Making Connections - GDST Annual Review 2014

Making connections Annual review 2014

8

25 26

18

10

12

20

11

19 9

6 14

24 15

22

2

8

21 23 4

Heads & Principals

1

Blackheath High School

Carol Chandler-Thompson

2

Brighton & Hove High School

Jennifer Smith

3

Bromley High School

Angela Drew

4

Croydon High School

Debbie Leonard

5

Howell’s School, Llandaff, Cardiff

Sally Davis

6

Ipswich High School for Girls

Oona Carlin

7

Kensington Prep School

Prudence Lynch

8

Newcastle High School for Girls

Hilary French

9

Northampton High School

Sarah Dixon

10

Northwood College for Girls

Jacqualyn Pain

11

Norwich High School for Girls

Jason Morrow

12

Nottingham Girls’ High School

Susan Gorham

13

Notting Hill & Ealing High School

Lucinda Hunt

14

Oxford High School

Judith Carlisle

15

Portsmouth High School

Jane Prescott

16

Putney High School

Dr Denise Lodge

17

The Royal High School, Bath

Jo-Anne Duncan (from April 2015)

18

Sheffield High School

Valerie Dunsford

19

Shrewsbury High School

Michael Getty

20

South Hampstead High School

Helen Pike

21 3

Streatham & Clapham High School

Dr Millan Sachania

22

Sutton High School

Katharine Crouch

23

Sydenham High School

Kathryn Pullen

24

Wimbledon High School

Jane Lunnon

Academies

25 26

18

10

12

20

11

19 9

7

13

6 14 5

1

16

17

5

7

13

Schools

1

16

17 15

2

Schools in London

24 22

21 23 4

3

25

The Belvedere Academy, Liverpool

Peter Kennedy

26

Birkenhead High School Academy

Christine Mann

Contents Location of schools and academies

Inside front cover

At a glance

2

The way forward

4

Forging links

7

Networking

9

Sharing

11

Leading the way in girls’ education

12

Sustaining a high performance culture

14

Driving innovation

17

Embedding social responsibility

18

Financial summary

20

Structure and governance

Back cover fold in

Notable GDST alumnae

Inside back cover

Taking stock – and making plans

ANNUAL REVIEW 1

At a glance A Level results % ofA A* / A–grades at A Level - 2014 Level Percentage of A*/A grades

Core values

60

The core values of the GDST set out how we go about our business and how we expect our people to behave.

50 40 A Level – Percentage of A*/A grades

61%

of A Level students took one or more science or maths subject

30 60 60 20 50 50 10 40 40 0 30 30 20 20 10 10 0

While the values can’t say everything, they encapsulate a simple, active and challenging guide for all the GDST’s staff and pupils.

A Level – Percentage of A*/A grades

Each description stands on its own terms, without further scene setting or explanation, so any of us can measure ourselves against them, asking “Am I doing the right thing?”

National average

Independent schools

GDST

54.4% of exams gained an A* or A 0 81.6% of exams gained an A*, A or B GCSE – Percentage of A*/A grades 80

20%

of A Level students studied one or more languages

20%

of A Level students took an EPQ (Extended Project Qualification), of whom 74% gained an A* or A

GCSE and IGCSE results 70

of A*/A grades % ofGCSE A* /–APercentage grades at GCSE and IGCSE - 2014 60 GCSE – Percentage of A*/A grades

50 80 80 40 70 70 30 60 60 20 50 50 10 40 40 0 30 30 20 20 10 10 0 0

Girls first

Networked

Put the girls’ interests, happiness and wellbeing first at all times. Encourage each girl to be the best she can be, to reach her full potential.

Work together productively within our schools, our communities and the GDST as a whole.

Share inspiration among ourselves and with others.

National Independent average schools Bursaries and scholarships spending

GDST

The GDST educates nearly 8% of girls in independent schools, more than any other organisation.

£14m £12m Bursaries and scholarships spending

Bursaries and scholarships spending

Bursaries and scholarships spending

£m

Principled Always do the right thing. Be open, honest and accountable.

• Nursery • Juniors: Reception - Year 6 • Seniors: Years 7-11 • Sixth Form: Years 12-13

70.1% of exams gained an A* or A

£10m

Bold Take risks, push hard and overcome setbacks.

Do things in a new way.

Have a go.

Have fun.

Nearly 20,000 pupils in 24 schools and two academies

£8m £14m £14m £6m £12m £12m £4m £10m £10m £2m £8m £8m £m £6m £6m £4m £4m £2m £2m £m

2 GDST

They are:

Over 3,700 staff

• Teaching • Premises • Administration • Catering 2011

2012

2013

2014

Our size and scope allows us to develop and promote talented staff throughout our network.

