This all-girls senior school in Berkshire St George’s is not just about securing the necessary grades to reach university – it’s more about supporting students to make the best possible progress individually.

This small, all-girls senior day and boarding school in Berkshire provides a fantastic education across the board – academically, on the sports field and in the performing arts.

With just 270 girls (roughly half are boarders), St George’s says that its size is “its greatest strength”. Small class sizes of around 15 allow for plenty of one-to-one attention and its small size really lends itself to a friendly, community feel. For a small school, its facilities and enrichment opportunities are fantastic. 

St George’s was an all-boys’ school until 1904 (Winston Churchill was a student here), and it is now a leading all-girls school and a strong believer in the benefits of an all-girls education. Like many single-sex schools, St George’s bucks the trend when it comes to girls’ participation in subject areas that have been traditionally male-dominated, such as STEM. It provides an all-female learning environment where girls take centre stage in everything, from drama productions to sports teams, leadership positions to daily classes.

Headteacher Liz Hewer was previously Deputy Head at St Mary’s Ascot and has been head of St George's since September 2016.

Curriculum

St George’s follows a progressive curriculum that builds on the National Curriculum for England with additional specialist teaching, language options and courses.

In their first year at St George’s, all girls study Art, Cookery, Drama, English, French, Geography, History, ICT & Computing, Latin, Mathematics, Music, Religious Studies, Science, Study Skills and Textiles, as well as Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Education and PE. Spanish and Food and Nutrition are added in Year 8, and all girls complete the Leith’s School of Food and Wine ‘Let’s Cook’ certificate in the school’s new state-of-the-art cookery room. 

The school is open-minded and forward-thinking, recognising that whole some students want to pursue traditional academic subjects, “others may incline towards less traditional fields”.

GCSE options include Art, Drama, Physical Education, Latin, Classical Civilisation, Music and Textiles, so there’s a broad enough choice of students with varying interests. In the Sixth Form, the focus continues to be as much as about the academic (most girls will take three A Levels) as co-curricular activities. All girls complete the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ); as well as being an additional academic achievement, the EPQ helps students to develop the independent research, essay writing and time management skills that universities are looking for. 

Sport and the arts

St George’s sports programme is designed around the ethos that ‘one size does not fit all’, and it has a multi-sport focus throughout the year where students are exposed to a wide variety of sporting opportunities. It certainly has the facilities to support a broad sports programme too with a 25m indoor pool, six floodlit netball courts, eight tennis courts, three lacrosse pitches, dance studio, fitness suite, athletics track, squash courts and sports hall.

Lacrosse, netball, skiing, swimming and cross country are particularly strong at the school, with students competing at both local and national levels.
 
Dance shines particularly bright at St Georges, thanks to an on-campus school of dance run by Natalie Vinson. As well as classes in RAD Ballet, Pointework and Conditioning, Tap, Zumba, Contemporary Dance, Street Dance, Pilates and Acro, girls can take a GCSE in dance in their own time.  

Drama, art and music are all on the curriculum until the end of Year 9 and then offered as GCSEs and A Levels. More than 50% of girls take weekly individual music lessons or sing in the choir, and the school can boast some exceptional facilities including 12 practice rooms, two performance spaces, a music IT suite, and four grand pianos, drama studio, and 350-seat theatre. 

Beyond the classroom

Life at St George’s feels constantly stimulating for students as there is a wide range of extra-curricular programmes for the girls to get involved with. 

All students are encouraged to participate in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme (DofE), and there are daily and evening clubs to find help girls “find balance between their academic life and life outside of the classroom”. These clubs are not an add-on at St George’s – they are much part of the overall educational experience, from Year 7 through to Year 13.

Academic results

2022 A Level results: 71% of girls gained A*-B grades; there was a 99% pass rate. Standout results include 100% A*-A in French, 57% A*-A in Maths and 100% A*-B in Geography.

2022 GCSE results: 99% of girls gained grades 9-4; 59% gained 9-7 

These results are impressive particularly as this is a school where “Not every pupil who enters St George’s is a ten 9/8 grade at GCSE pupil”. The school is in the UK’s top 5% for added value, a measurement of how it supports girls to achieve at least one grade higher than expected in GCSE and A-Level. It’s a reflection of the quality of teaching, facilities and holistic education that parents can expect from St George’s.

Leavers’ destinations include some of the top universities in the UK including Oxford, Cambridge, UCL, LSE and Durham, as well as prestigious art schools such as Central St Martin’s or Chelsea College of Art, and leading universities for sport such as Loughborough.

Boarding

St George’s offers a choice of boarding options, from full boarding (seven nights a week) to tailored boarding (four, five or six nights a week). Girls live in three cosy, family-style boarding houses, and one is dedicated for Upper Sixth girls and offers a more independent-style of living.

There are no academic lessons on Saturdays, but weekends are kept busy with a programme of sport and activities.

Around 70% of the school are boarders, many coming from London. A weekly bus service from Kensington and Chiswick, which departs from school on a Friday evening and returns on a Sunday evening, helps families to balance school and home life.

Campus and facilities

St George’s has a 30 acre site which feels wonderfully rural and green, but is within walking distance of a High Street in Ascot. It offers the best of both worlds.

The facilities really don’t reflect the size of the school, and students are hugely fortunate to have modern, well-equipped classrooms, language, science labs and art rooms, as well as an impressive library, and outstanding sports facilities. 

Admission and fees

The main entry points are at 11+, 13+ and 16+, and all girls sit an entrance exam held in November. There is a combined Maths and English paper (one hour) as well as an online CEM (Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring) test consisting of Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning (1 hour), as well as an interview where girls can choose their own topic for conversation.

St George’s isn’t simply looking for girls with the highest grades, it’s all about finding the right ‘fit’ for the school, hence the holistic assessment. As the school says, they are “considering their wider potential rather than just their knowledge”.

Annual fees are £25,185 for day students and £40,050 for full boarders. There are also options for four, five, and six night boarding.

Scholarships are available to girls joining the First Year at 11+, Third Year at 13+ and for Sixth Form, and are awarded in Academic, Art, Drama, Music, Sport, Swimming, Performing Arts and All-rounder fields. These are typically worth a remission of up to 10% of tuition fees; for a higher financial contribution, parents can apply for a bursary which covers the fees, in full or in part.

Our view

Good for: There are many advantages of attending an all-girls school, and St George’s can offer the support your daughter may need if they feel more nurtured, empowered and celebrated in a single-sex environment. St George’s is not just about securing the necessary grades to reach the university or career of your choice, or about putting pressure on students to achieve the A grade here (although many do); this school is all about supporting students to make the best possible progress individually. If you’re looking for a school that can balance academic support with a broad curriculum, then St George’s could be a perfect fit.

Not for: Single-sex education is not for every child; they will not be learning to socialise with boys in the classroom which, it could be argued, means that they may leave school without the ability to work alongside men. Also, to really enjoy the broad education at St George’s, students need a certain ‘have-a-go spirit’, which won’t suit the more academically-focused child.

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