Dear Parents,

I write to you at the end of our first full week of lessons in the Senior School. As I walk around the school I am heartened by the purposeful buzz emanating from the classrooms as the girls engage with their subjects and their teachers with such purpose and enthusiasm.

It was wonderful to meet so many of you at the Pastoral Evening on Wednesday and hear all about the varied and exciting ways you spent the summer and your ambitions for your daughters this term. As you can see from this newsletter the next few weeks will be extremely busy with a plethora of trips and activities planned for the term ahead.

Personally, I am thrilled to be attending the GDST Summit next week with our Head Girls and other members of the Leadership team. Held in London, the conference is entitled ‘New Rules: Preparing Young Women for a World of Radical Change.’ It will be very interesting to hear some ideas from the BBC News Presenter, and GDST alumna, Mishal Hussain. We will also have the chance to meet representatives from our sister schools in the Trust and support our own nominee, Emily Brooke (Class of 2003), at the presentation of our Alumna of the Year award. Emily is a truly inspiring business woman, inventor, designer and entrepreneur and you can see more about why we are so proud of her here.

I am looking forward to meeting many Year 9-11 parents at the A Level or IB Diploma: Any Questions event on Tuesday. I am keen to be of service to Year 11 parents and their daughters in discussing aspirations and Sixth Form options over coffee; please do get in contact with Ali Mottram if you would like to make an appointment.

In the meantime, may I wish you all an enjoyable weekend. I do hope that you are able to spend some quality family time together amidst all the whirlwind of activity our girls bring.

Hadrian Briggs

Interim Head