ANNUAL REVIEW 3

The way forward

Over our long history, we at the GDST have never wavered from our commitment to achieving the very best for the girls in our care, and also to our responsibilities as a charitable institution, to promote public benefit in the communities in which we operate. Our success in putting girls first is reflected in our continuing and outstanding academic success.

But exam results aren’t everything, excellent though they are. Just as important is the role we play in helping our girls develop as individuals. The values we aim to instil in them, in each girl in her own way, are the values by which we ourselves strive to live. They include resilience, enthusiasm, teamwork and doing the right thing. The more we all hold true to them, the more we can face the future with confidence and enthusiasm.

In September 2014, I was delighted to accept the role of Chairman of the GDST. I have been very fortunate to have succeeded Lorna Cocking who, working closely with our Chief Executive, transformed the GDST into what it is now. On behalf of the Trust, its schools and academies, I would like to record our debt of gratitude to the tremendous contribution that she made to the GDST’s continued success. I hope that we can now build on the legacy she has created.

I am confident that Helen Fraser and her excellent executive team, together with the outstanding Heads in all our schools and academies, will take the GDST from strength to strength. I commend this review to you and look forward to making further progress during 2015.

Dr Tim Miller Chairman of the Council

4 GDST

The connections theme we adopt in this Annual Review is appropriate not just to the task we set ourselves as an organisation but to the values we aim to instil in the girls in our care.

Whether they join us in nursery, in Junior or Senior School or in Sixth Form, our pupils enter territory that is unfamiliar and that may at first be daunting. They encounter new people, new practices, new concepts, and have to learn to accommodate them.

The degree to which they succeed is plainly visible in the achievements recorded in these pages. Academically and socially, in their local communities and in the wider world, in sports and in the arts, GDST girls of all ages continue to thrive. They make mental connections as they learn – and they make social connections too, in their schools and beyond, as others have done before them.

Their success isn’t a matter of chance. Nor is it something we take for granted. It’s the product of a determination and enthusiasm we share with all of them – and that is to ensure they are equipped to face and meet the challenges that lie ahead.

Helen Fraser CBE Chief Executive

“Invisible threads are the strongest ties.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

Forging links

“Live in fragments no longer. Only connect.”

EM Forster

School and individual achievements A Sports Award dinner with guests from the world of sport was held at Howell’s School in May, attended by the 110 students from Years 11, 12 and 13 who had performed at county, national or international level. The entire school community has responded magnificently to the PitchIn campaign for a 3G Astroturf pitch and pavilion, which has so far raised around £60,000.

In July, girls and staff from Brighton & Hove High School visited the Women At Risk project in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The project gives women sex workers skills and counselling to help them change their lives. The aim was to give the children of these women – many of whom have not had access to mainstream education – one week in a school, with activities and lessons run by BHHS girls. The trip proved to be a transformative experience for all involved.

Birkenhead High School Academy Sixth Form student Eliza Carew was named Principal Cellist of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. The academy 6 GDST

also launched its first radio show, using its own newly acquired portable radio station. Year 10 students wrote, produced, presented, recorded, edited and aired the first show, and all other year groups, including Juniors, now participate.

In September 2014 Newcastle High School for Girls, the new school formed by the merger of Central Newcastle High School and Newcastle upon Tyne Church High School, opened its doors for the first time. Earlier in the year, Central Newcastle High School was ranked 11th in the table of most successful independent sporting schools in the country, and top in the North East.

For the seventh consecutive year the Notting Hill & Ealing High School Junior School was placed in the top five independent and maintained schools in The Sunday Times Parent Power tables, while groups from the Junior School and North Ealing Primary were led to victory for the third year running by Sixth Form Classicists in the national Minimus competition.

Northampton High School is once again participating in the SHINE programme, providing hands-on science, technology, engineering and maths workshops for girls from local primary schools. The school also received the International Schools Award at intermediate level to recognise the work of the Languages Faculty in promoting links with schools across Europe and beyond. Northampton was proud to receive the prestigious Green Flag Award, the highest award level in the Eco-Schools programme.

Members of Putney High School’s Junior School Chess Team are the national chess champions, after beating over 20 teams from across the UK and Ireland, and Senior School players are embarking on the first round of the UK Chess Challenge. All students in the Senior School will have their own iPads from September 2015, extending the innovative use of iPads already embedded in the Junior School from Years 4-6, where the devices have enhanced independent learning.

From a child’s earliest days, she learns by making connections – connecting words and meanings, thoughts and deeds, actions and effects. The more links she forges, the better she can understand the world and her role in it.

A GDST school or academy helps girls and young women join these dots in ways that work best for them. It will give them confidence in their abilities, and encourage them to find the capacity and doggedness to improve.

While a girl may not yet have a clear picture of her future, a GDST education will help her develop the character and attitude she will need to achieve whatever goals she sets herself.

We encourage her to be curious, to enquire beyond the boundaries of her own knowledge and experience, and to make links between ideas.

