Girls' Schools Association

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Girls' Schools Association
AbbreviationGSA
Formation1874
PurposeProfessional association for headteachers of independent and state girls' schools
HeadquartersSuite 105
108 New Walk
Leicester
England
Region served
Mainly United Kingdom
President
2024–25: Alex Hutchinson, Head, James Allen's Girls' School[ citation needed ]
Affiliations ISC
Website gsa.uk.com

The Girls' Schools Association (GSA) is a membership association for the heads of independent and state girls' schools in the United Kingdom. It is a constituent member of the Independent Schools Council (ISC), and works with the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL).

Contents

History

The GSA started life as the Association of Headmistresses – an organisation founded in 1874 by Dorothea Beale and Frances Buss, with the intention of improving access to education for girls. [1] Buss was the founding president. [2]

Enid Essame of Queenswood School was an honorary secretary before she became president in 1960. [3] She was succeeded by Diana Reader Harris in 1964. [4] She was in post until 1966, and organised a response to the Plowden Report.

In the early years of the twentieth century, the association was involved in supporting teachers who emigrated to the colonies, or returned to Britain having taught abroad; it had links with the Colonial Intelligence League for Educated Women. [5] Later in the twentieth century, the organisation promoted the teaching of domestic science at girls' schools. [6]

The GSA was established in 1974 following the amalgamation of two of the AHM's sub-groups: the Association of Heads of Girls' boarding Schools and the Association of Independent and Direct Grant Schools. It moved from London to new headquarters in Leicester in 1984, where it shared offices with the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) before moving to its current office, still in Leicester.

Structure

The chief executive is Donna Stevens.[ citation needed ]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Gordon, Professor Peter; Gordon, Peter; Lawton, Professor Denis; Lawton, Denis (2 August 2004). Dictionary of British Education. Routledge. p. 18. ISBN   978-1-135-78311-2 . Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  2. ↑ "Buss, Frances Mary (1827–1894), headmistress" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/37249. ISBN   978-0-19-861412-8 . Retrieved 18 October 2020.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ↑ Butler, Audrey M. B. (2004). "Essame, Enid Mary [Emma] (1906–1999), headmistress" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/73466. ISBN   978-0-19-861412-8 . Retrieved 18 October 2020.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. ↑ "Harris, Dame (Muriel) Diana Reader (1912–1996), educationist" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/63305. ISBN   978-0-19-861412-8 . Retrieved 18 October 2020.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  5. ↑ Goodman, Joyce; Martin, Jane (2013). Gender, Colonialism and Education: An International Perspective. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-134-98161-8 . Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  6. ↑ Rosoff, Nancy G.; Spencer, Stephanie (2019). British and American School Stories, 1910–1960: Fiction, Femininity, and Friendship. Springer. p. 138. ISBN   978-3-030-05986-6 . Retrieved 11 April 2025.
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