St Mary’s School, Cambridge, 11 Plus Entrance Exam Information 2024
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Table of Contents
Introduction
St Mary’s School is an independent girls’ day and boarding school, located within walking distance of Cambridge city centre. Founded in 1898 by the sisters of the Venerable Mary Ward and the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the school is run in the Catholic tradition.
Pupils benefit from a broad and challenging curriculum, which covers art, science, classical civilisation, computing, drama, English, food & nutrition, MFL, games & PE, geography, history, Latin, Mandarin Chinese, mathematics, music, PSHE, religious education and DT.
Enrichment activities at St Mary’s aim at satisfying a wide range of interests. Girls engage in rowing, athletics, pilates, yoga and many other sporting opportunities, further developing their talents through after-class clubs such as Model United Nations, Time Travellers (History), Japanese and Religious Studies Film Club.
Noted for its first-class and innovative academic education, St Mary’s actively encourages intellectual curiosity and promotes collaboration between girls. In return, they leave school with a sense of worth and the qualities of courage and resilience, engaging with the outside world with a strong sense of responsibility towards others.
St Mary’s School, Cambridge, 11 Plus (11+) Exam Information 2024
Address: Bateman Street, Cambridge CB2 1LY
County: Cambridgeshire
Admissions info: admissions@stmaryscambridge.co.uk or +44 (0)1223 224 167
School type: Independent, day and boarding school for girls
Number of students: 650 (approx.)
Open days: Each term
11+ Exam date: January of Year 6
11+ Exam type / Board: School’s own and online test (CEM)
Open Events for St Mary’s School, Cambridge, 11 Plus (11+) Entry
The school hosts open events termly. While attending these, you and your child will have the opportunity to get a feel for school life and meet with key staff and pastoral teams. Details about how to book are available here. You can view the school’s exact location on the map below:
St Mary’s School, Cambridge, 11 Plus (11+) Admissions
The deadline for 11+ registrations is in December of the year preceding entry. Registration forms can be accessed online and should be submitted together with the relevant fee: £100 for day students or £150 for boarding places.
Entry into Year 7 is based on an entrance exam, an interview with a senior staff member and a current school report and/or reference. The school uses a combination of paper-based and online exams, taking place in the following January.
The outcome of the admissions process is communicated within a week of the entrance examinations. Offers of places must be accepted by the deadline in March with a payment of a deposit, refundable once your daughter leaves the school.
St Mary’s School, Cambridge, 11 Plus (11+) Scholarships and Bursaries
Scholarships are usually offered as one-off fee remission of £500. However, students can apply for two scholarship awards simultaneously and receive a fee reduction of up to £1000. The deadline for applications is in December of the year preceding entry.
Art Scholarship candidates will be expected to demonstrate artistic talent and creativity, and have a strong commitment to the subject. They will be evaluated on the basis of a portfolio and/or sketchbook of recent artwork. Dance, Music, Drama and further mainly non-academic awards are also available.
Means-tested bursaries, awarded at the discretion of the Head, are reviewed annually with the expectation that they will decrease over time. In this way, more applicants can benefit from the school’s bursary fund.
The value of bursary awards ranges from 5% of tuition fees to 100%. To apply, you should complete the relevant application form and include full details about income and assets. For more information, please follow this link or contact the school directly.
St Mary’s School, Cambridge, 11 Plus (11+) Exam Format
The St Mary’s School, Cambridge, 11+ exam consists of:
- Online CEM test
- English paper (essay)
The online exam is produced by the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM). Much like CEM Select, it covers Vocabulary, Non-Verbal Reasoning and Numerical Reasoning (maths).
The English paper examines writing skills, including spelling, vocabulary and punctuation. Marks will be awarded for good use of imagination, creativity, form, purpose, organisation, cohesion and sentence structure.
Please see below for further details and recommendations on how to prepare for the St Mary’s School, Cambridge, 11+ entrance examination.
