Headmaster's blog: Girls, are we there yet?

With Harrodian approaching an important anniversary as a school, the momentous centenary of British women’s suffrage in February set me thinking about our own approach to educating girls and young women over the past 25 years.

From the outset, creating a school that embraced diversity as well as encouraging achievement was always at the heart of our ethos and, while the world may have changed a bit in the past quarter century, equality is still a Harrodian constant. We remain as committed to welcoming students into our community irrespective of individual race, creed, colour or gender identity as we do 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. Personally, 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 academic and creative tertiary destinations and, just as important, in the prominent and equal part they play in the culture and life of the school.

So much for my – inevitably – male view. But what do Harrodian females think? In this blog I have asked four of them, two teachers, two students, to provide their views on Harrodian ‘Girl Power’. 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 are below. It makes for a longer read than usual but I’m sure you’ll find their responses interesting. James Hooke

Heather Locke, Deputy Headmistress

It’s great to see that girls’ success in getting into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) courses is continuing to build.  Equality between the sexes has been an essential Harrodian value ever since I began working here nearly 19 years ago.

Unlike now, back in the early days there were more boys than girls at the school but we never believed that any barriers should prevent girls taking on so-called male subjects such as Maths and Science. We thought every child should be treated as an individual capable of maximising his or her potential, whatever direction that lay in.

It’s a nurturing approach that has steadily given Harrodian girls the confidence to express themselves in class and beyond. Girls are increasingly at the forefront in challenging extracurricular activities like the Debating Society and Model United Nations and a steady stream of Harrodian female graduates are working as everything from vets to bankers.

Even so, I do think we do still have a job to do to make sure that still more girls see that there really is nothing to hold them back.  We want to improve girls’ uptake of subjects such as Mathematics and Science as A Level subjects and for them to feel as confident with those choices as they do with English and Psychology.

Rachel Coussins, Upper Sixth Former and School Council member

Feminism has been an organic part of my family upbringing but being educated at Harrodian has allowed my ideas to grow. I know that in some schools they don’t really get any education in Feminism, whereas we encounter it regularly in assemblies, in PSHE and in talks from visiting speakers.

It is different here, much more liberated than many schools. Boys and girls aren’t expected to conform to stereotypes, with girls doing Art and boys Maths. You are accepted here for who you are. All sexes are treated equally. There is the freedom to be transgender or non-gender binary and students are encouraged to do what they want to do, to be what they want to be.

There is still work to do, of course.  As a member of School Council I have raised the issue of changing the dress code so it acknowledges the equality of the sexes completely. Boys should have the freedom to wear skirts, if they want to, for example. But Harrodian is a very progressive school. I’m sure we will get there.

Dr Rachel Thompson, Senior Teacher of English/ UCAS and Aspirational Universities Coordinator

One of the great things about this school is that we don't draw distinctions between the sexes and girls and boys compete and work together on an equal footing and I think that needs to be celebrated.

We've had a great range of Medicine/Medical Sciences offers this year with some notable girls amongst them. Our four Oxbridge offers this year include two young women and we generally have a really strong cohort of high-achieving girls in the current Upper Sixth with very promising futures ahead of them and some fabulous predicted grades.

I do think it is pivotal to recognise that, like most businesses and institutions, Harrodian 'isn't there yet' in many ways, although this obviously reflects societal attitudes towards gender. Maybe it's a coincidence, but I am acutely aware that in my four years here it's always been girls who begin their contributions to lessons with 'this might be wrong' or 'I don't know if this is right'. 

We should never stop asking ourselves: How can we better serve our young women and girls? Where can we go in future?

Ellie Softley: Harrodian Sixth Form Mentoring Coordinator and Alumna

I never felt pushed into doing things that were girly at Harrodian.  We were always encouraged to speak, to have the conversation and to take the power into our hands. That didn’t mean we always won the arguments – we didn’t when we tried to set up a Harrodian Girls Contact Rugby Club – and of course there were moments when we didn’t like the boys' behaviour but we were conscious that we were valued equally as girls, and accepted as individuals.

Those accepting attitudes feed into the work I’m doing now in setting up a new course for current Harrodian Mentors. I want to instill a female perspective, to help mentors to speak and converse with their mentees in a way that encourages boys to be more open about their feelings.  I want to empower girls to discuss the issues – such as their insecurities or their worries about social media – in an environment that’s just as accepting.