We support her as she learns to be resilient, facing and enduring challenges she may find daunting.

We celebrate as her sense of adventure grows.

With each connection she makes a GDST girl grows not just in knowledge but in selfknowledge. Life beyond school may be a blank canvas, but she’ll face it with courage, confidence, composure and commitment – and she’ll be able to create the right blueprint for herself.

ANNUAL REVIEW 7

Networking

“The welfare of each is bound up in the welfare of all.”

Helen Keller

School and individual achievements Shrewsbury High School celebrated an unprecedented achievement after it was named a winner at the prestigious Independent School Awards 2014 – the first and only school in Shropshire ever to do so. The award recognises the school’s outstanding excellence in its sports-based collaboration with local state sector schools.

2014 was a year of firsts for Nottingham Girls’ High School. Highlights included winning the GDST Vocalist of the Year, an international netball tour to Barbados, achieving the DT Mark, the school’s first Duke of Edinburgh gold expedition to Norway, and the completion of an outdoor learning area from which all girls will benefit.

Sutton High School has been extending STEM opportunities throughout the school with themed workshops and a special ‘Science Rocks’ exhibition and lecture.

The exhibition was the idea of Megan and Elizabeth O’Shea in Year 10, who also won four awards at the South East Big Bang Science Fair. Talented pianist Seung Heu Park won the Classic FM ‘Mad about 8 GDST

Mozart’ competition, travelling to Vienna to meet Lang Lang and attending a private performance of his Mozart album.

Sydenham High School’s excellent academic record and its approach to teaching design originality, not just technique, helped Year 12 student Katie Mills win a prestigious Arkwright Engineering Scholarship as well as achieve A*s and As at GCSE. The highly competitive award identifies her as one of the country’s future leaders in engineering and technical design. Katie has also landed a coveted place on the Jaguar-Land Rover Experience Programme, with her sights set on a career in the automotive industry.

Kensington Prep School won four academic inter-school competitions held nationally and London-wide. Girls came first in the GDST Junior quiz competition and the Science and Engineering Challenge held at St Swithun’s School, as well as the St Swithun’s maths competition, and were also winners of the Maths Championship at Godolphin & Laytmer School in London.

Oxford High School pupils invited Year 10 girls from local secondary schools to a GEM (Girls into Engineering and Manufacturing) day to see at first hand the difference between large-scale automation and bespoke manufacturing.

The girls spent the morning at BMW Mini Cowley looking at economies of scale and automation, followed by a jewellery production workshop, designing and producing artisan jewellery.

Croydon High School marked its 140th anniversary in style with a memorable sellout music, drama and dance performance at The Fairfield Halls. The school also hosted its annual conference for the National Council of Young Women, welcoming visitors from other GDST and local schools. This year the conference tackled the difficult subject of female genital mutilation (FGM). Inspirational speakers included carers, specialists and survivors of the barbaric practice. Croydon High was delighted to receive a letter of support from David Cameron.

Many challenges in life we face on our own; but we’re better able to overcome them if we have the support and guidance of others.

GDST girls tap into a particularly sizeable and useful network. In addition to the support they receive at home, they can depend on the knowledge, insight and care of our outstanding and highly trained heads and teachers, and our dedicated support staff. Everyone at the GDST is determined to help every pupil realise her full potential. That is what we are here for.

But that is not our network’s full extent. Girls meet their peers from other GDST schools and academies in activities organised centrally by the Trust or by individual schools. They are encouraged to play a part in their local community and also to go out into the wider world. They get to know one another – girls of different ages, backgrounds, cultures and countries. They learn from the experiences of these many individuals, so they can set their own in a wider context.

In Sixth Form and beyond they can also establish links with our alumnae. The GDST Alumnae Network is the largest group of its kind, and its members have sought and found success in many different fields. They stand ready to give advice to new generations on universities, courses and careers – and this year the Trust has also formally launched a mentoring scheme, using the expertise of many of our alumnae.

GDST girls are resourceful and self-sufficient – but as they make their way in the world, they also know they’re not alone.

ANNUAL REVIEW 9

Sharing

“Each contact with a human being is so rare, so precious, one should preserve it.”

Anaïs Nin

School and individual achievements A fascinating commemorative booklet has been produced by Vanessa Pryce, Curriculum Leader of Humanities, to mark the hundred years since the outbreak of the First World War and to reflect upon what was happening at The Belvedere Academy during this critical time of world history.

The Royal High School, Bath launched the GDST’s inaugural Engineering and Architecture Conference, bringing together young women from across the GDST and involving organisations including EDF Energy, Airbus, The Institution of Civil Engineers, the National Space Academy and the Universities of Bath, Bristol and Exeter. Claudia Dickinson was awarded first prize in the Trinity College Cambridge geography essay competition – and a school choir performed ‘Sing’ on stage with Gary Barlow at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff.

