Queen Margaret's is an all-girls school in Yorkshire, welcoming students aged 11-18. Awarded 'Excellent' across all categories in our recent Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) we provide a flexible structure which includes places for day girls, flexi boarders and full boarders with hours to suit modern, busy families. We work with you to provide a safe, structured and stimulating environment where your daughter will thrive. As an all-girls school, QM is ideally positioned to educate, inspire and nurture the girls of today, who will be the leaders of tomorrow.
In Queen Margaret’s school, every girl has a voice. Curricula’s are tailored and timetables are personalised for each student and all are given opportunities to develop and excel. Our girls can captain the Debating team, choose to study Physics or be part of a Netball team. Students enjoy not only equal opportunity but every opportunity. All activities are open to them; they participate, influence and lead - there are no gender stereotypes here.
Our girls also benefit immensely from our horizontal boarding school system. At Queen Margaret’s, boarding is arranged by year group, which helps the girls to bond and develop lifelong friendships. Housestaff can better focus on and cater for the specific needs of an age group, after all the highs and lows of the girls in Year I in Red House are very different to those of the girls in their final year at QM in The Cottages. Each Boarding House has its own special identity, and the accommodation and facilities are age appropriate. Year I settle into School life in a homely ‘farmhouse’ environment, whereas Upper Sixth Formers have a real taste of independent living. This means the different expectations and rules for each age group can be effectively managed.
On entering QM each girl also becomes a member of one of our vertical Houses and she remains in this House throughout her time at the school – this provides the opportunity to mix and socialise with other year groups encouraging a spirit of teamwork and friendly competition. There are regular inter-House competitions in Music, Cookery, Sport, Singing and Dancing.
For a small school in York, Queen Margaret’s provides an immense variety of activities, clubs and societies and other Enrichment opportunities while never sacrificing the needs of the individual girl. As one parent recently noted, Queen Margaret’s ‘benefits from being led and run as if it were a large school but has all benefits and familiarities you would expect of a small school.’
Girls join Queen Margaret’s school in York predominantly from across the UK, but also from many other corners of the world – currently 16 different countries. The school offers international students a traditional British boarding experience and our horizontal boarding school system encourages girls to build lifelong friendships with their peers. The careful balance of different cultures and nationalities of the girls at QM is something of which both our British and our international families are extremely proud.
We cherish and nurture the relationships we have with our girls and parents, and we always look to ensure that communication is smooth and key information is readily available, in doing so we have created the QM Family Handbook. This provides an in depth look at life at Queen Margaret’s in York.
‘QM is a wonderful place – set in the most glorious rural surroundings yet close by to the rich cultural diversity of the city of York. As soon as I first arrived I sensed what a special place it was and I felt an affinity with the School values. Built upon a firm foundation of tradition, Queen Margaret's has a long, established background of nurturing girls into independent confident young ladies equipped with the mindset that they can achieve anything. From this foundation is a modern offer, achieved through an extensive ongoing programme of investment and development in both the high calibre of teaching staff and School facilities. And our success is regularly recognised through various awards; most recently through the shortlists for 'Community Outreach' (2020) and ‘Performing Arts School of the Year’ (2019) of the Independent Schools of the Year Awards, and the ‘Boarding Innovation Award’ presented by the Boarding Schools’ Association (2018).
