.
The School offers 17 GCSE subjects and 17 A levels and achieves excellent results. French, German and Latin are taught as normal curricular subjects and Italian and Spanish as private individual lessons. Theatre Arts and Business Studies are offered at GCSE and A level. Lessons are also available in instrumental music, dancing, speech and drama. St. Mary's is affiliated to The Royal School of Church Music and has excellent choirs at all levels.
In the grounds there are tennis and netball courts, a hockey pitch, a sports area, and an open-air swimming pool. Senior girls attempt sports as diverse as golf, squash and skiing and the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme.
A comprehensive careers advisory service is provided for girls in the Senior School, and the Sixth Form are given every assistance in applying for Colleges and Universities.
Nine Scholarships, one of which can be for music, are available to girls of 11 in the Senior School and three Scholarships and two bursaries to Sixth Formers.
