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Photo of St Mary's School (Melrose)
Reviewed

St Mary's School (Melrose)

Independent school · Melrose, TD6 9LN
  • Primary/prep
  • Co-ed
  • Ages 3-13
  • From £20,851 pa
  • 165 pupils
  • Boarding
We've reviewed this school • Unlock to access

St Mary’s ticks a lot of boxes: sensibly managed academic challenge, committed staff prepared to go the extra mile, lots of accessible extracurricular activities (and they don’t cost the earth here either), lovely, warm and very flexible boarding and opportunities to broaden young minds well beyond the Borders.

Why read our school review?

Unlike other websites, schools can't pay to be included in The Good Schools Guide. This means our review of this school is independent, critical and fair, and written with parents' best interests at heart.

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Overview & data

Pupil numbers
165 ·
Offers boarding
Yes ·
Religion
Non-denom
Fees
Day £20,851 - £24,181; Boarding £22,651 - £27,421 pa
Local authority
Scottish Borders Council

Headteacher

Headmaster

Mr Liam Harvey

Since 2010, Liam Harvey BEd, himself a proud old boy of St Mary’s. Following eight years working in the senior state sector on Merseyside and in North Yorkshire, he took the opportunity to move back to his roots in the Borders as housemaster at


Entrance

No entrance test. Pupils and parents are invited to tour school with head and then pupil will spend a day in school so that everyone is happy that it will be a good match. On the visit day pupils are tested to assess whether or not they have any

Open days
Summer term

Exit

Historically, pupils have moved on to one of the Scottish senior schools which follow the GCSE and A level pathways (Fettes, Loretto, Merchiston and Glenalmond). In recent years the school has also sent pupils on to Oundle, Ampleforth, Strathallan,


Latest results

There are no results to show for this school. Find out more.


Boarders

Boarding is genuinely very flexible indeed. Head believes that parents need the option to arrange for their children to board as and when rather than be straitjacketed. Parents approve: ‘They allow you to play around with boarding, which is really

67
Total boarders
6
Weekly boarders
61
Flexi boarders

Pupils

165
Number of pupils

Money matters

Fee information
Day £20,851 - £24,181; Boarding £22,651 - £27,421 pa

Our view

Strong traditional curriculum emphasises preparation for Common Entrance. French and Spanish from pre-prep onwards, classics in pre-prep becomes ancient Greek from form 7 and Latin from form 4. Sciences taught by specialists from form 3 onwards in a


The last word

St Mary’s ticks a lot of boxes: sensibly managed academic challenge, committed staff prepared to go the extra mile, lots of accessible extracurricular activities (and they don’t cost the earth here either), lovely, warm and very flexible boarding and


Inspection reports

What the school says

St. Mary's School is an independent, co-educational, day and flexi-boarding preparatory school offering an outstanding educational experience to boys and girls from 2 to 13 years. Based in the beautiful market town of Melrose in the Scottish Borders we are fortunate to be able to welcome pupils from both north and south of the border. Our pupils and close community are at the heart of all that we do, and our expert understanding of the children imbues us with the ability to ensure our children will reach their true potential academically, socially, emotionally and ethically.

Contact the school

Address

Abbey Park
High Street
Melrose
TD6 9LN
Get directions

Have you considered?

Reviewed

Loretto School

Independent school · Musselburgh, EH21 7RE ( miles)
  • All through
  • Co-ed
  • 0-18
  • From £11,199 pa
  • 478 pupils
  • Boarding
Photo of Loretto School
School data & information St Mary's School (Melrose) Abbey Park, High Street, Melrose, TD6 9LN
165 Pupil numbers
67 Total boarders
6 Weekly boarders
61 Flexi boarders

This is an independent school and therefore does not have Key Stage 2 SATs results. While some independent schools choose to sit SATs, they are not required to do so and the UK government does not collect or publish their results. Find out more.

Entry and exit data

Here we report figures on pupils moving between schools at the usual entry and exit points, as well as student destinations into higher education. We publish publically available data for state schools. For independent schools, The Good Schools Guide collects data from its prep schools as to where their pupils go on to. Find out more

Our review contains additional entry and exit data reported to us and is updated annually. See the review

Recent leavers' destinations

SEN overview

St Mary's School (Melrose) is a mainstream school. The school may provide support for students with special educational needs as detailed below. If you require more information on conditions the school can support, we encourage you to contact the school directly.

SEN statement

Provided by the school and not part of our review

At St Mary's, children are initially screened when joining school to identify any particular learning needs. If necessary, support is provided through a 35 minute one-to-one lesson twice a week. These lessons are individually tailored to the particular needs of each pupil.

Our Additional Support for Learning Department is staffed by two experienced and appropriately qualified teachers.

SEN conditons supported

Schools report the conditions they might be able to support. Please note, this may not be a complete list. Find out more.

Conditions (Might cover/be referred to as) Provision
ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder Aspergers, Autism, High functioning autism, Neurodivergent, Neurodiversity, Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA), Social skills Yes
HI - Hearing Impairment
MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty Learning needs Yes
MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment Sensory processing Yes
OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability Downs Syndrome, Epilepsy, Genetic, Tics, Tourettes Yes
PD - Physical Disability Yes
PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty Complex needs, Global delay, Global developmental delay
SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health Anxiety, Complex needs, Emotionally based school avoidance (EBSA), Mental Health Yes
SLCN - Speech, Language and Communication Selective mutism Yes
SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty Complex needs
SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Auditory processing, Developmental Co-ordination Difficulties (DCD), Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Handwriting Yes
VI - Visual Impairment Special facilities for Visually Impaired Yes
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