About the School

AESG is a close knit Christian Community founded in 1999 from the merger of St Hilary’s, owned by the Anglican Woodard Corporation, and Mount Carmel, owned by the Roman Catholic Sisters of St Joseph.  The school has a unique ecumenical ethos in which both Christian traditions are practised actively and girls from other (or no) faith are equally welcomed.

The school encourages every student to strive to achieve academic excellence over a broad range of subjects and also in a considerable range of enrichment activities.  The school produces well grounded, confident and articulate young women who enter a range of professions with the objective of making a difference.

The school is an independent day school which has charitable status and is affiliated to Woodard Schools Limited and the Order of the Sisters of St Joseph.  It is also a member of the Girls’ Schools Association, the Independent Schools Association and the Association of Governing Bodies of Independent Schools.  Since 1999 the school has provided means tested financial support for girls drawn from a broad geographical area including Greater Manchester and Cheshire.  Admission to the school is by assessment in the Junior School or examination, interview and reference in the Senior School.

The Senior School caters for girls from eleven to eighteen and the Junior School provides for girls from two to eleven. The Nursery accepts pupils once they have had their second birthday and there is considerable flexibility in the early stages in the number of sessions attended. Girls then move to Pre-School in the year before they start Reception.  Almost all girls in the Junior School gain admission to Senior School and they form about half of the Year 7 cohort. The other half come from many other schools, both independent and maintained primary.  Some are also admitted at sixteen to follow A Level courses.

Currently there are approximately 550 pupils in the whole school.

The Leadership Team of the School consists of the Head, Deputy Head, Bursar, Director of Studies, Head of Sixth Form, Head of Junior School and Deputy Head of Junior School.  Other key colleagues attend when appropriate e.g. Head of EYFS/Infants.

The Pastoral Team comprises the Head of Lower School (Years 7 and 8), Head of Year 9, Head of Upper School (Years 10 and 11), Assistant Head of Upper School (who is also the  Raising Achievement Co-ordinator), Head of Sixth Form and Deputy Head of Sixth Form.  The Year Heads are responsible to the Deputy Headmistress.

The work of the Pastoral Team is greatly enhanced by the work of the School Nurse.  

A Raising Achievement Co-ordinator was appointed in September 2008 in addition to a Head of Careers and this has had a significant impact on attainment. In addition a full time Learning Enhancement Co-ordinator was appointed in 2010 who oversees the SEN work in both Junior and Senior School and works closely with the girls, together with her assistants.

The curriculum is regularly reviewed to ensure that it meets the needs of the students, their interests, aspirations and ability levels. Girls follow an extensive, strongly academic programme of study, with a wide choice of subjects at GCSE and A-level, culminating in outstanding examination results at GCSE, AS and A-level. This summer’s public examination results were again very pleasing. Almost all girls leave to pursue a degree at a university of their choice and girls regularly gain admission to Oxford or Cambridge as well as Medical Schools.

The Junior school introduced the Integrated Curriculum in 2013 and this is now very popular with both pupils and parents. Mathematics and English are taught as designated lessons every morning, in addition the Junior School benefits from Senior School specialist input for PE, Computing, MFL, Drama and Music.

There is a wide variety of enrichment activities in both Junior and Senior Schools, well supported by girls and teachers.  There are numerous theatre visits and field trips, offering the opportunity to develop interests and talents in music, drama, sport and academic areas.  Every year there are drama productions and music festivals; the School’s performances enjoy an excellent reputation. There is a full list of sporting fixtures including netball, cross-country, hockey, football, badminton, athletics, tennis, rounders and swimming.  

All girls in Years 3 to 6 take part in a residential visit in the Summer Term and Year 7 girls all attend a residential induction course in September. There are regular opportunities to participate in a huge variety of other trips, both home and abroad, including Community Service.

Much of the Senior School was purpose built in 2001 with state of the art facilities particularly in ICT.  At the same time the existing accommodation on the Mount Carmel Site was upgraded to provide excellent facilities for our Junior School, Science, Mathematics and ICT Departments – there are 4 dedicated computer suites as well as additional computer rooms for Music and MFL. In addition there has been huge development in Technology Enhanced Learning recently with the introduction of wireless throughout the school and girls bring their own iPads into school to enrich their learning experience. Each teacher is also given his/her own iPad to use to support their teaching.

The school was inspected by ISI in February 2015 and was awarded Excellent in every category, together with Outstanding in every category for the EYFS. There were no areas of compliance or regulations requiring attention and no recommendations were made about these.

The school has an annual quality review cycle which results in strategic planning for both departments and the whole school.  Documentation covers a two year period. The school continues to work to maintain a culture of continuous improvement. We set annual targets for the school, after consultation with staff and discussion at SLT level, which are reviewed and analysed at several points of the school year. We welcome suggestions from staff and aim to adopt a collaborative and open style of management.