History

Queen Margaret's School is a vibrant, happy community living and working in the most perfect of settings, Escrick Park near York.

But this has not always been the School's home. Queen Margaret's was established in Scarborough in 1901 by the Woodard Foundation, an organisation committed to the establishment of boarding schools where teaching would be firmly based on the Christian religion. Following evacuation to Pitlochry during the First World War, and then to Castle Howard during the Second, the school finally came to Escrick Park, six miles south of York, in 1949.

Previously, this magnificent country house, built with the assistance of John Carr in 1758 and set in almost seventy acres of beautiful parkland, had been a private residence. The Main Building retains the atmosphere of a spacious home - yet it is now the nucleus of a school for some 365 girls.

In 1986, following an initiative by the parents and governors, the school was re-established under a new company, limited by guarantee and registered with the Charities Commission. At the same time the school became independent of the Woodard Foundation.

Since then the school has enjoyed a period of dramatic expansion, investing almost £10 million in new and improved facilities and has gained a reputation for academic excellence.

'Queen Margaret's School takes its name from Scotland's only female Saint, Queen Margaret, Queen of Scotland 1070-1093'.