Cantab Education helps St Mary’s students secure Oxbridge success.

For the past two years, Cantab Education has been working with prestigious Cambridge girls’ school St. Mary’s to deliver an enhanced university preparation support programme for their students.

The preparation support programme has been created by Cantab Education Founder Dr Lucy Sweatman and is designed to give able and committed St Mary’s pupils the best chance of making a successful application to top universities.

Since the support programme has been put in place, St Mary’s students have seen a marked increase in progressions to Oxbridge and other competitive universities.

In 2022/23, 5% of St Mary’s Year 13 students received Oxbridge offers, with a 50% success rate on applications, including for Medicine and Economics at the University of Cambridge.

In 2023/24, 71% of St Mary’s Oxbridge applications were successful, including offers for Medicine at the University of Oxford, and Maths at the University of Cambridge.

Speaking about the programme, St Mary’s Headmistress Charlotte Avery commented:

‘Lucy, as an independent, external expert [in Oxbridge applications], added another voice to what the school was saying. Her focus on the wider reading and her expectations around that, including holiday reading, provided a very sharp focus for students. Parents were reassured by having Lucy’s expertise, and we have been delighted by the outcomes.’

St Mary’s Head of Sixth Form Robin Griffiths gave more details on the academic support provided by Lucy and Cantab Education:

‘We needed to formalise our Oxbridge application process, so we went to the person who literally wrote the book on it! Lucy and Cantab Education offered the best package of support for our students; the Cantab sessions enabled the girls to become comfortable with the level of personal statement writing required for Oxbridge applications, understanding Oxbridge interview practices, and giving students and parents the chance to assess their applications with the option to retain Cantab Education for more support if needed.’

St Mary's School Cambridge Headmistress Charlotte Avery and Head of Sixth Form Robin Griffiths talk about their experiences of working with Cantab Education to help support their students' Oxbridge applications.

Cantab Education Founder Dr Lucy Sweatman reflected on the successes of the Cantab St Mary’s partnership:

‘It is a pleasure working with the pupils, teachers and senior leadership team at St Mary’s. It has been wonderful to see so many more St Mary’s pupils turn their Oxbridge and Medicine ambitions into reality and I hope to help increase their Early Applicant success rate even further in the future.’

Cantab Education Founder Dr Lucy Sweatman.

If you would like more information about how Cantab Education can support your Oxbridge applicants, please contact us.