Sunday, June 4, 2023
  • Login
School Management Plus: School & education news worldwide
  • Home
  • Latest
  • Leaders
    • Heads & Governors
    • Admissions & Marketing
    • Bursars & Finance
    • Staff Recruitment
    • Development & Fundraising
    • Alumni Relations
    • Communications & PR
    • Estate Management
    • School Data Management
    • School Owners & Operators
  • Educators
    • Safeguarding
    • College Counselling
    • Online Learning
    • Early Years
    • Exams & Qualifications
    • Assessment
    • Wellbeing
    • Inclusion
    • Sports and Outdoors
  • International
    • The View From Here
    • Wellbeing
    • Curriculum Design
    • Overseas Development
    • Staff Recruitment
    • EdTech
    • International School Magazine
  • Your School
    • How We Did It
    • Spotlight on a School
    • 30 minutes with…
    • Partnerships & Outreach
    • School News & Announcements
    • School Management Plus
  • Careers
    • Why work here?
    • View Vacancies
    • Movers & Shakers
    • CPD
    • Place a Vacancy
  • Video & Podcast
    • Inspiring Leadership
    • School Leaders
    • Membership Bodies
    • The ABC of Safeguarding
    • The Friday Club
  • Suppliers
    • Meet the Supplier
    • From Our Partners
    • Supplier Directory
  • About
    • Editorial Board
    • Associations & Distribution
    • Our Publications
      • International School Magazine
      • School Management Plus Magazine
      • Wellbeing in International Schools Magazine
      • WISEducation newsletter
    • Advertise
    • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Latest
  • Leaders
    • Heads & Governors
    • Admissions & Marketing
    • Bursars & Finance
    • Staff Recruitment
    • Development & Fundraising
    • Alumni Relations
    • Communications & PR
    • Estate Management
    • School Data Management
    • School Owners & Operators
  • Educators
    • Safeguarding
    • College Counselling
    • Online Learning
    • Early Years
    • Exams & Qualifications
    • Assessment
    • Wellbeing
    • Inclusion
    • Sports and Outdoors
  • International
    • The View From Here
    • Wellbeing
    • Curriculum Design
    • Overseas Development
    • Staff Recruitment
    • EdTech
    • International School Magazine
  • Your School
    • How We Did It
    • Spotlight on a School
    • 30 minutes with…
    • Partnerships & Outreach
    • School News & Announcements
    • School Management Plus
  • Careers
    • Why work here?
    • View Vacancies
    • Movers & Shakers
    • CPD
    • Place a Vacancy
  • Video & Podcast
    • Inspiring Leadership
    • School Leaders
    • Membership Bodies
    • The ABC of Safeguarding
    • The Friday Club
  • Suppliers
    • Meet the Supplier
    • From Our Partners
    • Supplier Directory
  • About
    • Editorial Board
    • Associations & Distribution
    • Our Publications
      • International School Magazine
      • School Management Plus Magazine
      • Wellbeing in International Schools Magazine
      • WISEducation newsletter
    • Advertise
    • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
School Management Plus: School & education news worldwide
No Result
View All Result
Home Latest News

Spotlight on a School: Wimbledon High School GDST

A 'have a go' spirit that does not fear failure is just as important as academic results at Wimbledon High School in London

Rachel Brewster by Rachel Brewster
June 27, 2022
in Latest News, Spotlight on a School
Reading Time: 4 mins read
34 0
A A
0
banner ad
Wimbledon High School Tennis Skills
Wimbledon High School
Wimbledon high School
Wimbledon High School
Linked InShare on FacebookShare on TwitterPin This

When Wimbledon High School’s founding mothers established our school in 1880, they declared that “girls have minds as fine as men’s which are worth educating” – a revolutionary statement in its day. 142 years on, we’re keeping true to that pioneering, progressive spirit in SW19. The school’s first headmistress Edith Hastings would be proud.

