Sport at Redmaids’ High Juniors - empowering every girl

At the Junior School, sport is and has always been celebrated for its many well-being benefits around health and happiness and for its impact on developing key skills such as teamwork, communication and leadership in girls.  

Last week, The Guardian reported that girls who play after-school sport in the UK are 50% more likely to get senior professional jobs later in life. It attributed this benefit to the resilience, confidence and adaptability that sport builds, with women who play sport a third more likely to handle pressure well and bounce back after hard times, and a fifth more likely to enjoy trying new things. 

However, one in three girls surveyed for the report said boys had access to a wider range of sports. Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, commented that at a grassroots level, “too often women and girls find the same old barriers in place.” She added that the government was investing heavily in areas lacking sport facilities and was shaking up the curriculum to give girls and boys the same access to sport in schools. 

Broadcasters have started making women’s sport increasingly visible which is helping to make positive shifts in attitude and gender equality. We support the notion that they have a responsibility to cover more women’s sport in the media. This change in mindset – that sport is for everyone, we believe, starts from an early age. 

As an all-girls school, we celebrate a broad range of sport, and sport for all. Our recent film “where nothing is off limits”, opens with the statistic that 1 in 4 girls feel they cannot take part in certain pathways because of their gender (The Girls’ Futures Report), whilst at the Junior School, every single girl has the opportunity to represent the school in at least three sports each year. 

Every girl here from Years 3-6 engages in PE, hockey, netball or cricket and swims. All girls are encouraged to try at least one extra-curricular club and sport options include football, netball, hockey, running, dance, judo and fencing! Outdoor education activities such as kayaking, climbing and caving are extremely popular. Every term, there are House sport events which every girl takes part in. We aim for sport to be fully inclusive, and we see how this helps girls grow in confidence and resilience. 

As part of our curriculum, girls take part in a programme dedicated to outdoor education every year, where they test their boundaries with climbing, archery, obstacle courses, and more. For Year 6, they try surfing and bivvy-building too, in a week’s residential. These activities are perfect for developing adaptability, teamwork and leadership skills. The girls return from these trips energised and excited for more. 

Here, we are fortunate to be able to offer girls a broad and inclusive range of sport that is fully accessible to all girls and woven into school life from a young age. Whether it is team-based or individual challenges that motivate your daughter, they are encouraged to participate, where sport is truly for everyone. 

To learn about our inclusive approach to sport and all other areas of school life, visit us at one of our Open Events this term. Click here to book.