Mrs Bradshaw’s Blog

Tomorrow morning at 5am I will be at Jamie’s Coffee at Gatwick’s North Terminal. They do serve great coffee but even I am not that keen enough on it to be there at 5am simply for a decaf Americano with pouring cream! I will be there to meet 22 Year 5 and 6 girls for our annual GDST Junior Ski Trip. This will be the third year we have taken part in this cross-school collaboration and the benefits of joining with our other sister schools for this trip are huge. With over one hundred skiers between us, we access better rates which makes the trip more accessible and we have sole occupancy of our hotel meaning the girls have a level of freedom within the hotel, knowing that everyone in the building is a GDST pupil or teacher. It also gives the girls some great networking experience. Because we ski in mixed school groups, they all make new friends and learn alongside new faces. It is often one of the first times that our girls appreciate the larger family we are a part of and they leave with a sense of belonging. It is their first taste of ‘GDST for Life’.

Skiing is not the only sporting activity where our girls benefit from being part of the GDST Network. With GDST Sport Rallies held over the year in all of our competitive sports, our girls have an additional layer to the normal local and national competitions. These days are challenging and aspirational as our sister schools, with the same drive and focus in their PE departments as ours, meet for some friendly rivalry! The skills learnt here set our girls up well for a future in elite competition where athletes often move in small circles at the top of their sport and have to learn to be friendly and collaborative off the pitch or out of the pool and then ‘turn on’ the killer instinct to play their game or run their race, against people they regard as friends. At the latest rally our Year 7, 8 and 9 all walked away with gold medals so our girls certainly hold their own on these days. We also join up with sister schools for Condover Hall which is a mini Netball tour for Year 8 and Ms Head and Mrs Botham will be extending this invitation to Year 6 next year. Get training Year 5!

In Juniors we take part in four academic conferences run by GDST each year with the latest addition being the English conference that I attended with ten Year 5 girls on Monday. The annual Maths Conference held at Oxford University is a highlight each year for some of our strongest mathematicians. At the STEM conference our girls were able to capture their own DNA in a keepsake necklace and at the Techathon our girls have one win and one highly commended under their belts. These events are hugely popular with our girls and send an important message that healthy competition is not only for sports teams.

At the other end of the school our Sixth Form and Careers Department in particular have long utilised our very supportive and talented alumnae network, The Ivy Link. The combination of Mrs Gower in Careers and Mrs Roe running The Ivy Link keeps our alumnae up-to-date and engaged with school and allows our girls access to a host of professionals across all sectors, who also started their journeys here. A fantastic ‘see it to be it’ example. Now the GDST have harnessed technology to go a step further. Rungway is the new GDST app which recently featured in the national press and which connects current students with our thousands of alumnae across all 25 schools. It provides a platform for Sixth formers to ask questions about university and life beyond it. In doing so, they harness the expertise of women who have experience of a wide variety of careers and industries. So our Sixth Form now have access to twenty five times the number of female role-models. Dr Purvis informs me that our own Sixth Form students have really enjoyed connecting with alumna from across the Trust; indeed, our Upper and Lower Sixth come out top out of all GDST schools for their engagement with app since its launch. Testament possibly to fact that our existing links with our own alumnae has taught them the value of tapping this home grown resource.

The Times, February 4 2019

So in a week where the UK is wrestling with what it means to be part of Europe, our girls are in no doubt of the advantages of belonging to our wider group. One family, one spirit.

And when I inevitably fall over and land in a pile of snow next week, I am sure the new found GDST friends will enjoy laughing with one voice!

Mrs Sophie Bradshaw

Head of Junior School