Visitors, perhaps arriving with preconceived ideas of what a highly academic school “should” look and feel like, are surprised at the warm welcome and relaxed atmosphere that they experience. It is a hive of activity and purposeful endeavour, of course. But crucially, there is lots of laughter as staff and students embody the head Fionnuala Kennedy’s mantra of “taking ourselves seriously while holding ourselves lightly”.

It’s easy to write that “we do things a little differently” but we are a school of lots of “firsts”. Back in 2012, we held our first “failure week”, hitting headlines internationally for daring to suggest that in a high-achieving environment we should talk as much about failure as success. That we should learn to take intellectual risks, to have a go, perhaps to fail, and then to pick ourselves up and try again.

“It’s easy to write that ‘we do things a little differently’ but we are a school of many  ‘firsts’.”

Conceived to combat a tendency, in bright girls especially, towards perfectionism, the initiative led to other themed weeks to build confidence and resilience. The everyday language of the school developed around these, encouraging a “can-do” ethos and a sense of fun.

That fun is seen in the weekly informal Friday Jammin’ sessions of our musicians, the student stand-up comedy and the charity dress-ups. It can also be seen in the “Mad4Padz” collections of sanitary products to fight period poverty, and the House competitions where older students cheer on and inspire the younger ones.

Students themselves love to refer to “Wimbledonian spirit” – an elusive thing capturing a delight in silliness and irreverence yet with a steely core of determination to keep going when the chips are down.

The latter comes into play in sport particularly – just this week our Year 8 tennis star, Hannah, enters Junior Wimbledon on a wild card, following recent national success. She will be the youngest in the draw and we’ll all be cheering her on from just down the road.

And back to that pioneering spirit: you encounter it in the STEAM Tower, comprising the labs and workshops that bring together science, technology, engineering, arts and maths in cross-curricular lessons.

“Wimbledonian spirit is a delight in silliness and irreverence yet with a steely core of determination.”

Shunning the stereotypes, girls at Wimbledon High choose science in spades – GCSE Product Design is a new favourite, as more young women head into engineering degrees, and maths is the most popular subject at A-level.

And in embracing STEAM, we emphasise that we are preparing students for the problem-solving and creative skills needed in workplaces in the future. It’s paid off, with two students last year winning an award in the Amazon Longitude Explorer Competition for their design “BioClear”, attempting to tackle the problem of plastic in our oceans.

In a separate initiative, a student’s novel independent research was published in an international journal. (We particularly enjoyed the letter of congratulations referring to our 18-year-old school student as “Dr”- such achievements, typically PhD level, are indeed rare for sixth formers.)

“We are preparing students for the problem-solving and creative skills needed in workplaces in the future.”

The STEAM tower opened as part of Project Ex Humilibus, a build funded by our owners, the Girls’ Day School Trust, a network of 25 schools nationally. September 2022 will see a new sixth form centre open on the Wimbledon Hill Road side of the site. This will create independent study and common room spaces for the oldest students in the school and providing a hub for the local community as our partnerships work is extended further.

Alongside the sixth form will sit a new auditorium, to enhance performance space for the spoken word as well as music and drama, and a playground in the sky for our Juniors.

A new dining area has brightened the site and reinforces our message about the value of pausing in the school day to relax and eat together with friends, while giving space and time for the over 140 clubs that run weekly. And these clubs are truly co-curricular, thriving and popular, valued next to curriculum time for the opportunities for growth and personal development they bring.

“I want students to look up and out beyond their individual subjects to reflect on the world around them.”

As well as STEAM, innovation of the curriculum is seen in our introduction of a non-examined bespoke course on Politics, Philosophy and Economics in Year 10.

“Most students do nine GCSEs– this is because of not despite our being a highly academic school” says Fionnuala Kennedy.

“I want students to look up and out beyond their individual subjects to reflect on the world around them. A world which could do with more bright young women like our Year 13 leavers to shake it up a little.”

“I wouldn’t advise on choosing a school now on the basis of Russell Group or Oxbridge numbers alone.”

With the future in mind, we are building our links with people in industry and seeing our first students head to degree apprenticeships and vocational courses as additional possibilities to more traditional paths.

