"Our primary aim is to build confidence, help the girls gain a sense of personal achievement, enjoy performance and have fun!"

St Mary’s offers Speech and Drama lessons as an extra-curricular activity. Lessons are given solo, in pairs and occasionally in threes. Years Upper 3 to Upper 4 have a rotating lesson so that they only miss one academic subject lesson per term.  All other years must have a fixed lesson outside the school timetable e.g. at lunchtime, during study periods or in the evening. Parents are charged for 30 lessons per year.  A term’s notice in writing is required if a pupil wants to discontinue lessons. Currently 151 girls are taking lessons, almost half the school.

We teach the LAMDA syllabus offering graded examinations in Verse and Prose, Acting, Devised Performance, Mime, Reading for Performance, Spoken English and Public Speaking. For more information please visit www.lamda.org.uk.

Between June 2003-June 2006 out of  476 exam entries, the girls gained 219 Distinctions, 222 Merits, 32 Passes and only 3 fails.
 
Although gratifying to see such excellent results, our primary aim is to build confidence, help the girls gain a sense of personal achievement, enjoy performance and have fun!

The Department is headed by Mrs Sue Holman, assisted by three part-time teachers: Pip Brown, Hilary Earle and Holly Holman.