Our Ethos

St Mary’s School provides a holistic education where excellent academic provision, rigour and results complement our outstanding pastoral care; children are nurtured in a caring community in which their happiness is paramount so that they can achieve their full potential both academically and as a responsible citizen with moral integrity.

As a staff body, we are committed to delivering the best teaching practice possible for the girls in our care so that the breadth of the curriculum is wide and girls are rigorously prepared for excellent senior school destinations. Preparatory school is exactly that – the preparation of the essential foundations of all that the girls will learn and continue to learn throughout their school and university careers. We place emphasis on STEAM and this can be seen in our Global Learning Centre; the space includes a cutting-edge Engineering and Robotics Lab, Virtual Reality Launch Pad, Art and Design Studio as well as a Green Room. We balance this focus on technology with an emphasis on creative and physical development. Music, drama, art and sports are an essential part of school life and involve everyone. Pupils also benefit from our extensive and leafy outdoor space.

Alongside our excellence in academics, we pride ourselves on our outstanding pastoral care. This is due to the warm, nurturing feel of our community where each child is known and valued. This provides a sense of belonging and value for the individual so that they feel recognised and genuinely cared for. St Mary’s upholds strong moral and spiritual principles, proudly recognising our Catholic values, but it is also an inclusive environment in which many other faiths are represented and celebrated. We aspire to educate girls to become confident, resilient and caring leaders of the future.

At St Mary’s, we celebrate our Catholic values, which include kindness, compassion, tolerance, care, honesty, integrity, forgiveness and justice. Our St Mary’s Way is something that is emphasised by all so that girls know how to conduct themselves not just while at school but also in the wider community. We also welcome into school those of other faiths and cultures to present workshops on the similarities, not just the differences, of their faith compared to Christianity, to promote unity, respect and tolerance.

We endeavour to promote the common good and support those who are less fortunate than ourselves, remembering that every human being is of equal value, whatever their circumstances. To that end, we fundraise for one school charity each year, chosen by parents, pupils, and staff, and we will fundraise regularly for other charitable events throughout the year, such as October’s Harvest Festival and November’s Poppy Appeal. We consider that giving time to charity is equally as important as giving money and resources. Lenten Promises have included making care packages for the homeless and picking up litter in the local area. These small acts of charity all help to build compassion, respect, resilience, understanding, care and responsibility for the wider world.

We welcome parents to become involved in the life of our school through our Friends of St Mary’s and we encourage parents to role model our values at home as best they can so that both home and school are able to support the girls to become the best version of themselves.

We also have a commitment in our School Development Plan to sustainability; our installation of LED lighting and solar panels are some of our initiatives to try and reduce our carbon footprint and care for the world around us.

As a charity, we are a non-profit organisation which means that any profit made goes back into the education of the girls in terms of facilities and resources. We also use such money to help fund bursaries of up to 100% and warmly welcome applications from families who may need some assistance with school fees.

Welcome to St Mary’s School, Hampstead

Our school strives to nurture an active partnership between home, school, parish, and the wider North London community. Situated in one of London’s most affluent and scenic areas, our school is an excellent choice for families in North London who want their daughters to receive a premier education in a safe, nurturing, and inspiring locale.

“Our St Mary’s Way is the spirit by which we live: to treat other people as you would like to be treated, to do your best to be your best, to be honest and truthful, to listen to each other, to be kind and helpful, to forgive, and to share.”

Charlotte Owen, Headmistress