A celebration of your support 2022 – 2023
Leave a lasting gift.
Hundreds of members of the GDST community have chosen to leave a gift and forward-thinking education for GDST girls of the future.
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As a GDST supporter, you can write your will for free using leading will-writing service, Farewill. Get started by visiting www.farewill.com/gdst-giving2024.
Registered charity number 306983
Thank you The year 2022-23 signified our 150th year anniversary as the Girls’ Day School Trust. This momentous milestone gave us a moment to pause and reflect on all we have achieved and all we continue to strive towards. Our mission and values have never been clearer; to reach as many girls as possible, to create a more equal world by educating young women thereby changing the lives of our brilliant students and those whose lives they touch in the wider community. We keep these values close to our hearts in all we do, guided by the principles of our four fearless founders in 1872. It is my pleasure to be custodian of the GDST during this pivotal time. Whilst we can recognise the progress that has been made, we keep a laser focus on the potential yet to be achieved. None of the positive stories in this edition of Giving would be possible without
our outstanding staff, inspirational students, alumnae and you, our loyal donors and supporters. We have an ambitious goal to establish 150 new transformative bursaries for girls who would not otherwise be able to access a GDST education and your support is crucial in achieving this. Thank you for supporting our mission.
Cheryl Giovannoni Chief Executive, Girls’ Day School Trust @cherylGDST
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Philanthropic income and impact 2022-23
202
new bursaries awarded
£2.1
million raised for Bursaries and Financial Assistance
198
bursary holders are also in receipt of a scholarship
1,200 applications
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1 in 10 students are being supported by a bursary
995
students benefited from a GDST bursary
458
students benefited from a 100%+ bursary
1,514
gifts received from generous donors 05
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Leaving a gift for future generations In 2022-2023, nearly £680,000 was left to the GDST by women from across our alumnae community through legacies. We are hugely grateful to these women for leaving a gift to us in their Will, making an impact for future generations of GDST girls, just like themselves. In 2023, a generous legacy gift was received, benefitting not one, not two, but three GDST schools. Isobel Stevenson was educated at Croydon High School from the age of 5, and even by this young age, she knew she wanted to be a teacher. When she left university, she started her career as a Maths and Science teacher at Shrewsbury High School. Her second teaching role was at another GDST school - Wimbledon High School. She continued teaching at various schools, taking on increasingly senior leadership roles, until in 1981 when she was offered her dream
role – a headship at Jersey College for Girls. Her ambition to become a Headteacher had started at the age of 16, and having spent most of her working life in girls schools, she was incredibly passionate about the benefit of single-sex education. She strongly believed that it is the best environment in which to nurture girls’ self-esteem and provide the maximum opportunity for development. Isobel’s generosity and foresight in leaving a gift in her Will is enormously appreciated by the GDST, Croydon High School, Shrewsbury High School and Wimbledon High School. Each gift will benefit the school’s bursary programme, enabling GDST girls of the future to thrive. Scan the QR code to learn more about remembering the GDST in your Will. 07
In their own words The gift of a bursary is life-changing to our students, best heard from them in their own words. Lydia, Year 13, Notting Hill and Ealing High School GDST
‘Every person has the potential to make a huge difference in the world.’ ‘Physics has been my favourite subject since joining the school in Year 7. It wasn’t until our Junior School began to be built that a career in Engineering really caught my interest. The site has been designed by women for women and being around passionate, female architects and engineers made me consider my own potential. I have a bursary and I’m really grateful for the opportunity to study at a school that I might not have been able to, had it not been for the bursary. A GDST student is strong, and knows what they want. Being able to explore and learn about all the things I’m interested in makes me really happy.’ Scan the QR code to hear more from Lydia. 08
Zelah, Year 10, Oxford High School GDST Meet Zelah, a trailblazer in neuro studies and (we believe) a future life-saver whose combination of interests in human psychology and neurosurgery is astounding. She is also a bursary award holder at Oxford High School.
‘My proudest achievement at school was when I first applied and I was awarded a bursary. Without that, I would not be able to be here. The bursary programme is one of the more important things within the GDST. More people need the opportunity to have a brilliant education. If you can fund the next Nobel prize winner, the next Prime Minister, do it.’
‘To be a GDST girl is a very great gift.’ After going through a traumatic family experience, Zelah found a deep passion for neuroscience and psychiatry and has since caught the attention of the University of Helsinki. ‘It is important to have women in STEM just as it’s important to have women in every field. You need diversity in order to have a diverse understanding of the world.’
Scan the QR code to hear more of Zelah’s story.
‘We are encouraged to be exactly who we want to be. I know exactly who I am and where I am going.’ 09
Why you give GDST schools: Sheffield High School for Girls, Sydenham High School and South Hampstead High School. The Black Heart Foundation is now supporting a further two Sixth Form students at South Hampstead High School who will complete their studies in Summer 2024 and 2025.
Our supporters are the backbone in our mission to reach as many girls as possible with a life-changing GDST education. Each gift, great and small, is valuable and greatly appreciated. The Black Heart Foundation has changed the lives of three GDST Sixth Form students so far, by funding full bursary awards for each of them. The three GDST students, known as the Black Heart Foundation Scholars completed their studies in Summer 2022. The girls were at three different 10
Founded by Ric Lewis, Executive Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Tristan Capital Partners and former parent at South Hampstead High School, the Black Heart Foundation aims to remove any and all barriers to the aspiration and achievement of young people in life and education and supports young people irrespective of their background.
‘I was the beneficiary of someone’s intervention in my life at a crucial juncture and that experience taught me how critical it can be to have help.’ Ric Lewis (South Hampstead High School former parent and member of the Bursary Board)
Since 1998, over 6,600 women across the UK have benefited from the lifechanging opportunity of a GDST education thanks to our bursary programme.
Scan the QR code to read more philanthropic stories from across the GDST schools. 11
The Girls’ Day School Trust www.gdst.net/support 10 Bressenden Place, Westminster, London, SW1E 5DH The Girls’ Day School Trust is a limited company and charity registered in England Company No. 6400. Registered Charity No. 306983. The GDST Academy Trust is a limited company and charity registered in England No. 6000347