Dear Parents

A study from the journal ‘Science’ was reported on by the BBC last week. It suggested that girls consider themselves less innately talented than boys when they are only six years old. It went on to say that the problem could affect future careers.
 
One of the findings involved two games. One was labelled for children who are really, really smart and the other for those who try really, really hard. Girls were far more likely to choose the second option unlike their male counterparts.
 
It is concerning that cultural biases influence children so early in their development but there are ways to mitigate and reverse these trends. Building girls’ self-confidence and removing them from stereotypical situations is an ideal counter. We are uniquely placed at single-sex schools to encourage girls to follow routes that are often male-dominated. Our girls do not realise that, for example, mathematics and science are considered as boys subjects by society. For them they are simply an exciting part of their school day and just as important as any other topics. We can also tailor our PSHE programme to focus on challenging traditional categorisations as we focus on maintaining their self-efficacy.
 
Another way of building growth mind-sets is to emphasise the importance of hard work over simply being clever. Disabusing girls of the need to be naturally talented in order to always succeed helps them to try something that they might fail at. Our work on core competencies and skills, rather than relying on ability alone, goes a long way to promote their interests.
 
The final statement in the story is as follows.
 
‘Our research found that young women experience gender stereotypes at school from an early age.’
 
At Portsmouth High School they certainly do not.
 

Paul Marshallsay
Headmaster of the Junior School

Vernon house support the Bumblebee Conservation Trust

Early Years' News

Nursery
The Nursery children have been exploring the story of The Gingerbread Man this week. They have had fun playing a gingerbread man game, where they have used their counting and turn-taking skills. We have had ‘r’ as our Sound of the Week and thought about things that begin with this sound. We have also looked at how recipes are written and had a lot of fun making (and eating!) gingerbread men.

Reception
This week Reception have been counting in 10's for the first time. They have been singing and dancing along to fun songs as well as cutting and sticking the numbers in order. Our favourite activity has definitely been the counting in 10's snake puzzle.

Netball and cross country challenges

We had the first netball match for the U8B team and another match for the U8 A team last Wednesday against St Swithun's. It was a terrific fixture with goals being scored by both teams. The A team took a 2-2 draw and the B team lost 2-1 in a very closely contested match. Player of the matches were Anastazia Odor and Matilda Roberts. We are looking forward to the upcoming game against Sherborne House.

On Wednesday this week it was the turn of the U10 and U11s playing against Mayville. Both teams played extremely well with a lot of chances on goal. The U10 took a storming victory with player of the match going to Darcey Clarke and the U11s narrowly lost with 7-12 attack player of the game was Hadiyh Roostaei and defender of the game was Phoebe Atkinson.
 

Later this week we have U9s playing netball and a selection of girls taking part in a big cross country event at The Royal School and St Swithun's. It looks like it may be a muddy one!

'Never judge a book by its cover'

Year 9 Carehome Visit

A fascinating day with The Mary Rose Museum, our Partners in Education 

This week Year 8 continued with their exploration of the Tudor period by visiting the newly relaunched Mary Rose Museum in the Historic Dockyard. Our visits to the museum are always very welcoming and informative but this was the first time that most of the party had seen the ship with the naked eye rather than through glass and a cloud of restoration fluid. It was extraordinarily moving for the staff and the girls. The groups enjoyed a history mystery workshop where they evaluated eyewitness accounts to try to determine which was the most plausible explanation for her sinking. The girls also participated in a Tudor gun drill and are now experts in loading and firing a Tudor cannon.

Each of the groups also received a guided tour of the museum and had the opportunity to fire replica longbows and to consider why eight rosaries were found in the flagship of a country that was, by 1545, Protestant.

PHS hosts the GDST Chrystall Carter public speaking competition