GDST in the news – Summer 2016

filming Sutton High pupils for great teaching video

Welcome to our round-up of media coverage of the GDST over the past few months.

Dr Kevin Stannard, the GDST’s Director of Innovation & Learning, has a regular column in the TES. You can read a selection of his recent articles on its website:

An article in the Daily Telegraph about choosing the right independent school included comments from Helen Fraser and a case study of three generations of the same family who all attended Newcastle High School for Girls.

An article in The Times highlighting how creativity can ease exam stress included comments from Dr Kevin Stannard (not online).

The Telegraph highlighted findings from the first GDST Student Survey which identified that six out of 10 pupils prefer strict teachers (not online).

Helen Fraser was quoted in an article on BBC News Online about the susceptibility of women and girls to be held back by their inner critic.

This article led to an additional piece of coverage on BBC News Online where notable women gave their advice on the best way to silence the inner critic.

An article in the TES Online quoted Helen Fraser saying that pupils feel under pressure to be like Mary Poppins, ‘practically perfect in every way’.

Picking up on comments in Helen Fraser’s annual conference speech, The Telegraph and i News (not online) both identified the need for girls to silence their inner critic and take risks.

An article in the TES (not online), including comments from Dr Kevin Stannard, identified that the trend towards teaching the GCSE syllabus from Y9 has extended the years pupils are focusing only on exam grades.

The TES Online ran a story about Cheryl Giovannoni’s appointment as the new Chief Executive of the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST).

Helen Fraser spoke on a panel at the Telegraph Festival of Education where her comments about building grit and resilience were picked up by the Daily Mail.

India Knight took Helen Fraser’s annual conference speech as the starting point for her column in the Sunday Times magazine about the problems women have with self-esteem.

A guest blog post from Kirsty von Malaisé, Head of Norwich High School for Girls, on the Daily Telegraph website suggested that we stop asking girls what they want to be when they grow up.

The TES Online rounded off their annual conference coverage by uploading a video of students from Sutton High Junior School recounting their recipe for a great teacher – ‘One teaspoon of listening oil and 10 integrity sweets…’