10 GDST

In September nearly 100 girls from Norwich High School for Girls spent a weekend learning to create websites and apps as part of a STEM initiative.

Some of the girls will be teaching the skills they learned to a partner school in Ghana during their visit in Autumn 2015.

Earlier this year a new timetabled activity called ‘My Time’ was nominated for the Independent School Award for Innovation.

This enables girls to pursue a passion or skill beyond the traditional curriculum.

Northwood College for Girls Sixth Formers, Tarkia Maher and Zinal Shah, raised £5,320 for the Shri Maldevji Odedra Trust. The girls organised Bollywoodthemed talent shows and raised funds from ticket sales and a sponsored brochure, money that will be used to provide vital equipment and bursaries to an underprivileged school in India.

Thirty girls performed a mix of comedy, music and drama acts in shows that were enjoyed by all.

Ipswich High School celebrated its highest ever A Level results in 2014 with 61.6% A* and A grades. Fundraising topped over £15,000 for charities including the Eve Appeal, St Elizabeth Hospice, Water Aid and East Anglian Air Ambulance. Alumna Charlotte Cubitt won the prestigious Anna Airy Award for her A Level portrait, and Year 10 drama students won the Stratford Theatre’s National Curtain Call competition.

Blackheath High School continued to increase its engagement with the local community. Educational initiatives have included running an extremely successful ‘Shine – serious fun on Saturdays’ (www.shinetrust.org) programme, funding a GCSE Astronomy course at The Royal Observatory, and providing GCSE Latin and Greek classes for state school pupils.

The school also hosted a Day of European Languages, an Able Writers workshop and a musical partnership project.

Building bonds is extremely useful, and not just for the girls of the GDST. Our teachers, our schools and indeed the Trust as a whole make all kinds of valuable connections.

Teachers within individual schools work across subjects to develop cross-curricular projects that bring fresh perspectives to learning. Teachers and Heads also meet one another regularly on a Trustwide basis, to hear and learn from one another’s experiences, share best practice and develop new approaches.

Schools play an active role in their local communities. They form partnerships with local schools and participate in local charitable endeavours, arts events and educational initiatives.

The Trust too involves itself in public life. We share our experiences and opinions with other bodies, and engage in debate on the development of education. We make our voices heard on the role of women in modern society, and make headlines speaking out on their behalf.

In sharing views and engaging with others the GDST, our schools and teachers fulfil an important and common objective – to enhance learning and opportunities not just for the current generation of girls but for those to come.

ANNUAL REVIEW 11

Leading the way in girls’ education

“A thousand fibres connect you with your fellow-men, and along those fibres, as along sympathetic threads, run your actions as causes, and return to you as effects.”

Rev Henry Melvill

The GDST is unique. It is by far the UK’s largest independent educator of girls and, with 24 schools and two academies, it is one of the largest networks of independent schools in the country.

The Trust also leads in quality, with our pupils consistently outperforming their maintained and independent sector peers at both GCSE and A Level.

This preeminent position gives us a platform from which to make ourselves heard, and we see it as our duty to participate in and at times to lead the debates in education and in the role of women in society. We engage in discussions of academic excellence, educational innovation and the benefits of a girls-only education. We speak out on the persistent presence of glass ceilings in women’s careers, and on how education can help to remove these barriers to success.

12 GDST

We earn the right to speak and be heard on these issues by virtue of the leading position we occupy, and we have an abiding determination to maintain and indeed improve upon our performance. We share best practice across our network of schools; we maintain links with our alumnae, and engage them in our developments and in the interests of new generations of pupils; we invest in leadership and teamwork skills in our head teachers and our senior staff; and we invest too in ensuring our pupils enjoy the best teaching and the best facilities.

In all this our aim is to create a climate in which girls see leadership roles as a logical and natural progression in their lives beyond school. With our support and encouragement and with their own determination and enthusiasm there is no limit to what they can achieve.

Highlights • GDST student take-up of languages and of STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths) continues to exceed national averages for girls. In 2014 61% of our A Level students took one or more STEM subject and 20% studied one or more languages • The Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) supports cross-curricular links and helps students develop their planning, research, analysis, evaluation and presentation skills. In 2014 20% of GDST A Level students also took an EPQ, of whom 74% gained an A* or an A • The annual conference on girls and sports again attracted widespread media coverage...

• ...and so, too, did our comments on exam reform and the dangers of perfectionism

ANNUAL REVIEW 13

Sustaining a high performance culture “We are made for co-operation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth. To act against one another, then, is contrary to nature.”

Marcus Aurelius

We’re proud of the results we achieve academically, in sport and in the arts. To achieve them we sustain a culture of excellence in each of our schools as well as across the GDST as a whole.

Our supportive but challenging environment also contributes to other forms of success – not least, the energy and can-do spirit visible in so many of our girls.

