SMC High Achievers Programme

Many of our students come to St. Mary's with very high GCSE results. We use our expertise and experience to help them build on these excellent foundations

Students who have achieved high GCSE scores participate in our High Achievers’ programme which aims to stretch them academically. Timetabled sessions are held once a week to focus on developing intellectual curiosity and to support academic ambitions. Each year we have over 120 students from a wide range of feeder schools who are involved in the High Achievers’ programme. The emphasis is not on setting additional work but rather on identifying areas of interest and encouraging breadth and depth of reading and research around these areas. This is accompanied, where possible, by individual support.
Within the High Achievers’ programme there will be individual support for those students who want to apply for Medicine. Dentistry, Optometry and other related careers.
Students in the High Achievers’ programme will be offered the AS in Critical Thinking, based on two lessons per week, to enhance their skills and improve their prospects. There will be opportunities to apply for a variety of summer schools.
A number of high-achieving students may wish to apply to Oxford or Cambridge or other universities which belong to the elite Russell Group, comprising Queens Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Imperial, Kings, Leeds, Liverpool, LSE, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Sheffield, Southampton, UCL and Warwick.

All students will be fully supported in their future planning and preparation.