St Mary's School (Calne)
Encyclopedia
St Mary's Calne, is an academically selective independent school
at Calne
, Wiltshire
, for girls aged eleven to eighteen, with about 320 on roll. Most girls are boarders
. Dr Helen Wright, Headmistress since 2003 has recently been awarded the Tatler Best Head of Public School 2010-2011, and will take up the role of President of the Girls' Schools Association in January 2011.
The school 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.
in Mathematics
and French
. There is one lesson a week in Chinese
.
In Years 8 and 9, Spanish
is added, then in Year 9 another language, either German
or Classical Greek. All girls are taught Critical Thinking and Personal Development. Core subjects are Art
, Information Technology
, Music
, Drama
, Latin
, Physical Education
, English Language, English Literature, Maths, Religious Studies, and Science. Most girls take ten GCSEs. As options, Geography
, History
, French
, Classical Greek, Italian
, Russian
, and Japanese
are available.
Good linguists can take public examinations early, and GCSE Maths is offered early to the most able. Musicians can take the AS Level Music examination as early as Year 10. Girls choosing Drama as a GCSE option begin the AS Level course, taught over two years, and the school offers a unique communication course in conjunction with RADA
.
The choice of A-Level subjects is from Art, Biology, Chemistry, Classical Civilisation, Classical Greek, Economics, English, French, Geography, German, Government and Politics, History, History of Art, Information Technology, Italian, Latin, Maths, Further Maths, Music, Physical Education, Physics, Religious Studies, Spanish, Sports Science and Theatre Studies. There are also supplementary courses in Physical Education, Personal Development and Careers Education. Girls not studying IT to A Level follow a general Information Technology course which leads to the European Computer Driving Licence
qualification. All girls continue with Critical Thinking and may sit the AS Level in it.
in four junior houses called School House, St Prisca's and St Cecilia's, each of which has a housemistress and an assistant housemistress, and some a resident tutor. After the age of fifteen, girls have their own single room in one of three senior houses.
There is also a medical centre, with two Registered Nurses and a counsellor, which has three beds.
The School is divided into five Companies, all named after bishop
s 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 public speaking and maths challenges. Each company has its own colour, red for Edmund Rich, green for Grosseteste, blue for Moberly, orange for Osmund, and purple for Poore.
Houses have places for day girls in their dormitories, so that day girls can stay overnight instead of going home, making it easy for them to take part in after-school and weekend activities. Day girls are looked after by the by housemistresses.
, which are reviewed by the School Council. On Sundays of free weekends, there is a brunch
. In 2005, the school won the Tatler
Award for Best School Food.
Independent school
An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...
at Calne
Calne
Calne is a town in Wiltshire, southwestern England. It is situated at the northwestern extremity of the North Wessex Downs hill range, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty....
, Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
, for girls aged eleven to eighteen, with about 320 on roll. Most girls are boarders
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
. Dr Helen Wright, Headmistress since 2003 has recently been awarded the Tatler Best Head of Public School 2010-2011, and will take up the role of President of the Girls' Schools Association in January 2011.
The school was founded in 1873 by Canon
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
John Duncan, Vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
of Calne, who worked for over thirty years to establish it as an outstanding girls’ school.
Admission
Entry to the school is by the Common Entrance Examination, set by the Independent Schools Examination Board, or by the School's own entrance exam.Lower and Upper IV form, V form
A balanced curriculum broadly follows the National Curriculum. Girls are taught mainly in form groups, with settingTracking (education)
Tracking is separating pupils by academic ability into groups for all subjects or certain classes and curriculum within a school. It may be referred as streaming or phasing in certain schools. In a tracking system, the entire school population is assigned to classes according to whether the...
in Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. There is one lesson a week in Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
.
In Years 8 and 9, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
is added, then in Year 9 another language, either German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
or Classical Greek. All girls are taught Critical Thinking and Personal Development. Core subjects are Art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
, Information Technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
, Music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, Drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
, Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, Physical Education
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
, English Language, English Literature, Maths, Religious Studies, and Science. Most girls take ten GCSEs. As options, Geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
, History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Classical Greek, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, and Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
are available.
Good linguists can take public examinations early, and GCSE Maths is offered early to the most able. Musicians can take the AS Level Music examination as early as Year 10. Girls choosing Drama as a GCSE option begin the AS Level course, taught over two years, and the school offers a unique communication course in conjunction with RADA
Rada
Rada is the term for "council" or "assembly"borrowed by Polish from the Low Franconian "Rad" and later passed into the Czech, Ukrainian, and Belarusian languages....
.
Sixth form
In the Lower Sixth (Year 12) most girls take four subjects at AS Level, then three to A-Level in the Upper Sixth (Year 13), and are prepared for university entrance.The choice of A-Level subjects is from Art, Biology, Chemistry, Classical Civilisation, Classical Greek, Economics, English, French, Geography, German, Government and Politics, History, History of Art, Information Technology, Italian, Latin, Maths, Further Maths, Music, Physical Education, Physics, Religious Studies, Spanish, Sports Science and Theatre Studies. There are also supplementary courses in Physical Education, Personal Development and Careers Education. Girls not studying IT to A Level follow a general Information Technology course which leads to the European Computer Driving Licence
European Computer Driving Licence
The European Computer Driving Licence , also known as International Computer Driving Licence , is a computer literacy certification programme provided by ECDL Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation....
qualification. All girls continue with Critical Thinking and may sit the AS Level in it.
