Our name in highlights Annual review 2012 Schools Heads & Principals 1 Blackheath High School Lisa Laws 2 Brighton & Hove High School Jennifer Smith 3 Bromley High School Louise Simpson 4 Central Newcastle High School Hilary French 5 Croydon High School Debbie Leonard 6 Heathfield School, Pinner Anne Stevens 7 Howell’s School, Llandaff, Cardiff Sally Davis 8 Ipswich High School Elaine Purves 9 Kensington Prep School Prudence Lynch 10 Northampton High School Sarah Dixon 4 11 Norwich High School for Girls Jason Morrow 12 Nottingham Girls’ High School Susan Gorham 13 Notting Hill & Ealing High School Lucinda Hunt 14 Oxford High School Judith Carlisle 25 15 Portsmouth High School Jane Prescott 26 18 6 16 Putney High School Dr Denise Lodge 12 20 19 11 17 The Royal High School, Bath Rebecca Dougall 10 13 9 18 Sheffield High School Valerie Dunsford 8 1 19 Shrewsbury High School Michael Getty 14 16 21 23 20 South Hampstead High School Jenny Stephen 7 17 3 24 21 Streatham & Clapham High School Dr Millan Sachania 4 15 2 22 5 22 Sutton High School Katharine Crouch 23 Sydenham High School Kathryn Pullen 24 Wimbledon High School Heather Hanbury 25 26 18 6 Academies 12 20 19 11 10 13 9 25 The Belvedere Academy, Liverpool Peter Kennedy 8 1 14 16 26 Birkenhead High School Christine Mann 21 23 7 17 3 Schools in 24 London 15 2 22 5 As at March 2013 Contents Location of schools and academies Inside front cover “Hooray for the Girls’ Day School Trust” At a glance 2 Good Schools Guide Advice Service blog, Back to the future 4 Looking back... 6 March 2013 ...and looking forward 7 Our name in highlights 9 Enabling access 13 Investing for the future 17 Financial summary 20 Structure and governance Back cover fold in Notable GDST alumnae Inside back cover ANNUAL REVIEW 1 At a glance A Level – Percentage of A*/A grades Nearly 20,000 pupils in 24 schools Over 3,500 staff Results 60 and two academies 50 GDST schools Independent Nursery Catering 40 schools 6th Form: 30% ofA LevelA* / A – gradesPercentage at A ofLevel A*/A - 2012 grades Years 12-13 Juniors: Reception - Administration Teaching 20 National average Year 6 60 5010 GDST schools Independent 40 schools Premises 30 20 National average 10 58.4% of exams gained an A* or A 84.3% of exams gained an A*, A or B Seniors: Years 7-11 GCSE – Percentage of A*/A grades % of A* / A grades at GCSE - 2012 The GDST educates nearly 8% of girls in Our size and scope allows us to develop 80 independent schools, more than any other and promote talented teachers throughout 70 organisation. our network. GDST schools 60 GCSE – Percentage of A*/A gradesIndependent 50 schools 40 80 30 70 GDST schools Non-stereotypical subject choices for girls Bursaries and scholarships 6020 National average Independent 5010 GDST A Level students 2012 Last year the GDST spent over £10.5 million on schools 40 bursaries and scholarships. Almost 20% of girls 73.6% of exams gained an A* or A 30 in our fee-paying senior schools receive financial assistance. 20 National average 47.6% 10 Other bursaries, prizes took one or more science subject & scholarships HSBC bursary awards “It seems that (Helen) GDST bursary fund Fraser isn’t exaggerating: 36.9% e bright her girls really ar took maths and brilliant” The Spectator Guide to Independent Schools, 20.4% September 2012 took one or more language Central GDST funding 2 GDST ANNUAL REVIEW 3 Back to the future “There is a GDST culture – a girls-can-do-anything self-belief coupled with principles of service, cheerful collaboration and zest for achievement As I write, the Girls’ Day School Trust is nearing It has been a year of great achievements for the the end of celebrations to mark the 140th Girls’ Day School Trust. Our exam results have – that characterises its anniversary of its foundation, and in these pages continued to be outstanding, the university alumnae... from which- you will read of the many wonderful ways we places our Sixth-Formers have attained have been found to make it a special year. equally impressive, and as this Annual Review ever school they hail” shows, achievements by individual schools and An anniversary as significant as this gives us reason to individual girls have also been remarkable. Good Schools Guide Advice pause, and to reflect. We can look back with pride on Service blog, March 2013 the determination of our founders to give girls the best There have been other successes. Several GDST education, and on the successes of our schools and alumnae participated in the Olympic Games, and one of thousands of our alumnae down the years. We can of them, Hannah Mills, won a silver medal. Pupils look back, too, on decisions made and developments excelled in national and international competitions – undertaken that have helped to shape the GDST into and early in 2013 we were told that GDST pupils had what it is today. been successful in setting a Guinness World Record for the greatest number of people to take part in a But anniversaries shouldn’t just be an occasion for simultaneous practical science lesson at venues across nostalgia. They shouldn’t be end-points – they should the country. be something that helps us shape ‘work in progress.’ So while, yes, we should look back, it is even more It’s fitting that all these achievements took place in this, important to look forward. We need to invest in our our anniversary year. In part, they’re a demonstration future, ensuring the GDST continues to lead the way in of continuity, of our abiding commitment to excellence; girls’ education. but they’re also a testament to the extent to which we don’t stand still. Recent debates on education have rightly focused on the need to improve standards, and to stretch students It’s only right, therefore, that this Annual Review also by making more demands of them in the subjects covers our investments for the future. Many of them they take and the exams they sit. GDST schools and are concrete, and in some cases, literally so: the Trust academies set a good example: the number of our funds major developments to our school estates to pupils focusing on core academic subjects sought by ensure we provide superb facilities. Many others are Russell Group universities is significantly higher than also investments of our determination: for instance, the national average, and the results they achieve our commitment to develop as a high-performing continue to be outstanding. organisation and, importantly, our resolve to extend our ability to enable access to a GDST education to as At the Girls’ Day School Trust, we have a past of which many girls as we can. we can proud – and a future we face not just with determination, but with enthusiasm. As Lorna says, we look back, but we also look ahead. That’s why we invest so much of our energy in laying foundations for leadership – not just for the GDST and its role in national education, but for our heads and teachers as they push the boundaries of their roles, Lorna Cocking Chairman and also, of course, for our girls. We want to see them taking active roles in helping to shape the Trust – and in adult life, we also want them playing leading parts in the world beyond our gates. Helen Fraser CBE Chief Executive 4 GDST Looking back... ...and looking forward 2012 was a big year for the UK – and as it was also the 140th anniversary In our anniversary year at the GDST, we are looking forward to our future of the GDST’s foundation, it was a big year for us too. as much as we’re celebrating our past – and one of the best things we can do to prepare for that future is to foster a sense of leadership. To mark the occasion, GDST schools Creative Writing Prize: GDST girls We aim to lead the education • To develop as a high Our immediate priorities collectively and individually organised in three age categories – Senior, debate, making sure our voice is performance organisation: a number of events and activities, Middle and Junior – were invited to heard on matters of importance to us committed to long-term • Supporting GDST schools to celebrating the achievements of write submissions up to 1,500 words and to the country as a whole – on sustainable delivery of the best ensure the education they offer pupils from when the first of our long and submit them by February delivering academic excellence, for education for girls; greater forms a coherent whole and schools opened its doors in 1873 2013. Submissions could be on instance, on promoting educational autonomy and accountability provides the knowledge and skills right up to the present day. any subject or topic, either fictional innovation, and on the benefits of for heads; transparent key that girls and young women will or factual, addressing a theme of single-sex education. performance indicators (KPIs) and need to thrive over the coming Then & Now Exhibition: a mobile ‘Celebration’, ‘Girls’, ‘Anniversary’, performance management; all decades exhibition toured our schools, ‘Birthday’ or ‘Trust’. The results will We work to develop leadership skills schools and academies in top 200 displaying insights into the history be announced in the summer term within the GDST, giving our heads of league tables or equivalent; • Analysing and re-energising of the Trust, as well as some of the of 2013. greater autonomy and accountability increased pupil numbers; our schools’ and academies’ key events over the last 140 years as well as recruiting and developing reinvesting a healthy surplus in Sixth Form provision, re-defining that have helped to shape the role of Short Film Competition: films of up teaching and administrative talent educational provision; recruiting what makes a GDST Sixth women in society.