As Fionnuala Kennedy says to parents at our open events: “I wouldn’t advise on choosing a school now on the basis of Russell Group or Oxbridge numbers alone. There is such an incredible range of courses and institutions, more fluid routes to what are likely to be portfolio careers… Choose a school on the qualities it engenders in its young people: curiosity, creativity and a willingness to work hard, yes, but also, crucially, listening skills, openness and kindness.”

We think Edith Hastings, while maybe putting a stricter emphasis on discipline back in the day, would certainly approve of these qualities and the “have a go” spirit of our community as it looks ahead to its 150th birthday and another 150 years beyond.

Tags: girls' educationschoolsWimbledon
Share8Share43Tweet27Pin10
Rachel Brewster

Rachel Brewster

Rachel Brewster is director of marketing and communications at Wimbledon High School GDST.

Video

  • All
  • Video
King's School Gloucester transformed its sixth form
Admissions & Marketing

How to future-proof your sixth form

May 24, 2023
861
International School Magazine

International School Magazine – Spring 2023

May 12, 2023
487
Publications

Independent School Management Plus – Spring 2023

May 12, 2023
180
In Conversation: John Gwyn Jones MBE, CEO, FOBISIA
International Schools

In Conversation: John Gwyn Jones MBE, CEO, FOBISIA

May 10, 2023
229

Latest News

Kilgraston School Scotland
Admissions & Marketing

Kilgraston School to close down later this month

June 2, 2023
218
Oxford applications
College Counselling

Oxford applications from private schools at 20-year low

June 1, 2023
224
Cleaners at Streatham and Clapham High to go on strike
Bursars & Finance

School cleaners to strike over pay and conditions

May 29, 2023
75
pupil voice in international schools
Heads & Governors

Pupil voice: Who might feel ostracised and why?

May 29, 2023
89
Mike Lambert has benefited from 360 appraisal
Heads & Governors

360 appraisal: The liberating effects of stripping yourself bare

May 24, 2023
691
ICS Census, state sector to private sector
Admissions & Marketing

ISC Census: State schools now largest source of new entrants to private sector

May 19, 2023
358
School Management Plus: School & education news worldwide

© 2020 Independent School Management Plus.

Navigate Site

  • Home
  • Latest
  • Leaders
  • Educators
  • International
  • Your School
  • Careers
  • Video & Podcast
  • Suppliers
  • About

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Latest
  • Leaders
    • Heads & Governors
    • Admissions & Marketing
    • Bursars & Finance
    • Staff Recruitment
    • Development & Fundraising
    • Alumni Relations
    • Communications & PR
    • Estate Management
    • School Data Management
    • School Owners & Operators
  • Educators
    • Safeguarding
    • College Counselling
    • Online Learning
    • Early Years
    • Exams & Qualifications
    • Assessment
    • Wellbeing
    • Inclusion
    • Sports and Outdoors
  • International
    • The View From Here
    • Wellbeing
    • Curriculum Design
    • Overseas Development
    • Staff Recruitment
    • EdTech
    • International School Magazine
  • Your School
    • How We Did It
    • Spotlight on a School
    • 30 minutes with…
    • Partnerships & Outreach
    • School News & Announcements
    • School Management Plus
  • Careers
    • Why work here?
    • View Vacancies
    • Movers & Shakers
    • CPD
    • Place a Vacancy
  • Video & Podcast
    • Inspiring Leadership
    • School Leaders
    • Membership Bodies
    • The ABC of Safeguarding
    • The Friday Club
  • Suppliers
    • Meet the Supplier
    • From Our Partners
    • Supplier Directory
  • About
    • Editorial Board
    • Associations & Distribution
    • Our Publications
      • International School Magazine
      • School Management Plus Magazine
      • Wellbeing in International Schools Magazine
      • WISEducation newsletter
    • Advertise
    • Contact Us

© 2020 Independent School Management Plus.

Welcome Back!

Sign In with Facebook
Sign In with Linked In
OR

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.