The Mighty Girls Challenge

At Blackheath High School we launched the Mighty Girls Challenge, an activity-based programme for girls at our Junior School aimed at inspiring them to develop the core skills which will be central to their development, now and into the future.  

The Mighty Girls Challenge was originally inspired by the Junior School Head's Mighty Girls Club, a feminist group for Year 6 students, where they discuss inspiring women and explore what it takes to be a confident, fearless woman in today’s world. From this bold beginning, we have created a full concept programme for Year 2 to Year 5, designed to tie closely to key skills that the World Economic Forum predicts will be central to future employment and aimed at nurturing our pupils to come ambitious, brave and curious (A, B, C). It was also developed with input from the Year 6 Mighty Girls, which made it even more tangible and exciting.  

When girls start the programme in Year 2, they receive a Mighty Girls Challenge Record of Achievement journal to record their activities and learnings at home. Challenges range from new skills, like learning to say ‘hello, my name is....’ in multiple languages or playing a song on a new instrument, to experimenting with creativity; designing a puppet show for the family to enjoy ir creating a board game, to mental wellbeing; writing a gratitude journal or challenging yourself to climb a tree and see how you feel reaching the top. Crucially, each challenge also asks the girls to reflect on what they have learned and what they achieved as a result. This boosts confidence, builds resilience and promotes a sense of agency and self-esteem. The journal itself becomes a scrapbook and a keepsake – full of learnings, but also documenting their time in the Junior School. We have also created challenge badges and t-shirts, which are handed out in a special assembly to celebrate the completion of the journals.
 

"I made my own kite from an old plastic bag, wood and string and on a windy day we tried to fly it. We had to keep trying to get it to work, but it did eventually! I like being creative, and the programme challenges me to try new things and not give up."

- Year 3 Mighty Girl
 

The results that we've seen have been wonderful! Junior School girls are fully engaged and committed to the challenge programme, demonstrating spectacular creativity, bravery and resilience as they develop new skills and understand what qualities they have learned along the way. We have seen trees conquered, kites flown, magic tricks mastered, bicycles ridden and languages learned. We are very proud of our Ambitious, Brave and Curious Mighty Girls!