Facts and figures

• The GDST is the leading group of independent girls’ schools in the UK. There are nearly 20,000 pupils in the GDST’s 24 schools and two academies, throughout England and Wales, of whom about 6,000 are in GDST junior and prep schools

• About 8% of all the girls in independent education in the UK are at GDST schools

• GDST schools are non-denominational, and students have always been admitted irrespective of background or beliefs

• All but two of the schools and academies take girls all through, from the age of three or four to 18
  • 24 of the GDST schools are senior schools with junior schools and Sixth Forms
  • one (Kensington Prep School) is a stand-alone preparatory school for pupils aged four to 11
  • one (Belvedere Academy, in Liverpool) has students aged 11 to 18
  • two (Belvedere Academy and Birkenhead High School) are academies and no longer charge fees

• The GDST has pioneered the education of girls and young women since its foundation in 1872 
  • Two GDST schools (Howell’s, Llandaff, in Cardiff and Shrewsbury High School) are partly co-educational: Howell's in its Sixth Form College and Shrewsbury High in its Prep school.
  • The Royal High School, Bath, offers the International Baccalaureate (IB) as well as A Levels, and is the only GDST school with boarding facilities
• The GDST employs approximately 4,000 staff

For facts and figures about our successful girls please visit our First class results page