Head Mistress’ Welcome

So, my dear alumnae, this is simultaneously a warm welcome and fond farewell from me. As I’m sure most of you will know by now, I announced my retirement a while ago and after nine years as Head Mistress at LEH, this will be my last in charge.

It means that since the beginning of September, the packed school calendar of events has been full of bittersweet moments like this, where I do things for the final time, and this will be my last column for Holles Connect.

With just over a term left to go, I have been increasingly looking back and reflecting on my time here. When I started at LEH, the school already had a formidable reputation for outstanding academic achievement, and I’m delighted that we have been able to maintain and possibly even improve on that.

But if all our students get from their education is good exam results, we would all be disappointed. There is so much more that you can gain from attending a school like LEH and we want our pupils to leave as courageous, enthusiastic risk-takers, with a clear sense of perspective and an inner confidence to know that even if things go wrong from time-to-time, they will not only survive, but thrive.

As a new head, I obviously wanted to make my mark and, for me, that meant fostering a caring, really nurturing environment. Under my tenure we have increased our emphasis on Wellbeing and Pastoral Care. I hope my legacy will be a school which encourages community, collaboration, co-operation, resilience and leadership skills.

It was therefore very satisfying that the benefits of this approach were publicly recognised in the recent outstanding ISI report. The inspectors found that pupils’ personal development is excellent and praised the way students are encouraged to be openminded and to value the diversity of backgrounds across the school community.

It also noted: “Resilience in their approach to learning is evident and pupils are risk takers, seeing failure as a valuable and inevitable part of learning. They celebrate the success of others and are keen to receive peer evaluation of their own work.”

Every single LEH pupil and alumna will, of course, be very familiar with our school motto Spes Audacem Adjuvat, but just having a mission statement which encourages students to be courageous and bold, doesn’t make it so.

To see what we do as a school that goes beyond the curriculum and exam results, to really embed this ethos into the hearts and minds of students, please read the articles by Head of Upper School Flora Ellison, who talks about building academic confidence and courage (see page 6), and Head of Life Advice Rachel Hart, who shares some of the ways we equip pupils with a toolkit of skills to help them deal with, and learn from, setbacks in school and outside. See page 4.

As my time at LEH draws to a close, I’m delighted to be able to tick another item off my career bucket list with my appointment as President of the GSA (Girls’ School Association) this year. Working with the GSA team, we agreed that the theme of the Annual Conference in November would be: Future Female: Fearless and Bold.

It was therefore only natural that the two-day event showcased several members of the LEH community. The keynote speech was given by Matthew Syed, a parent of a pupil in the Junior School, two of our ExtraOARdinary alumnae rowers talked about their record-breaking crossing of the Atlantic. Our current pupils also shone, as the Head Girl team interviewed a prominent politician, our Cantata Choir held the congregation at the GSA church service spellbound, and the L6 string quartet entertained everyone at the pre-dinner reception.

6 A Safe and Supportive Space to Learn

Flora Ellison on how we build academic resilience at LEH.

8 Why Does Hope Favour the Bold?

Some of our L6 pupils reveal how they build resilience.

10 This Too Shall Pass

Our wonderful team of L6 Creative Directors set out what the school motto means to them and how LEH is helping them to build resilience and fortitude on page 8. Their words are truly inspiring.

And so are the experiences of four of our intrepid alumnae. I am so very grateful to them for having the courage to share with us how they’ve been able to apply the lessons they learnt at LEH to help them overcome adversity in later life.

Mary Geraghty talks about how she dealt with her breast cancer diagnosis, Leo Grant explains how acceptance helps maintain a positive mindset, Katie Blake discovered an inner strength through facing hard times and now channels it to help others and Sheyi Martin-Allens uses music to help express herself and face her fears. See page 10 onwards.

I’m rather pleased to say that my opening speech generated headlines across the press and sparked a debate about how these days no one has to ‘be like a man’ to succeed in life. In fact, as I told the Conference, what the business world is now looking for are intangible skills and experiences such as empathy, resilience, collaboration, communication and teamwork: the very things that are tendencies which girls and women often find more natural than boys and men – and exactly the same attributes we are so proudly encouraging in our pupils at LEH. See page 24 for the full report.

