St Mary's School, Shaftesbury


St Mary's School is an independent Roman Catholic day and boarding school for girls, founded in 1945 in a rural setting near Shaftesbury, England. The school has a sixth form and is a member of the Girls' Schools Association
Although the school's postal address is in Dorset, its site is just over the county border in Wiltshire, within the parish of Donhead St Mary.

History

St Mary's was founded in 1945 by the nuns of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary whose principles are based on the life and works of The Ven Mary Ward. Hence it had the same motto as its sister schools in Ascot and Cambridge.
The school became a registered charity in 1995 and was managed by a board of governors, but retained its strong Catholic ethos.

Pastoral care

As a Catholic school, pupils attend mass and worship services on a regular basis, and spirituality is considered an important part of school life. The houses take turns to lead services, giving pupils a chance to participate in the service themselves. Spiritual retreats are held by year groups throughout the year.
The school's excellent pastoral care was commended in the 2007 ISI Inspection.

Boarding

Over two-thirds of the school's pupils are boarders, all of them full-time and organised by year groups into five boarding houses.
St Mary's is one of the top performing independent schools in the county. It is one of the few schools in the county which did not suffer from the new GCSE grading system using the English Baccalaureate introduced in 2010, as candidates achieved a 100% pass rate.

Closure

After operating at a loss for some years, the school entered administration in mid-July 2020 and was immediately closed. The school's governors wrote that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic had "wiped away" recent financial progress.

Notable former pupils