An All Girls' Education

We are committed to the benefits of single-sex education for girls, allowing our students to think, develop and learn in a supportive and challenging environment, free from gender stereotyping. This knowledge is built up over 140 years of experience of teaching girls.

In our single sex environment we can affirm and encourage young women in their capacities as individuals, leaders and agents of social change. Our students do not have to conform to sexist patterns of behaviour. They develop confidence in their own abilities as individuals, and do not define themselves by their gender. Girls hold all the senior positions, they are not tokens.

We know the importance of building resilience and intellectual risk taking, and we have an expert  understanding of girls’ pastoral needs at every stage in their development. Because we are single sex, our students can be themselves and grow at their own pace. They can concentrate on their learning. They can learn from their mistakes without fear of being put down or dismissed. Without the presence of boys, they display their intelligence and curiosity regardless of powerful age-determined notions of popularity, attractiveness or negative peer pressure.

Learning at Bedford Girls' School

We have developed our model of education to integrate specific female-centred learning strategies to ensure we provide the challenge and nurture every student needs by:

• Using relevant real-world applications from girls’ lives
• Ensuring we're exploring the contribution of women of different backgrounds and ethnicities  throughout our curriculum
• Using technology to encourage collaboration and creativity
• Allowing time for independent exploration
• Encouraging the girls to be bold and take risks in a safe non judgemental environment
• Ensure the explore their mistakes and see failure as a root to success
• Using writing as a means of learning any subject
• Always highlighting female role models and ensuring our incredible Alumnae are part of school life to demonstrate pathways to success across a huge range of fields
• Encouraging discussion; providing opportunities to find and use their authentic voices
• Personalising learning and limiting the use of academic setting
• Offering mentoring: peer to peer; alumnae to student and staff to student; giving our students the space to tackle their own challenges
• Ensuring all of our staff  and parents understand how girls develop so we can fully support them through their neurological, psychological and physical changes

However, out students are not cloistered; we actively encourage them to engage in co-curricular co-educational activities beyond Bedford Girls’ School including opportunities for our students to collaborate with Bedford School. Our links with Bedford School are strong and continue to develop. We can provide the best of both worlds: single sex lessons, focussed exclusively on the needs of our girls; as well as a co-educational extra-curricular environment where the benefit from understanding the wider perspectives of others.

Our students soar in this environment.