Houses and Companies
Between the ages of eleven and fourteen, girls sleep in dormitoriesDormitory
A dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...
in four junior houses called School House, St Prisca's and St Cecilia's, each of which has a housemistress and an assistant housemistress, and some a resident tutor. After the age of fifteen, girls have their own single room in one of three senior houses.
There is also a medical centre, with two Registered Nurses and a counsellor, which has three beds.
The School is divided into five Companies, all named after bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
s with local connections: Edmund Rich
Edmund Rich
Edmund Rich was a 13th century Archbishop of Canterbury in England...
(sometimes called Ed Rich), Grosseteste
Robert Grosseteste
Robert Grosseteste or Grossetete was an English statesman, scholastic philosopher, theologian and Bishop of Lincoln. He was born of humble parents at Stradbroke in Suffolk. A.C...
, Moberly
George Moberly
George Moberly , English divine, was educated at Winchester and Balliol College, Oxford.After a distinguished academic career he became head master of Winchester in 1835. This post he resigned in 1866, and retired to the Rectory of St. Mary's Church, Brighstone, Isle of Wight, he was also a Canon...
, Osmund, and Poore
Herbert Poore
Herbert Poore was a medieval English clergyman who held the post of Bishop of Salisbury during the reigns of Richard I and John.-Life:...
. Each girl remains in the same Company throughout her time at the school. The Companies are similar to houses
House system
The house system is a traditional feature of British schools, and schools in the Commonwealth. Historically, it was associated with established public schools, where a 'house' refers to a boarding house or dormitory of a boarding school...
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 public speaking and maths challenges. Each company has its own colour, red for Edmund Rich, green for Grosseteste, blue for Moberly, orange for Osmund, and purple for Poore.
Day girls
There are only about fifty day girls in the school. Unusually, most of the boardingBoarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
Houses have places for day girls in their dormitories, so that day girls can stay overnight instead of going home, making it easy for them to take part in after-school and weekend activities. Day girls are looked after by the by housemistresses.
Meals
All girls use the dining room, run as a cafeteria. There are at least four choices at lunch and at supper-timeSupper
Supper is the name for the evening meal in some dialects of English - ordinarily the last meal of the day. Originally, in the Middle Ages, it referred to the lighter meal following dinner, where until the 18th century dinner was invariably eaten as the midday meal.The term is derived from the...
, which are reviewed by the School Council. On Sundays of free weekends, there is a brunch
Brunch
Brunch is a meal eaten between breakfast and lunch. The word is a portmanteau of breakfast and lunch.-Origin of the word:The 1896 supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary cites Punch magazine which wrote that the term was coined in Britain in 1895 to describe a Sunday meal for "Saturday-night...
. In 2005, the school won the Tatler
Tatler
Tatler has been the name of several British journals and magazines, each of which has viewed itself as the successor of the original literary and society journal founded by Richard Steele in 1709. The current incarnation, founded in 1901, is a glossy magazine published by Condé Nast Publications...
Award for Best School Food.
Extra-curricular activities
The formal part of the school day ends at 5.30 p.m. Outside this, activities include music, drama, sailing, community service, sports clubs, riding, cooking, archery, arts and crafts, First Aid, and the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme.Notable former pupils
- Dame Suzi LeatherSuzi LeatherDame Susan Catherine "Suzi" Leather, DBE DL , sometimes known as Susie Leather, has been the chair of the Charity Commission since 1 August 2006. Previously she was chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority...
, chairwoman of the Charity CommissionCharity CommissionThe Charity Commission for England and Wales is the non-ministerial government department that regulates registered charities in England and Wales.... - Elizabeth MoirElizabeth MoirElizabeth Moir MA, Dip Ed is a British educationalist who pioneered international schools in Sri Lanka.-Biography:Born in Simla to British parents, Elizabeth spent her first few years in India, her father a regional representative for General Electric.After attending St Mary's School, Calne,...
, educationalist - Jade JaggerJade JaggerJade Sheena Jezebel Jagger is an English jewelry designer, socialite and former model.-Early life:Jagger was born in Paris, France. She is the only child of Bianca , a Nicaraguan-born actress and philanthropist, and Mick Jagger, an English musician and actor...
, model and socialiteSocialiteA socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....
(expelled) - Very Reverend June Osborne, Dean of Salisbury CathedralSalisbury CathedralSalisbury Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral in Salisbury, England, considered one of the leading examples of Early English architecture....
- Eva Rice, singer-songwriter and novelist
- April FitzLyonApril FitzLyonCecily April FitzLyon , known as April FitzLyon, was an English translator, biographer, and historian.-Early life:...
, biographer and translator - Lady Emma HerbertLady Emma HerbertLady Emma Herbert , married name Lady Emma Vickers, is a British circus trapeze artist, stuntwoman, and teacher of circus arts.-Early life:...
, circusCircusA circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
trapeze artist and stuntwoman. - Tara SuttonTara SuttonTara Sutton is a Canadian journalist and filmmaker whose work in conflict zones has received many awards. She is one of only a handful of international television correspondents that both produce and shoot their own reports also known as "video journalism"....
war correspondent - Clare Cameron, sister of Conservative leaderConservative Party (UK)The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
David CameronDavid CameronDavid William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament .... - Barbara GoalenBarbara Goalen-Early life:Born in Malaya she attended St Mary's School in England and later studied art, but quit to become a wartime ambulance driver. Her first husband, pilot Ian Goalen, died in a plane crash, and she was a widow with two young children when she became a model at age 25She later said "I didn't...
, model
External links
- St Mary's School, Calne - image at isbi.com
