As a girls’ school we are determined to give students the tools to break down the gender-stereotypes that often exist in these fields. Our alumnae include game changers in STEM: the first woman to be president of the Aeronautical Society; Bristol’s first female architect; and the first woman to become a paediatrician in the south-west. These are just some examples of how we have bucked the trend in the past and we continue to do so. Nationally around 25% of girls go on to study technology or engineering at University*, whereas year-on-year we see on average 38% of our cohort choosing STEM subjects for Higher Education.
Success beyond our school
To give your daughter the chance to work on real, practical problem-solving projects in these areas we have fostered strong links with organisations such as Airbus, the Engineering Education Scheme and the University of Bristol’s Botanic Gardens. Our girls also enjoy great success in national schemes and competitions including the Biology Olympiad, the UKMT Maths Challenges and the British Science Association’s CREST Awards.
The STEM team run regular trips to CERN in Switzerland (one of the world's largest and most respected centres for scientific research), maths roadshows and science fairs. We are also involved in the Hisparc Cosmic Ray Project with Bristol University and have installed detectors on the school roof. In 2014, we even opened our own observatory with computerised optical telescope and weather station. Our girls can now, quite literally, reach for the stars.
*research conducted by www.wisecampaign.org.uk