Elements of this culture have evolved significantly over the last year. We have seen two successful mergers: Central Newcastle High School and Newcastle-upon-Tyne Church High School came together, and so too did Northwood College and Heathfield School. The new entities each came into being on schedule in September 2014.

First-rate teamwork between the schools and Trust Office ensured that the processes went as seamlessly as possible for all the pupils involved.

14 GDST

Pupil numbers across our schools and academies increased to almost 20,000. This reflected the addition of Northwood College to the GDST network, as well as significant recruitment and excellent retention in a number of schools.

The GDST portal has been overhauled and the revised version has now been launched to all staff. It now offers online subject collaboration areas to facilitate the sharing of resources, advice and best practice.

Highlights • The inaugural GDST Young Musician and Young Vocalist event was held at Birkenhead High School Academy in February 2014, with 36 contestants from 22 schools and academies providing an outstanding display of musical and singing talent across the Trust • An independent report highlighted the excellent sports provision in many GDST schools, and its recommendations for further improvements are being implemented • Nearly £40m was invested in capital buildings and facilities in 2013-14. Principal works included: • The completion of the redevelopment of South Hampstead High School. Pupils and staff moved into their new premises in November 2014

•

•

Construction of a new performing arts centre is currently under way at Nottingham Girls’ High School Cranwell House, the new Junior School for The Royal High School, Bath, opened its doors to staff and pupils in January 2014

ANNUAL REVIEW 15

Driving innovation

“Everything that is in the heavens, on earth, and under the earth is penetrated with connectedness, penetrated with relatedness.”

St Hildegard of Bingen

School and individual achievements In October, Streatham & Clapham High School celebrated Ada Lovelace Day with a conference highlighting the importance of women in shaping the digital world.

The Duke of York attended, Professor Lord Robert Winston opened the event and over 600 delegates enjoyed talks, workshops and a coding session with industry leaders.

In November, the school welcomed the local community to STREAM2014, a children’s book festival. Over 40 authors took part, including Children’s Laureate Malorie Blackman, Lauren Child, Chris Riddell and Nicholas Allan.

‘Voyage of discovery’ was the pastoral theme of the year for Wimbledon High School girls. Many of those discoveries were intellectual and covered a broad academic range. Discussions centred on such themes as ‘Some infinities are bigger than other infinities’, cocktail chemistry and fracking. The Mind Matters series of talks and the Rosewell Lectures provided sources of debate for the WHS community and students from surrounding schools.

16 GDST

An installation at Bromley High School commemorating WWI attracted TV coverage on ITN. The Southwark Concert showcased the strength and depth of music in the school. Classics and economics conferences inspired young minds. The Deputy Head Girl won a scholarship to Princeton and the chemistry department celebrated a Salters’ Award for the second highest A Level mark in the UK. Sheffield High School teamed up with Hallam University and 13 primary schools to inspire the next generation of university graduates. They launched the ‘Cool To Be Clever’ Club with Year 11 students mentoring the most promising Year 4 pupils, experimenting with a variety of activities and motivating them to achieve their potential. Not only was this a huge success for the pupils, it was an invaluable experience for the young leaders.

The first girls walked through the door of South Hampstead High School’s new school building on 4th November 2014

to be greeted by the Headmistress, who gave them a branded gift bag and a map. They navigated their way to their form rooms before gathering for a whole school assembly in the fabulous sports hall, where Miss Pike highlighted what the new building means for the future of everyone in the school. After the excitement of locating new lockers and discovering the building has a roof terrace, it was time for lessons to start. Astonishingly, each girl found her way to the right classroom, and life in the new school began in earnest.

It was a momentous day in the history of South Hampstead.

Portsmouth High School was proud to host a spectacular gala concert at Portsmouth Cathedral in March. The multilayered musical work ‘Dark Sun – August 1945’ was conducted by the composer himself, Dr Stephen Montague. Over 150 girls, staff and parents took part in the concert, which commemorated the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

At the GDST, when we talk about being ‘bold’, we mean taking a chance, not being afraid to challenge our own status quo, to try something new or to do something in a new way, to make it better still.

We’ve taken this mindset and made it into a mission. We instil it in the girls in our care, and we live by it ourselves – in what we teach and the way we do it, in the facilities we provide and in the way we make our plans for the future.

Highlights • In March 2014 we held a weekend Engineering & Architecture Conference at the Royal High School, Bath for Year 12 students. The event was supported by the University of Bath and also by high-profile organisations including Airbus, BAE Systems, Crossrail, EDF Energy, Jaguar Land Rover, the National Space Academy, Oxford Instruments, Rolls Royce and the Royal Aeronautical Society

• The Bright Ideas Award launched last year to encourage innovation has borne its first fruit.

