St Mary’s (pictured), one of four Catholic universities in England, has announced plans to open a new school of medicine on its Strawberry Hill campus in Twickenham.

The announcement comes after the General Medical Council (GMC) provided assurance that St Mary’s is currently on track and making good progress towards required standards for medical education. The university will initially be recruiting international students and plans to welcome its first cohort in September 2026.

Speaking of the news, St Mary’s University (SMU) Vice-Chancellor Professor Anthony McClaran said: “The launch of a school of medicine is a cornerstone of the university’s plan for strategic growth and is in keeping with our tradition of delivering a sustained, positive impact on society.

“The school will not only contribute to the workforce development demands in the UK for more doctors and medical professionals, but it will also train global professionals able to work anywhere in the world. Our approach to developing the whole person during students’ time at SMU will mean medics of the future will leave this university with the technical and personal skills they need to deliver truly holistic, compassionate, patient-centred care.”

Interim Founding Dean of the School of Medical Professor Michael Bewick added: "Complemented by the existing successful Allied Health and Sports Science provision, St Mary’s is the natural place to establish a forward-thinking centre of medical training. I am delighted we are making consistent steps forward in making this ambition a reality.”

In a further development, SMU has also signed a new curriculum partnership with the University of Central Lancashire. The partnership will see SMU use the University of Central Lancashire’s Bachelor Medicine Bachelor Surgery curriculum in the development of the School of Medicine and their commitment as SMU’s contingency partner throughout the GMC accreditation process.

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Health and Campus Development) Professor Cathy Jackson was the Founding Head of the University of Central Lancashire’s Medical School. She joined the institution in 2014 to set up the university’s medical school and led the team through to full accreditation of the programme by the GMC.

Professor Jackson said: “Opening a brand-new medical school will present St Mary’s University with the ability to teach the next generation of professionals in a modern way.

“When the University of Central Lancashire opened its new medical school, my team had the unique opportunity of writing a curriculum from scratch that would be fit for the long-term future.

“The University of Central Lancashire’s Medical School will now support St Mary’s new medical school as it’s contingent partner as it progresses through all the stages to full GMC accreditation, and I’m delighted they’ll now deliver the curriculum we created to their new cohort of students.”

St Mary's new school of medicine will benefit from the latest technology, new facilities, and advanced teaching practices, building on its proven history of teaching excellence and student satisfaction. SMU is currently placed in the Top 10 nationally for student experience and the Top 5 nationally for teaching quality in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024.

The GMC oversees both undergraduate and postgraduate medical education and training in the UK. Any institution looking to establish a new medical school or training programme must demonstrate that it meets the GMC’s standards by being subject to an extensive period of quality assurance. SMU is pleased to have been granted permission to move to the next phase of its School of Medicine and the University will be submitting further evidence to GMC as it works towards the final timetable.

Once complete, SMU’s new medical school will operate alongside health and medical schools at England's three other Catholic universities: Birmingham Newman University, Leeds Trinity University and Liverpool Hope University.

Find out more about the School of Medicine

Watch Prof Anthony McClaran and Prof Michael Bewick discuss the St Mary's School of Medicine

The following are tried and tested methods discussed at a recent training session arranged by the Diocese of Westminster Education Service.

Warning signs could be falling rolls every year, and not being the first choice for increasing numbers of pupils.  

Potential solutions:

• make contact with local pre-schools and nurseries, ensure school’s marketing materials displayed and available 

• invite pre-schools and nurseries to use school’s resources and attend taster days

• arrange reading sessions for pre-school and nursery children with school’s Year 6 pupils

• Record in database contact details not just of every prospective parent emailing the school to enquire about places, but also those phoning up or visiting reception

• use database to invite prospective parents to open days, at which school choir sing

• write to thank prospective parents for attending open day, invite them to ask questions

• email Christmas messages to prospective parents – ie ensure regular contact

• plan a school tour route for prospective parents, choose and carefully train pupils in how to be guides

• without clear instructions pupils may spend the tour focusing on their favourite or least favourite parts of the school, which may not align with what a prospective parent needs to see 

• headteachers could attend Mass in nearby churches and introduce the school, and be available to talk to prospective parents at the end

• spread these responsibilities across several staff members, make sure everyone aware of efforts to reverse falling school rolls

• don’t leave it all up to one already very busy staff member

The training was delivered by education marketing consultancy Grebot Donnelly Associates - for a free one-to-one meeting contact Aimee Monteith at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For further advice on increasing pupil numbers for schools, contact your diocesan education service or schools commission  

Sacred Heart Catholic School is an oversubscribed mixed secondary in Camberwell, Southwark Archdiocese, of more than 850 pupils. For the last 20 years, it has been the, or one of the, top performing secondary schools in the borough of Southwark.

