GDST Life Alumnae Magazine 2023/24

SCHOOL MEMORIES Charlene Hunter MBE DON’T THINK ABOUT THE WHAT IFs Grace Spence Green BEING CHEEKY Aletha Shepherd

ALUMNA

OF THE YEAR The Magazine for GDST Alumnae and Friends | 2023/24

Today a student, tomorrow a life saver.

A family of 25 schools, where girls learn without limits.

Discover Zelah’s story at gdst.net

Registered charity number 306983

CONTENTS GDST Life 2023/24

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News The latest from the GDST

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Girls’ Futures Dr Kevin Stannard My School Memories Charlene Hunter MBE

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My Shelfie Rhiannon Neads

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Change Maker Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh MBE

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My Lightbulb Moment Milly Stedman

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Alumna of the Year Dr Ellie Cannon

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Tranforming Lives Aletha Shepherd

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Exceptional Contribution Award Winner June Spencer CBE

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The Rules I Live By Dr Grace Spence Green

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Soundtrack to my School Days Beth Cordingly

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The Write Stuff Alumnae-authored books

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The Last Word Supporting others and keeping in touch

GIRLS’ FUTURES

Dr Kevin Stannard, the GDST’s Director of Innovation and Learning, discusses The Girls’ Futures Report, which examines girls’ hopes, fears and their perceptions of their place in the future. With some of the findings reflecting a significant confidence gap between girls and boys, conversations around gender stereotyping and the argument for a girls’ only education are as pertinent today, as ever.

BRIGHTON ROCK

32 A CULTURAL ICON

June Spencer CBE, an alumna of Nottingham Girls’ High School, became an actor almost 90 years ago, at the tender age of 15. Best known for her beloved character Peggy Archer in The Archers, the longest running daily radio serial in the world, June joined the cast right from its first episode, in 1951. She recorded her last episode only last year, at the age of 103, and was given the GDST’s Exceptional Contribution Award in recognition of her remarkable achievements and the longevity of her services to broadcasting.

From recollections of the Sunday night roller disco, heated Sixth Form common room debates over Take That, and “belting out” Gloria Gaynor’s disco anthem, I Will Survive, Beth Cordingly takes us through her musical memories of Brighton & Hove High School (Brighton Girls) in the 1980s and 90s.

Photograph by Patch Bell

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WELCOME GDST Life 2023/24

It has been another unprecedented year, with so many positives. As the first full academic year since 2019 without pandemic measures, our schools have been reinstating their events with gusto. Parents are again enjoying school productions, sport, concerts and exhibitions, and alumnae are once more able to get together, with school reunions back in the calendar. After the time we’ve had, there is nothing quite as good for the soul as these personal connections.

At the GDST, we have also enjoyed catching up with friends – old and new – spending time with so many during 2022 and into 2023 in celebration of our 150th anniversary.

Our 150th has given us the opportunity to pause for thought. To remember the four remarkable women who in 1872 revolutionised girls' education, and to focus on how best we can honour their legacy. A legacy which keeps pupils at the heart of all we do, making sure they get the best possible start in life, while expanding our reach to as many girls as possible.

The past year has not been without its difficulties, either. Many of you will have been shocked and appalled by the news of the death of Emma Pattison, our beloved former Head of Croydon High School. I have thought long and hard about whether this is the place to talk about Emma, but equally, I feel her passing cannot go without mention.

Emma was a much loved and respected member of our GDST family, as well as a brilliantly talented Head and teacher, and a dear friend to so many of us.

She touched our lives with her energy, wisdom and kindness, and Croydon High School will always carry the legacy of her inspiring leadership. Please do read their tribute to Emma on page 13.

We know that we are strongest when we pull together - in good times and in bad. Everything that has happened over the past twelve months has taught us this more than ever. So thank you for remaining part of our GDST family, and I wish you every success and happiness over the next year.

With warmest wishes EDITOR Rachel Eling

Cheryl Giovannoni CHIEF EXECUTIVE

DEPUTY EDITOR Jackie Ashe DESIGN Graphic Outlines Ltd

NEWS GDST Life 2023/24

NEWS

150 YEARS

We have come a long way since our four founders set up the Girls’ Public Day School Trust in 1872, and this year we have been celebrating our 150th anniversary in recognition of the visionary movement they started in girls’ education.

Miss Harriet Jones, first headmistress at Notting Hill & Ealing High School, 1873

on why girls’ and women’s equality is more important now than ever.

One of the founding principles that our pioneering founders fought so hard for was the creation of a more equal world for all. This was the sentiment behind an important element of our celebrations. You can read more about the impact that a GDST bursary can have, with Aletha Shepherd’s story on page 28.

Cheryl Giovannoni, said, “For me, there is no better way to celebrate our 150th than to keep the legacy of our four founders at the core of all we do – and to keep building.”

Founded on the belief that girls should have the same educational opportunities as their brothers, our first schools – Kensington Prep and Notting Hill & Ealing High School – were the start of it all. Now, with 25 schools and academies in England and Wales, the GDST is established as a global leader in girls’ education, and continues to innovate in empowering girls to change the world.

We have marked our 150 years with a range of celebrations and events, including the publication of our ground-breaking survey, The Girls’ Futures Report (read more on page 8), inviting our Head Girls, past and present, to share some of their advice on leadership, and bringing together the 20,000 students and 4,000 staff that make up our GDST family today to reflect

GDST BECOMES FOUNDING PARTNER OF THE ICGS

Last year, the GDST became a founding member of the International Coalition of Girls’ Schools (ICGS). With this, Cheryl Giovannoni, along with a number of GDST Heads and 17 GDST research fellows from the Global Action Research Collaborative (GARC) attended the ICGS’ Global Forum on Girls’ Education in Boston, USA. The Forum brought together advocates for girls’ education from more than 225 girls’ schools and professional associations from 13 countries across the world, representing a community of over 300,000 female students, to discuss how best to prepare and empower girls to be ethical, globally minded change makers.

Fionnuala Kennedy, Head of Wimbledon High School, presented on the concept of ‘civil discourse’

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NEWS GDST Life 2023/24

and how to empower girls to engage in debate and disagreement in the current climate of cancel culture, polarisation of views and online pressures. “It's so important that we at the GDST are part of a global conversation to make sure that [girls] are put at the centre of innovation – as we have seen recently, particularly in America, that progress can go backwards very quickly if we become complacent,” she said.

Alison Sefton, Head of Norwich High School, added, “As the GDST turns 150, we must make sure we are continuing that pioneering work. Being here with the ICGS has made me even more committed to continuing the conversation about the relevance of girls’ education in a modern world.”

“We always say we offer access to a world beyond the town walls,”

said Shrewsbury High School Head Jo Sharrock, “To be representing my students on a global stage feels like living that promise.”

Cheryl Giovannoni summed up, "Our partnership with the ICGS is a brilliant platform to speak about the generations of work that have gone into designing girls' education at the GDST." All GDST schools now have membership of the ICGS and are able to access a variety of resources, professional development opportunities and research.

NEW SPOTLIGHT ON GDST GIRLS

As part of our drive to demonstrate how the GDST supports its pupils to follow their instincts and find their passions, we commissioned a series of films to spotlight girls across our schools in pursuit of their unique hobbies and interests – whether it is drama or skateboarding, badminton or beekeeping.

Available to view on the GDST’s YouTube channel, the early films in the Spotlight series give viewers a glimpse into the school lives of some of our pupils; girls who are challenging gender stereotypes, building their identities and perfecting their talents to become the next generation of ‘one-offs’, doing what they love and standing up for what they believe in.

www.youtube.com/@GDSTgirls

SCHOOL NEWS GDST Life 2023/24

Timed to coincide with Valentine’s Day, Year 7 pupils at Belvedere organised the school’s first intergenerational event, welcoming grandparents, great aunties, uncles, cousins and older family friends to the academy for its very first “Golden Agers” afternoon tea.

The gym was decked out with hearts, hanging decorations and even a Valentine-themed balloon arch, and tea, coffee, cream scones and heart-shaped biscuits were served to guests. After meeting their Year 7’s friends, everyone was given a full tour of the academy.

It was truly a heart-warming event, and visitors commented on the happy politeness of the pupils, the friendly welcome they received from staff, the amazing facilities and, of course, the cream scones! As one guest put it, “It was lovely to have the opportunity to see your wonderful school and the enthusiasm of your pupils. I really enjoyed my granddaughter showing me around.”

Birkenhead High School Academy The guest speaker for this year’s Prize Giving was BHSA alumna Natalie Hancock. Natalie is a BBC journalist and multimedia trainer. Her speech, which incorporated powerful messages from BBC colleagues via video, greatly inspired the school’s students. Natalie gave a personal account of resilience and perseverance which has enabled her to thrive in the competitive world of broadcasting. She also gave a pertinent message about the importance of professional integrity. The evening was extra special as her old English and form teacher Avril Lock, now in her eighties, proudly listened to anecdotes shared by her former pupil illustrating the wonderful community that is BHSA.

SCHOOL NEWS

The Belvedere Academy

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GIRLS’ FUTURES GDST Life 2023/24

GIRLS’ FUTURES

WHAT DO GIRLS REALLY THINK? In October 2022, the GDST published the Girls’ Futures Report, pioneering research with 5000 girls from state, independent and academies across England and Wales, into their hopes, fears and perceptions of the future.

Dr Kevin Stannard, the GDST’s Director of Innovation and Learning, explains how the findings reveal girls-only education to be an important tool in levelling the playing field.

150 years ago, at a time when Victorian society saw girls’ education as a low priority, our four pioneering founders created the GDST to achieve equal opportunities for girls across the UK. As we mark the GDST’s significant anniversary, we can be proud that equality has come a long way and that the GDST has played a role in that. But there is still a lot to do. With this in mind, the GDST commissioned a landmark piece of research, the Girls’ Futures Report, to find out what girls and young women feel about the future: their hopes, their fears and their perceptions of the wider world, so that we can understand how we can help them achieve their ambitions and overcome the challenges that still stand in their way.