Two awards of £15,000 each were made: • Sheffield High School’s proposal was to develop a National Plant Collection within the school grounds – the only school to do so. The project will extend education beyond the classroom and strengthen links with local inner city primary schools • Kensington Prep School’s idea was to embed a coaching culture in the school, encouraging pupils to learn independently and to seek and take ownership of their own solutions • The ‘My Time’ initiative at Norwich High School gives Key Stage 3 pupils the chance to focus on an area for which they have a passion or interest. It was shortlisted for the Education Initiative award at the Independent School Awards ANNUAL REVIEW 17

Embedding social responsibility

At the GDST we recognise our mutual interdependence. We organise activities that support our local communities as well as worthy causes further afield, and we also encourage our girls in their individual contributions to society.

“I am a part of all that I have met.”

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

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It’s a determination we’re delighted to see many of them carry beyond school, and indeed several of them have made it their life’s work.

For instance, our Alumna of the Year this year, chosen by the GDST community, was Ann Cotton OBE, whose Camfed charity has educated and supported millions of girls and young people and their families in Africa.

The Trust, too, is mindful of its place in a wider world. Our bursaries and scholarships enable us to welcome pupils from all backgrounds. As an equal opportunities organisation we are committed to sustaining a working environment free from discrimination on the grounds of colour, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability.

Highlights • Over £10 million of our funding was allocated to bursaries this year, enabling 1,060 pupils, whose families were not in a position to pay the full fees, to benefit from a GDST education • Over 20% of girls in our fee-paying senior schools receive financial assistance in the form of a bursary or scholarship or both • Our bursaries enjoy continuing and generous support from the HSBC Education Programme, Leverhulme Education Trust, the Sutton Trust, the Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust and John Lyon’s Charity, and we are enormously grateful for their continuing support

“Pay attention. It’s all about paying attention.

Attention is vitality.

It connects you with others.

It makes you eager.

Stay eager.”

Susan Sontag

• Our new environmental policy commits us to continuing improvements to our environmental performance and to reducing our carbon footprint, conserving natural resources and limiting pollutants • Every GDST school and academy engages with its local schools and communities through a range of activities, events and partnerships

• Our two academies – The Belvedere Academy in Liverpool and Birkenhead High School Academy in the Wirral – offer a first-rate GDST education free of charge to over 1,760 girls

ANNUAL REVIEW 19

Financial summary

Structure and governance

Income and expenditure – year end 31 August 2014

Trustees (as at December 2014)

Group balance sheet – year end 31 August 2014

INCOMING RESOURCES School fees

£m

FIXED ASSETS

£m

212.1

Tangible assets

312.2

Other income

9.8

Investments 81.6

Academy Trust Government Grants

9.1

393.8

Trading income

2.5

Investment income

2.7

CURRENT ASSETS

24.5

Debtors 7.4

Net gains on disposal of fixed assets

13.0

Cash at bank

72.2

79.6 CREDITORS: due within one year

(37.2)

RESOURCES EXPENDED Provision of education Other costs

215.4

NET CURRENT ASSETS 42.4

3.9

Total resources expended 219.3

TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES

436.2

Actuarial and investment losses

CREDITORS: due after one year

(63.7)

(6.9)

NET SURPLUS* 47.5

TOTAL NET ASSETS 372.5 Endowed funds

1.6

Restricted funds

78.1

Unrestricted funds

Jane Richardson Deputy Chairman Tom Wheare Deputy Chairman Julie Chakraverty

Voluntary income

Total incoming resources 273.7

Dr Tim Miller Chairman (appointed September 2014)

292.8

TOTAL FUNDS 372.5

Kevin Gibbons Joanna Greenslade Juliet Humphries John Jay Paula Nickolds Helen Williams

Clara Freeman The Council of the Trust (our Trustees) is responsible for the overall running of the organisation. Its principal roles are to: • set strategy • monitor key performance indicators • maintain financial stability • review policies and procedures to mitigate risk The Council delegates some of its responsibilities to four Committees: • Audit • Governance and Nominations • Senior Appointments and Remuneration • Investments

Each Committee has up to four Council Members, and external members may be appointed to complement their expertise.

The Council delegates the day-to-day management of the Trust to the Chief Executive and the Senior Management Team. They are in regular contact with our 24 schools and two academies, and the Heads of the schools report to the Chief Executive.

Each of the GDST’s schools has a local School Governing Board, whose members support and challenge the

Heads, as well as being vital links between the schools and their local communities.

The GDST Academy Trust is responsible for our two Academies. The GDST appoints the majority of the members of the GDST Academy Trust Board, and it is chaired by a GDST Council member. Other members are drawn from the HSBC Education Programme (our co-sponsors of The Belvedere Academy) and the Chairmen of the Academies’ local governing boards.

Giving the gift of education

* The net surplus includes the value of Northwood College which was acquired during the year, and income from the sale of several properties.

