By Mrs Gibson, Headmistress

It has been wonderful to welcome our students back to BGS last week. This was never going to be an ordinary start to the school year. Our community has experienced great sadness, and returning to school after the tragic death of one of our students was always going to bring a range of emotions.

What has struck me most, however, is how our students have returned: with kindness, maturity and care for one another, but also ready to embrace school life again. I have been immensely proud of them. Remembering someone and moving forward are not opposites. School should once again be a place of friendship, learning, laughter and ambition, and there is much for us to look forward to together. It has also been a real pleasure to welcome our new students in Year 3, Year 7, and the Lower Sixth and across the rest of the school, and to see them already beginning to find their place within the BGS community. 

For my first assembly of the year, I chose to talk about Dolly Parton. Perhaps not the most obvious role model for a hall full of teenagers, but that was rather the point. Dolly built an extraordinary career on her own terms. She was unapologetically herself, refused to conform to other people’s expectations of what a successful woman should look like, used her talents brilliantly and, importantly, used her success to open doors for others.

It is one of the great strengths of an all-girls education: we can deliberately fill our students’ world with the stories of interesting, complex and successful women and ask what we can learn from them. At BGS, girls are never the afterthought or the addition; their experiences, ambitions and futures are at the heart of everything we do. There is no single way to be a successful woman, and our girls should grow up knowing that.

That confidence in girls’ education sits at the heart of our new BGS strategy and our ambition to be a place where girls soar. We want every girl to discover her strengths, seize opportunities and develop the confidence to follow her own path whether that is: academically; personally through sport, creativity, leadership, friendships or the contribution she makes to others; or as she takes the next steps beyond our doors as she soars into life. We are proud of who we are, ambitious about our future and excited about everything that lies ahead.

And there is a huge amount ahead this year: from our enhanced sport offer dedicated to girls; our Pathways Programme to new leadership opportunities; curriculum developments in Sixth Form and KS3; and exciting improvements to our site in Music, Wellbeing and Cricket. All of it is underpinned by something very simple: ensuring BGS continues to provide an outstanding education designed specifically for girls.

After a difficult end to last year, it feels particularly important to begin this one with hope and ambition. As Dolly Parton put it:

“If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.”

We have certainly experienced the rain. Now, together, we will keep looking towards the rainbow…and help every girl at BGS to soar.