The Girls Futures Report, which is

Read the GDST Different booklet

based on the survey of non-GDST girls, flags important findings about the perceptions of girls and young women today. They want to lead, but they see leadership as a by-product of working towards the greater good, rather than a personal goal in itself; they have identified practical skills - such as knowing how to manage their own finances - as gaps in their education that need to be filled; and they experience a significant dip in confidence at the age of 14, which does not recover by the time that they leave school.

Of all our findings, the way girls responded to questions about confidence – in the future, and their place in it – was most troubling, significantly more so than those of the boys in our control sample.

GIRLS’ FUTURES GDST Life 2023/24

The doubts they feel and the challenges they experience limit their expectations of the world of work and how prepared they feel to tackle life after school, as well as their confidence in taking risks and in challenging gender stereotypes.

A young person’s lack of confidence forms a barrier to their future success, so the report is another red flag that equality of opportunity, starting at an early age, remains a work in progress.

It is our belief that gender differences in attitudes and perceptions among young people are substantial and persistent, but they are not preordained. This is clear when you compare the national sample of girls with a parallel survey that we took of GDST pupils - what we term the GDST Difference. In their responses to the

survey questions, GDST girls reported similar confidence levels to boys, and significantly fewer girls in GDST schools, compared to non-GDST girls, said they felt held back from certain subjects or hobbies on account of their gender.

Because they are educated in girlsonly environments, GDST girls are more confident, more self-assured, more politically aware, more empowered, better able to pursue their ambitions, and unhindered by their gender. They are more comfortable taking risks, more willing to embrace flexible careers and vitally, they are more confident not just to take on leadership roles, but to define the kind of leader they want to be.

Our research Why (and How) Girls Thrive in Girls-Only Schools (updated in August 2022) has found that girls’ schools work because they are single

sex by design, not by accident.

Everything is calibrated to create an empowering environment, including Classroom (the interactions between teacher and learners), Curriculum (subject choice; engagement in sport), and Culture (role models; leadership roles). The proof that this approach works can be found in the survey answers given to us

by GDST girls in our 150th year: the environment they learn in fosters higher academic achievement, greater diversity of subject choice, stronger self-confidence and resilience and enhanced career progression.

Our founders’ vision remains strong. Co-ed schools are co-ed by accident. Girls’ schools are girls’ schools by design. And they work.

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SCHOOL NEWS GDST Life 2023/24

SCHOOL NEWS

Blackheath High School Blackheath High School is delighted to announce the appointment of Natalie Argile as its new Head. Natalie joined Blackheath High in 2015 as Assistant Head and Chemistry teacher, and she has been Acting Head since September 2022.

Continuing the legacy of the pioneering women who founded the school as part of the GDST in 1880, Natalie’s leadership will focus on amplifying the benefits of a girlsonly setting. She is passionate about defying gender stereotypes, ensuring that every subject is a girls’ subject in a world where women are often underrepresented, particularly in STEM. Natalie says, “I am thrilled to be appointed as the new Head of Blackheath High and am passionate about supporting each and every one of our students. We want girls to leave at age 18 ready to face life with courage, intellectual flexibility and emotional resilience, and to succeed whatever their chosen path.”

Sustainability is also high on Natalie's agenda. With this, Blackheath High’s second Women in Leadership Conference in March focused on social, economic and environmental sustainability, with a raft of external experts, a series of action-led workshops and a Manifesto for Change.

Bromley High School Bromley High School has started 2023 celebrating its 140th birthday with a whole school House Afternoon Tea with guest alumnae Saffron, Serena, Danielle and Tara.

Just one of a series of exciting events planned for the year, including a gala concert at the Royal Academy of Music and a dedicated Alumnae Afternoon Tea later this summer, the House Tea involved all pupils dressing in their house colours, and enjoying cake and milkshakes together.

MY SCHOOL MEMORIES GDST Life 2023/24

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SCHOOL MEMORIES Charlene Hunter MBE, CEO and founder of Coding Black Females, shares her memories of Nottingham Girls’ High School.

I joined Nottingham Girls’ High School (NGHS) at 12 years old, and I think the first thing that struck me was how different it was from my last school. I was really excited about starting, and I remember when I got the offer letter, posing in the mirror, practising saying, “I’m a High School girl” over and over.

And then term started. I entered a room with loads of people that I didn’t know, and I was just plain scared. But the first girl who spoke to me, I am still really good friends with today. She explained that she’d

been in the junior school and she’d been asked to speak to me and make me feel comfortable. And what did I do? I made fun of her accent! And she’s never let me live it down.

My era was the Spice Girls. The whole girl empowerment thing was huge for me, and apparently my personality changed a lot when the Spice Girls came out. We all had our own groups at school and I remember one called the Grebs, who would wear really baggy jeans and corduroys, although I think this may have been more of a Nottingham thing than unique to NGHS. It was interesting seeing the school again last year. The buildings were largely the same, but they are now used differently. So, what used to be the Sixth Form common room is now a Year 7 common room - something I found weird as I don’t know if I understand why [Year 7] need one.

Obviously, we didn’t have the Squire Performing Arts Centre in my day – that used to be our dining room – but it’s lovely that pupils now have such a great theatre space.

Thinking about the education there, I enjoyed Maths and the way it was taught. I think I knew I was good at Maths before I started at NGHS, although I felt I became less good over time because everyone else was so intelligent.

NGHS provided an environment where we were asked for our opinions and invited to expand on them. And now I see the effect of this. All my NGHS friends are leaders: we are all able to walk into a room and own it. And when I made mistakes, I wasn’t punished – I was questioned.

The one time I got detention was because I was reading a book in a science lesson – so my punishment was to go and read the book in the library! I think that’s the thing about NGHS: the time the teachers have and the respect they show for the students was about making sure that we learnt not just academically, but about ourselves as people, too.

After school I did Maths at university, and was heading down the accountancy route, because ‘that’s what you do’ with a Maths degree…

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but then I was lucky (I now realise) not to be doing well enough at the end of my second year to be able to apply for jobs. This gave me an extra summer to do some more research into careers and discover the world of software engineering.

Coding Black Females came about after I’d been a software developer for about eight years. I hadn’t met any other Black women in the industry, and so I started going to Black professional groups, learning Black history, and doing things where I would feel less isolated.

Then I watched Hidden Figures, which totally inspired me. It was the first time I’d seen a film where I felt represented – Black women who were into Maths and computers and I realised that that was me: that’s who I am. So, I created the group because I wanted to find others who felt the way I did.

“This ‘thing’ about community and drawing people together has always been in me.”

Interestingly, when I was in Year 11, a group of us set up a Multicultural Society because we wanted to change the racism that we saw happening, and for people to be more informed. So looking back, I realise that I’ve always been doing community-related things: this ‘thing’ about community and drawing people together has always been in me.

What I say to young people today is that you don’t need a mathematical or computer science

background to get into the tech world. The industry needs all kinds of people, and the most valuable characteristics you can bring are to be curious and unafraid. Be brave enough to learn from your mistakes, and you can do anything you want.

Charlene Hunter MBE Charlene Hunter MBE is the CEO and founder (in 2017) of Coding Black Females, a non-profit organisation which represents the largest community of Black women in tech in the UK. She is also the co-organiser of Black Devs UK, uniting Black people in software development, and the cofounder of Meet Up and Code, a community which brings coders together to share ideas and experiences.

Alongside these enterprises, she has more than ten years’ experience as a Java developer and software developer and continues to work with SAM Software Solutions as its Technical Director.

She was awarded an MBE in the 2022 New Year’s Honours List for services to Technology and Diversity. @charlenephunter @codingblackfems @blackdevsuk @meetupandcode

Brighton Girls As one of the earliest GDST schools, Brighton Girls’ founding day is 13 June 1876. To celebrate this, recent refurbishments at the school, and its wonderful alumnae, the annual Summer Garden Party is making a return this year, on Saturday 1 July.

Back in 1926, in addition to the Garden Party, a ‘Fancy Fair’ was held to celebrate the Jubilee, and according to the school magazine (1927), “all the girls who were helping wore sun bonnets and aprons in their House colours, and the whole scene was very picturesque.” So, taking inspiration from the past, Brighton Girls is joining forces with the PTFA to hold the Summer Garden Party together.

The Regency Society will be unveiling a new Blue Plaque that day, celebrating the Temple building, once the home of Thomas Reade Kemp.

And specific year group reunions are being arranged for 2018, 2013 and 1998 alumnae which will take place in the morning. There will be tours of the school available for all year groups, and a chance to meet current staff and students and enjoy the activities at the Garden Party.

All alumnae, family and friends are welcome! https://brightongirls.gdst.net/ alumnae-events/

SCHOOL NEWS GDST Life 2023/24

MAY HER CHARACTER AND TALENTS INSPIRE OTHERS Emma Pattison joined Croydon High School as Head in September 2016.

Her impact, over her six years with us, was immense – on the school community, on alumnae, and on the wider GDST family. Friends and colleagues describe her warmth, her smile, her easy laugh and her ability to connect with people of all ages and in any situation. This, combined with an awe-inspiring energy and work ethic, meant that Emma was respected by all who worked with her. More than this, though, she was genuinely loved.

She was a true leader, unafraid to take difficult decisions. She would never ask something of others that she would not do herself.

She oversaw fundamental change, brought stakeholders with her and instilled belief, confidence and pride in her team. This opened an exciting new chapter for Croydon High with burgeoning pupil numbers and a growing reputation locally as "the school everyone is talking about”.

Emma also formalised the school’s ethos into a motto, May her character and talents inspire others. And she introduced what would become the school’s mantra, Every girl, every day.

Throughout many challenges, including a global pandemic, Emma led the school with courage and strong empathy that came partly from her perspective as a parent. Her

SCHOOL NEWS

Photograph by BronacMcNeill

Croydon High School

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daughter, the lovely Lettie, joined our Nursery and was with us until the end of Year 2. Like her mum, Lettie will be forever remembered for her smile, her exuberance and her determination to take on the world.

