Thorpe Hall School was recognised for excellence and innovation in its senior provision at the 2016 Independent Schools Association (ISA) Annual Awards.
Recognising the success of the school’s pastoral care initiative Girls on Board, the award was presented to Headteacher Andrew Hampton at the ISA’s Annual Autumn Conference by Fred Binley from the University of Southampton.
Girls on Board sets out a common platform and language to help girls in early adolescence navigate the often-troubled waters of friendships. It empowers them to solve relational problems and arms them with the skills they need to keep friendships more stable and less disruptive.
Thorpe Hall shares the model with girls in Years 8 to 11 and has found it to be effective at both preventing friendship problems occurring and also helping to solve issues between girls where problems have arisen. The model is also shared with parents in an hour-long presentation with specific advice about how parents can help to support their daughters.
Dr Peter Woodroffe, Deputy CEO of the ISA, commented: “The judges enjoyed Thorpe Hall’s creative and innovative approach to the issue of adolescent girls’ friendship problems and the impact these can have on schools. The judge even commented that they wanted to recommend it to pastoral heads of every secondary school in the country!”.