Last autumn, the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST) published its Insight Report on Designing the Future for Girls’ Education. This report highlights three core principles for educating girls to realise their ambitions: Classroom, Curriculum and Culture.
In this blog, I want to focus on curriculum and co-curriculum, and in particular, the importance of designing them deliberately for girls. Imagine an environment where every lesson, every club and every performance is purposefully crafted to amplify each student’s potential. A forward-focused curriculum, enriched by a co-curricular programme that removes barriers to learning, breaks down stereotypes and develops essential skills, is key to ensuring that girls leave school with the confidence, knowledge and opportunities to thrive, both within school and, crucially, in the wider world.
The curriculum of any school is its lifeblood. At Northampton High School, we see it not simply as the content taught, but as an experience shaped carefully to enable girls not only to take part but also to believe in their power to lead and influence it. We are intentional in designing learning that nurtures curiosity, collaboration, independence, risk-taking and perseverance all without hesitation, preparing our pupils to excel in fields where women have historically been underrepresented.
Indeed, a thread that runs clearly through this area of the report is that girls’ schools, like ours, enable their pupils to believe in themselves and so they can achieve anything. It cites compelling data: the Institute of Physics found that fewer than 2% of girls studying A Level Physics nationally go on to read Physics at university, compared to 6.5% of boys. Yet in single-sex independent schools, 7.5% of girls who study A Level Physics progress to university study in the subject, a higher proportion than boys and girls nationally. This begs the question: why the difference?
The answer, in my view, lies in the environment. In schools like Northampton High, girls are not competing to be heard; their voices are noticed, recognised and celebrated. Each time a teacher acknowledges a girl’s contribution, another block of self-belief is built, strengthening her resilience. Here, girls are encouraged to say, “I don’t understand this yet”, knowing that the classroom culture embraces both success and failure as integral parts of learning. This sense of psychological safety is the foundation on which confidence and self-belief grow.
That is why our school value is both simple and powerful: “We believe in each and every one of our girls, and they believe in themselves”. At Northampton High, we have been pioneering girls’ education since 1878, and we will never stand still. Resilience is unapologetically nurtured through what we affectionately call being “10% braver”, encouraging girls to take intellectual risks, tackle challenges with open minds, grasp opportunities and grow into fearless, independent young women ready to thrive in a fast-changing world.
Our curriculum and co-curriculum are deliberately structured to support this, and we are unashamedly proud to be ‘Made for Girls’. Whether through STEM enrichment such as our much-loved spectacular Chemistry Science Week show, always attended by more than 100 girls; to the innovative STEMSOC individual projects like the unforgettable investigation debunking the myth of a fish having only a six-second memory; and to the inspiring engineering trips led by our Physics team, showcasing women in engineering at Mercedes-Benz and Williams Racing F1 teams, we provide spaces where girls can test their skills, discover passions and build confidence.
It is therefore always a privilege to see the results: members of our Class of 2025 are progressing to study Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Bristol, Mechanical and Civil Engineering at Northumbria, Physics with Astrophysics at Newcastle, Mechanical Engineering at Sheffield, Mathematics at Oxford, Mathematics and Computer Science at Birmingham. These achievements reflect not only talent and hard work, but also the culture and curriculum that embolden girls to step boldly into fields where women remain underrepresented.
For me, a forward-focused curriculum that removes barriers, challenges stereotypes, and develops essential skills is just the starting point. The true differentiator, the “secret ingredient”of a Northampton High education, is self-belief. When girls believe in themselves, supported by an education designed for them, there is no limit to what they can achieve.
Dr May Lee
Head