How to Prepare for the St Mary’s School, Cambridge, 11 Plus (11+) Exam
To successfully prepare your daughter for the St Mary’s School, Cambridge, 11+ entrance exam, we suggest that you make use of our targeted resources. Our practice tests enable familiarisation with the types of questions and the format of the actual exam, which will help her gain confidence in the lead up to the big day.
With the use of our practice tests, you will be able to precisely identify your daughter’s strengths and weaknesses, which will guide you in devising a carefully thought-out revision plan that focuses on studying ‘little and often’. Moreover, our practice tests will help her get used to answering questions quickly and under time pressure.
Our thoroughly researched and up to date resources enable a structured approach towards exam preparation that results in a significant advantage over other candidates. Our recommendations to help your child prepare for the St Mary’s School, Cambridge, 11 plus entrance examination can be found below.
St Mary’s School, Cambridge, 11 Plus (11+) Exam Practice Tests
Online CEM Test
The following full practice online tests are specifically designed to help your child become familiar with the demands of the St Mary’s School, Cambridge, 11+ online assessment, which to a great extent resembles CEM Select:
Full Practice
✅ You can now purchase a bundle of all of our recommended full practice resources for the St Mary’s School online CEM exam at a large discount. These are available on our other site, Pretest Plus. Click the button below to learn more:
CEM Select Practice Tests 1-10 Bundle - Save 30%
✅ Alternatively, you can choose a bundle of five of our recommended full practice tests for the St Mary’s School online CEM exam and still save 25%. Select the relevant bundle below to learn more:
CEM Select Practice Tests 1-5 Bundle - Save 25%
CEM Select Practice Tests 6-10 Bundle - Save 25%
The following resources consist of focused tests that allow students to target specific question formats that appear in online CEM exams:
Skill Practice: Verbal Ability
CEM Select – Comprehension Pack 1
CEM Select – Comprehension Pack 2
CEM Select – Missing Words Pack 1
CEM Select – Missing Words Pack 2
CEM Select – Shuffled Sentences
CEM Select – Letter Connections
CEM Select – Multiple Meanings
Skill Practice: Non-Verbal Ability
Skill Practice: Numerical Ability
✅ You can now purchase a bundle of all of our recommended full practice resources for the St Mary’s School online CEM exam at a large discount. These are available on our other site, Pretest Plus. Click the button below to learn more:
CEM Select Practice Tests 1-10 Bundle - Save 30%
✅ Alternatively, you can choose a bundle of five of our recommended full practice tests for the St Mary’s School online CEM exam and still save 25%. Select the relevant bundle below to learn more:
CEM Select Practice Tests 1-5 Bundle - Save 25%
CEM Select Practice Tests 6-10 Bundle - Save 25%
Don’t forget to use the code ppdiscount at checkout to get 10% off orders over £80 and 20% off orders over £200 if you don’t buy a bundle.
English Essay
We highly recommend the following packs to prepare successfully for the St Mary’s School, Cambridge, 11+ English paper. They will help improve your daughter’s writing skills, including spelling, vocabulary and punctuation:
✅ You can now purchase a bundle of all of our recommended 11+ resources for the St Mary’s School English exam at a large discount. Click the button below to learn more:
11+ English Bundle - Save 15%
If you’d like to have your child’s writing assessed and marked, you may be interested in our Writing Marking Service. Please click here to learn more.
Don’t forget to use the code eppdiscount at checkout to get 10% off orders over £70 and 20% off orders over £250 if you don’t buy a bundle.
Interviews
This guide covers all the key concepts your child needs to be aware of for the 11+ Interview:
11+ Interviews – The Complete Guide
Our practice tests aim to show what sort of questions were included in St Mary’s School, Cambridge, 11+ past papers. The information provided about St Mary’s School, Cambridge, was believed to be correct at the time of publishing. However, please be aware of future changes. We advise you to contact the school directly if you are unsure of anything. School contact details are provided within the post.
Other entry points for St Mary’s School, Cambridge:
Click here to learn about Year 3 entry via the 7 Plus (7+) Exam
Click here to learn about Year 9 entry via the 13 Plus (13+) Exam
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