40 Tatler Schools Guide 2020 tatler.comto oversubscribed London day
schools, and a new sixth form
boarding house is due to open in
Autumn 2020. The girls achieve
fabulous results with 87 per cent
A*–A grades at GCSE and 66 per
cent A*–A at A-level, which trans-
lates into 88 per cent heading off
to Russell Group universities. But
this is not a hothouse and the
school stresses that no A-level sub-
jects (of which there are 27 to
choose from) are more valuable
than others. Indeed, the school
champions and rewards creativity
with art, textiles, drama and music
scholarships all up for grabs. The
recent production of Arthur Miller’s
The Crucible and the whole-school
musical Sister Act were both of an
exceptional standard – unsurprising
considering that 47 per cent of pu-
pils have instrumental and vocal
lessons. Best known for its lacrosse
prowess (their teams always feature
in the top four at the National
Schools competition), St Cat’s is
gaining a reputation in other disci-
plines such as gymnastics: the U13
team was awarded second place at
the ISGA Gymnastics Champion-
ships. This impressive ship is sailed
by Head Alice Phillips (cheekily
nicknamed ‘Ali P’ by the girls).
One parent proudly describes
Phillips as ‘extremely impressive’
and, according to her pupils, she
has a cracking sense of humour.ST EDWARD’S
SCHOOL
Woodstock Road, Oxford
OX2 7NN
Website stedwardsoxford.org
Head Stephen Jones, MLitt, since
2011; previously Head of Dover
College Pupils 692. Day: 76 boys,
38 girls; boarding: 349 boys, 229
girls Faith C of E Ages 13–18
Term Fees Day: £10,530;
boarding: £13,160 Oxbridge 5%
Registration By September three
years before entry; £100 fee
Admission CE, PSB or school’s own
exam, interview and previous school’s
report Alumni Sir Laurence Olivier,
Florence Pugh, Kenneth Grahame
Leading the way in educational
initiatives is instinctive for thisdynamic Oxford school, affection-
ately referred to as Teddies. Since
widening its offering to include
day places with pick up at either
6.30pm or 9pm, and boarding
(with the option of going home on
Saturday after sport or on Sunday
after Chapel) it’s become virtually
impossible to get a place here. The
lucky 145 who are offered places
have Teddies Time Out to look
forward to: a huge sleepover in the
Summer term of Year 7 where the
soon-to-be Teddies students have a
ball with bouncy castles and a
BBQ. Teddies is famed for its dra-
ma provision housed in the nation-
ally ranked North Wall Arts Centre,
and, last year, students got the
chance to work closely with the
theatre’s writer-in-residence Sam
Potter, taking a specially commis-
sioned show to the Edinburgh
Fringe Festival. England Rugby
trained on the hallowed Upper 1
pitch during the Six Nations earli-
er this year, and Eddie Jones even
coached the 1st XV for an afternoon- so expect some stellar passing
next season. The multi-million
pound Quad Development, which
comprises a university-style aca-
demic centre, a library, reading
room, flexible work spaces, and a
performance and assembly space is
set to be complete by the autumn
of 2020. They’ve had some great
results with three pupils securing
places at Oxford in 2018 and
around 80 per cent going on to
Russell Group universities.
ST GEORGE’S
SCHOOL, ASCOT
Wells Lane, Ascot SL5 7DZ
Website stgeorges-ascot.org.uk
Head Elizabeth Hewer, MA, since
2016; previously Deputy Head
Pupils 270 girls: 165 day, 105
boarding Faith C of E Ages 11–18
Term Fees Day: £7,830; boarding:
£12,175 Oxbridge 2%
Registration By end of October of
year before entry; £125 fee
Admission School’s own exam
Alumnae Princess Beatrice of
York, Manpreet Bamba and
Victoria Smurfit
Just a 20-minute drive from Heath-
row and the M25, an hour from
London and a short walk from
Ascot High Street but set within
30 acres of fields, woods, streams
and heathland – St George’s really
is the best of both worlds. Thanks
to this enviable accessibility, girls
come from the local area, London
(there’s a weekly bus service for
which parents are forever grateful),
the Home Counties and various
countries overseas. With a deliber-
ately small number of students and
roughly 60/40 split between day
and boarding girls, integration is
second to none – all day girls stay
on for evening activities and prep- and there is ample opportunity
for what Head Elizabeth Hewer
calls ‘true connectedness: not liv-
ing in the often shallow chambers
of social media or relying on the
internet, but making meaningful
connections with others through
work and play’. That said, Mrs
Hewer is certainly no techno-
phobe: last year she introduced a
ground-breaking new IT strategy
which saw girls and staff given a
school-owned, school-controlled
Chromebook for school work and
communication, aided by a new
online virtual learning environment
called ‘Dragonfly’. This has been a
resounding success, gaining indus-
try recognition and press coverage.
In 2018, Georgians celebrated
their best ever GCSE results (97
per cent of all exams were graded
9-4 or A*–C), 11+ applications for
2019 were up by a third, and the
facilities just keep on improving –
the new indoor pool is expected to
open this month – so, in the words
of a trusted reviewer, ‘St George’s is
one to watch.’ST HELEN &
ST KATHARINE
Faringdon Road, Abingdon,
Oxfordshire OX14 1BE
Website shsk.org.uk
Head Rebecca Dougall, MA,
since 2015; previously Head of
Royal High School Bath Pupils
734 day girls Ages 9–18 Term
Fees £5,665 Oxbridge 14%
Registration One year before
entry; £100 fee Admission
School’s own exam, interview
and previous school’s report
Alumnae Jennie Formby,
Lindsay Russell, Samantha
Cameron
PREP Head Nina Bass
Pupils 40 day girls Ages 9–10
Term Fees £5,665
‘Of course scholarship is important,
but why can’t it also be fun? Why
can’t you do physics and be interest-
ed in fashion?’ asks Rebecca Dou-
gall, the energetic Head and ‘cheer-
leader-in-chief ’ of St Helen and St
Katharine. The school’s academic
record is stellar, and is understanda-
bly one of the main reasons why
parents choose this popular girls’
day school. In 2018, a whopping
98.1 per cent of GCSE and IGCSE
grades were A*–B (9–6), and 75.3
per cent of A-level students gained
A*–As. But, as the researcher says,
‘there’s definitely more to life hereST HELEN &
ST KATHARINE10-19-Schools-Guide-PublicSouthEast.indd 40 14/08/2019 22:16