The GDST is one of the UK’s largest educational charities, and any surplus is reinvested in enhancing the education provided by our schools.

Full audited accounts can be seen at www.charitycommission.gov.uk

20 GDST

By 2022 the Trust aims to grow our bursary fund to a level that will guarantee more gifted girls, regardless of their background, receive a full bursary.

To achieve this ambitious objective, we are stepping up our fundraising programme to engage with a number of local and national companies, generous benefactors, and our wider community of friends to help us transform the lives and raise the aspirations of hundreds of talented girls.

If you are interested in helping to provide the gift of a GDST education by supporting our Bursary Fund, please contact Glen Fendley, Head of Development at the Girls’ Day School Trust, on 020 7393 6689 or at g.fendley@wes.gdst.net

Notable GDST alumnae The GDST Alumnae Network began in 1994 as the ‘Minerva Network.’ It is the largest group of its kind in the UK, with a worldwide community of over 60,000 past GDST pupils and current Sixth Formers providing mutual advice and practical support.

This year the GDST also formally launched a mentoring scheme, in which senior alumnae provide advice to their peers who are just starting up the career ladder or who are returning to work after a career break.

Anyone who attended a GDST school can join the Alumnae Network for free. Simply submit your registration online at www.gdst.net/alumnae GDST women have an outstanding record of achievement.

Here are just a few examples: Academic Professor Mary Beard (Shrewsbury) Professor of Classics at Cambridge, and Fellow of Newnham College

Business Jasmine Birtles (Brighton & Hove) Finance expert, journalist, TV and radio presenter and author; founder of moneymagpie.com Emma Bridgewater (Oxford) Designer – renowned for potteryware and accessories Karen Easton (Sutton) Co-founder of Café Rouge restaurant chain Claire & Rebecca Hopkins (Sheffield) Founders, Balance Me natural beauty & skincare brand

Eleanor Oldroyd Eleanor Oldroyd is an alumna of Oxford High School.

She began her broadcasting career as a news and sports reporter on BBC local radio. In 1991 she joined BBC Radio Sport, where she has been ever since. She has covered six Summer and three Winter Olympic Games, as well as the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Yorkshire leg of the Tour de France in 2014.

Jane Platt (Birkenhead) Chief Executive, National Savings & Investments

Sophie Raworth (Putney) National news presenter, BBC

Lesley Titcomb (Oxford) Chief Operating Officer, Financial Conduct Authority

Susannah Reid (Croydon) Journalist and TV presenter on ITV’s Good Morning Britain

Law

Patricia Routledge (Birkenhead) Award-winning actress, known for Keeping Up Appearances

Dame Margaret Booth (Northwood) Retired judge, only the third woman to be appointed as a High Court judge

Tanya Barron (South Hampstead) Chief Executive of Plan UK

Sandie Okoro (Putney) Global General Counsel, HSBC

Alison Baum (Putney) Founder and CEO, Best Beginnings, a charity dedicated to ending child health inequalities

Media

Anne Fine (Northampton) Award-winning children’s author and writer of adult fiction

Mary Berry (Royal High, Bath) Celebrity chef; writer and journalist

Linda Grant (Belvedere) Author, winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction

Dr Ellie Cannon (Newcastle) GP; writes regularly for the Mail on Sunday, Woman magazine and other titles

Pippa Harris (Oxford) Film and television producer, Neal Street Productions – production credits include Call the Midwife and The Hollow Crown Elly Jackson (Sydenham) Singer and songwriter, La Roux Sophie Kinsella (Putney) Best-selling writer of ‘shopaholic’ novels and other fiction

Olivia Colman (Norwich) BAFTA-winning actress, known for Broadchurch, Peep Show, Twenty Twelve and Rev Mel Giedroyc (Oxford) Television presenter, comedienne, actress and writer; presenter of The Great British Bake Off

Elizabeth Llewellyn (Streatham & Clapham) Soprano

Pippa Greenwood (Putney) Gardener, panellist on BBC Radio 4’s Gardener’s Question Time

Aicha McKenzie (Putney) Modelling agency CEO, former rhythmic gymnastics champion and Commonwealth Games medallist

Bunny Guinness (Royal High, Bath) Garden designer, panellist on BBC Radio 4’s Gardener’s Question Time

Kerenza Peacock (Ipswich) Violinist, leader of the Pavao String Quartet

Bettany Hughes (Notting Hill & Ealing) Historian and broadcaster – presented television series on The Spartans and Helen of Troy

Mary Quant (Blackheath) Designer Indhu Rubasingham (Nottingham) Artistic Director, Tricycle Theatre Rosemary Squire (Nottingham) Founder, co-owner and Joint Chief Executive of Ambassador Theatre Group Fay Weldon (South Hampstead) Author and Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University

