Our impressive value added results place us amongst the top schools nationally. They are testimony to the fact that girls, in the right learning environment, are highly motivated. Through the formative years, they are ahead of boys in all ways. They have, therefore, a much more mature attitude to their studies and in a girls only school, their learning and progress are allowed to go forward at a pace without hindrance. Their training for life can flourish as they set the agenda and make decisions without deference to the opposite sex. It is little wonder then that they make formidable professionals and business women.
Traditionally, boys and girls in Britain have been educated separately and successfully. The move to co-education was supported by research undertaken in the 60s and 70s into how boys and girls thought and learnt.
At that time it was thought, quite simplistically, that the academic, social and emotional development of both sexes could be influenced in a positive way if girls and boys were treated in the same way at school. More recent research, supported by scientific procedures, allows us to understand brain function, structure and organisation. It informs us that significant gender differences in the brain are present from before birth and influence the very way in which girls and boys think, learn and develop.
In a single sex school, girls are offered many opportunities to explore the full range of their abilities, to hold positions of leadership and to compete strongly among themselves without the danger of gender stereotyping. In so doing, they will leave school with the drive and self-confidence to achieve their highest at university and in their future careers.
We are, nevertheless, delighted to welcome boys into the Kindergarten and Infant Department where they have traditionally gained a head start to their school careers and their company has been greatly enjoyed by all. |