Friday 27th February was International Stand Up To Bullying Day and, as Head of an all-girls school, I believe it is about taking a collective stand as educators, parents, and communities to ensure young people feel safe, valued and heard.
It also gives me the opportunity to challenge an outdated stereotype… the lazy assumption that girls schools are somehow defined by cattiness or unkindness. It’s a narrative I dislike deeply, not only because it’s reductive, but because it’s fundamentally wrong.
In truth, girls and young women invest profoundly in their friendships. They adore their friends. They are loyal, emotionally intelligent and they hate falling out. Connection matters enormously to them. So the idea that girls are somehow inherently unkind to each another is not only outdated, its wrong. That is not to pretend that fallouts never happen, of course they do, in every school, in every workplace, in every stage of life. Relationships are complex because people are complex. But what our girls learn, with guidance, is that growth often comes through getting it wrong before getting it right. What I am privileged to see every day is empathy, advocacy, forgiveness and fierce solidarity. I see girls who hold each other up, who celebrate one another’s successes, and who learn how to navigate conflict with maturity and compassion.
Nottingham Girls is a forward-thinking, creative and quirky school with stellar academics and we turn out confident female trailblazers. (This was the observation of a journalist who recently visited us to see how we do things at Nottingham Girls, and we couldn’t have said it better ourselves!) Ask any of our students and they will tell you the same thing, that achievement is celebrated, academic curiosity is admired, ambition is encouraged, and getting stuck in is simply part of everyday life. Success isn’t something to be hidden or apologised for, it’s expected, supported and shared. Where else in the world does anyone just think about what girls need? The impact of the environment we work very hard to nurture at Nottingham Girls is genuinely transformative.
Today, I reaffirm something we see every day: when girls are empowered, when they feel in control of their learning, when they are allowed to play to their strengths and choose their own paths, kindness and confidence flourish side by side. And I for one couldn’t be prouder.
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