St Mary's School, Calne

St Mary's was founded in 1873 by Canon John Duncan, Vicar of Calne, who worked for over thirty years to establish it as an 'outstanding' girls' school.[4]

In the 2017 ISI report, the school received a double 'excellent' – the highest possible grade – and the pupils consistently achieve outstanding examination results (90% of 2017 leavers gained places at their first-choice university).

In figures published in January 2017 by the Department for Education (DfE) regarding 2016 A Level results, St Mary's Calne got the top score for its 'value added' – that is, how much progress students who studied A Levels made between the end of Key Stage 4 and the end of their A Level studies, compared to similar students across England.[5] St Mary's Calne scored 'well above the national average', to be in the top 4% of schools in England with this value added score.

In A Level league tables published by The Telegraph in January 2017, based on DfE figures for 2016 A Level results, St Mary's Calne was the top performing school in the region (out of 32 schools).

The school is divided into five Companies, all named after bishops with local connections: Edmund Rich (sometimes called Ed Rich), Grosseteste, Moberly, Osmund, and Poore. Each girl remains in the same Company throughout her time at the school. The Companies are similar to houses in other independent schools, except that they have nothing to do with the house a girl sleeps in. The Companies compete in sport, drama, music, and other activities such as quizzes, public speaking, and maths challenges.[6]

There are seven boarding houses, for each year group from LIV to UVI. The houses are School House, St. Prisca's, St. Cecilia's, Gibbins, Joyce Walters, Florence Dyas, and Helen Wright. The newest house is Florence Dyas, the LVI house, which was opened in September 2014.

Around 80% of the girls board, and day girls can sleep over. Between the ages of eleven and fourteen, girls sleep in dormitories in three junior houses, each of which has a Housemistress and a Deputy Housemistress, and a Day Housemistress. After the age of fourteen, girls have their own single study room in one of four senior houses. In the sixth form, rooms are en-suite.[7]

The school recently completed a £10.5 million boarding refurbishment programme (the Lower Sixth Form House won the 2016 West of England LABC Building Excellence awards for Best Educational Building) and a new, multi-million pound sports complex was opened in 2018.

The school has a dining room, 12,000+ book library,[8] chapel, and theatre. St Mary's Calne's Science Department is one of just 10 schools in the UK to be awarded the Platinum Science Mark (and the first independent school in the UK to achieve this accolade)

('Pupils excel in a wide variety of extra-curricular activities' – ISI Report, 2017)

The range of extra-curricular activities offered by the school is broad, with music, sport, drama, and art activities offered alongside horse-riding, the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, and other volunteering opportunities.

• Miss Richardson 1873–1876
• Miss Jones 1876–1883
• Miss Pells 1883–1885
• Miss Leeson 1885–1888
• Miss Florence Dyas 1888–1911
• Miss Rachel Donaldson 1911–1915
• Miss Marcia Matthews 1915–1945
• Miss Joyce Field 1945–1946
• Miss Elizabeth Gibbins 1946–1972
• Mrs Joyce Walters 1972–1985
• Miss Delscey Burns 1985–1996
• Mrs Carolyn Shaw 1996–2003
• Dr Helen Wright 2003–2012
• Dr Felicia Kirk 2013 to date

• Laura Bechtolsheimer MBE – gold medalist at the 2012 Summer Olympics
• Nicola LeFanu – composer, academic, lecturer and director
• Clare Cameron – sister of Prime Minister David Cameron
• Arabella Dorman – War Artist and portrait painter
• Lucy Hughes-Hallett – author, winner of the 2013 Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction
• Lady Emma Herbert – circus trapeze artist and stuntwoman[9]
• April FitzLyon – biographer and translator[10]
• Etelka Leadlay - conservationist
• Sara Maitland – author
• Elizabeth Moir – educationalist
• Eva Rice – singer-songwriter and novelist, daughter of Tim Rice[11]
• Belinda Stewart-Wilson – actress
• Tara Sutton – war correspondent

• Kay Stedmond (1986). St Mary's School Calne 1873–1986. B. A. Hathaway. ISBN 0-948640-10-3.

• Official website
• Profile on MyDaughter
• ISI Inspection Reports – St Margaret's Prep & Senior School
• St Mary's School – Charity Commission