Emma and Lettie leave a farreaching legacy, and the school will be honouring their memory in a number of ways. For now, we take comfort from the outpouring of love from so many and we focus on supporting those who they cared about so deeply.

Their character and talents will forever inspire every girl, every day.

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MY SHELFIE GDST Life 2023/24

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SHELFIE Actor, writer and comedian, Rhiannon Neads, an alumna of Royal High School Bath, shares some of her favourite reads, and why they resonate with her. like it, is priceless. Every page is so unbearably honest and relatable.

There is a particularly memorable passage about motherhood where Caitlin describes her newfound ability to chuck her child’s excrement across a room without a second thought or regard for dignity. I read it to my own mother and we both fell about laughing - her a little too hard, I might add. And no, I didn’t ask.

A Song For Summer Eva Ibbotson Every summer, my mum would take me to the treasure-trove second hand bookshop in Bath to choose a stack of books for our annual camping holiday. By far and away my favourite was A Song for Summer.

It starts out as a magical story of a young woman who goes to work in a school for performing arts in Austria on the cusp of WW2 and ends up as a quietly heroic tale of human bravery and the endurance of love. I don’t think it was entirely age appropriate for a 10 year old, but it’s a book I have returned to many times over the years (as my well-thumbed copy will attest). I read it any time I’m in need of something that feels like a big hug.

The Chrysalids John Wyndham I’m a massive fan of sci-fi, and this one is a true classic. Set some years after what we are led to believe has been a massive ‘radioactive event’ we meet communities in fear of mutations. Our protagonist is different - a 6-fingered psychic, whose powers and differences must be kept secret out of fear for his life.

It’s a thrilling page turner with an important central message that will keep any reader hooked.

Lungs Duncan Macmillan Lungs is a two-hander play (made more popular by a recent production with Claire Foy and Matt Smith... but in true cliché style ‘I knew it before it was famous’). It’s a relatively simple play - a couple seen at various vignettes throughout their lives, focusing on the decision to have a baby and the impact this would have on the environment. The dialogue is so richly woven, so truthful, that it leaps off the page. The older I get the more I connect with the central themes, which I think is the sign of an enduring piece of art.

How to be a Woman Caitlin Moran I was gifted this book when I was going through a tough time with my mental health, and it was such an escape. To find a book so funny that you laugh out loud, even when you don’t feel

Winnie The Pooh A A Milne Winnie the Pooh isn’t a children’s book, it is a masterpiece. Reading it as an adult you are struck by just how funny and dry the humour is.

A particular favourite story of mine

SCHOOL NEWS GDST Life 2023/24

Howell’s School, Llandaff On the morning of Friday 25 November it was a pleasure to welcome Howell’s alumna Kate Strong (Class of 1997) to Howell’s.

Kate is a world champion triathlete, engineer, plant-based adventurer, coach and consultant, entrepreneur, reiki master, philanthropist and three-times cycle world record holder. She joined the school for a very special assembly, during which she talked about the Challenge 3000 she will be undertaking.

This June, Kate will embark on a 3,000 mile cycle, on her sustainable bamboo bike, around the coastline of England, Scotland and Wales. As she travels, she will be stopping at 30 different locations visiting sustainability projects, hosting climate talks and engaging communities, councils and companies in workshops to mitigate climate change. Howell’s wishes Kate the very best of luck in this epic challenge and looks forward to following her progress.

SCHOOL NEWS

is when melancholic Eeyore has been bounced into the river by an excitable Tigger. Every line of his is dripping with delicious sarcasm. When Rabbit asks him what he is doing in said river, he responds, "I'll give you three guesses, Rabbit. Digging holes in the ground? Wrong. Leaping from branch to branch of a young oak-tree?

Wrong. Waiting for somebody to help me out of the river? Right. Give Rabbit time, and he'll always get the answer.”

Perfection.

Rhiannon Neads Rhiannon Neads is a LAMDAtrained actor and writer, who has worked across radio, stage and screen. She is one half of award-winning musical comedy duo, Stiff & Kitsch, whose work has been featured on BBC Three and The New Show (BBC Radio 4). You can catch her now in her award-nominated play, SUPERNOVA, at the Omnibus Theatre, Clapham, from 25 April to 13 May. www.omnibusclapham.org/supernova @RhiannonNeads @StiffandKitsch @felixdewolfe

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3,000 mile cycle stopping at 30 different locations

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CHANGE MAKER GDST Life 2023/24

CLIMATE CHANGE KEEPING A COOL HEAD IN A STORM

Lorraine Whitmarsh MBE, Professor of Environmental Psychology at University of Bath and Director of the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations, explains the escalating concerns around climate change, and the future that she sees.

CHANGE MAKER GDST Life 2023/24

The ‘wake-up call’ on climate change, as Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh describes it, started some four years ago, with the IPCC’s 2018 Global Warming of 1.5°C report. The no-holds-barred report told us that emissions must be halved within a decade. The language used by governments and other organisations became more urgent, more alarmist, and talked about ‘emergency’ and ‘crisis’. Yet frustratingly, little action at a global level has been visible.

O u t c o m e s f ro m v a r i o u s environmental conferences have been patchy, and Lorraine echoes the disappointment of many in last year’s COP27. “A bit of progress was made, mainly around compensating poor countries for the damage they are experiencing because of rich countries’ pollution. But this tackles the effects rather than the causes of climate change. We need to be cutting our emissions more urgently - and we’ve seen only minimal progress on this.”

She believes that a perfect storm has been created. The combination of frustration at the pace of change, the shock from the IPCC report and the visible evidence of extreme weather events around the world, has led to a new wave of public action. Groups like Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop Oil and the Fridays for Future school protests are proliferating, and their tactics are evolving to cause ever greater disruption, aiming at increasingly high profile targets.

She says, “There could be a public backlash, but for now, there is no evidence of that. We know that the majority of the public is

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5 A CTIONS

Use your voice Write to your MP or local council, talk to your employer, make green choices in all parts of your life, and be the change you want to see Reduce personal car use This is the single biggest emissioncutting action you can take – it’s 100 times more effective than recycling Change your diet Go lower carbon by eating less red meat and dairy in particular – it’s way better for you!

Turn down your thermostat Insulate, draft-proof and wrap up to reduce your home’s carbon footprint Waste less Don’t rely on recycling to do all the heavy lifting – buy better, less frequently

concerned about climate change and wants action. And the protestors are desperate. So, the question is whether these protests will work to accelerate policy change; because we need governments to take action, to regulate for climate change and put economic measures in place, to radically change society and de-carbonise it.”

So what does this look like, in real terms?

To begin to make these profound changes, Lorraine says, “There are three key elements of society that must come together - government, business and the public. Climate change is a collective problem, so we cannot put the responsibility on individuals.”

“The government has to make it easier for consumers to do their bit,” she says. “And to do this, it has to incentivise business to create the green goods and services that the public need. We need to make it easy for people to do the right thing.” She cites car use as an example. “The single best thing you can do to cut your carbon footprint is to reduce car use. But at the moment, depending on where you live, the alternatives may be actual barriers to change.”

But, she says, “We are a nation of innovators. We have worldclass scientists developing new technologies. There’s no shortage of know-how here: it’s more about the incentives for business to invest in these new technologies and products, and to be able to mass produce them. As a developed country, and one that was at the forefront of the industrial revolution that caused a significant proportion

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alternatives. Renewables in the UK are growing strongly now, and a recent report predicts that fossil fuel usage will peak in the next few years, so after that, emissions will start to come down significantly.”

A new dawn after the storm, perhaps.

Lorraine Whitmarsh MBE

“Women and girls are disproportionately affected by climate change, and so we need strong female voices addressing it” of the pollution that’s causing climate change, we need to be amongst the nations leading on tackling it.”

And, she adds, we need women to play a major part in this movement. “Women and girls are disproportionately affected by climate change, and so we need strong female voices addressing it, and taking leadership roles to create a more climate friendly world.”

It doesn’t all sit at a global, leadership level, though: we need to play our part as individuals, too.

Facing the enormity of global climate change at a personal level can feel overwhelming, as can some of the changes that we should be making.

But Lorraine is keen to stress that change is not all about sacrifice.

“People assume that ‘going green’ means giving up things you like, and while there will be an element of swapping things around, it will, in all probability, improve your health. And there's a good chance it will make you happier. Because it’s not just the environment that improves,” she says. “Economic benefits are generated through environmental innovations and the jobs these will create, and there are huge gains in terms of health and wellbeing.”

She also points to the research in re-evaluating consumerism. “Less materialistic people tend to be happier,” she says simply. “There are lots of good reasons for ‘going green’ but actually, the most obvious one is that it will probably make you happy.”

Looking to the future, Lorraine remains optimistic. “I see enough signs of hope. Electric vehicles are being rolled out much faster than we predicted. And even without any government intervention, more people are changing their diets and choosing plant-based foods, and businesses are investing in these

An alumna of Portsmouth High School, and a GDST Alumna of the Year 2022 finalist, Lorraine Whitmarsh MBE is Professor of Environmental Psychology at University of Bath and Director of the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations.

She is also a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Lorraine has worked with city councils to design interventions that encourage low-carbon travel, and was involved with the Climate Assembly UK, a citizen engagement process that looked to take public opinion on climate change to the Government of the United Kingdom. In 2021, she joined the Climate Crisis Advisory Group, which advises policymakers on strategies for the shift to a net zero future.

As part of COP26, she called for more female leadership in climate change discussions. @lwhitmarsh

SCHOOL NEWS GDST Life 2023/24

Kensington Prep School is growing great minds that are curious and creative, happy and healthy; and to further support this, the school has recently appointed a Mental Health Leader. Miss Massey, already a Ken Prep teacher, has worked with the Senior Leadership Team to introduce a variety of initiatives, including nutritious food cooked by the school’s chef, plenty of outdoor learning, sport and play and even timetabled mindfulness sessions.

