On the evening of Tuesday 22nd September, we gathered to celebrate our pupils achievements at our annual Prize-Giving.
The event was a wonderful celebration of the 2016/17 academic year. As well as the traditional awarding of prizes, we were treated to music, ballet and, for the very first time, ballroom dancing and a drama performance!
The evening began with a beautiful musical performance by our Scholars Ensemble, and an address by Marie Winckler, Chair of Governors. Headmistress Lucy Elphinstone then thanked the parents, teachers and governors for their unfailing support over the last year, and congratulated the girls on their achievements, which included the highest number of A* grades ever at GCSE. Mrs Elphinstone then introduced our guest speaker, Laura Bates, who shook the hand of each prize winner as she went on stage to collect her prize.
Laura Bates is founder of the internationally renowned Everyday Sexism Project, a collection of over 100,000 testimonies of gender inequality. In 2015 she received the Georgina Henry Women in Journalism award and a British Empire Medal in the Queens Birthday Honours List. She writes regularly for the Guardian, TIME magazine, Independent, Grazia and Red Magazine; her first book, Everyday Sexism, was shortlisted for the Waterstones book of the year and her latest book, in 2016, is the Sunday Times Bestseller Girl Up.
Laura spoke about how the Everyday Sexism Project, which she initially set up as a small forum for sharing experiences of gender inequality, has over time grown into an international movement. She told guests that the things that end up changing the world dont start out looking grand and enormous; they look small, and impressed on the girls that they should never allow someone to tell them they cant do something because of their gender, and nor should they put limits on themselves. It was an inspirational talk, which will undoubtedly empower our girls to pursue their goals both in and outside school.
We also enjoyed a captivating ballet performance by our senior dancers, whilst our GCSE Drama pupils performed a scene from The 39 Steps by Patrick Barlow. Excellently executed by the girls, the snippet had the whole audience in stitches! For the very first time, one of our girls also performed a waltz. Anastasia, who is in Lower Sixth, performed the moving dance with her partner Thor to A Thousand Years. To finish the evening, our choir performed a medley of Amazing Grace and Fight Song, perfectly encapsulating the values of our school and our pupils.
