Girls' Schools Association - Powering Up Girls by gsauk

Powering- Up Girls

“Within our girl’s school, like at those so ably led by my GSA colleagues across the country, female teamship and the collective promotion of women sits at the heart of all we do … We encourage our girls to take pride in their successes and do likewise for each other.”

Amy Wallace, GSA Head, Queen’s Gate School.

For over 150 years, The Girls’ Schools Association has championed girls, young women, and women’s lives through an education designed with their best interests at heart. In our girls’ schools every girl has every opportunity to be whoever she aspires to be, to feel boldly curious, to fully explore what interests her, and to be inspired by all that life has to offer.

Every day in every one of our schools, in every lesson and beyond the classroom, our fearless and expert Heads and teachers encourage girls to do or be anything of their choosing. We ignite girls’ imaginations and potential in every kind of girls’ school, from the youngest taking her first steps into school to the oldest stepping out as a young adult into the next adventures of her life. More than 100,000 girls attend our schools in the United Kingdom and worldwide, and we champion every girl’s right to a brilliant education.

The Girls’ Schools Association puts girls first, our family of schools welcomes in every kind of family to fuel their daughter’s dreams, talents, and future ambition so that she can choose to live the life she wants to.

“There are no glass ceilings in girls schools.”

Alex Hutchinson, GSA Head, James Allen’s Girls’ School

It’s an exciting time to be a young woman today and with a myriad of different kinds of schools to choose from there is a GSA school waiting for your daughter to begin her own journey of discovery. We look forward to meeting her.

Why Should I Choose A Girls’ School

for my Daughter?

The fact is that girls’ schools fuel the best futures for young women, from the youngest girl at the start of her school journey to young women at the start of their adult lives as they leave it. Proven repeatedly, a girls-only education powers-up young women to fulfil their full potential and ambitions to be the stateswomen of their own lives and research repeatedly confirms the benefits of a girls-only education.

Donna Stevens, The Girls’ Schools Association Chief Executive explains:

“The Girls’ Schools Association has always championed the benefits of girls’ education. A growing body of respected research, including ours, stands as a constant proof point. Put simply, a girls’ education gives young women the best chances to achieve in life. The savvy, spirited young women in our schools know they face inequalities in the wider world; in our schools they feel honoured and listened to; they know our schools equip them in the fullest sense to confidently embrace life and to constructively challenge the status quo beyond school for the benefit of everyone in the world.”

“We should make no apology for empowering young women to be the best versions of themselves, to win their own race, and triumph, like a girl.”

Michael Smyth, GSA Deputy Head, St. Mary’s Calne

More inspiring

Our Girls’ Brilliant

Academic Achievement

Girls in girls’ schools consistently achieve better grades in all subjects and outperform girls in other kinds of schools academically.

More success

The uptake of other sciences is higher - with Biology 40% higher, Chemistry 85% higher, and Maths 88% higher in girls’ schools – compared with girls in other schools.

Our Girls Love Science and Maths

Girls in girls’ schools are 2.7 times as likely to take Further Maths, and more than twice as likely to take Physics and Computer Science at A level – compared to girls in other schools.

Computer Science has seen the largest growth in uptake for girls, with the percentage of girls taking Computer Science doubling in girls’ schools.

Our Girls Conquer Stereotypes

Our girls remain the driving force behind creating a fairer world or everyone. Savvy citizens who are alive to the world and most crucially their own power to act as positive agents to change it for the better. They are the peacemakers, life makers, and sense makers of the future in every sphere of life.

“Having experienced what parity felt like in the classroom made me want to fight for it elsewhere – in politics and in the workplace.”

Dame Rosmary Squire, GSA

Alumna, Nottingham Girls’ High School GDST

“New research by FFT Education Datalab finds, girls in single sex schools are particularly likely to get top grades in single science GCSEs compared to their peers in mixed schools.”

Nick Hillman, GSA Fellow, Higher Education and Policy Institute

GSA research shows that:

80% of all pupils surveyed said they had been taught about equality for women and girls at school.

76.2% also agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, “I actively challenge gendered language for women and girls and behaviour among pupils”.

74% of teachers agreed or strongly agreed that they did have the tools, resources and support they need to be able to teach pupils about equality for women and girls.

This compares to 16.3% of pupils who agreed or strongly agreed that their gender impacts the activities that pupils are offered at school.

Pupils felt, on average, that activities outside of school (2.65 out of 5) were 12.5% more affected by their gender, than those inside of school (2.15 out of 5).

Our Girls Play the Most Sport

In our schools, girls play more sport and for the longest time in comparison to any other schools. We’re sad to see that the gap between boys and girls playing sport is widening in coeducational schools, with more and more girls stopping playing sport altogether. We feel that girls are being let down and left out. That’s not the case in ours, we’re proud our girls relish their physical prowess and the simple joy of playing team and individual sports because they feel free to, unhampered by the pressures of wider society.