Girls are regularly encouraged to perform emotion check-ins. These quick and easy activities highlight the transitional nature of feelings, while also providing teachers with a conversation-opener. The whole school celebrates Children’s Mental Health Week and World Mental Health Day. Staff have also benefitted from a fitness ‘Boost Camp’, massages and wellbeing workshops and coffee mornings. With happy and healthy minds, curiosity and creativity can shine!

Newcastle High School for Girls The Lionesses brought women’s football to the masses last year, but closer to home, Georgia Gibson, an NHSG teacher and Newcastle United Women’s Player, with Jess, an 11-year old NHSG sports scholar with dreams of playing for England, are inspiring even more girls to come into the game with the launch of their new film.

Speaking about the project, Jess said, “Football is my biggest passion and I’ve been playing since I was about five years old. Beth Mead has been one of my biggest role models, [along with] my school football coach, Miss Gibson – she’s amazing. I saw her score in the first women’s team match at St James’ Park and it was just brilliant. Everyone at school wanted to play football after that.”

Miss Gibson added, “I’ve grown up supporting Newcastle United and wanted to kick a ball around from the minute I could walk, so to step out onto St James’ Park in May was a real privilege. I never imagined having the impact I have had on the girls in our school community, and that is the reason I love doing what I do. Hopefully I can continue to inspire them to achieve even greater things in the future.”

You can watch the film here. https://bit.ly/NHSGfootball

SCHOOL NEWS

Kensington Prep School

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MY LIGHTBULB MOMENT GDST Life 2023/24

my

LIGHTBULB MOMENT Time seems to slow down; your body temperatures rockets; your eyes widen as your head twists from one side to the other.

Suddenly, a glimpse of a dark ponytail bobbing over a yellow raincoat, and you dash forward to grab their tiny hand in yours. Speak to any parent of a child over about aged three, and they will have their own tale of the heart-stopping moment they realised they had lost sight of their child in a crowded shop, a foreign airport or on a busy street.

MY LIGHTBULB MOMENT GDST Life 2023/24

For Putney High School alumna Milly Stedman that moment happened at a packed Christmas market, when she lost sight of both her small children as they moved through the crowd.

The experience, so terrifying at the time, inspired Milly to look for something that could help prevent this happening again in the future, but there was nothing on the market and she decided to come up with a solution that would benefit not just her but all parents of young children.

Working with her financial advisor husband, Alex, Milly has launched the Adiona wristband, embedded with an NFC or 'near field communication' chip. This chip is the same type used for contactless payments in credit or debit cards, or smartphones. By holding a smartphone against the wristband, a person who has found a missing child can bring up the parent or guardian’s photos, phone numbers, any medical conditions the child might have, as well as medication they might need in an emergency.

Milly explains, "The parent or guardian pre-loads their unique profile URL with the relevant details necessary to reunite them with their child if they were separated. This means that when the NFC chip is accessed by a smartphone, by holding it against the band, as you would with mobile payments, the user can call the parents or carers, share their location and also has the tools to support the child while they wait for their parent - if they are scared of dogs, or non-verbal, this could be included. When the person who finds the child scans the band, they are prompted to share their location with the parent. So, the

parent gets a text message saying your child has been found and this is where they are. It means that the adult doesn't need to move the child to another location to try and find parents, which a man, in particular, might be reluctant to do.”

She has faced criticism from those who feel that parents should not be relying on technology to keep their children safe. She explains, “I've read comments from people saying, ‘Well, if these parents weren't looking at their phones and were keeping an eye on their children...’. But even if you’ve got eyes in the back of your head, what if you've got more than one child? If you've got two and they're going in opposite directions, or one's asking a question and the other one sees an opportunity to head over to the slide, you will have moments when you don’t know where they are.”

After leaving Putney High School, Milly studied English and Theatre Studies at university before starting work with an events and advertising company in London. After a year spent travelling, she moved to Kent, and for her day job currently works as an estate agent. Was she daunted by the thought of entering the world of product development and technology?

“If anything, the fact that I knew relatively little made me fearless,” she laughs. “We had to find a manufacturer in China who could make the bands with the chip in them, bring them over here and then find a distributor who could hold them for us. And when an order came through, join up our sales capability to them so they get the right band and they can programme it so that

they know that one's gone out. It took a lot longer than we thought it was going to be. So the whole process from the beginning of thinking about it to launch was about nine months.”

Does Milly have any words of advice to offer any other GDST alumnae with a business itch they are longing to scratch?

“It’s all about making sure that you've got people you can work with, who are on the same page as you are. For us, it was important to find a manufacturer who communicates well and consistently, and listens to what we've asked for. In the beginning we found we were being very specific about what we were asking for, and then they would come back with something that wasn't quite right. We also got our fingers burnt by someone who was building a website for us and just didn't do any of it. So we've had to learn a lot of that ourselves. And actually, we've saved quite a lot by doing it ourselves.”

Milly’s own children now wear the wristbands on holiday and on family days out, which gives her the peace of mind to feel that she would be quickly reunited if they were to get separated again. The £19.99 SmartBand comes in several different colours and is available at Adiona.shop.

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ALUMNA OF THE YEAR GDST Life 2023/24

NEWCASTLE HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS' DR ELLIE CANNON

ALUMNA OF THE YEAR Photography by Christian Trampenau

ALUMNA OF THE YEAR GDST Life 2023/24

Taking time out from her busy GP practice in North London, Dr Ellie Cannon arrives at the GDST’s offices ready to talk about almost anything. From her journey from Central Newcastle High School to her career today – as an NHS GP, TV doctor and columnist for the Mail on Sunday – to winning science competitions, baking cakes and personal boundaries, almost nothing is off limits.

Except for football.

Dr Ellie radiates positive energy. She’s a natural communicator, and it’s easy to see how she’d be equally at home in the TV studio as with her patients.

As the child of an obstetrician, who grew up following her father around on call, Ellie says she always knew she was destined to be a doctor.

She remembers how Central Newcastle nurtured her ambition, ensuring that all her academic and volunteering endeavours worked towards a successful application to medical school. But more than this, she says, “I think there was an inherent expectation at school that we would achieve, whether in the sciences or other disciplines. I find it interesting, now, that I was encouraged to be a woman in STEM before there was any sort of ‘campaign’ about it.

“One of my school highlights was in Sixth Form, when Dr Coapes, my chemistry teacher, entered us into Science Olympiads and the British Academy of Science National Competition, which we won. I never thought twice about it at the time, but I don’t think anyone ever said to me, ‘how amazing that as an allgirls’ school you beat an all-boys’ school’. We were just celebrated as winners, and that was incredibly empowering.”

Studying medicine at University of Cambridge, Ellie thought she was headed for paediatrics or gastroenterology. “I don’t think I expected to be a GP,” she says, but a bit of “serendipity and taking opportunities” shaped her personal life and in turn, influenced the medical path she chose. “I always say to people to go with your gut and explore different things. If there’s something that you absolutely love,

then that is what you should do. I think as I progressed in medicine it became clear that I am a people person. I love being with children, and I’m somebody who’s delighted by people’s lives and stories; so instead of going into some ‘highbrow’ area of medicine, general practice felt like the right speciality for me.”

With her career as an NHS GP established, Ellie continues, “In terms of the media career and public health side of things, opportunities have arisen out of nowhere. The first request for a quote for a national newspaper came from somebody I had met at a Christmas party. This turned into writing, which led to being asked to commentate, and then a patient who worked in television asked if I would consider doing TV. As with many careers, if you make yourself available and affable, and you're a good advocate, then you get asked to do it again.”

This doesn’t happen to everyone, though, so why did it happen to Ellie? She considers for a moment, “I think I've been good at embracing opportunity. Opportunities do not always come at the right time: and my writing opportunities came when I had very small children and was permanently exhausted. But I was aware that the opportunity might not come again.”

Ellie continues to juggle the different facets of her life. “Yes, there’s always a juggle,” she laughs.

“And I think one of the reasons I have succeeded in the different things that I do is because I am prepared to let certain balls drop. I don't feel that as well as being a mum and a doctor and a writer, I also need be the great homemaker or the baker of wonderful

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ALUMNA OF THE YEAR GDST Life 2023/24

“Go with your gut and explore different things.

If there’s something that you absolutely love, then that is what you should be doing.”

birthday cakes. Although I do make quite good birthday cakes!”

She makes it all sound easy. But underneath, Ellie is very clear about boundaries and where she draws the line. She’s happy to talk medicine to anyone at any time, saying, “I’ve never minded people asking me medical questions, and I think that’s why I’ve ended up having a career where I explain medicine to nonmedical people.”

But, there are some no-go areas.

She explains, “I have lived through certain health problems with my own family and it is difficult to talk about some of those because I'm scared that I will give too much of myself and offer an overly subjective opinion rather an objective one.

“And there are areas of science and health where the alternative or conspiratorial view has become so ingrained that to involve yourself in a TV debate, for example, really does nobody any favours.

“I don't shy away from the more controversial topics, but I do shy away from controversy, so I'm not going to speak about something that is scientific and factual in a debate situation.” She cites vaccinations as an example, “In the way TV is formatted now, they will invite a doctor alongside someone who is anti-vax, for balance. Personally, I don’t think that is balance, because you can’t balance a huge scientific evidence base with a YouTube video.

“And I won’t talk about things I don’t feel expert in; for example, the line where my medical expertise blurs with, say, psychology. To illustrate, I’ve been asked to talk about grief on television, and have always refused because that’s not my expertise. As a doctor, I should stick to what I know.

“To a bigger point, there’s a huge amount of pseudo health information out there now, with influencers, noise and nonsense. It's

very hard for the public to see the difference between somebody like myself - a qualified doctor working in a clinic three days a week - and somebody calling themself a ‘health expert’ on Instagram. How would anybody know the difference?

The only way to show people the difference is to have real doctors out there - genuine experts talking from a place of expertise.

And what about football? She smiles, “I used to do a piece on Sky News with Eamonn Holmes.

During the Euros a few years ago, he asked on air if I was watching the tournament. I thought it would sound pompous if I said I wasn’t watching, but if I said I was, he’d ask another question which I wouldn’t be able to answer. It was a terrifying moment. So for me, football is a nogo. Forever."

