Headmaster's blog: Women have their Say

James Hooke introduces a special blog with views of Harrodian as a learning environment written by female teachers and students

With Harrodian approaching its 30th Anniversary as a school in May, our celebration of International Women’s Day last month – marked by a brilliant and vivid personal review of the  30 years ‘from the perspective of a teenage girl’ led by English teacher Ms Carina Makris –  set me thinking about Harrodian’s approach to educating girls and young women.

From the outset, creating a school that embraced equality and inclusivity as well as encouraging achievement has always at the heart of our ethos and, while much has changed since 1993, these values remain constant. We are committed to welcoming students into our community irrespective of individual race, creed, colour or gender identity as we are to encouraging and nurturing individual achievement in any field that any student of any sex might wish to explore.

So how has our approach served Harrodian girls? I am hugely proud of their achievements. Now slightly in the majority at Harrodian, they consistently match boys in the excellence of their examination results, in their ability to move on to the very best tertiary destinations and in the part they play in the culture and life of the school.

So much for my views. But what do Harrodian females think? In this blog I have asked six teachers and Sixth Formers to assess how they believe Harrodian measures up as place for girls to learn and to grow up. Do they feel this is a school in which boys and girls are equally valued? What are the positives and negatives? What work remains to be done? Their responses – some general, others focusing on specific topics ranging from Sport to STEM – are below. It makes for a longer read than usual but I’m sure you’ll find it interesting.

History

Sixth Former Luci, (shown above with fellow contributors Artie and Anais) explains why, despite Harrodian’s best efforts, sexist media typecasting is still holding girls back.

Since I joined the school in the 11s, Harrodian has always definitely been committed to equality between the sexes.  But a school doesn’t exist in a bubble and you can’t reverse the effect of history overnight.  That’s why I decided to make my case to the Student Society in April.  The presentation drew on the history of art and advertising to illustrate the idea that women have been simplistically cast into two roles – mother or sex object – for hundreds of years. I argued that old stereotypes are still being reinforced in the modern world, whether that comes through the open normalisation  of internet porn culture or in the more subtle and sneaky form of sex- and beauty-focused advertising of everything from diet products to deodorants

Not everyone will agree with me of course.  I’m pretty sure some of my audience – boys and girls – will think I’m taking this all too seriously, but I don’t think that’s true.  My view is that, rather than empowering or liberating us, modern media culture is continuing to portray women in ways that leaves women feeling trapped and uncomfortable.

It’s great that Harrodian provides a safe space in which we can openly challenge sexist attitudes and raise issues that might once have been taboo. But PSHE lessons and open discussions are just the start of the conversation. I think we’ve still got a long way to go.

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Head of Politics and History Teacher, Mrs Charlotte Arnold explains why she initiated a writing competition that celebrates the lives of ordinary women

There has been significant work to address the imbalance between the representation of men and women within the study of History. However, much of our school curriculum is still centered around the stories and experiences of men. At GCSE we spend a great deal of time looking at male presidents, dictators, soldiers and scientists. Whilst we do look at the stories of ordinary men and women, these are often somewhat faceless. This project gave us an opportunity to address in some small way this imbalance, linking to the wider celebration of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day. It was designed to encourage students to think about the lives of ordinary women. In launching the Her Story project I aimed to challenge students to think about the women in their families and capture both positive and negative histories which might otherwise be lost.

We would like to extend the competition in the future, and I am in discussion with other departments potentially to launch something a little bigger in scope next September. I hope those that did not get the opportunity to contribute this time round will have a think about what they might have contributed and participate next academic year. 

 

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LGBTQ+

Sixth Former Artie applauds the welcoming atmosphere and support network that the LGBTQ+ community enjoys at Harrodian

Having been at the Harrodian for seven years now, I can say with confidence that I have never felt unsafe at school. While I do not speak for all queer and and female students, this is an environment that in my experience has not had any trace of bullying or hostility on the grounds of my gender or sexuality. The school is consistently discouraging, to say the least, towards any discriminatory attitudes, which I think plays a big role in maintaining a non-hateful and open-minded space, without any place for prejudiced beliefs or actions.

There is a strong support network in place that allows anyone to reach out whenever they may need, creating a sense of security that there will always be help available. Harrodian fosters a welcoming atmosphere, and there is always space to express your individuality and identity. As with any institution, there is always room for improvement, but there have been very significant steps taken to ensure all LGBTQ+ students, both out and not, feel surrounded by a community that will not judge or punish them for being who they are.

Sport

Head of Hockey, Hazel Lovegrove, and Head of Netball, Hannah Pullen, discuss the importance of role models in the rapid rise of Harrodian girls sport

Hazel ‘Having role models is vital in motivating young female athletes to take up sport. When we were at school, women heroes were harder to find. In the absence of a female cricketer, I looked up to Yorkshire and England bowler, Darren Gough. But with women’s sport now firmly in the mainstream it’s completely different today. Girls are finding new sporting heroes through professional female athletes and that new shift is reflected at Harrodian. The female PE teachers teaching them every day are not just ‘teachers’ they are sportswomen in their own right, most of whom are playing or watching sport at a high level in their everyday lives outside school.

Hannah: There’s so much variety in Harrodian’s role models: For example, I'm an elite distance runner, Hazel played county cricket and currently plays for MCC, Mrs Tibble plays Masters Hockey for England, whilst Ms McNaught, Ms Eade, Ms Kinsella, Mrs Gregorie and Ms Foster are all actively engaged in fitness, football, golf and netball. The girls we teach are always asking us about our latest match or competition and we’re able to give them help and advice about their own ambitions. It’s increasingly a ‘See it, Be it’ sporting culture every day at school, rather than just on TV screens.

Hazel : That connection with playing at elite levels is a big motivator. It makes girls really want to play and be active out of choice, rather than it being compulsory. Participation is continuing to surge and that’s reflected both in the rising quality of performance and the number of girls’ teams, enjoying playing sport. For such a small school, we are competing very strongly both in school fixtures and county competitions. This year has seen us establish our first U18 Girl’s football XI; as well as our first U18 Girl’s Cricket team. In addition, we have had our U16 and U12 netball teams competing in Surrey finals, as well as our hockey teams playing in London county finals.

Hannah: I think it’s fair to say that as girls' sport grows in strength, the whole school benefits from it. We’re building a strong teaching team with equal numbers of men and women who really do share a mutual respect for each other’s professional skills and a real willingness to collaborate.

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STEM

Harrodian girls are increasingly making an impact in STEM subjects that were once dominated by boys.  Sixth Former and keen scientist, Anais, is part of the new wave

Over recent years, there has been a growing acceptance of the need to encourage more women to pursue in STEM. Historically, it’s a field that has often been perceived as male-dominated so I'm very grateful to be a part of a school community which champions inclusivity and normalises girls’ participation in our Rocket and STEM Clubs and all our fairs and other science-related activities.

The number of girls joining our STEM clubs at Harrodian has been growing steadily. This year, a third of our membership was female. This progress owes much to teachers who encourage anyone and everyone to get involved regardless of ability or gender, and who treat us equally as the keen scientists we all are.

For me, one of the joys of STEM Club has been the new friendships I’ve discovered by working both with girl and boy scientists from different year groups. It’s been interesting to explore the complementary strengths males and females seemed to bring to our collective thinking and overall efficiency. In our team, I felt the girls were especially strong on overall design and organisation with the boys often driving the mathematics, but it may be unwise to generalise!

One thing is for sure: it’s lovely to be part of a club that’s playing an important part in breaking down barriers, challenging stereotypes and unleashing the great potential of our student body’s collective talents.

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