Inside Marymount: How a Catholic Girls’ Boarding School Builds Confidence, Care and Leadership

But what makes Marymount uniquely impactful? And how does a small, girls-only environment enhance that experience?

In a recent webinar, Paula Horton, Head of Boarding at Marymount International School London spoke to Think Global People’s Fiona Muchie and shared how their small boarding community, their Catholic ethos and all-girls environment help students feel known, supported and empowered; producing strong academic outcomes and remarkable personal growth. You can watch the full webinar here.

Here’s what makes their model stand out.

A Small Boarding Community: A Home away from Home

Marymount intentionally keeps its boarding community compact. As Paula explains, the boarding house is “approximately a third” of the school’s population and “we kind of like it that way.” That scale matters: Paula notes the result is that “they blend more like a family,” with older and younger students mixing easily. The boarding houses share central lounges and common rooms where students study, watch TV and cook. Grade 12s sit with Grade 10s; Grade 6s and 7s race around the garden, creating natural cross-age social life rather than strict year-group silos. These shared spaces make collaborative study and casual social support routine rather than scheduled.

Marymount has three different halls for seniors, middle and high schoolers, but they are close and communal, encouraging older girls to mix with and support younger ones.

There’s also “forced fun” and regular events: from quizzes and dinners to excursions and theatre projects, Marymount schedules social, low-pressure activities that build shared memories and reduce isolation.

Why it matters:

Staff can know each student personally. Paula emphasised that the school’s pastoral approach is relational: staff spot when a child needs support because they’re visible and familiar with individuals’ habits and personalities.

Students don’t get lost in the system. In Marymount’s smaller boarding culture, “relationships replace systems as the primary driver of care,” so pastoral care feels personalised instead of bureaucratic.

A Global Catholic Boarding School Welcoming Students of All Faiths

Marymount describes itself as: “A Catholic school, but inclusive of all faiths and those of none.” Marymount’s Catholic identity is an ethos, not a limitation; one that prepares girls not just for exams, but for adulthood.

For internationally mobile families, this approach helps students develop respect and dignity, service and social responsibility, reflection and self-awareness and compassionate leadership.

In the webinar, Paula highlights that these values are “really good values for life, replicated in any faith system, and in ordinary good British traditional values, or American traditional values, or Chinese traditional values.”

There’s a focus on kindness and compassion. Paula relates that “service and reflection is one of our key points. We work a lot on reflecting.” This reflection is also a deep part of the IP syllabus. Kindness is part of the PHSE curriculum and a key family value in the boarding house.

The school’s mission is not to produce conformity, but to help young women develop a strong sense of identity, purpose and confidence, grounded in moral and emotional intelligence.

For globally mobile families, this matters! Students are prepared not just for exams, but for life.

Confidence through responsibility: leadership in action

Confidence at Marymount is not manufactured by awards or slogans; it grows through responsibility and daily leadership opportunities.

The Boarding Council
The boarding council and house captains get real responsibility for events and welfare. They bring ideas, campaign to be the president, help run and support the boarding house.

Service and global citizenship
Marymount links students to a wider network of schools for intercultural exchange and service projects: opportunities that expand students’ sense of purpose beyond the campus.

Clubs in school
These include the student goals and implementation committee, which involves plenty of service involvement.

Practical independence
The school’s routines, managing study blocks and participating in house life help students learn self-discipline and agency in a supported environment.

Paula’s point is direct: boarding gives girls “an opportunity to step away from their comfort zone…to find out who they are” while still being in “a very careful, supportive environment.”

Induction and Routines that Build Belonging

Before term starts, Marymount welcomes new and returning boarders on a Friday with activities run by returning students (“the Lappers”).

New families meet staff, the headmistress gives a warm reception, there’s pizza and gentle orientation. Saturday features a campus scavenger hunt and a family barbecue (complete with tug-of-war) so students learn the site and meet peers in a relaxed setting. Sunday brings an opening chapel service and time to explore nearby Kingston Upon Thames, all deliberately paced so new students can “dip a toe in” and process before staying. Paula explained: “We start the induction very slowly and carefully…we’re not dumping them with a whole load of information.”

The weekend gives students space to exhale, form early friendships and get familiar with staff, long before they face academic expectations.

How the Catholic Boarding Experience Is Constantly Evolving to Support Globally Minded Students

A modern international boarding school cannot remain static, it must adapt to a world that is “an extremely volatile environment at the moment, and the children feel it.”

Students today are acutely aware of uncertainty, social change and global pressures, and “they’re looking back to us for some kind of structure.” At Marymount, this structure is grounded in the IB framework, which, as Paula explains, does not simply deliver content, it “teaches them not what to think, but how to think.” The IB helps students work collaboratively, research independently and reflect critically, skills that prepare them for “an environment that’s going to ask so much more of them than we can even begin to imagine.”

To meet these demands, Marymount describes itself as “constantly looking for new inspiration,” with ongoing staff training and openness to innovations in wellbeing support and digital learning. The school’s global network is also central to its evolving identity. Through the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary (RSHM) network, “the order of nuns who… have gone out over the world and supported girls’ education”, students participate in academic, cultural and service exchanges with schools in Rome, Paris, New York, Colombia, Brazil, Zambia and more.

Paula notes that girls “move across sport and they move for cultural events,” including initiatives like the Marymount in Action trip to Oslo.

These experiences offer meaningful international exposure while reinforcing the school’s belief that girls’ education flourishes in a supportive, single-sex environment. “Girls thrive in girls’ education… They push forward. They pull themselves up. There’s nobody holding them back.”

In this way, Marymount’s Catholic boarding experience is dynamic, outward-facing and responsive, helping students navigate uncertainty with confidence, curiosity and a global sense of responsibility.