GSA
GSA
GIRLS’ SCHOOLS ASSOCIATION
The Girls’ Schools Association is the leading professional association for Heads and senior leaders of girls’ schools.
The GSA supports, represents, and champions girls’ schools – through evidence-led advocacy, leadership development, and a powerful collective voice. It brings together headteachers and senior leaders to influence policy, share expertise and to strengthen girls’ education.
Its membership is made up of over 180 headteachers and educational leaders of girls’ schools, including the leaders of some of the best performing schools in the UK. Together, they educate more than 90,000 students and champion educational excellence and innovation for girls, so that young women can succeed in school, and beyond.
The GSA regularly commissions research to demonstrate the modern relevance and enduring power of a girls-only education and the benefits of being taught in a predominantly girls-only environment.
Why Choose a Girls’ School?
Girls need schools which actively build confidence, critical thinking, and the courage to take risks. Girls’ schools prepare students to excel academically and to step into the world with courage, compassion, and conviction through an education which is free from wider societal bias.
Benefits of girls’ schools
Greatest STEM & Economics Participation at A-Level
• Girls attending all-girls’ sixth forms are significantly more likely to study mathematics and science at A-level than their counterparts in co-educational schools
• They are 2.9 times more likely to take Further Mathematics
• They are 2.3 times more likely to take Physics at A-level
• They are 2 times more likely to take Economics at A-level
More likely to take other sciences than girls in co-ed schools:
• Biology (38% higher)
• Chemistry (83% higher)
• Computer Science (79% higher)
Greater Take Up of STEM Subjects at University
• Girls from all-girls’ sixth forms are significantly more likely to pursue mathematics and science degrees at university compared to the national average for girls
• They are more than four times more likely to apply for mathematics courses
• They are more than three times more likely to apply for economics
• They are twice as likely to apply for physical and biological sciences
• They are 40% more likely to apply for engineering degrees
The finding regarding engineering is particularly noteworthy, as Engineering UK reports that the sector accounts for 20% of UK jobs and 25% of vacancies, underscoring the importance of encouraging more women into this field.
More likely to enter STEM Careers
• Graduates from all-girls’ schools are significantly more likely to enter STEM careers.
• Fifty percent of GSA alumnae have worked in a STEM-related field at some point in their career, despite women currently making up only 8% of the overall STEM workforce.
• The most popular STEM career paths among alumnae were finance, medicine, and computing.
• 1 in 6 girls’ school alumnae have worked in a finance related role. Nationally, only 3% of working women currently work in finance.
• Girls in single-sex schools consistently outperform their peers in co-educational schools at both Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5.
Play More Sport
Sport participation in the UK lags well behind other countries and is particularly poor for girls, rooted in stereotypes from as young as 6 months.
• Girls in girls’ schools have higher levels of sport participation, on average participating in 25% more curriculum PE than in mixed schools
• Between KS4 and KS5 there is 65% drop off in the time girls spend playing sport nationally – in girls’ schools this drop off is much lower at 25%
• Seventy percent of primary aged girls surveyed preferred having no boys in their lessons, only 3% would like boys in their lessons
• Fifty-eight percent of girls preferred having no boys in their sports sessions, only 6% would like boys in their sport sessions
• Girls in girls’ schools are five times more likely to play cricket and 30% more likely to play football compared to girls in co-ed schools
• Seventy percent of primary aged girls surveyed preferred having no boys in their lessons, only 3% would like boys in their lessons
Modern girls’ schools offer a wide choice to families: from 100% girls to a predominantly girls-only environment with boys in the nursery or the Sixth Form; to a diamond model, with equal numbers of boys but separate classes between the ages of 11 to 16. Schools include day, boarding, Junior, Senior, large, small, urban or rural, with each offering every opportunity for students to fully realise their potential.
The women who have attended GSA schools are trailblazers. Leading the way in every sphere, they are pioneers and present-day innovators, activists, journalists, and politicians. Girls’ schools foster confidence, curiosity, and courage in young women so that they can achieve their ambitions whatever their chosen path, from the arts, to STEM, and beyond. Many GSA alumnae are world-renowned.
GSA schools are respected internationally and have an impressive global reputation. Fostering the highest standards of education, pastoral care and co-curricular activity, alongside a wealth of extra-curricular opportunity in art, music, drama, sport and more. They share experience, specialisms, events, and facilities in a variety of school partnerships. Annually, GSA’s independent schools provide £146 million in fee assistance and transformative bursaries to welcome families and pupils, from every background, to a complete education for young women.
The GSA works closely with the Association of School and College Leaders, is a member of the Independent Schools Council, and works collaboratively with organisations across the UK and globally in the interests of girls’ education, worldwide.
Officers 2025–2026 | | |
President: | Lindsey Hughes | Channing Senior School |
Vice-President: | Alex Hutchinson | James Allen's Girls' School |
President Elect: | Helen Jeys | Manchester High School for Girls |
Honorary Treasurer: | Sarah Matthews | Truro High School for Girls |
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Committee Chairs | | |
Boarding: | Katrina Handford | Kent College |
Education: | Helen Jeys | St Helen’s School |
Inclusion: | Bridget Ward | Wakefield Girls' High School |
Junior and Prep: | Sophie Banks | Pembridge Hall School |
Membership Inspections & Accreditation: | Clare Macro | Edgbaston High School for Girls |
Research: | Nicola Griffiths | St Mary's School, Colchester |
Safeguarding & Pastoral: | Ruth Sullivan | The Sherborne Girls |
Sport and Wellness: | Sarah Rollings | St Helen & St Katharine |
Higher Education and Futures: | Gemma Gibson (from Jan 2025) | Bedford Girls’ School |
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Regional Representatives | | |
East: | Jo Cameron | Queenswood School |
London: | Richard Tillett | Queen's College London |
Midlands: | Fiona Miles | Loughborough High School |
North East: | Neil Walker | Westfield School |
North West | :Joanne Keville | The Queen’s School, Chester |
Scotland: | Carol Chandler-Thompson | St George's, Edinburgh |
South Central: | Jo Duncan | Wycombe Abbey School |
South East: | Rachel Bailey | Benenden School |
South West & Wales: | Jessica Miles | Badminton School |
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Secretariat | |
Chief Executive: | Jeanette Cochrane |
Membership Director: | Sue Hincks |
Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive: | Jeven Sharma |
Membership Manager: | Natasha Hampton-Street (from 6 Jan 2025) |
Conference & Events Manager: | Jennifer Gladman |
Head of Media & Communications: | Rachel Donati |
Research & Communications Officer: | Robert Preston |
Accounts Manager: | Rehana Alimahomed |
Membership Administrator: | Amy Preston |
Social Media Manager: | Emma Lewis |
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Girls’ Schools Association
Suite 105, 108 New Walk, Leicester, LE1 7EA