5 reasons to enrol your daughter at St Margaret’s School for Girls in Aberdeen

Enrolling your daughter in an all girls’ school may be one of the best things you can do for her education and development. Here’s why.

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St Margaret’s, which will mark its 180th anniversary in two years’ time, is the oldest continuously operating girls’ school in Scotland.

Since its founding, it has helped educate thousands of girls, guided by its values of respect, equality, hard work, ambition and community.

St Margaret’s believes a single-sex education helps girls develop the self-esteem and confidence which enables them to make a positive impact on the world.

5 reasons to enrol your child at St Margaret’s all girls’ school in Aberdeen

1. Ample attention for every pupil

St Margaret’s offers a variety of choices and flexibility when it comes to its curriculum and extra-curricular activities.

Class sizes are by design smaller than many other schools to ensure that each pupil receives the attention and support she needs to grow and thrive.

Anna Tomlinson, head of St Margaret’s, says: “The girls here are well known by our staff team; I enjoy getting to know every child and young person in the school, from nursery through to sixth year.”

Rachel Murray, who is in S6, adds: “I like the smaller class sizes. I like being able to know everyone and how connected everyone is. If you need help with something, you know all the teachers and you can go to any of them at any time. They’ll run a class even if one person is in it, which I think is amazing.”

At National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher level, a wide choice of subjects is available for pupils to pursue their own specific academic interests. When choosing subjects, girls make a free choice of their ideal combination of subjects and the timetable is constructed each year to facilitate as many of these combinations as possible.

2. A focus on girls’ needs

Anna shares that the single-sex nature of the school allows St Margaret’s to direct its efforts into meeting the intellectual, emotional and physical needs of girls at their particular developmental stages.

She says: “Building confidence and that sense of self is so important for all young people. We don’t have preconceived ideas about what an individual might want to become or do. We are keen to find out each girl’s strengths and aspirations so that we can really support her to build on those and believe in herself.”

Another S6 pupil, Yoma Omaruaye adds: “I like being in an all girls’ school because it’s just more comfortable. I feel like I have the space to be myself, be open about my goals and be brave about what I want to achieve.”

Yoma hopes to study medicine in university, focusing on paediatrics. She says: “There’s a lot of support here. There’s never been a situation where I didn’t have anyone to turn to. I feel like I always have somebody to turn to if I need help with anything.”

3. A focused learning environment

Classrooms at St Margaret’s are full of girls who want to do well and are motivated to succeed. This culture of hard work is reflected in the school’s consistently high performance in national qualifications, with the 2024 results being no exception: all fourth pupils passed their National 5 maths and English exams at A or B level!

The focused learning environment is something that Rachel, who also hopes to go into medicine and medical research, can attest to. She says: “Everyone here is quite ambitious and I like that. Everyone has an idea of what they want to do and it’s motivating.”

Yoma supports this, saying: “I used to think that I wouldn’t be able to follow such a competitive career path but with the encouragement of my peers and teachers I believe I can. I’ve seen girls in older year groups secure places to study medicine at university and that inspires me to keep working hard towards my goal.”

4. A place where girls have a voice

At St Margaret’s enabling and listening to pupil voice in school improvement is high on the agenda with pupil committees spanning learning, sport, wellbeing, race and culture to name but a few.

Anna shares: “We have a lot of pupil-led initiatives where we celebrate our diverse community. In recent times, pupils have conceived and led events such as culture week and neurodiversity celebrations. The positive and inclusive school ethos is cherished and taken forward by the girls themselves. That’s a really special thing.”

Thirty-three different nationalities were represented in the fashion show which concluded the 2023 culture week celebrations.

5. Nurture of aspirations and talents

The St Margaret’s team is keen that every door is open to pupils. Anna explains: “There’s very much a sense here that girls can do anything. There are no barriers to the sorts of subjects they might want to study, or the careers they might want to pursue. We see that in the uptake of science and of computing science and in the number of girls who go on to pursue careers in fields where women have historically been underrepresented.

“I think there can be a little bit more freedom about being yourself in an all girls’ school. There’s certainly a real benefit to being in a class of girls where everybody is motivated and wants to do well. That’s the culture of this school and it’s something we strive to maintain and build upon.

“Girls come to our school wanting to take part, wanting to contribute to discussions. We nurture that confidence in them and they’re aiming high.”

To find out more about what St Margaret’s can offer your daughter as an all girls’ school in Aberdeen, attend its open days on Friday September 6 or on Saturday October 5.

To schedule a school tour, you can email admissions@st-margaret.uk or call the admissions office on 01224 584466.

Read more: ‘Wonderful young women’ break the mould at St Margaret’s School