International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

At Cirencester Deer Park School our school aims reflect the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, equality and mutual respect for and tolerance of all faiths, race, age, gender and ability. In Citizenship and RP lessons pupils examine the roles of women and the issues surrounding equality. They discuss the issues that women face in different societies around the world today. Miss Hope’s Year 7 RP classes, having studied the Sikh Guru Aamr Das, recently completed the following homework: "Men and women should have the same opportunities all the time." Do you agree? Discuss, showing you have considered more than one view point and include a Sikh opinion. Pupils across Deer Park have some very strong opinions on equality and express the need for a more just world.

A group of our girls in Years 8-11 have been working with Computer Science Team Leader, Martin Peake, in the exciting GCHQ CyberFirst Girls competition which aims to inspire and encourage girls to consider a career in cybersecurity. As with Science and other more 'traditionally' male-dominated subjects, we believe that anyone has the opportunity to study and be the best they can be, regardless of their gender. Over an intense eight-day period, our teams of four girls worked hard to overcome many fiendish challenges, from corrupted QR codes to messages hidden within images. Their innovate thinking, independent research and merciless leveraging of contacts helped them solve many of the challenges, and they await the results on Monday 13 March.

GCHQ and the National Cyber Security Centre will announce a number of free summer courses for potential cyber warriors on Friday 10 March (find out more...). This is a great opportunity for girls and boys to investigate more about this fulfilling and potentially financially rewarding career.

There are some inspiring videos on the International Women's Day website including these:

At Deer Park we encourage all pupils to be the best they can be and I am delighted so many of our girls aspire to achieve great things. Through our curriculum they take inspiration from inspirational role models and they readily challenge themselves as leaders, ambassadors and volunteers.

 

Chiquita Henson, Headteacher

If there are one or two books we recommend that everyone should read, male or female, pupil or parent, they are 'Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women' by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn and 'We Should All Be Feminists' by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (also available online as her original TEDx talk).

Useful Links:

• International Women's Day
• UN Women - Women in the changing world of work