6 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 7EB
10 reasons to choose St Mary's Junior School
Top line
St Mary’s Junior School has a Schoolsmith Score® of 81. It is one of the best independent prep schools in and around Cambridge and one of the 6 best primary schools for 1 mile.
School fundamentals
St Mary’s Junior School is an independent prep day and boarding school for girls between the ages of 3 and 11 years. Boarding from Year 5 for the 10% of pupils who board. 94% are full boarders and 6% are weekly or flexi boarders. It is a Roman Catholic school, open to all faiths and none. The school has a non-selective admissions policy. It is the junior division of St Mary’s School, an all-through school to age 18. St Mary’s Junior School fees range from £5,390 (Rec) to £7,445 per term (2025/26). Full boarding fees are £17,240 per term. Fees include VAT but exclude lunches.
Average class size
St Mary’s Junior School usually has one class per year, two from Year 5, and an average class size of 15 pupils.
Leavers' destinations
At the end of Year 6, most Junior School pupils move up to St Mary’s School, Cambridge.
The St Mary's Junior School curriculum
School uses a thematic or ‘creative’ curriculum based on the National Curriculum, for all year groups, linking science, geography, history, art, and music to a half-termly theme. The curriculum emphasises Catholic social morality and also includes PSHEE, reasoning, STEM, French, Mandarin. Use of ‘High Performance Learning’ methods to help girls develop their thinking skills and learning behaviours. The school offers each child a handful of extra-curricular academic activities or hobby clubs.
More on the curriculum
There are regular educational trips for all year groups, visiting speakers and residential trips from Year 4. All school year groups participate in a Woodlands Explorers programme.
Specialist teaching
Specialist teachers for sport, music and languages throughout.
Sport at St Mary's Junior School
School offers PE and up to 10 seasonal sports. Representative teams in major sports from Year 3.
The Arts at St Mary's Junior School
Art, music and drama are taught as discrete curricular subjects to all pupils. All pupils learn an instrument in class and about one third take extra-curricular instrument lessons from Year 3. Choir, orchestra, and one or two instrument ensembles. There are some extra-curricular creative and performing arts clubs.
Wraparound care
Wraparound care from 7.15am to 6.00pm. Older girls can stay to 8.30pm at the boarding house. School minibus service.
Find another school near St Mary's Junior School
St Faith’s School (0.4 miles); The Perse Prep, Pre-Prep & Nursery (0.7 miles); The Heritage Infant & Junior School (0.8 miles).
St Alban’s Catholic Primary School, Cambridge (0.9 miles); Newnham Croft Primary School (1.4 miles); The Spinney Primary School (3.2 miles).
St Mary’s School, Cambridge (0.7 miles); The Leys School (0.8 miles); Mander Portman Woodward, Cambridge (0.8 miles).
Hills Road Sixth Form College (1.1 miles); Parkside Community College (1.5 miles); St Bede’s Inter-Church School (2.4 miles).