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Olivia Robinson, Head of School, Lent Term

This year we are celebrating 20 years of girls at Clifton, and having been a girl at Clifton for 14 of those 20 years, I am perhaps qualified to consider their experience and contribution! One might have thought that the introduction of girls in 1987 would have been radical enough to cause uproar at least amongst some of the male students, however due to Clifton’s admirable capacity to absorb and embrace change; it seemed only natural and was in fact a smooth transition.

Right from the word go the girls have joined in every area of the College, participating with easily as much energy and enthusiasm as our male counterparts. For some this starts in the classroom, where our methods of learning may vary. Perhaps realizing the success that girls gain from being organized, boys have, in some cases, followed suit and started to write notes – occasionally! On the other hand, some girls believe that boys dominate the classroom in terms of speaking up more often, yet interestingly the results from a language investigation I carried out for my English A Level on language and gender in the classroom showed that actually the boys and girls at Clifton speak up just as much as each other, which only serves to show that the coeducational atmosphere boosts the confidence and helps us to learn in different ways.

Aside from lessons, the sport, music and drama sides of life take a major role in the all round Clifton education, not to mention all the other extra curricular activities which fill up the day until we barely have a minute to spare. Many of us take part in team sports, and I have particularly enjoyed some exciting competition on the netball court whilst also admiring the skill of the Girls' 1st hockey team. I think it’s vital to point out the sense of support and respect found amongst all students here, something that can be demonstrated by the number of boys, as well as girls, who travelled all the way to Weybridge this March to cheer on the girls in the National Hockey Finals. We girls also spend many an afternoon supporting the rugby or the cricket on the Close, not just to gaze upon the good looking boys from the visiting teams. It’s not just a matter of joining in; there is genuine appreciation for each other.

Beyond the sports field, George has already mentioned the importance of CCF at Clifton, and it has certainly been the cause of some of my best experiences here. I wonder at how many girls’ schools would you find the students crawling through the mud at 11 o’clock at night, on ambush in Wales, with a smile to go with the camo paint? There are certainly no barriers for girls, in fact we embrace every opportunity to engage in some healthy rivalry with the boys, may it be in House Song, Debating, Sailing or even salsa classes, which have been quite popular amongst several of the boys this year!

And we certainly enjoy celebrating in each other’s company with such occasions as the Terrier’s Ball, a ball that the Third Formers attend each year, which causes no end of excitement as the girls dress up in their dresses and the boys in their smart dinner jackets for the first time. Further up the school many are fans of the Bigside Dinner, a dinner for the boys’ rugby teams and the girls’ hockey teams, the Commem Ball, a biannual occurrence and countless fundraising events, such as those held to raise money for the hockey, netball and rugby tour to South Africa this summer. One of these was even a very serious netball match between the netball and rugby team, labelled ‘Judgement Day’ by the rugby captain. I think it is clear to see the level of mutual respect that here, thanks to the encouragement felt all round. Boys are no longer some strange species (in most cases!), and I do hope we are not aliens to them (!) but indeed we help each other to see life through a different perspective, for the better. I could not imagine a more balanced and diverse education on account of the enormous number of opportunities at Clifton. What we will all leave with are some genuine friendships with people of all sorts, boys and girls, friendships which will last forever.

Olivia Robinson

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