In fact, our schools go even further to buck the trend for girls’ participation in male dominated sports with girls nearly five times more likely to play cricket and 30% more likely to play football.

More sport

“When I am in lessons or just in school I can’t help but think that one of my peers in school could grow up to be a national chess champion or an Olympic runner, one of the people here, with me, could become a great person, a person that will be in history books forever like Rosa Parks or Ada Lovelace.”

Elizabeth, GSA pupil (Year 6), Kensington Prep School

More belief

Our Girls Believe In Themselves

Girls in girls’ schools are more confident, rounded young women who have greater emotional intelligence, in comparison to girls in mixed schools. Our savvy, happy and motivated girls tell us that they feel they have a healthy understanding and mastery over their emotions, which helps them to mindfully direct the course of their own lives.

Data also reveals that our girls generally possess higher mental toughness scores than those in other schools which helps them to grow into capable, relaxed, and able young adults.

Our Girls Triumph from Every Background

In our schools all girls triumph including neurodivergent and disadvantaged girls. We are proud to support the best successes of every girl, and our schools are especially nurturing and supportive places. Research proves girls from disadvantaged backgrounds have higher levels of wellbeing and selfawareness than more advantaged peers at mixed schools, and that girls with SEND have higher selfawareness than girls without SEND at mixed schools.

Our Girls Are Trailblazers

Our girls are, and always have been, firebrands and trailblazing campaigners. Each one is a great example of an empowered and confident woman.

Inspiring women who have benefited from an education in our schools include Habiba Daggash a chemical engineer transforming global energy systems to secure a clean, prosperous, zero-carbon future for all. Soma Sara multi-award winning activist, author, speaker, and CEO of the charity ‘Everyone’s Invited’, Vickie Hawkins of Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF), and Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize winner and activist for girls’ education and many, many, more.

Pioneering Girls’ Education

GSA has always honoured those who have fought for girls’ education rights and stands alongside other changemaking women like Sophie Bryant who overcame barriers to become the first woman to earn a BA, BSc and Doctor of Science; and modern day activists such as Malala Yousafsai, and Soma Sara of Everyone’s Invited.

Our forward thinking founders, Frances Buss and Dorothy Beale, were the Association’s pioneers, and it is in their vision that the Girls’ Schools Association stands today, still steadfast in its continued commitment to the best education of girls. Our ambition is to fully unleash the potential of young women into the world through inspirational schools.

“Women’s education provides us with theatres in which to perform, laboratories to experiment in, closets to hide in, gardens to work in – rooms, houses, mansions, castles in which to fulfil ours.”elves.”

Sasha, GSA Pupil (Sixth Form), Manchester High School for Girls.

About The Girls’ Schools Association

The Girls’ Schools Association (‘GSA’) is a membership organisation that aims to champion girls and their teachers so that they have the best chances to live brilliant, meaningful, and interesting lives of their own choosing.

Together they educate over 100,000 students.

Its membership is made up of Heads from a diverse range of independent and state girls’ schools which include many of the top performing schools in the UK. Together they educate over 100,000 students. In addition to acting as advocate, GSA provides its members and their schools with professional development courses, conferences, advice, and opportunities to debate and share best practice.

An expert in girls’ education, GSA advocates for girls’ best interests and regularly commissions research to demonstrate the modern relevance and enduring power of a girls only education. Read the latest research that matters on girls, girls’ schools, and girls’ education and keep up to date with the latest thinking on our website: www.gsa.uk.com.

More opportunities

More heritage

Our History

The Girls’ Schools Association was founded in 1874 by Francis Buss and Dorothy Beale, educational pioneers who advocated for girls to have full access to a full and varied academic curriculum so that young women could realise their full potential, irrespective of the barriers women faced in wider society.

“The GSA legacy and the significance of girls’ education in crafting an equitable world stands unwavering: our era demands female leaders briming with resilience, empathy, and kindness.”

Pinky Lilani CBE DL, GSA Fellow, Founder and Chairman of Women of The Future.

Buss and Beale led the way for others to continue their vital work, and the Association has been fuelled and propelled by inspiring women throughout its history right up to the present day. Many overcame barriers to pursue an education and career traditionally closed to them. These include Sophie Bryant, the first woman to earn a BA, BSc and doctorate of science, who showed girls that all careers were open to them if they were determined and persistent; GSA President Harriet Jones who actively fought to remove compulsory subjects like needlework from the curriculum of girls’ schools; GSA Head Dorothy Brock who was honoured with an OBE for services to education in 1933; and during the world wars the educational leader Agnes Gardiner who navigated evacuations and kept education running. It is in their spirit, and on their shoulders, that we stand.

Their legacy remains a constant source of inspiration to this day in our schools which shape the dreams, futures, and ambitions of girls to live their lives to the fullest.