I’m excited to say that I believe we are on the cusp of a new kind of power –feminine power – which places equal value on intellect and compassion. A human-centred approach to living that celebrates and harnesses empathy, creativity, collaboration, intuition, and courage.

Hope really does Favour the Bold!

Mary Geraghty, Class of 1991, shares how she dealt with being diagnosed with cancer during lockdown.

16 You Are Stronger Than You Think Sheyi MartinsAllen, Class of 2006, uses music to express herself and connect with others.

24 GSA Conference Special Report

The bold spirit of LEH was showcased at this year’s gathering of Head Teachers.

Resilience and its various iterations – grit, inner strength, adaptability, digging deep, bouncing back – is a term that has been arguably over-used in schools in recent years. But after the challenges faced by our young people since the world stopped turning on its predictable axis back in March 2020, it is undeniably a character trait that has never been more important to develop. It is therefore an essential element of the toolkit with which we strive to equip our pupils.

The LEH school motto: Hope Favours the Bold, underlines the importance of being brave, of rising to meet life’s inevitable challenges, of pushing against boundaries that are both visible and invisible, and – in doing so –focuses on the importance of character education, as this fosters resilience, and we need to be resilient to thrive. Lessons in Life Advice, our PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education – including Careers) –Programme, have this at their core.

Learning to be Your Best Self

Three years ago Head of Life Advice, Rachel Hart, led the introduction of a new approach to PSHE lessons at LEH, with a more practical focus to equip students with the tools they need to deal with life when it isn’t going to plan, which happens to all of us at some point.

We focus on the importance of healthy friendships and peer relationships, and how to resolve arguments successfully. We learn how to celebrate our own and others’ successes, and we discuss moments where we most need to be able to pick ourselves up, shake ourselves down and reframe or accept what has happened.

To better understand ourselves we discover where our individual strengths lie (and I’d advise everyone to take the fascinating VIA character strengths test – www.viacharacter.org), we develop crucial skills of self-compassion and self-care, we emphasise the need to balance our minds and bodies with lessons in mindfulness, talks on healthy sleeping and eating habits and – of course – every October we host our hugely popular Wellbeing Day.

Martin Seligman, Psychologist and founder of the Positive Education movement, uses the helpful acronym PERMA when considering how resilience can be developed. This stands for: what happens when things don’t go to plan and how this makes us feel – as it’s in those difficult and unexpected

Positive Emotions – logging what has gone right today and every day – at have learned – each pupil in Thirds to U4 has a Jigsaw Journal in which they note or draw their reflections after Life Advice lessons.

LEH we practise the art of journalling in Form times and use an anxiety thermometer to record our feelings each morning, in order to see how these change throughout the day.

Engagement – finding activities and work that allow you to be in a flow state – at LEH we focus on values of citizenship and community in our Life Advice lessons and House activities.

Accomplishments – master one new skill and celebrate this – our extensive extra-curricular programme encourages all pupils to try something out for the first time, and our awards assemblies are truly joyous occasions!

At LEH every pupil has one session of Life Advice every week. It helps underpin everything the school does academically, developing the attributes pupils need to thrive as individuals and responsible, mindful members of society. In doing so it prepares them for a world beyond school.

Relationships – strengthening your friendships and relationships – our bespoke RSE programme at LEH encourages us to be authentic in our connections, and we constantly stress the importance of kindness through our pastoral care.

Meaning – take meaning in what has happened and reflect on what you

Resilience, like all skills, needs practice. Sometimes it is helpful to see behaviour and attributes we all aspire to being modelled by other people to whom we can relate or who we respect. When we hear others talking about overcoming setbacks we learn to embrace, not fear, failure and we begin to understand that, rather than defining who we are, it offers us the chance to become a stronger version of ourselves. Our varied speaker programme gives pupils throughout the school the opportunity to listen to and be inspired by some of these stories.

So, parents – continue conversations at home on the topics we are discussing at school and look for ways to develop resilient attitudes in your children; Alumnae – come in and share

The programme aims to teach and encourage a wide range of strategies and skills including:

• Responsible decision-making

• Negotiation and team-work

• Navigating social media

• Valuing, respecting and celebrating diversity

• Self-reflection and goal-setting

• Awareness of rights and responsibilities

• Setting age-appropriate boundaries your real-life stories of resilience to become future role-models for LEH pupils today. Resilience is individual, but it can be best engendered by a collective response and outlook.