@Dr_Ellie

SCHOOL NEWS GDST Life 2023/24

Norwich High Prep School has overseen an exciting new development, with the transformation of a space in Stafford House into a brand new Food Technology room and refurbished STEM lab.

The development is a direct result of a questionnaire sent to the school community by the Head of Norwich High School for Girls, Alison Sefton, which revealed that the addition of a food technology space would be welcomed amongst pupils and parents.

The Prep School has run popular cookery clubs for several years, and this new space means food technology can now run as a lesson alongside STEM, art and coding for Years 5 and 6.

Susan Roberts, Head of Norwich High Prep School and Nursery, said, “We are passionate about equipping our students to be the best they can be and learn without limits. The new Food Technology room and updated STEM lab are brilliant additions to our site.”

SCHOOL NEWS

Norwich High School for Girls

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Northampton High School Northampton High School is delighted to have been awarded the prestigious eco EduCCate Bronze Award – the first of the GDST’s schools to achieve this.

Designed to help build schools’ confidence and capacity to deliver climate change education, the Award recognises the comprehensive work of the school’s Eco Team, led by James Earp and including staff and students. The tasks and challenges undertaken by the Team include bespoke teaching modules on the wide-ranging impacts of climate change including an examination of the unequal impact of climate change on women, and activities such as the Carbon Buster Challenges and using Energy Sparks data to help reduce the school’s carbon footprint.

Head, Dr May Lee, said, “We are so proud of our Eco Team’s hard work, raising awareness amongst pupils and making our school more environmentally friendly. At Northampton High, we are bold and fearless in cultivating eco-champions and warriors to make a real difference.”

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SCHOOL NEWS GDST Life 2023/24

SCHOOL NEWS

Northwood College for Girls

This year has seen Northwood College celebrating 130 years of educating girls. Students and staff alike marked the occasion with a day of activities, kicked off with an exercise ‘drill’ (which most schools used to start the day with, in the late 1900s). Later, girls used precious materials from the archive department to bring the heritage of the school to life in 130-themed lessons. All enjoyed a nostalgic picnic lunch, and the school’s recently opened Alvarium building was decorated with bunting that the girls designed.

Head, Mrs Rebecca Brown, said, “Our founding school motto was ‘Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life’ and our founder, Catherine Buchan-Smith, was clear in articulating her belief that nurturing a student’s moral compass was central to educational excellence. I am therefore delighted to announce that the main way we will be celebrating our 130year milestone will be with a school-wide focus on service to others and community engagement.

“I know that our girls will enjoy using their talents to create a positive impact on the Northwood community and am sure that this will kindle a passion for volunteering that will last a lifetime.”

Putney High School

Putney High School has expanded its Breathe environmental programme by appointing an Ecologist in Residence. This is the latest in the school’s residency series which has previously included a Writer, Poet, Musician and Entrepreneur.

Dr Helen Miller is helping to take the biophilic classroom project to the next level, developing a programme that will last beyond her residency, ensuring not only current but also future students are motivated to increase their knowledge and expertise of ecology.

Dr Miller is working with pupils of all ages on a range of projects, including biodiversity challenges and a focused study of bats on Putney grounds. The initiative is supporting the curriculum as well as engaging pupils in the natural world all around them.

Leave a lasting gift.

Leave a lasting gift.

Have you considered leaving a charitable gift in your Will to your school? Leaving just 1% of your estate can change a girl’s life.

Have you considered leaving a charitable gift in your Will to your school? Leaving just 1% of As acan GDST alumna, youlife. can write your will for free using leading will-writing service, Farewill. your estate change a girl’s Get started by visiting www.farewill.com/gdstgirlforlife2023.

As a GDST alumna, you can write your will for free using leading will-writing service, Farewill.

To find out more about leaving a legacy, email giving@wes.gdst.net.

Get started by visiting www.farewill.com/gdstgirlforlife2023.

To find out more about leaving a legacy, email giving@wes.gdst.net.

Registered charity number 306983

Registered charity number 306983

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TRANSFORMING LIVES GDST Life 2023/24

ALETHA SHEPHERD

2023 – THE YEAR OF BEING CHEEKY Photography by Karina Lidia

TRANSFORMING LIVES GDST Life 2023/24

From a council estate in Wallington, to Coachella with Justin Bieber and Kendall Jenner, a dance-off with Channing Tatum, tips and advice from Bryan Cranston and James Franco, and Christmas with Jamie Foxx, life has been, in Aletha’s own words, “a journey”.

Wearing a yellow jumper for our interview, Aletha Shepherd, model, actor, producer, writer and director is a ray of sunshine on a cold January afternoon. The adventures that took her from Sutton High School around the world and finally back home to London could fill a book on their own, but where she really lights up is in describing what she’s doing now. It’s all-go at her production company, Shot of Tea, where the projects are coming in thick and fast, staff numbers are growing, and meetings with the likes of the BBC, Channel 4, Studio Canal and ITV are back-to-back in her diary. So what is Shot of Tea all about?

“All our stories are about inclusivity,” Aletha says. “They’re extremely creative and have integrity.

We make sure that for every project, we ask, ‘What is this saying about the world? Why are we making this? Why is this relevant now?’ These are critical things that we talk to our writers and business partners about. We make sure that everything we do has a purpose and that we’re passionate about it. I need to feel good about what I’m doing, and I have learnt to trust my gut about everything.”

She continues, “We love the

female gaze – female characters, female crews including writers and directors - and as a black female, I feel responsible not only to my community but to all those immigrants to the UK, to make sure they have a platform and an opportunity to have their stories told. I do feel an extreme sense of responsibility.”

It might seem like a long way from her childhood in Wallington and her school days at Sutton High School, but Aletha connects all her life experiences – the highs and the lows - back to these formative years. From being hospitalised with meningitis at 17, forced to miss taking A Levels and having to learn to walk again, to being scouted and taking part in the Miss World competition (entering as Miss Guyana). And then, from initially tough and lonely times in LA to later, some of the best of times working with United Talent Agency where doors were opened, and she was propelled to the heart of Hollywood, gaining confidence in her own creative talents.

“When I went to Miss World, I would have conversations with presidents and prime ministers.

And I could do this because I was

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educated to a standard that allowed me to enter any room and talk with anyone from any background. Sutton High gave me confidence, and the belief that anything was possible: it made me think I could go out and have any career I wanted. And what I loved most was doing all those things (like dancing, gymnastics, giving presentations and acting) that were part of my personality. If they hadn’t let me be me, I wouldn’t be who I am today. I wouldn’t be in the film business. Sutton High School gave me the freedom to discover who I was.”

“Sutton High School gave me the freedom to discover who I was” Aletha inherited her strong work ethic from her mother, who encouraged her ambitions, and was determined to see her daughter succeed. It was her mother who saw the potential for Aletha at Sutton High School, schooled her in verbal and non-verbal reasoning tests and put the bursary place within reach; something she says, “changed everything about me.”

Later, in Hollywood, Aletha saw again the impact of hard work and the need to develop her abilities.

“Being around all these successful people, I realised that you’ve got to be able to stand on your own two feet. You’ve got to have something to say for yourself and to show for yourself.” One Christmas, feeling particularly frustrated in her career, she asked Jamie Foxx, ‘How do you

do it, how do you figure this out?’ He replied that she shouldn’t worry and that she’d get there. “But” she says, “He wasn’t just going to hand it to me.

You have to put in the work.” This, and advice from James Franco that she “couldn’t just be an actor”, was the push she needed to start exploring the world of writing and producing.

On returning to London, Aletha found herself looking for her ‘film family’, which took her deeper into the creative process. The connections she had made in Hollywood, along with new collaborators and creatives in the UK gave rise to Shot of Tea, and the rest, as they say, is history. She talks about the graft that goes into learning about the business end of the industry, then setting up, financing and running a production company, alongside being directly involved in filming (last year in the USA and with other projects in the pipeline). But she maintains that instinct is a key factor in her business. “Trusting my gut, and what I call ‘being cheeky’,” she smiles, “This is the year of being cheeky. We do push things a bit, but every time we do, we get a result. And I get to talk about all the stories on our slates, and the writers we’re working with, and the stories that we want to make, turning ideas into visual presentations with pictures and ideas for casts – and watching these stories come to life from the scripts that we’re passionate about is so exciting.”

So what’s next?

“My ambition is to be able to create 3-5 movies a year, that we really love and are passionate about, and 2-3 shows that get commissioned for TV. And to continuously be able to do this, year after year, to become one of the biggest independent producers of

film and TV in the UK and ultimately, to win an Oscar. That would be my dream.”

She laughs in a self-deprecating way, but after only a couple of hours with Aletha, we’re with Jamie Foxx: Aletha will get there, and probably sooner than even she thinks.

Aletha Shepherd Aletha is one of the just over 6,600 women who have benefited from the lifechanging opportunity of a GDST education thanks to its bursary programme, which has been in place for 25 years.

GDST bursaries are not just about providing financial assistance: students are given the chance to flourish, to learn and to discover on the same terms as their peers. @shotoftea @alethashepherd

Find out more about GDST bursaries here: https://bit.ly/ GDSTbursaries

SCHOOL NEWS GDST Life 2023/24

Portsmouth High School was delighted to welcome Claire Tamplin, mindfulness coach and Express FM presenter, to open its brand new wellbeing centre, Daffodil House.

With student wellbeing at the heart of the school’s ethos, Daffodil House offers meeting spaces for student support sessions, and is home to the school’s wellbeing team. Downstairs, it has a student common room; the welcoming and relaxed nature of this space supporting group workshops and lunchtime drop-in sessions run by Sixth Form wellbeing ambassadors. It also has its own courtyard garden.

Headmistress, Mrs Jane Prescott said, “The last two years have been tough for everyone, but none more so than children whatever their age. They have not experienced normality, and if schools are not proactive in helping young people to navigate these testing times, then it could lead to greater problems later.

