On Friday 7 March, we were delighted to welcome Gem O’Reilly, a journalist with BBC Radio London, to report live from a Year 7 Civil Discourse enrichment class with Deputy Head Academic, Ms Lewis. The course – which is designed to teach girls to use their voices with confidence and respect, and to disagree well – was the focus of the breakfast show feature, in time for International Women’s Day and this year’s theme ‘Accelerate Action’, which calls for gender equality to move at a greater pace. 

Ms Lewis led an incredible conversation with our Year 7 students, exploring why it is so important to disagree well, what these skills bring to their lives and how they will benefit from them into the future. Students talked eloquently about the need for respect in discourse of any kind; about how the course is giving them confidence to talk and put their ideas across – particularly important for women; and how they will benefit from these skills, as they become the leaders and changemakers of the future.

Listen to the broadcast on BBC Sounds and navigate to 1:24:34 for an interview with Ms Lewis; and to 2:24:15 for the live lesson, including interviews with some of our Year 7 students. Alternatively, search ‘BBC Radio London’ and find the breakfast show with Victoria Hollins. Blackheath High featured at 7.24am and again at 8.24am. 

We position the Civil Discourse enrichment programme in the first year of Senior School to lay the foundations of civil discourse for the rest of our students’ lives. The skills they learn – resilience, confidence, respect and active listening - will be carried through the rest of their education at Blackheath High and beyond. Read about Ms Lewis’ Civil Discourse programme and her passion for oracy; and her contribution to the GDST’s powerful Designing the Future of Girls’ Education report.  

Saturday 8 March was International Women’s Day, much needed as statistics paint a bleak picture of how much work is still to be done in the UK alone – at the current rate, it will take 134 years to close the gender pay gap; women are 50% more likely to work in low-paying jobs than men; a girl born today will be nearly 40 before women hold as many seats as men in Parliament. 

At Blackheath High School, we champion women and girls every day. Everything we do, from academic to co-curricular, is born from our vision of a future where every student is equipped with the knowledge, skills, ambition, and confidence to thrive in an unequal world.