Ever since our annual Founders’ Day at St Mary’s Calne on Saturday 23rd June – my last at the school before I head to Australia in December – I have been reflecting on the departure of our UVI Formers. There were many special moments during the day – the service in the morning, the speeches …
Category: Headteachers
Jun 13
The house of dreams: pioneering work for girls in a Mumbai orphanage
This week’s Sunday Telegraph magazine, Stella, contained an uplifting article by Sally Howard, which I have yet to find online; if you can find it and read it, do. In it, she describes a visit to Shraddhanand Mahilashram, an orphanage for girls in Mumbai, India, where girls are taught to be independent, confident young women, …
May 23
Why GCSEs have had their day
John Cridland, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, is reported in today’s Daily Telegraph to be critical of GCSEs. Young people are, he says, being “failed by the systemâ€, as growing numbers do not develop a fundamental grasp of the 3 Rs, and are leaving school unable to function effectively in the workplace. While there …
Apr 23
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 …
Apr 13
Miss Wallis and a passion for girls’ education
I have just been reading ‘The Search for Marie Wallis’ by Gerri Nicholas; Miss Marie Wallis was the founding principal of Ascham School, Sydney, Australia, and I shall be following in her footsteps in January 2013, when I become Ascham’s 10th Head in its history. Miss Wallis founded the school in Darling Point in Sydney …
Apr 02
‘The Hunger Games’ … and why all adults should read it
As I write, Suzanne Collins’ teen novel The Hunger Games sits at the top of USA Today’s bestselling books lists, with the next three slots also occupied by novels in the trilogy – the twelfth week that they have appeared in the top 10, with the top slot occupied by the first book in the …
Mar 26
Singing, sand and sisters in Florida
I have just spent a couple of days in Naples, Florida, as the first part of the fantastic St Mary’s Calne Chamber Choir tour of the State. You can follow them via their website – http://musicatstmaryscalne.wordpress.com/, and if you are in Florida in the next few days, come and hear them! Make an effort – …
Mar 23
Let teachers be teachers
I offer my thanks to a former Headmistress of Ascham School in Sydney who pointed me in the direction of The New York Review of Books and a recent review by Diane Ravitch of a book by Pasi Sahlberg, ‘Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland?’. Finland, of course, which …
Mar 18
Research from the US on Girls: the stereotype threat
Meeting other Heads of Schools is always interesting and uplifting; meeting other Heads of Schools who are actively engaged in developing and promoting research on girls’ education is inspiring. So it was at the NAPSG conference in Seattle, where I had the good fortune to meet and spend time with Ann V Klotz, the super …
Mar 04
Microsoft, School Principals and the World of Work
The annual conference of the US National Association of Principals of Schools for Girls, which I attended last week in Seattle, took as its theme ‘Our new world of work: challenges and opportunities’, and proved to be an excellent forum in which to consider and debate the issues surrounding this topic. Ellen Stein, the Head …