March 8

Head's blog - March 2023

In my International Women’s Day assembly this week at Senior School, I talked to our girls about the GDST Futures report and some of the research uncovered around girls’ attitudes to their own future. It is interesting to read that the issues which are deemed most important to the girls, are not necessarily the ones they feel they are able to have impact on. For example, in the top five issues, they seem to be most passionate about the environment and women’s rights, and feel they are able to have a positive impact here. However, some other aspects; mental health, racism, poverty and the cost of living, they do not. This is disheartening and highlights the important work we still have to do in giving girls the confidence to facilitate the change they wish to see. This will not affect all of our students, but for those who lack self-belief in their ability to make things happen, we should work on how to enable them. The girls themselves will be delving into the data, across many different areas, and will be feeding back to me to help inform our expansive offer.

At our Junior School, the Mighty Girl prefects delivered an assembly on International Women’s Day. The theme this year was ‘Embracing Equity’. The girls spoke to their peers about some role models they have, including Jacinda Ardern and Kamala Harris. They followed this by talking about the different restrictions some girls around the world are facing such as a lack of education, not being allowed to drive or travel alone. I think they certainly made us feel grateful for our Blackheath High School girls-only education. I engaged with them in a brilliant interview about my passions, Chemistry in particular, and I felt quite sad when it was over though was very grateful to be included in their assembly! You can see the interview below - a lovely Year 6 Production from start to finish.

I am going to the iconic Southbank Centre this evening with Mrs Skevington for the GDST WOW – Women of the World Festival. We will listen to Ramita Navai, investigative journalist and author, in conversation with our CEO, Cheryl Giovannoni. We will hear about how girls’ education, equality and leadership can connect to shape an equal, fairer and more inclusive future, not only for women but for everyone. In their conversation, Ramita will draw on her experiences and share compelling insights from her interesting and varied career. Mrs Skevington and I are very much looking forward to feeding back to our school community.

It was also fantastic to be able to celebrate inspiring women at our third biennial Women in Leadership Conference. The focus this year was on Sustainability and I was incredibly impressed with the questions our students asked and the discussions we had. As ever, there is much to celebrate and so much going on in school each week that I can’t possibly mention it all, but do follow our school Twitter account to see more of what is going on day to day.

I look forward to seeing many of our Junior School parents at our School in Action event at Seniors next week.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Natalie Argile

Head