“This exciting project falls within our 140th anniversary year and celebrates and connects to our founding values of girls first in everything we do.”

Notting Hill & Ealing High School As part of the celebrations for Notting Hill & Ealing’s 150th birthday, the school is putting together a commemorative book telling the story of its 150 years through 150 key memories. From traditions like the Boar’s Head Carol, through the dramatic events of the war years, to the special festive reindeer visit of 2022, the book will bring the history of NHEHS to life through memorable moments big and small.

And this is where NHEHS Old Girls come in. If you have memories from your time at Notting Hill & Ealing and you’re willing to share them, it would be wonderful to hear from you. Don’t worry if you don’t remember all the details: one memory tends to spark another, and the more contributions that come in, the more vivid the picture will become.

To contribute your memories, please get in touch with Roberta Klimt at r.klimt@nhehs.gdst.net giving your name, the year you graduated, and details (more is more!) of your favourite memory from NHEHS. Many thanks in advance.

SCHOOL NEWS

Portsmouth High School

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EXCEPTIONAL CONTRIBUTION AWARD GDST Life 2023/24

A CULTURAL ICON OVER A 90-YEAR CAREER The Girls’ Day School Trust, along with Nottingham Girls’ High School, were delighted to award June Spencer CBE the GDST Exceptional Contribution award in July 2022.

June has been bestowed this award due to her remarkable achievements and the longevity of her services to broadcasting. Last summer, she retired from playing the much-loved character, Peggy Woolley, in the famous BBC radio series, The Archers, recording her last episode at the age of 103.

June completed her education at Nottingham Girls’ High School almost 90 years ago, in 1934. Her dream to become an actress meant

she left school early, aged just 15, although her initial request to leave school was denied by the Headmistress at the time, Miss Phillips. She remembers standing in the Headmistress’s office with Miss Phillips saying to her, “You’ll never make anything of yourself without your certificate.” How wrong Miss Phillips was, and how differently she would have been supported at NGHS today.

Growing up a beloved only child

in Nottingham, where her father travelled around on a bicycle as a salesman for Crawford’s Biscuits, June caught the entertainment bug early. When the 'talkies' began, she started to speak with an American accent, alarming her parents who sent her off for elocution lessons with a teacher who gave her a love of poetry and introduced her to Shakespeare. “She was also the producer of the very busy amateur dramatic theatre in Nottingham

EXCEPTIONAL CONTRIBUTION AWARD GDST Life 2023/24

“If I just close my eyes I can be any age I've ever been” Photograph by BBC Archives

and when I was about 15 she said, ‘I think you might like to join the society to get some experience in front of an audience.’”

She was on holiday in Eastbourne with her mother when the Germans invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, and recalls her father driving across country to take them home “because the trains were full of little evacuees”. On her 21st birthday the Nazis marched into Paris. She had made herself a dress for a party in a local hall. “There were 42 of my friends there, including all my boyfriends, and so I danced with each of them in turn,” she recalled in her autobiography, published in 2010. “I knew it was probably the

last time we should all be together as they would soon be joining the forces.”

One of her guests was “a fairhaired blue-eyed boy with a cheeky grin” called Roger Brocksom, who “always seemed to be around”.

He was serving in Northern Ireland when the couple married in 1942, but a few months later was posted to India and Burma. “I simply went on living with my parents. It was three years and four months before we saw each other again,” she wrote. “By then he was a major and my life had completely changed.”

Her first big career break came when the local repertory theatre was casting around for someone

to play a 12-year old. Reluctantly, because she was well into her 20s, the theatre manager entrusted the role to her, rewarding her success with a contract to play in weekly rep, two shows a day, for three guineas a week. It was to be the first of many child roles for Spencer, who says, “Even today if I just close my eyes I can be any age I’ve ever been. I know the feel of it, the atmosphere.”

The arrangement broke down after she demanded a pay rise for taking the title role in a Christmas production of Alice in Wonderland and her boss made the mistake of suggesting that she should be grateful for being

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EXCEPTIONAL CONTRIBUTION AWARD GDST Life 2023/24

spared war work. “I drew myself up to my full 63 and a half inches and said, ‘I’d rather fill shells than work for you’.” She marched off to the labour exchange and landed a day job as a “hello girl”, staffing the telephone switchboards, while volunteering in morale-raising shows for the forces in her spare time. “We had a repertoire of two plays and away we would go in a cranky old bus with our scenery stashed down the centre aisle.”

In 1943, she passed an audition for the BBC’s Midlands region and became a regular broadcaster in all forms of radio drama in its Birmingham and London studios.

The Archers has been running since New Year’s Day, 1951. It is the longest-running soap opera in the world. Characters – and actors – are born, mature, age, and die in it, at the same pace as listeners’ own lives. June Spencer appeared in that very first episode and, with a short break in the 1950s when she left to look after her children, has been in it ever since. Not that it was a particularly momentous start: June found out she’d been cast in the new programme only when a colleague mentioned it to her in the canteen queue at the BBC’s Birmingham studios.

In that first episode, the Peggy Archer that listeners encountered was a young, cockney in-comer (her accent softened considerably over the years), who’d met her husband, Jack, when she was in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) during the war.

The Archers was made in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and designed to

dispense farming advice to its listeners while also educating townies about the countryside.

Her outsider status meant Peggy could ask all the daft questions that listeners might be thinking, and get quite lengthy technical replies from the chaps. Her marriage to Jack, who drank, was already rocky; and so it would continue.

She also doubled as a couple of other characters: a Scottish maid and a flighty Irish baker’s assistant called Rita Flynn, who tried to lead Phil Archer astray. She once had to play two of her characters in a single scene, meaning a sharp about-face on accents.

“Practically everything was live,” she said in 2020. “When it came to The Archers, though, we were recording on very large discs. We would rehearse scene by scene, then record the whole episode in one go. If anyone made a mistake, they’d be very unpopular – you’d have to go right back to the beginning and re-record the whole thing again. That didn’t happen very often because we were used

to going on air live. There was practically no television, so we had it all our own way. There was lots of lovely work.”

Her storyline with Peggy’s second husband, Jack Woolley, was to prove one of the most taxing of her career after Jack developed Alzheimer’s.

Spencer’s own husband, Roger, also died after suffering from the disease.

“It opened up a whole new life for me because the Alzheimer’s Society approved and invited me to speak.”

She went on to become a patron of Alzheimer’s Research UK “because I felt it was something that needed to be brought into the open”.

Over seven decades of The Archers, Peggy became the matriarch of the show - a fully human character inconsistent and flawed, capable of great thoughtlessness, but at times rising to her very best, magnificent, loyal self.

In what we now know was her final scene, broadcast during July 2022, Archers listeners heard her cradling her new-born twin greatgranddaughters – a handover of the generations, if you like.

SCHOOL NEWS GDST Life 2023/24

Last summer, NGHS alumna Susie Allen-Sierpinski visited the school to talk to Junior and Senior school students.

Susie is a Flight Systems Engineer for NASA on the lunar mission project Artemis, working to put the next man, along with the first woman, on the moon. Her role is to support the Deep Space Logistics team as its Human Systems Integration SME. Currently based at the Kennedy Space Centre, home to the Gateway Deep Space Logistics (DSL) project, Susie is working on the Gateway for Artemis which includes the module which will transport food, fuel and water to the moon, alongside other components of the Gateway.

According to UN Affairs 2021, only 20-22% of the international space industry’s workforce is comprised of women – the same figure as 30 years ago.

NGHS is proud to have an alumna helping to redress this imbalance, and so grateful that she visited to school to inspire pupils.

Oxford High School Oxford High School’s Higher Education and Careers evening took place in February, bringing together alumnae, parents and university representatives. The event was a huge success, attracting over 450 guests and over 60 guest speakers, 40 of whom were OHS alumnae!

Students had the opportunity to meet professionals from a wide range of industries, from insights into the music and theatre industries, to careers in medicine and biomedical sciences. They also discovered wide-ranging career paths, and learnt individual journeys from university to becoming a skilled professional.

The event started with a keynote address from Reverend Catherine Bond, an alumna who talked about the highs and lows of entrepreneurship, as the ten lessons learnt during her ‘squiggly’ career.

SCHOOL NEWS

Nottingham Girls’ High School

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SCHOOL NEWS GDST Life 2023/24

SCHOOL NEWS

Royal High School Bath As part of Royal High School Bath’s focus on making connections with others, Years 8 to 11 have been writing letters to students at its sister school, the Crane Academy in Kitale, Kenya.

The partnership with the Crane Academy started in 2006 thanks to alumnae Alex Gruffydd-Jones (2003) and Chloe Alexander (2006). Before going to University of Nottingham to study medicine, Alex went to the Crane Academy on her gap year with African Asia Ventures and loved it. Her subsequent assembly about the trip inspired everyone at RHSB and especially Chloe Alexander, then a future Head Girl, who took up the reins in 2005.

Many of the girls at the Crane Academy are orphans, whilst others have parents who struggle to afford the modest fees. Despite its limited facilities and resources, the Crane Academy is doing valuable work to give generations of girls a better future. In 2016 the Crane’s first student, Evelyn, went on to study to be an infant teacher – a far cry from the original plan for her to marry at 14, a man in his forties.

RHSB is very proud that 17 years on, having raised over £75,000 and sponsored over 40 girls, the life-changing connections forged by Alex and Chloe remain strong.

Sheffield High School for Girls Sheffield Girls’ continues to celebrate being crowned ‘Independent Secondary School of the Year in the North’ by The Sunday Times.

In its annual ‘Parent Power’ School Guide, which combines and reviews the results of both private and state schools across the UK, the school came out on top after consideration not only of Sheffield Girls’ record-breaking GCSE and A Level results but also the school’s holistic approach to extra-curricular provision, pastoral support and character education.

Head, Nina Gunson commented, “We are thrilled to be recognised as the 'Independent Secondary School of the Year in the North'. The girls’ exam results were such a wonderful reward for the positivity, hard work and innovation demonstrated by students and staff alike over the last couple of extremely challenging years, and to receive this accolade is simply the icing on the cake.

