If you have a moment between now and Thursday, look at this website. Positive Image Month is the brainchild of Kate Hardcastle, the well-known entrepreneur and businesswoman, who just felt that collectively, we had to do something to try to rebalance the terrible weight on people in our society (especially young people, and especially women) …
October 2012 archive
Oct 26
Fanning the new with the flames of the old: Livery Companies today
Last night in London I had the tremendous pleasure of being the Principal Speaker at the Selection Dinner of the Worshipful Company of Fan Makers. It was a super evening – convivial company, and an opportunity to talk about areas of mutual interest in education and the wider world, and I was very struck – …
Oct 23
Where Art becomes grotesque reality in the female form
If you have a spare 6 minutes, go to this YouTube link and watch a video of Ukrainian teenager Anastasiya Shpagina applying make-up to one of her eyes. She is doing so to give the impression that her eye is larger than reality, and almost fantastical, mimicking the female eyes that we are so used …
Oct 20
Why everyone should experience Shakespearean drama
This has been a very Shakespearean-themed week at St Mary’s Calne. On Monday evening, a group of Year 9 girls battled illness, stormy weather and the curse of the Scottish play to present a succinct and striking Macbeth to a full house at the Egg Theatre in Bath, as part of the Shakespeare Schools’ Festival. …
Oct 17
“We’re students, not slags”. Utterly shocking stories from our universities
I was shocked when I recently read this article by Laura Bates in the Independent. I had read the original article by the same journalist in the previous week’s paper, which looked at the sexist and misogynist antics reported by numbers of students as taking place in Freshers’ Weeks at universities across the country, and …
Oct 14
To assess or not to assess: the great GCSE debacle
Recent announcements regarding the abandonment of GCSEs in favour of an English Baccalaureate should have prompted once again the question of whether or not assessments at this stage of a young person’s career are in fact worthwhile, but these voices have been drowned out as commentators have rushed to deal with the details of the …
Oct 11
Today is the Day! International Day of the Girl
Today, Thursday 11th October 2012, is the very first International Day of the Girl, and it is most definitely worth celebrating. How this came about was in part because of extensive lobbying of the United Nations by Plan UK (part of Plan International), the charity which we have been supporting in school over the past …
Oct 08
“This was never just about Jimmy Savile.” What we are realising about the perception of women in TV over the past few decades.
Today’s Daily Mail contains a thoughtful but hard-hitting piece by Janet Street-Porter about the rumours and revelations surrounding the late Jimmy Savile’s alleged sexual activities involving young girls. Whether true or not – and the evidence, it has to be said, appears to be mounting – these reports leave an unsavoury impression not just of …
Oct 05
Why teacher-pupil relationships are never right
In the aftermath of the Jeremy Forrest affair – not that there can ever really be an end point, given the huge fractures which have cut across the lives not just of the girl involved and her teachers, but of their respective families and communities – it has been instructive to watch and read how …
Oct 02
How long does it really take to “master motherhood”?
An article in last Friday’s Daily Mail made for interesting reading: according to a recent survey by a baby products company, the average time that it takes for new mothers to get on top of the changes that have occurred in their lives is – on average – four months and 23 days. Up to …