Academics
The school day is from 8.30am until 5pm (3.30 on Wednesdays and 4.30 on Fridays) - and there is no study leave. The School is regularly at the top of Scotland’s academic league tables. St Mary's Music School was named as Scottish Independent Secondary School of the Year in 2007 and its academic results are consistently excellent. The 2011 pass rate is 100% for Standard Grade, Advanced Higher and A level exams and 94.6% for Highers. A former Music Director, Nigel Murray, wrote in 1994 that the self-discipline acquired in the devotion to the mastery of an art as self-fulfilling as Music was bound to have a beneficial effect on the rest of the pupil's work and play. Murray continued that if he had a motto for St Mary's Music School it would be the words of the great Italian pianist Ferruccio Busoni,;
"He who is only a musician is no musician".
All pupils proceed to higher education and most generally go on to conservatoires or universities, this is usually but not always to study music. Many established alumni now pursue international careers, retaining contact with the School.
Read more about this topic: St Mary's Music School
Famous quotes containing the word academics:
“Our first line of defense in raising children with values is modeling good behavior ourselves. This is critical. How will our kids learn tolerance for others if our hearts are filled with hate? Learn compassion if we are indifferent? Perceive academics as important if soccer practice is a higher priority than homework?”
—Fred G. Gosman (20th century)
“Almost all scholarly research carries practical and political implications. Better that we should spell these out ourselves than leave that task to people with a vested interest in stressing only some of the implications and falsifying others. The idea that academics should remain “above the fray” only gives ideologues license to misuse our work.”
—Stephanie Coontz (b. 1944)