Breakout Session I

The following sessions will be offered from 11:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.:

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Unlocking the door for Girls’ Futures: how girls-only schools hold the key for confidence, creativity and leadership | Cheryl Giovannoni, CEO, GDST

To mark their 150th anniversary, the GDST – the UK’s largest group of girls’ schools – commissioned The Girls’ Futures Report, a landmark survey of 5,000 girls in state, academies and independent schools, to find out how they feel about their personal and professional futures, with the aim of using the findings to shape the future of girls’ education.

Hear GDST CEO Cheryl Giovannoni explain how the research showed that girls thrive in girls’ schools more than in co-ed settings: being more passionate about pursuing leadership positions, better prepared for the future and more comfortable speaking out and expressing their views.  This session delves into how girls-only schools are better positioned to give students a deep-seated confidence, resilience and creativity, without being held back by gender-stereotypes or the pressures of conformity felt in mixed-sex classrooms; and how the right education environment is essential to help young women face the challenges of the future.

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‘The Menopause and your School: a culture for the future’ | Nicky Bright, Founder and Director, Bright Lead

Everyone knows someone going through the menopause or perimenopause, and all women will experience it at some point.  As a result of their symptoms, 25% of women currently consider leaving the workplace or reducing their hours and 12% actually leave.  10% don’t seek promotion or new jobs, all of which impacts their financial independence in retirement.  In this session we will consider the importance of better understanding the perimenopause and planning lifestyle changes to support women at this time.  As the fastest growing demographic in the workplace, it is important we plan to support ourselves and our staff in the best way possible, envisioning a future where our pupils can benefit from the great experience and wisdom these women bring to our schools, and fewer older women suffer poverty in retirement.

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Research Lessons from Girls’ Schools Across the UK | Edurio

Edurio is a leading provider of stakeholder feedback solutions to schools and multi-academy trusts. It works with over 150 trusts as well as 2,000 schools across the UK and internationally.

In order to move forward with purpose, it’s important we know where we are now. As we head into the new school year, let’s review how staff, pupils and parents are experiencing their time in Girls’ schools across England and identify the areas we can have the highest impact this year. This session will look back on the academic year 2022/23, and uncover some key trends based on the views of key stakeholders from Girls’ Schools.

During this session, you will:

• Reflect on how you measure up to the national benchmark
• Pinpoint what to prioritise to maximise school community engagement
• Consider ways to improve:
  • staff retention
  • pupil wellbeing
  • parental engagement

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Creating a Diverse and Inclusive Learning Curriculum | Magdalena D’Souza, Director of School Improvement (Teaching & Learning & CPD), Nonsuch High School for Girls, part of the Girls’ Learning Trust

This session will focus on the approach taken at Nonsuch High School for Girls to create a more diverse and inclusive curriculum. Magdalena’s primary focus for the past three years has been to promote and develop diversity and inclusion within the school. She has represented the school at Trust level as part of the Race Equality Steering Group and worked with universities to develop her plans for diversification. Magdalena is passionate about empowering students and aims to promote a culture where everyone is not just accepted but celebrated.

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Advancing girls’ opportunities to lead | Bethel Kyeza and Mofiyin Onanuga, UK Youth Leaders, Girl Up

This session will explore how Girl Up can support your students into leadership.

Girl Up, a global leadership development organization transforming a generation of girls to be a force for gender equality and social change. Girl Up has developed 195,000 girl leaders in 152 countries and all 50 U.S. states and has generated more than $42 million for girls’ leadership programs and impact partners at the United Nations.

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Introducing High Performance Learning : its Successful Adoption at St Mary’s School and its Impact on their Girls | Dr Andy Flint, Teacher of History at St Mary’s School, Cambridge; Dr Wallace, Deputy Head Academic at St Mary’s School, Cambridge

High Performance Learning (HPL) schools around the world are creating girls full of agency and ready to become the change makers of tomorrow. Professor Eyre, the founder of HPL will introduce the concept and talk briefly about the impact in its schools. Dr Wallace will outline how High-Performance Learning was introduced into St Mary’s School and how it continues to develop, to grow and to mature within a World Class accredited school. He will highlight the challenges and benefits of moving to a new way of thinking about education, and the perceived cultural shift associate with this; from the view of a solely nurturing environment to one that encourages high-performance everywhere. Dr Flint will talk about how it is used practically in lessons using classroom-based techniques in HPL language: with attendees not to them!

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Securing and training great Mathematics and Physics Teachers | National Mathematics and Physics SCITT, Wycombe High School

The National Mathematics & Physics (NMAP) SCITT is a School-Centred Initial Teacher Training provider, offering subject specialist teacher training in secondary Mathematics and Physics.  The SCITT is based at and led by Wycombe High School – an outstanding state girls’ grammar school in Buckinghamshire. It is a partnership between the British state and independent sectors which allows its trainee teachers to have a broad experience during their training.

NMAPs is one of only two national School-Centred Initial Teacher Training providers and the only one delivering research-based, subject-specific training in Mathematics and Physics.

This session will tell you more about NMAPS, how you can work with NMAPs to develop a talented pipeline of exceptionally well trained Mathematics and Physics teachers for your school and how to get involved as a placement school or even a national training Hub.

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GARC Panel: Creating a Culture of Research in your School

The International Coalition of Girls’ Schools’ Global Action Research Collaborative has been training and supporting teachers to engage in action research in their classrooms since 2020. Join heads of school Jo Sharrock (Putney GDST) and Nicola Renyard (Wycombe High School) and their GARC fellows Jo Orgill (Shrewsbury GDST) and Claire Saxon (Wycombe High School) to learn more about the impact of action research in their schools and creating cultures of reflective research in practice. The panel is moderated by Natalie Demers, ICGS Director of Research Initiatives and Professional Learning.

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GARC Session: The teaching of English literature to promote social justice and develop girls as global citizens

The Global Action Research Collaborative on Girls’ Education is the world’s first action research program that engages girls’ school educators from around the world in informed, collaborative, and disciplined, action research. The program builds both a network of girls’ school educators from around the world and a library of valuable and relevant research on girls’ education.

Join GARC Fellows, Suzy Pett C’22 (Wimbledon High School) and Priya Christie C’23 (Bromley High School), to learn about their research findings and the impact of research in their schools.

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Leadership and Entrepreneurship Accelerator Programme (LEAP) | Dr Peter Le Masurier, Jersey College for Girls