“Every single day I am impressed by the achievements of our students and proud of the values they demonstrate.

I hope that every member of our school community can share my pride in this award - which belongs to us all.”

SCHOOL NEWS GDST Life 2023/24

Shrewsbury High School is delighted to announce that its current Senior Deputy Head, Mr Darren Payne, has been appointed as the new Head from September 2023.

Since joining the school in 2007, Mr Payne has played a key role in the successful move of junior girls to their new home on Town Walls, and has ambitious plans for the future of Shrewsbury High as a leader in girls’ education. Alongside the outgoing Head, Mrs Jo Sharrock, he led the school through an ISI Inspection which rated Shrewsbury High 'Excellent' in all areas – the highest rating obtainable and introduced the highly successful and award-nominated Period X life skills programme into the curriculum.

Speaking about his appointment, Mr Payne said, “I am delighted to be given the opportunity to lead Shrewsbury High School in the next stage of its history.

The school is in excellent health, with an outstanding recent inspection report, successes in all areas of school life and a strong and supportive community.

It will be a privilege to build on the strong foundations that Jo Sharrock has set down and I look forward to continuing to embrace the significant opportunities the Girls’ Day School Trust provides. These are exciting times for the Shrewsbury High community.”

South Hampstead High School The millennium was a milestone in the history of the school, marked with outings to nearby attractions and even a trip to Paris. As part of the celebrations, the school also built a Millennium Playground – a space for pupils to relax and have fun. During its construction, South Hampstead invited parents, pupils and staff to make a donation towards the costs by purchasing personalised bricks, which were then incorporated into the design.

The redevelopment of the Senior School site and the creation of the new campus on Maresfield Gardens in 2014 meant that the Millennium Playground was repurposed; the bricks were carefully extracted, one by one, and saved whilst it was decided how best they could be used again. As plans got underway to create a new garden behind the Sixth Form Oakwood building, a solution was found. The new-look garden – generously created by an award-winning garden designer and friend of the school – now features curved gravel paths lined with the original, upcycled bricks.

The millennium bricks were just one of the ways its community has given back to South Hampstead. This March, the school welcomed back some of the original donors to reinstate their bricks at the Alumnae Reunion Lunch.

These days, the focus is on the GDST 150 and South Hampstead’s Opening Doors Bursary Campaign, towards which the community continues to be supportive and truly generous.

Thank you.

SCHOOL NEWS

Shrewsbury High School

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THE RULES I LIVE BY GDST Life 2023/24

THE RULES I LIVE BY South Hampstead High School alumna Grace Spence Green is a junior doctor working to challenge the narratives surrounding disability, medicine and identity.

Photography by Christian Trampenau

THE RULES I LIVE BY GDST Life 2023/24

Anger can be a positive emotion I let things slide a lot before my injury, which I don't think was always good.

I've got much more of a backbone now, I'm just more confident in my own worth and what I bring to the table. Emphasising to myself what is acceptable in the moment is so important; living and dealing with microaggressions every day is demoralising and exhausting. I think anger can be really productive and important, in terms of setting boundaries around what language I will accept about myself, and how I want to be treated by people.

No question is a stupid question In school I definitely felt like I could ask anything and there wouldn't be judgment, but it was difficult in medical school to not feel like every question was a bit stupid. It’s such a shame when you're held back from learning something because you're worried that you're going to be judged for asking questions. So now I don't care if some of my questions sound stupid, because I want to know the answer.

It’s fine to be a bit weird

I was quite unique as a teenager; I was really passionate about certain things, and I wasn't afraid to talk about those passions. I was obsessed with climbing. Really obsessed. I wore quite weird clothes, but I loved them.

I think it's so hard being a teenager, especially nowadays, when you're very much pressured to act and like the things that the dominant society likes.

So I'm so grateful that I didn't do that, even if I was called weird sometimes.

Don’t think about the 'What Ifs' I don't like ruminating too much.

Since my injury, I've felt like 'what ifs' are the most pointless exercise possible. I find them really negative and you can ‘what if’ everything. If you're considering a better outcome from your ‘what if’, then you have to accept that it could have been much worse. In terms of my injury, I could ask ‘what if I wasn't there?’, but actually, I could have died. What if that had been the outcome instead?

Be practical, be present

I have learned a lot about how to support friends in a crisis situation through what happened to me and how I saw people react. I had a lot of people messaging me, saying, ‘let me know if there's anything I can do to help’. That’s the worst response when anything happens to someone, because then you put the onus on me to reach out to you. It's very non-specific. The people I really appreciated when I was in hospital did practical things, like cooking meals for my family or bringing me things that I needed. Presence is so important, I think.

Grace Spence Green In 2018, as a 22-year old fourth year medical student, Grace Spence Green sustained a spinal cord injury, and is now a full-time wheelchair user.

She is passionate about medicine, advocacy for the disabled community and challenging ableism, the stigma surrounding disability and inaccessible spaces.

In 2022, Grace was named Trailblazer of the Year in the GDST's Alumna of the Year Awards. @gspencegreen

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SCHOOL NEWS GDST Life 2023/24

SCHOOL NEWS

Streatham & Clapham High School 2022 ended with Streatham & Clapham smashing both its 2019 A* record and the 2022 national A* average at A Level. With 35.1% of results at A* — which is 142% better than the national average – the school grew off a much larger base with SCHS A* percentage improving on 2019 by more than 172%.

Nearly all girls got their firstchoice university and classicist Maisie (left), and chemist Charlotte (right) remain classmates now at the University of Oxford. Maisie, who served as Head Girl for the Class of ‘22, and Charlotte, also a SCHS prefect, both won places at Sommerville College, Oxford thanks to their outstanding results and contributions.

Looking forward to next year, Ms Cathy Ellott, BA (Oxon), MA (London), PGCE (Cantab) will take up the post of Head of Streatham & Clapham High School from September.

Sutton High School After a three-year pandemic delay, Sutton High School’s 50-year reunion party took place last year, attracting over 40 alumnae from as far afield as Australia and Canada.

The Class of 1970 celebrated their return to the school in the former Study, with Gillian Roper and Diana Barton, the joint Head Girl team meeting Sutton High’s current Head Girl, observing that the school had been “quite spartan in our day” and that it had “changed out of all recognition”. A piece of advice, too, for Mushy, the school’s current Head Girl, that “if you have been chosen to be Head Girl at Sutton High, you can go far in the world.”

SCHOOL NEWS GDST Life 2023/24

In February, alumna Sandy Powell OBE continued the Sydenham High School tradition of breaking boundaries by becoming the first costume designer ever to be awarded the BAFTA Fellowship Award – the highest accolade bestowed by BAFTA. Having worked with everyone from Martin Scorsese and Julianne Moore to Leonardo DiCaprio and Tilda Swinton, she has won three Academy Awards and now four BAFTAs, in a career spanning more than thirty years.

In her acceptance speech, Sandy said that she was “most grateful for the generosity and guidance [she has] received throughout [her] life,” before singling out her mother, her mentor, the late Derek Jarman, and her primary school teacher for special praise. Sydenham High School is proud to have played a part in her journey, and to be able to give pupils such a great role model to inspire them to follow their dreams and ambitions.

Wimbledon High School ”What are the challenges for younger alumnae and how can we support them?” ”What skills are needed in tomorrow’s workplace?” ”How do we encourage young people to take risks and pick themselves up from setbacks?”

These are the questions that were posed at Wimbledon High School’s Head Girls Advisory Board (set up in 2020 with former Head Girls from 2015-2021) at a recent dinner with Head Fionnuala Kennedy. It was enormously helpful to hear feedback direct from the school’s youngest alumnae about the kind of support they want in the first few years of life after school.

Wimbledon’s Futures Programme, which supports students in Years 12 and 13 and beyond, is led by the new Head of Enterprise, Entrepreneurship and Employability, Dr Sheela Sharma. She joins the Futures team with over 15 years’ experience in the corporate and start-up sectors and is passionate about instilling both the confidence and skills in young women needed to help them navigate their careers and reach their full potential.

Please get in touch with the school’s alumnae team to share how you most want to be supported at university and in your first careers by emailing alumnae@wim.gdst.net

SCHOOL NEWS

Sydenham High School

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SOUNDTRACK TO MY SCHOOL DAYS GDST Life 2023/24

THE SOUNDTRACK

BETH CORDINGLY TO MY SCHOOL DAYS

Beth Cordingly attended Brighton & Hove High School, now Brighton Girls, from the age of four to 18. She met her best friends, Liz and Rach, there, and remembers what a "cool place" 1980s and 90s Brighton was to grow up in.

Here, she shares some of her memories through the songs that remind her of her school days.

CRAZY FOR YOU by Madonna (1985) I wasn’t very cool (we listened to Chas 'n’ Dave in the car) and aged nine a friend publicly dared me to recite the lyrics to Crazy for You. I couldn’t, obviously. Aged 10, I played Anne of Green Gables at a local drama group and the pianist teaching me solos told me she knew every Madonna song off by heart.

She said, ”Madonna is everything.”

She was older and cooler than me.

I nodded and agreed.

Neighbours." Even my mum loved Neighbours to wind down to after work. It was the only time we weren’t allowed to speak to her.

IT MUST HAVE BEEN LOVE by Roxette

ESPECIALLY FOR YOU by Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue (1989) or the Neighbours theme tune When we got home from school it was a religion. At 5.10pm you sat down for Home and Away followed immediately by Neighbours at 5.35pm. My oldest friend, Marie, whose house I’d go back to after school, said, "I couldn’t LIVE without

(Released 1987 but a major hit in 1990 following the release of the movie, Pretty Woman) This was the first single I ever bought. Pretty Woman was massive that summer and we all fell in love with Julia Roberts and learnt every

SOUNDTRACK TO MY SCHOOL DAYS GDST Life 2023/24

rollerblade but we hung our Bauer blades over our shoulders and hung around trying to look cool. They played this song every week and we made shapes with our hands to it (oh dear).

