Established in 1901, Queen Margaret's (QM) is an independent boarding and

day school A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children are given instruction during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compared to a regular s ...

for girls aged 11–18 set in 75 acres of parkland, six miles south of

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

History

Queen Margaret's was established in 1901 in

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

mainly by Jane Leeke Latham of the Woodard Foundation. Woodard are an organisation committed to the establishment of boarding schools where teaching would be firmly based on the Christian religion. The founding head was

Agnes Body Agnes Body (29 April 1866 – 31 March 1952) was a British headmistress. She was the founding head of Lincoln Christ's Hospital School, Lincoln Christ's Hospital Girls' High School and Queen Margaret's School, York, Queen Margaret's School, then in ...

who arrived from Lincoln with some of her former staff. In 1913, when ill health made her retire, it was said that QM was known as "Miss Body's School". Rosalind Fowler became the second Head and she supervised the evacuation of the School to the Atholl Palace Hotel,

Pitlochry Pitlochry (; or ) is a town in the Perth and Kinross council area of Scotland, lying on the River Tummel. It is historically in the county of Perthshire, and has a population of 2,776, according to the 2011 census.Scotland's 2011 census. (n.p. ...

during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Following another evacuation to

Castle Howard Castle Howard is an English country house in Henderskelfe, North Yorkshire, north of York. A private residence, it has been the home of the Earl of Carlisle, Carlisle branch of the House of Howard, Howard family for more than 300 years. Castle ...

in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, QM finally came to Escrick Park, six miles south of

, in 1949, where it remains today. Mrs Sue Baillie commenced her headship in September 2019, taking over from the previous Head Mrs Jessica Miles. On 13 June 2025, it was announced that the school would close due to financial pressures on 5 July that year.

Exam results

The pass rate at A Level in 2021 was 100% and 47% of all grades were at A*, with 78% at A*-A (nationally that figure was 44%). The pass rate at GCSE in 2021 was 100%. One third (33%) of all GCSE results were at grade 9 and two thirds (67%) were at grades 9–7.

Inspection

A 2019 inspection by the

Independent Schools Inspectorate The Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) is approved by the Secretary of State for Education – under section 106 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 – to inspect private schools in England. These schools are members of associations, whi ...

awarded Queen Margaret's its highest 'Excellent' rating across all categories inspected.

Dance

The School offers individual and group lessons in

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

, tap,

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

and modern dance.

Music

Music plays an important role in life at QM with 45% of girls learning at least one instrument and over a quarter of those girls learning more than one instrument.

Sport

Sports facilities include an all-weather Astroturf, a sports hall, a competition-standard indoor swimming pool and a recreational outdoor pool, all-weather tennis courts, indoor squash courts, and a riding school adjacent to the main school campus. Main winter activities include:

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

, cross country,

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

, and

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

. Summer sports include:

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

, cricket and

rounders Rounders is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams. Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a wooden, plastic, or metal bat that has a cylindrical end. The players score b ...

Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

, and squash are played at all levels.

Houses

Queen Margaret's has horizontal boarding houses for boarding, and vertical houses across all ages. There are six vertical houses: Garry, Pitlochry, Duncan, QM Hall, School and St Aidan's. Each pupil and teacher is assigned to one of the houses and each house is run by a teacher as Head of House; two Upper Sixth girls are chosen to be House Captain and Deputy House Captain, and two or three Fourth Year (Year 10) girls are chosen as House Monitors. Inter-house competitions include those for sport, cookery and music.

Boarding

Around 80% of pupils are boarders. They are assigned to a boarding house based on year group and age. Each boarding house is supervised by a housemaster or housemistress who is assisted by the Head of Year.Boarding
/ref> *Warwick House (Years 7–9, QM's Years I-III) *Winifred Holtby House, also known as "Winnie's" (Years 10-11, QM's Year IV-V) *Cloisters (Year 12, QM's LVI Lower Sixth) *The Cottages (Year 13, QM's UVI Upper Sixth)

Notable former pupils

''See also :People educated at Queen Margaret's School, York'' * Druie Bowett, artist * Sarah Connolly, opera Singer *

Winifred Holtby Winifred Holtby (23 June 1898 – 29 September 1935) was an English novelist and journalist, now best known for her novel '' South Riding'', which was posthumously published in 1936. Biography Holtby was born to a prosperous farming family in ...

, novelist and journalist *

Joan Hall Joan Lynette Hall (née Bullock; born 22 December 1946) is a former member of the South Australian House of Assembly, serving in the electoral district of Coles from 1993 to 2002 and the renamed electoral district of Morialta from 2002 to 200 ...

, politician *

Ann Jellicoe Patricia Ann Jellicoe (15 July 1927 – 31 August 2017) was an English playwright, theatre director and actress. Although her work covered many areas of theatre and film, she is best known for "pushing the envelope" of the stage play, devisin ...

, actor, theatre director and playwright *

Katharine, Duchess of Kent Katharine, Duchess of Kent (born Katharine Lucy Mary Worsley; 22 February 1933) is a member of the British royal family. She is married to Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, a grandson of King George V. The Duchess of Kent converted to Catholicism i ...

* Dame Eleanor King, High Court Judge * Matilda Lowther, fashion model * Lady Alice Manners, fashion columnist * Lady Eliza Manners, socialite * Lady Violet Manners, fashion model * Suraya Marshall, Air Officer Commanding of No. 2 Group RAF * Elizabeth Poston, Composer * Amanda Staveley, businesswoman

Heads

;The Heads of Queen Margaret's are as follows: *

(1901–1913)Margaret A. E. Hammer, ‘Body, (Mary) Agnes (1866–1952)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 23 January 2017
/ref> *Rosalind Fowler (1913–1928) *Mildred Burella-Taylor (1928–1934) *Lily Parsons (1934–1938) *Joyce Brown (1938–1960) *Barbara Snape (1960–1980) *Pat Valentine (1980–1983) *Colin McGarrigle (1983–1992) *Geoffrey Chapman (1993–2009) *Paul Silverwood (2009–2014) *Carole Cameron, Acting Head (2014–2015) *Jessica Miles (2015–2019) *Sue Baillie (2019–2024) *Nicola Dudley (2024- )

Arms

References

External links

Profile
on the ISC website
ISI
Inspectio
Report (PDF)
{{authority control __FORCETOC__ Girls' schools in North Yorkshire Private schools in North Yorkshire Educational institutions established in 1901 Schools in Scarborough, North Yorkshire 1901 establishments in England Church of England private schools in the Diocese of York Boarding schools in the United Kingdom Member schools of the Girls' Schools Association Private schools in the East Riding of Yorkshire Private schools in York Boarding schools in North Yorkshire Escrick 2025 disestablishments in England Educational institutions disestablished in 2025