Our Ethos

Confident
Capable
Connected

I think being in an all-girls school made me more comfortable being myself.

Upper Sixth Pupil

Here at St George’s, we want our girls to know what it is to be confident. From the moment the girls first arrive at the school, we encourage them to be themselves and try new things.

The size of our school is one of our greatest strengths; we are intentionally small, ensuring that all our girls are truly known and are quickly bedded into our close knit community. Yet, there is an impressive breadth and depth to our academic and co-curricular provision to challenge the girls to reach their potential and explore new ideas and interests.

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Becket House Party Feb 2023

We help the girls to work to find balance in every part of their life. We speak about working hard and having fun, about academic engagement and co-curricular involvement, we nurture technological literacy whilst encouraging discernment and wisdom about its influence. We believe that one of the building blocks for life is learning how to get along with a broad cross-section of people and our House structure and strong boarding ethos contribute significantly to building the inclusive community for which we are renowned.

We also believe in the benefits of an all girls education; our girls are very lucky to be in this single sex environment for their precious teenage years. Being a teenager can be tough, being a teenage girl can be especially tough. Our focus is on supporting our girls; challenging them to take risks, allowing them to fail and helping them to get back up again, and working to get the very best from them both inside and outside of the classroom. Our girls aren’t self-conscious in class, they put up their hand and have a go because we are committed to nurturing and protecting the confidence that fosters success. We are consistently proud of our girls’ confident ambition and developing this inner strength and resilience is a core pillar of the St George’s ethos.

My daughters' senses of self confidence has grown immensely. The school has quickly got to know both of them and without me being able to specifically pin point how - they have managed to both inspire them and help them believe they really can achieve things they would never have tried before.

Parent

I am confident and capable of putting myself out there no matter what kind of environment I’m in.

Upper Sixth Pupil

St George's girls are wonderfully capable individuals. Capable in a whole variety of areas, academic and beyond, and it is central to our ethos to support and nurture our girls’ abilities wherever their interests and talents may lie.

One of our recent Sixth Form leavers reflected that it was the village of St George’s that had prepared her for her Oxbridge application; we are a school where no stone is left unturned in realising our pupils’ aspirations. Our small class sizes allow the teachers to bring out the very best in each pupil and the size of each year group allows us to stretch the brightest and give time to those who need more support. Our value added is something of which we are very proud and regularly puts us in the top 5% of schools nationally.

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Speech and Drama Scholars' Workshop spring 2023

Our GCSE and A Level results in recent years are impressive and this is a testament to the girls’ hard work, the support of their dedicated teachers and individual tracking, monitoring, encouraging and target setting. Over 90% percent of our leavers consistently achieve their first or insurance choice of university place and we are delighted to see a rise in successful Oxbridge applications in recent years, setting a strong example of capability, aspiration and hard work for future Georgians to follow.

Among a wide variety of courses and universities, St George’s girls are now at Oxford, UCL, Imperial College, Durham, Warwick, Newcastle and the University of Arts, London to study courses ranging from Chemistry, Pharmacy, Maths, Business Management, PPE, Sociology, French and History, and Film Production.

We understand that any school is truly reflected by the people and the culture, but curriculum and facilities do provide opportunities. We have a remarkable breadth to our school life; stunning art, lots of music, diverse drama performances and an array of sports on offer as well as an extensive co-curricular programme, all made possible by our dedicated staff and an impressive suite of onsite facilities. There is always something going on at St George’s and the school is alive with the buzz that only busy, happy and capable girls can create.

The girls are educated as a whole which gives them great balance and confidence. It’s not a hot house, but instead provides stretch and opportunities for the girls based on their own ability which instills confidence and capability.

Parent

St George’s has given me the opportunity to realise how the real world would be even though I was in a small school. I think it’s given me the opportunity to be independent but still given me the support that I needed.

Upper Sixth Pupil

At St George’s, we are committed to preparing our girls for life beyond school. We want our girls to not just survive, but thrive in an increasingly connected world, we want them to look up and out, not just down and in - we want for them to ‘connect’.

Our girls actively learn the skills required to make the most of today’s rapid advancements in collaborative learning, whilst also acquiring the confidence and judgement to approach tasks independently. We create every opportunity for them to make authentic and meaningful connections with others through work, through play and through service - not just within the often shallow echo chambers of social media.

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Geography fieldtrip autumn 2022

Our strategic focus on this sense of connection defines much of our school activity and gives St George’s that sense of balance for which it is renowned; from a House system that weaves our school community together to the social and academic activities we run in collaboration with other local boys boarding schools, from pupils helping at local primary schools to our Art adorning Ascot station, from our annual choice of three charities to support to our growing focus on sustainability and the environment within our school, from our Mini United Nations club to our involvement in Young Entrepreneurs as part of the co-curricular programme. The capacity for connection and the number of touchpoints experienced by each pupil, throughout their time at St George’s, is significant. We are also constantly expanding our SGAprepared programme which helps our Sixth Form to engage with outside organisations, charities and with industry, creating invaluable links with the world outside St George’s. Our girls also benefit from the very close relationship we have with our inspiring Alumna community, allowing them to make positive connections for the future.

We ultimately believe that to be truly ‘connected’, one must be connected to oneself. Our girls are encouraged to be confident in and own who they are. Our greatest priority is to develop the strong sense of self that is pivotal in building both self-esteem and the resilience to deal with life’s inevitable ups and downs. We believe this is the most valuable education of all.

We felt that by sending our daughter to St George’s she would get a balanced education in a highly value-added school, where, if you put in the work the school will help you achieve your goals. We felt the school was a modern school which would prepare the girls to be women of the future, gearing them for life in the modern world. The motto of “Confident, Capable and Connected” is so apt.

Parent