Surbiton High Pupils invited to the ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ Premiere
 
Once again, Edwina Dunn (a former pupil) reached out to Surbiton High School and invited four pupils to join Principal, Rebecca Glover, at the BFI Imax European Premiere of Disney’s ‘A Wrinkle in Time’. Prior to the viewing, the girls were fortunate to have ringside seats at the panel debate, ‘The Power to Empower’, which was chaired by Sunday Times Style Editor Lorraine Candy, and included Edwina Dunn, Ava DuVernay, Reese Witherspoon, Oprah Winfrey, Mindy Kalin and Storm Reid.  The discussion focussed on the importance of empowering and mentoring our female leaders of tomorrow.
 
The discussion was at the heart of Edwina Dunn’s work. Edwina was the co-founder of the Tesco Clubcard and has gone on to create ‘The Female Lead’. This is a non-profit project that celebrates women’s achievement, endeavour and diversity. The project aims to make women’s stories more visible and provide positive, accessible and alternative role models for future generations through a number of methods, including an outreach schools’ programme for girls.
 
Some of our Year 10 pupils have also recently taken part in a project aligned with ‘The Female Lead’. ‘The women who shape our world’ looked at the definitions of a role model and their importance to the influence women have in the work place. Through this work, the girls developed many skills including leadership, negotiation, reflection, empathy, team work and conflict resolution. The project can be summed up by one pupil stating: “It has made me think that there are qualities in everyone that can be seen as inspirational. Role models don’t have to be well-known and can be anyone around us.” Miss Keers, who led the project, concluded that “it is worth remembering and respecting that gender equality can be achieved with the recognition that all our differences are complementary and so consequently, we all have a responsibility to shape our world”.
 
We are very privileged to have so many incredible female role models within the School community to continue to inspire, encourage and empower.