A third of pupils are eligible for Free School Meals and just under 50% receive the Pupil Premium. In the last academic year Sacred Heart Catholic School’s Progress 8 score put it in 11th place in the country. 

Pupil Premium funding is focused partly on improving pupil-teacher ratio – a vital tool for ensuring individual pupils’ success. Pupil-teacher ratios range from 1:30 for more academic children to 1:15 for those pupils needing extra help and support. 

The school’s sixth form is equally successful, sending pupils to Oxford, Cambridge, and Russell Group universities and to Ivy League universities in the USA. The school fundamentally believes that creating trust within the community and, in particular, with parents is vital to the overall success of the school.

Supporting the marginalised 

Supporting charities and the marginalised, defenceless and poor in the community is part of the school’s Catholic ethos. The school emphasises how it is possible for all to improve the lives of those less fortunate and therefore encourages the pupils to appreciate more of what they have.  

Pupils and staff engage in fundraising includes activities such as car washing, raffles, carol singing, penalty scoring, bake sales, and form group stalls during Charity Week. This culminates in the annual school Bridge Walk that includes up to 700 pupils and staff participating in a sponsored walk along the Thames and over London’s bridges. These activities generally raise more than £10,000 in the course of a year for the local community. 

In addition, every form group produces Christmas hampers for isolated, elderly and housebound residents in the local area, with 150 hampers hand-delivered by pupils in the run-up to Christmas last year. They also fundraise to buy Christmas gifts for more than 100 children elsewhere in the parish who would not otherwise receive any due to the increasing cost of living in inner London. Form groups donate gloves, jumpers, socks and other essential winter items to a nearby charity for military veterans. The idea of charity as the main vehicle for children to live their faith is important to the fundamental values that the school holds.  

“Through living our faith we help pupils understand that there’s always someone worse off than ourselves. Money’s always tight, but we’re a tight community as well.”

Serge Cefai, Headteacher 2005–2023

Breakfast club, homework space

Other strategies are put in place to ensure that, whenever possible, compensatory factors account for individual pupils’ circumstances. Examples are provision of a warm space from 7.30am when the school opens, with breakfast provided for pupils assessed as in need. Sacred Heart acts as a back-up facility for out of hours study when this is not possible at home due to circumstances. This includes extended opening times in the school library from 7.30am-5.30pm daily, as well as a supervised homework room.

The school prioritises building up trust through a strong emphasis on pastoral care. Pastoral teams meet very regularly and huge efforts are made to ensure that individual pupils’ circumstances are assessed.  This enables intervention strategies to be implemented, for example for pupils without any basic stationery at home, wifi, or laptops, while sharing rooms with multiple siblings. The school supplies these items along with its supervised out of hours homework space on site.        

Crisis support 

In addition, families experiencing severe difficulties are supported. This might include issues such as housing, immigration, and carer responsibilities that the cost of living crisis has worsened, and which can negatively affect pupils’ wellbeing at home. The school employs an Attendance and Support Officer who supports the work of the school in addressing issues of school attendance and welfare and, when necessary, visits families in their homes. The officer identifies issues early and facilitates family meetings with agencies, sometimes advocating on their behalf, to prevent or minimise disruption to children’s education.     

For households in crisis, several procedures are put in place including a dedicated staff member who among other things provides a school uniform mending service, along with second-hand uniforms and a stock of shoes. The pastoral team identifies when a child is in need of Free School Meals and encourages parents to apply. The school intervenes to provide meals in advance of local authority funding, in some extreme cases conducting a weekly shop at local supermarkets, replacing fire-damaged beds, and any other desperately needed items for families assessed as in extreme difficulty due to the economic climate. 

Moral education

At Key Stage 3, bespoke life skills lessons are taught that cover and exceed the national curriculum, emphasizing the importance of budgeting, savings and basic economics.

Parental engagement is again a fundamental tool for overall success. Pupils’ performance at school is ranked in order of academic achievement and behavioural criteria, so parents can see at a glance how their child is doing. Inspired by football league tables, and published on noticeboards outside classrooms, this approach has motivated pupils both to national educational success and to embody the school’s Catholic ethos. Truth and transparency leading to trust is, again, fundamental to the successful running of this high achieving school.

“As well as outstanding academic outcomes, Sacred Heart prides itself on educating the whole child.  Academic results will only go so far, and we insist on a comprehensive programme of moral education, teaching good manners and respect. We are determined to show our pupils that Gospel values are to be lived by, especially when it comes to looking after and caring for those less fortunate.”

Richard Lansiquot, Headteacher, 2023-present

Find out more about the ethos of Sacred Heart Catholic School