This week the school had its Annual Review by GDST. The Trust holds us to account across a range of measures, including exam results, university destinations, pupil welfare and safeguarding and value for money. The best part for me is getting to show off everything the girls and staff have done over the year. As a parent who reads the newsletter you’ll know this stuff, of course. You’ll know how good this week’s Well Being activities have been, with circus skills for girls and a lecture for parents by the brilliant Sam Cartwright; you’ll know all about the wonderful performances of our girls, Hannah Fraser and Eloise Ockenden, at the GDST Young Musician of the Year; you’ll know all about the acclaimed performance of Gogol’s ‘The Overcoat’ by our talented Sixth Form drama students; you’ll know that the House Song competition is one of the highlights of the year – all of these activities are as important to share with Trust as any of the other data.
We are also held to account by our students: every girls is asked each year to give feedback on a wide range of issues, from learning and teaching styles and homework to topics in PHSE and the extra-curricular offer.
Parents, too, hold us to account. We get feedback about the good things we’ve done and about things we could improve. It’s always welcome and definitely constructive. However, not every parent has the chance to be heard and feedback tends to be about specific events or individual girls. We think it’s important, therefore, now and again to seek formally the views of our parents; to ask for feedback across a wide range of areas of school life so that we can assess how we are doing and how we can continue to improve our school.
And so, if you haven’t had a chance to complete the parent questionnaire that was sent out to you last week, do please take the opportunity to give us your views.