St Mary's Colchester Senior School

Word From The Head

Anwen Jones

Welcome to St Mary’s Senior School, situated in impressive historic buildings on Lexden Road, Colchester. We’re the only truly independent secondary school in Colchester with charitable status, meaning all fees go to providing the outstanding education we offer here, with no profits to owners or shareholders.

We’re also the only independent provider of single sex education in Colchester. We’re part of the Girls’ Schools Association (GSA) and are experts in contemporary girls’ education.

The following pages will give you a sense of the academic excellence, endless opportunities and outstanding pastoral care provided at St Mary’s Senior School. But nothing will give you a better insight into our vibrant school than taking a look around. So please arrange a virtual tour or reserve a place at an upcoming Open Morning.

Academic excellence
At St Mary’s, every girl is not just known but understood. In our small classes we’re able to tailor our teaching to each and every student, not just in terms of level but also preferred method of learning. We also monitor progress closely to ensure each girl in fully supported, encouraged and stretched in every area.

Despite not being a selective school, we saw a 12% improvement in level 9-7 results from 2019- when GCSE papers were last sat, 98% of results were level 9-4 (equivalent to C grade and above), 48% of results were level 9-7 (equivalent to A grade and above) and St Mary’s results are well above the national average of 73% at level 9-4 and 26% at level 7-9.

We believe in providing a balanced education and as a result don’t just see excellent academic results, but success across the board, from The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) to public speaking.

Caring community
Our pastoral support is at the centre of all we do. We spend time getting to know every girl and their families, and when students join us at the Senior School they are assigned a buddy and become part of a buddy family consisting of a girl from each year.

Carefully chosen and trained Year 11 girls act as Listeners to provide peer support, and staff are all trained in the area of wellbeing. We have many initiatives in place to support the welfare of our students and really do believe that happy girls are high achievers.

Miss Anwen Jones, Head of St Mary’s Senior School