The Girls’ Day School Trust

A leading family of independent girls’ schools

We are incredibly fortunate to belong to the GDST – the Girls’ Day School Trust. As a well established and historical organisation, the GDST is totally girl centred and has years and years of expertise in girls’ education behind it. Moving with the times, the GDST is now a modern, progressive organisation with a huge team of experts from all walks of life ensuring its provision remains at the top of its game. This is why with a GDST education, your daughter is in safe and expert hands.

As an individual school, NGHS is pretty special and incredibly successful. As a member of a family of 25 schools across the country, we are even stronger and have a lot more to offer than our competitors.

The Past

We are all familiar with our sister GDST schools because they are part of our family. We share their news, we compete with them in sporting and other contests and we collaborate with them in countless projects.

Many people may not be aware however, of the successes of former GDST school girls, their alumnae. Some of the most famous and successful women in society have come from a GDST background. Who hasn’t heard of Olivia Colman (Norwich High School for Girls); Mary Quant (Blackheath High School); Sophie Raworth (Putney High School); Angellica Bell (Notting Hill and Ealing High School) and our very own Dame Rosemary Squire to name but a few. There are lots more at this link and even more besides.

A GDST education gave all of these women their confidence, their belief that they could follow their dreams, their leadership qualities, and of course an outstanding education framing all of this. Our girls at NGHS have these aspirations to match and with the backing and support of the GDST there is no reason why we should not continue to nurture and educate female leaders and role models for years to come.

Once a GDST girl, always a GDST girl. The Alumnae Network is vast and continues to grow and we continue to benefit from this too. It provides us with an endless supply of inspirational speakers, of role models, of careers guidance as each school shares its alumnae across the network. The success of the past feeds the future of GDST girls.

The Present and Future

Present days have demanded new requirements from all of us as individuals and also from NGHS as a school and the GDST as an organisation. We have already mentioned the Guided Home Learning provision and how incredibly successful it has been for our girls. But the community is made up of more than just the girls, there are the parents and staff to take into account too.

With access to influential and expert speakers the GDST has provided an excellent series of GDST Talks on a whole range of topical subjects for parents to tune into online.  From helping children understand the Covid crisis and deal with a sometimes frightening world, to discussing racism and eating well to stay healthy  – there are issues relevant to everybody and the talks have proved very successful and popular. Some can still be accessed on this dedicated YouTube channel. Similarly, beginning in the 2021/2022 academic year, the GDST launched a series of podcasts entitled Raise her Up which have also attracted a lot of attention with over 3K views so far in over 24 countries.  You can tune in HERE or wherever you find your podcasts normally.

Diversity and Inclusion

Shocking events during the summer of 2020 led us all to take a good look at ourselves and just how we deal with issues of diversity and inclusion. However well we believe we are dealing with racism there is always room for education and improvement in the future. The GDST used this time to draw up its Undivided Charter for Action across the family of schools to show its, and our, commitment to diversity, inclusion and real change.

We are Family

It is clear that there are many benefits to being part of a large family such as the GDST.  It has invested many years in girls’ education and has the capacity to keep building, improving and changing with the times. And it’s not just about academic excellence either. The dedication to pastoral care is also hugely important and being part of the Positive Schools Programme is just one way of ensuring that the wellbeing needs of pupils AND staff are being met.

There is also an ongoing commitment to outreach and partnerships across the individual schools and across the Trust itself which has links with HSBC, The Ogden Trust and other charitable trusts too.

When you join NGHS there is much more on offer than just what the school can do for you, there is a wealth of provision borne of years of experience and expertise and it’s all there for the taking.