Bright Girls Bright Futures 2022 - 2025
To inspire and challenge bright girls who have a talent for STEM through peer-learning opportunities.
Aims
Inspire and challenge gifted and talented girls through peer mentoring and STEM inspired workshops.
Increased understanding and use of subject specific vocabulary.
Inspire girls to take up subjects and professional roles that are often stereotyped as boys’ subjects/jobs which will include, but not limited to, raising the profile of women in STEM.
Improved presentation of impact data and results.
Give NGHS girls on bursary places opportunity to be an active part of the wider community to nurture academic curiosity and motivation.
Provide additional opportunities outside of workshops for peer-learning and social connections.
Background
NGHS has engaged with Dunkirk Primary and Jesse Gray Primary for than 10 years on outreach events and opportunities. All three schools were keen to work more formally together for long term and sustainable outcomes.
An official review of BGBF and onboarding took place in September 2022 with the partnership kickstarting in October of the same year.
Resources
Internal Resources: 2 x Internal staff involved; 26 x Internal KS3 students enrolled 2023-2024. NGHS is the Lead school providing all resources through external funding. Sustainability outlined in MOU re future financial commitment should funding be unsuccessful
External Resources: 4 x External staff involved; 26 x External KS2 pupils involved.
Impact
Benefit to staff and pupils:
Staff: Teaching Resource development; travel to multiple sites and work with girls of differing ability; seek out talent and nurture talent; Students: Mentoring leadership; develop knowledge of STEM subjects and career pathways; peer-mentoring and socialising; communication and empathy.
Benefit to the community:
STEM opportunities outside of school; girls' only; gifted and talented focused; bespoke careers guidance; cross-sector peer-mentoring; trips; wider staff CPD.
At the end of this first year, girls learnt how to create their own codebreakers and developed their digital literacy when researching and site mapping their own online interactive story. Feedback from our participants include “Women can do anything” (Dunkirk Pupil) and “The best thing has been connecting with my partner” (Jesse Gray Pupil), all captured in session surveys in partnership with ImpactEd.
In its first year, BGBF has shown positive impact with pupils at both primary schools showing increases in their view of people in STEM as role models from the first to last session. When broken down further, there was a 44% increase in the most disadvantaged pupils’ response to ‘I can see myself working in STEM’. The second partner primary school saw a 9% increase in growth mindset from the start to end of the programme, whilst the social and emotional outcomes for NGHS pupils on bursary saw a 5% increase in grit from the beginning to the end of the first year. These initial results show a promising projectile for the programme on the whole, and we are excited to see how the partnership continues to develop into its second and third year by combining wider resources across all partner schools, including introducing parent-led STEM events, NGHS alumnae case studies, a STEM festival, and our first-ever cross-sector partnership field trip.
Pupil Involvement
A total of 26 internal KS3 students currently enrolled.
Frequency
The partnership was established in 2022 and is ongoing.
