Teaching and learning are at the heart of everything that is done at Queen's, and standards are high. At the point of admission girls are selected on the basis of their ability, and there is a further academic hurdle to be cleared later if they are to enter the Senior College (Sixth Form). Almost without exception our leavers proceed to university degree courses, and we are successful in preparing candidates for entry to medical schools and Oxbridge.

Our academic aims are ambitious, and are set out in our formal statement of educational principles:

• we value academic excellence for its own sake, rather than the sterile pursuit of marks.
• we measure our success by the development of each individual.
• we value personal integrity and the discernment to deal responsibly with the wider world.
• we value teaching that inspires pupils and stimulates intellectual curiosity; that encourages intellectual rigour and the ability to make informed judgements; that helps pupils to know how to think, rather than what to think.
• we value in pupils self-reliance and independence of mind; self-discipline and the determination to outstrip expectations; imagination and the courage to take risks.