RELIGHT MY FIRE by Take That (1993)

word of the movie. My best friend Rach looked like her. I always seemed to be the youngest in any group I was in and on holiday that summer I was the youngest in that group. I remember yelling, “Almost 14” every time someone asked my age, willing myself older.

By the Sixth Form, you’d either been a BROSette with beer bottle tops on your shoes or you were into Take That or you liked New Kids on the Block. For some reason I didn’t feel that strongly about any of them (I blame Chas 'n' Dave) but I remember walking into some heated debates in the Sixth Form common room about who was the best-looking member of Take That.

Me, Liz and Rach used to hang out on Sunday nights at the King Alfred Rollerdisco. Only Rach could really

I have strong associations with these two songs but I can’t remember any stories except for a Morten Harket poster I can clearly visualise on my friend Sarah’s wall and the fact that they both induce extreme happiness in me whenever I hear them. My school days were very happy ones.

Beth Cordingly

I WILL SURVIVE by Gloria Gaynor (1978)

UNBELIEVABLE by EMF (1991)

TAKE ON ME by A-ha (1985) and I SAW THE SIGN by Ace of Base (1993)

Brighton was brilliant to go out in, in your late teens - the Fortune of War bar on the seafront is still going strong. We’d buy ‘hooch’ and sit out on the beach till late. Play pool in The Smugglers pub on Ship Street and go on to Jazz Rooms or Horatio’s nightclub - now Hotel du Vin. The night always ended with this song – we’d belt our hearts out in what is now a respectable hotel courtyard.

Beth Cordingly is a TV, stage and film actor. She has played lead roles at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the West End and nationally. Beth is from Brighton but her most successful roles have often been playing Essex girls: Veronica in Charlie Brooker’s Netflix series Deadset and Mistress Ford in the RSC’s TOWIE version of The Merry Wives of Windsor. She is in the Paramount Plus series The Burning Girls out later this year, with Samantha Morton. @BCordingly

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THE WRITE STUFF GDST Life 2023/24

THE WRITE STUFF If you’re looking for new reading material, here are the latest books to have been published by GDST alumnae over the year.

FICTION

Thirty Days in Paris by Veronica Henry (Royal High School Bath)

POETRY

One Moonlit Night by Rachel Hore (Sutton High School)

Poetry Writers’ Handbook by Sophia Blackwell (Newcastle High School for Girls)

The Dictator’s Wife by Freya Berry (Royal High School Bath)

Love at War by Sandra Howard (Croydon High School)

Donald Dahmer by Rhea Dillon (Croydon High School)

A Very Nice Girl by Imogen Crimp (Wimbledon High School)

The Exes by Jane Lythell (aka Jane Clarke, Norwich High School for Girls)

Sun Damage by Sabine Durrant (Putney High School)

The House of Whispers by Anna Mazzola (Croydon High School)

A Nursery Rhyme for Every Night of the Year by Allie Esiri (South Hampstead High School)

Perfect: Stories of the Impossible

by Sally Emerson (Wimbledon High School)

Keep it in the Family by Jess Newton (Wimbledon High School)

Critical Nexus: Sim Cavalier 4 by Kate Baucherel (Northampton High School)

After the War by Anita Frank (Shrewsbury High School) The Best Friend by Jessica Fellowes (Blackheath High School) Secret Santa by Laura Glynn (Streatham & Clapham High School) The Story of the Forest by Linda Grant (The Belvedere Academy) The Ex-Husband by Samantha Hayes (Northampton High School)

Time After Time by Louise Pentland (Northampton High School) Mania: An Alexander Gregory Thriller by LJ Ross (Newcastle High School for Girls) Dark Earth by Rebecca Stott (Brighton Girls)

Was it for This by Hannah Sullivan (Notting Hill & Ealing High School)

THE WRITE STUFF GDST Life 2023/24

Seeking Shelter: Memoir of a Jewish Girlhood in Wartime by Cynthia Ehrenkrantz (Croydon High School) Look! We Have Come Through!

Living with D. H. Lawrence by Lara Feigel (South Hampstead High School) Cane, Corn and Gully by Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa (Royal High School Bath) NON-FICTION Dreaming the Karoo: A People Called the /Xam by Julia Blackburn (Putney High School) Back to the Shops: The High Street in History and the Future

by Rachel Bowlby (Croydon High School) BFF?: The Truth about Female Friendship by Claire Cohen (Wimbledon High School)

Get into Law: Make your Leap from Student to Solicitor by Meera Patel (Croydon High School) Can’t We Just Print More Money? Economics in Ten Simple Questions by Rupal Patel (Croydon High School) The Art of Friday Night Dinner: Recipes for the Best Night of the Week by Eleanor Steafel (Notting Hill & Ealing High School) Power Up Your Creativity: Ignite Your Creative Spark by Rachael Taylor (Sutton High School) CHILDREN & YOUNG ADULTS The Swish by Natasha Bell (Wimbledon High School) Rebecca the Woodpecker by Christie Bounsall (Howell’s School, Llandaff) The Fractured Globe by Angela Fish (Howell’s School, Llandaff)

Unraveller by Frances Hardinge (Ipswich High School) Cookie! Cookie and the Most Mysterious Mystery in the World

by Konnie Huq (Notting Hill & Ealing High School) Can You Get Rainbows in Space?

by Dr Sheila Kanani (Wimbledon High School) Truth Or Dare by Sophie McKenzie (Sydenham High School) Rapunzella, Or, Don't Touch My Hair by Ella McLeod (Streatham & Clapham High School) Wolfbane: Wolf Brother 09 by Michelle Paver (Wimbledon High School) Fletcher and the Stars, Fletcher and the Falling Leaves and Fletcher and the Rockpool (Fletcher’s Four Seasons) by Julia Rawlinson (Putney High School) Scientists in the Wild: Galapagos

by Helen Scales (Sutton High School)

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THE LAST WORD GDST Life 2023/24

SUPPORTING OTHERS AND KEEPING IN TOUCH

If yo what

Share the

If you knew t what you kno

questions

Join the G

https://bi

Rungway The Rungway app connects Sixth Form girls with alumnae who are already at university or in the working world. With over 3,000 users, it gives GDST girls access to invaluable advice in seconds.

Students can anonymously ask questions on the platform to have them answered by our fantastic GDST alumnae community.

Alumna Emily Kent (Central Newcastle High School 2004) has been advising on Rungway for a

Rungway postcard vsn 2.indd 1

couple of years and says, “It’s a wonderful way to give back to the GDST to which I really do owe a lot. As someone who’s taken the long way around on some things and jumped a few rungs of the ladder on others, I think the real benefit of Rungway is that it’s a way for current GDST girls to get an alternative perspective on their career choices and early professional development that they might not otherwise get from career advisors or their parents. Yes, you can do it the straightforward way or take the winding route but Rungway is there to signpost you. I get a lot out of this platform and I really encourage students and alumnae alike to get involved.”

Rungway postcard vsn 2.indd 1

Sign up at https://bit.ly/rungwaymentoring

Share the wisdom you ha

ask questions of your ow If you knew then, Join c whatthe youGDST know rungway now. today.

Share the wisdom you have now, and

Rungway postcard vsn 2.indd 1

ask questions of your own.

Join the GDST rungway community

today. https://bit.ly/rungwaym https://bit.ly/rungwaymentoring

28/02/2019 11:31:51

THE LAST WORD GDST Life 2023/24

Leaving a lasting gift We were heartened to hear that three GDST schools are due to receive a charitable gift left in the Will of a Croydon High School alumna. Isobel Stevenson was educated at Croydon High from the age of five, graduating as part of the Class of 1953. Her memories of her time at school included taking shelter during air raids. Ms Stevenson was described as the fiercest of advocates of a single sex education. She spent her entire career teaching in girls’ schools, including at Shrewsbury High School and Wimbledon High School – hence leaving a gift to these two schools in addition to her former school.

She always dreamt of becoming a Headmistress, and she achieved this at Jersey College for Girls, before retiring in 1994. The gifts to each school will be used to fund bursaries, which will give opportunities to bright and ambitious girls, for whom school fees would otherwise provide a barrier. This seems to be the perfect tribute to a woman who gave her life to the education of young people.

gesture. Members receive a copy of our annual Giving publication and invitations to supporter events.

We were delighted to be joined by many of those making a bequest at our Evening of Celebration event in November.

If you have any questions about leaving a gift in your Will, contact the Philanthropy Team by calling 0207 393 6898 or emailing giving@wes.gdst.net.

Giving 2020-2022 Joining the Minerva Circle If you have left a charitable gift in your Will to the GDST or a GDST school, please be sure to let us know.

You will then be included in our Minerva Circle, a special society of those that have made this significant

It gives us great pleasure to share the latest edition of Giving, our publication detailing the difference philanthropic support makes across the GDST. From the young people whose lives have been touched through our expanded outreach programme, to the new facilities created to share with local communities, an inspired array of

school fundraising initiatives and some heartfelt stories from current students and alumnae who have benefitted from a GDST bursary, this year’s edition brings the impact of our philanthropic activity and a GDST bursary to life.

To mark our 150th year, we are on a mission to bring our GDST education to more girls than ever.

Our goal is to create 150 new, lifechanging awards over the next four years. Because we know that when more girls can access a GDST education, more girls can learn without limits, go on to lead lives without limits and make the world a better place for us all.

You can read the full Giving report here

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facebook.com/GDSTalumnae @GDST GDST Alumnae Network

HOW TO KEEP UP TO DATE Nearly all our communications are by email now, so if you want to stay in contact, do please let us have your email address by contacting info@gdstalumnae.net or by updating your details on our new alumnae portal at www.gdst.net/alumnae/portal HOW WE LOOK AFTER AND USE YOUR DATA We promise that your details are safe with us – you can view our privacy policy at www.gdst.net/privacy-notice/. You can choose how we contact you by updating your details on our new alumnae portal.

HOW TO FIND OUT MORE Phone us on 020 7393 6898 or email us at info@gdstalumnae.net

The opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the GDST. All reasonable attempts have been made to clear copyright before publication.