Category: Headship

Is Amsterdam calling …?

One of the hats I wear is that of the Chair of the Supervisory Board of the British School of Amsterdam – a role in which I have sought to do my bit for the school since December 2019, having joined the Board in 2017. It is a great school – no question of this! …

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Recruiting great teachers: the role of ambitious school leaders

Sir Michael Wilshaw is rarely uncontroversial, and at times his talk on teacher recruitment at the Wellington College Festival of Education, true to form, ruffled more than a few feathers. However, it was hard to argue with his key message, namely that we need to recruit more great teachers, and we need to think creatively …

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Girls need inspiration in sport, not abuse

Melinda Tankard Reist’s column in today’s Sydney Sun-Herald, ‘The ugly truth is rules are different for girls in sport’ (to which I will add a link when I can track it down) is excellent. Well-known for her forthright views on the premature sexualisation of girls in particular, Melinda is passionate about speaking out and making …

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Tulisa: a role model and inspiration for broken Britain?

I have been thinking a lot about female role models recently, and so was drawn to the Daily Mail online article this week which reported an interview in Look magazine with Tulisa Contostavlos, singer and X Factor judge. In the interview, she described herself as an “inspiration for broken Britain”; I was intrigued. I was …

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BBC Breakfast TV, a London cabbie … and positive role models for women

On Monday this week I was a guest on BBC Breakfast TV, hosted by Bill Turnbull and Susannah Reid at Lund Point, a block of residential flats overlooking the Olympic Park. What a view! The studio itself was actually on the roof, and I and Liz Nicholl of UK Sport, who was also speaking in …

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An Olympian responsibility: Taking the opportunity to celebrate female shapes

An article in Monday’s Daily Mail reported the latest in a series of research studies on body image and body confidence in young people, and the results were unsurprising. This particular study, of 31,354 boys and girls aged 10-15, conducted by the Schools Health Education Unit, added to the increasingly loud alarm bells ringing about …

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A Manifesto for Young Women by Janet Street Porter. Some thoughts.

In today’s Daily Mail, Janet Street-Porter has written a great article outlining her ‘manifesto for young women’, which ends by saying that young women need to believe in themselves. She has some excellent advice, including ‘work like hell at school’, ‘hold your head high’, ‘set your goals’, ‘swap telly trash and internet twaddle for books, …

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Body Confidence winners! ‘Body Image in the Primary School’: clear, practical and straight to the point

Congratulations to Nicky Hutchinson and Chris Calland, speakers at the last November’s GSA conference, who won the award for Education at last week’s Body Confidence Awards for their book, ‘Body Image in the Primary School’. It is a great book, aimed at teachers in primary schools who have responsibility for personal and social development, and …

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Mis-Guiding? Girlguiding UK and the manicure controversy

I felt rather conflicted when I read in yesterday’s newspapers about Girlguiding UK’s themed activity packs, designed to provide a focus to meetings. Of the 26 packs on offer to Guide leaders, designed for use by the Guides in their unit, a number appear to focus on physical appearance, style and fashion, with names such …

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Miss Representation: developing healthier attitudes to women and girls

I wrote a few weeks ago about the thought-provoking documentary, Miss Representation, which was shown at the Houses of Parliament recently and which is developing into a powerful voice in America today. When you visit the site, www.missrepresentation.org, you are given the opportunity to sign a pledge to ‘challenge the media’s limiting portrayal of women …

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