| E D U C A T I O N | 24 24 24 THE RIVER MAGAZINE | Autumn 2018 THE RIVER MAGAZINE | Autumn 2016 THE RIVER MAGAZINE | Autumn 2018 THE RIVER MAGAZINE | Autumn 2016 L eading London independent day school for girls, Blackheath High School GDST, is enviably nestled between leafy Blackheath Village and the beautiful Royal Greenwich Park with its 13 acres of open space, extraordinary views across the river Thames to St Paul’s, the Royal Observatory, National Maritime Museum, and the Royal Naval College. It is an all-through school, where girls aged 3 to 18 years have thrived in an environment tailored to them since its doors opened in 1880. It was one of the first purpose-built Girls’Day School Trust (GDST) schools, established for the education of girls at a time when this was far from the norm. As pioneers in, and shapers of, the future of girls’ education, GDST’s purpose is to help every girl fulfil her potential and her dreams. Carol Chandler-Thompson who has been Head of the school since 2014, after leading roles in independent girls’schools from North London to South Korea, reveals “there is a wealth of research that shows that girls do better academically in an all-girl environment, where they have the freedom to be themselves. This underpins everything we do at Blackheath High School. The school’s empowering, feminist culture means the students are more likely to take intellectual risks, adopt leading, active roles and be less inclined to conform to gender stereotypes.” With unique facilities on their doorstep the students are given unrivalled academic opportunities from GCSE Astronomy at The Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park, play-writing with the National Theatre on London’s South Bank, rowing at the Royal Albert Docks on the river Thames, to performing music concerts in the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich. Rated ‘excellent in all areas’by the Independent School Inspectorate, academic success is at the core of the school. With the aspirational culture and inspirational teaching by specialist expert teachers, students make exceptional progress with excellent public examination results and broke all records this year in their GCSE exams with 37% of students awarded A*/ 9/8. GRAND DESIGNS on Blackheath High School Junior School Choir Performing at the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich (left), and Blackheath High School partners with Farrow & Ball for student art exhibition (below) View of Greenwich Park & River Thames from the Royal Observatory where Blackheath High School students study GCSE Astronomy E D U C A T I O N S P E C I A L