Suzy Klein (South Hampstead) TV and radio presenter, BBC Miriam Margolyes (Oxford) Actress – best known for roles in Harry Potter and Blackadder

Sport

Hannah Mills (Howell’s) Silver medallist in sailing at 2012 Olympics

Cathryn McGahey (Howell’s) Barrister, Junior Counsel to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry

Angellica Bell (Notting Hill & Ealing) TV presenter, reporter for The One Show

Dame Stella Rimington (Nottingham) Former Director General of MI5; author of several spy fiction novels

Non-profit and charity

Arts

Harriet Evans (Notting Hill & Ealing) Author of several best-selling novels

Esther McVey (Belvedere) Conservative MP for Wirral West; Minister of State for Employment, Department for Work and Pensions

Caitlin McClatchey (Northampton) 2006 Commonwealth gold medal-winning swimmer; competed in 2008 and 2012 Olympics

Judge Frances Kirkham (Heathfield) Senior Circuit Judge; founder member of the UK Association of Women Judges

Samira Ahmed (Wimbledon) Journalist, writer and broadcaster

Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller (Northampton) Former Director General of MI5; life peer

June Whitfield (Streatham & Clapham) Actress – best known for roles in Terry and June and Absolutely Fabulous

Professor Dame Marilyn Strathern (Bromley) Former Professor of Social Anthropology at Cambridge; Mistress of Girton College

AS Byatt (Sheffield) Author – winner of the Man Booker Prize

Baroness Martha Lane Fox (Oxford) Chair of Go On UK; former UK digital champion; co-founder of lastminute.com; life peer

Claire Bennett (Sydenham) Athlete development lead, Dame Kelly Holmes Trust; former Commonwealth fencing team gold medallist

Madeleine Heggs (Notting Hill & Ealing) Solicitor and Social Security & Child Support Commissioner (retired)

Jenny Beavan (Putney) Oscar-winning film and stage costume designer

Rt Hon Margaret Hodge (Bromley) Labour MP for Barking; Chair of the Public Accounts Committee

Dr Miriam Stoppard (Newcastle) Doctor, author of the Children’s Medical Handbook, television presenter and agony aunt

Professor Anne Stevens (Blackheath) Emeritus Professor of European Studies, Aston University

Hilary Audus (Heathfield) Film director and animator

Meg Hillier (Portsmouth) Labour MP for Hackney South & Shoreditch

Ann Cotton The 2014 recipient of the GDST Alumna of the Year award was Ann Cotton OBE, alumna of Howell’s School, Llandaff. As the result of a trip to Zimbabwe in 1990, Ann started Camfed (the Campaign for Female Education), an organisation that to date has supported more than three million children and young people in the poorest parts of Africa.

Dianne Jeffrey (Sheffield) Chairman, Age UK and Age International Baroness Julia Neuberger (South Hampstead) Senior Rabbi, West London Synagogue Claire Rowney and Fiona Angel Claire Rowney (née Wallis) and her twin sister Fiona Angel are alumnae of Sydenham High School. They each have a daughter at their old school. Fiona is Head of Curriculum and Learning at Dulwich College.

Claire is Director of Stand Up To Cancer, working for Cancer Research UK. This year’s campaign, including the nationwide March on Cancer in October, raised over £15 million.

Public service Madeleine Albright (Kensington) Former US Secretary of State Lynne Featherstone (South Hampstead) Liberal Democrat MP for Hornsey & Wood Green; Minister of State for Crime Prevention, Home Office Juliette Fleming (Ipswich) Fast jet fighter pilot

Karen Pickering (Brighton & Hove) Swimmer; former World, Commonwealth, European and British champion; Chair of the British Athletes Commission Emma Pooley (Norwich) 2008 Olympic silver medal-winning cyclist; Commonwealth silver medallist 2014 Gemma Spofforth (Portsmouth) Swimmer; competed in 2008 and 2012 Olympics Vicky Williamson (Norwich) Team GB cyclist; won the bronze medal in the team sprint at the 2013 World Track Cycling Championships STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) Professor Alison Bruce (Newcastle) Professor of Physics at the University of Brighton Dr Jane Collins (Portsmouth) Chief Executive, Marie Curie Cancer Care Baroness Ilora Finlay (Wimbledon) Professor of palliative medicine, Cardiff University School of Medicine, and a consultant at the Velindre cancer centre in Cardiff; life peer Professor Clare Gilbert (Croydon) Professor, International Centre for Eye Health, and Research Advisor, Sightsavers UK Professor Alison Hodge (Sydenham) Associate Dean and Professor of Engineering Leadership, Aston University Dr Vivienne Nathanson (Birkenhead) Senior director, British Medical Association Dr Frances Saunders (Portsmouth) President of the Institute of Physics

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www.gdst.net The Girls’ Day School Trust, a limited company registered in England No. 6400. Registered Charity No. 306983.