Girls' Day School Trust

The Girls' Day School Trust (GDST) is a group of 29 independent schools in England and Wales, catering for pupils aged 3 to 18. It is the largest group of independent schools in the UK, and educates 20,000 students each year. [ cite web
last = Girls' Day School Trust
title = Introduction
url = http://www2.gdst.net/introduction.php
accessdate = 2007-02-15] The organisation was formed in 1872 to provide affordable day school (non-boarding) education for girls. It has been previously known as The Girls' Public Day School Company (1872-1905) and The Girls' Public Day School Trust (1906-1998).

Encouraged by the Labour Government's City Academies program, the GDST is at the forefront of the independent-led arm of the Academies programme and has begun to convert existing GDST owned schools back into the maintained sector with The Belvedere School, Liverpool, having converted in September 2007 and Birkenhead High School converting in September 2009. [cite web
last = BBC News
title = Private school's academy plans
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4414112.stm
date = 7 November 2005
accessdate = 2007-02-14] [cite web
last = Birkenhead High School
title =Birkenhead High School Academy Proposal
url = http://www.ecommnet.co.uk/test/gdst/birkenhead/news.asp?id=384&page=newsroom.asp
date = 5 October 2007
accessdate = 2007-02-14 ] These schools, whilst losing their right to select pupils on the basis of academic ability, will retain some degree of independence from the Government with the GDST maintaining a majority on the governing body.

The Girls' Day School Trust is a registered charity in the United Kingdom. In 2006–7 it had a gross income of £177million, [UK charity|306983] making it one of the 20 largest charities in the UK. [Ranked by total annual income averaged over three years. Source: cite journal
title = Charity 100 Index
journal = Charity Finance
date = April 2008
issn = 0963-0295 ]

Current GDST schools

Schools run by the GDST as of November 2007 [ Cite web
title = Girls’ Day School Trust: School Details
url = http://www2.gdst.net/school_details.php
accessdate = 2007-11-07 ] include:

Preparatory schools

* [http://www.ghps.co.uk/ Great Houghton Preparatory School] . (Joined the Trust as a separate school in 2006)
* [http://www2.gdst.net/hamlets/ The Hamlets School, Liverpool] . (Opened 1912 as junior section of The Belvedere School. Joined the Trust as a separate school in 2006)
*Hilden Grange School. (Joined the Trust in 2005)
* [http://www.kensingtonprep.org.uk/ Kensington Preparatory School] . (Opened 1873)

chools for 3-18 year olds

*Birkenhead High School. (Opened 1901).
*Blackheath High School. (Opened 1880).
*Brighton and Hove High School. (Opened 1876).
*Bromley High School. (Opened 1883).
*Central Newcastle High School. (Opened 1895).
*Croydon High School. (Opened 1874).
*Heathfield School, Pinner. (Opened 1900. Joined the Trust in 1987).
*Hilden Grange School. (Joined the Trust in 2005).
*Howell's School, Llandaff. (Joined the Trust in 1980).
*Ipswich High School. (Opened 1878).
*Northampton High School. (Joined the Trust in 2006).
*Norwich High School for Girls. (Opened 1875)
*Nottingham High School for Girls. (Opened 1873).
*Notting Hill & Ealing High School. (Opened 1875).
*Oxford High School. (Opened 1875)
*Portsmouth High School. (Opened 1882).
*Putney High School. (Opened 1893).
*Royal High School, Bath. (Opened 1875).
*Sheffield High School.(Opened 1878).
*Shrewsbury High School. (Opened 1885).
*South Hampstead High School. (Opened 1876).
*Streatham & Clapham High School. (Opened 1887).
*Sutton High School (Opened 1884)
*Sydenham High School. (Opened 1887).
*Wimbledon High School. (Opened 1880).

chool for 11-18 year olds

*The Belvedere Academy, Liverpool. (Opened 1880 as Liverpool High School, later The Belvedere School).

Former GDST schools

The following schools were once opened or administered by the Trust. [ Cite book
last = Kamm
first = Josephine
title = Indicative Past: A Hundred Years of the Girls' Public Day School Trust
publisher = George Allen & Unwin
year = 1971
location = London
pages = 212-215] [ Records of the Girls' Day School Trust, (Ref: DC/GDS), held by the Institute of Education archives [http://ioewebserver.ioe.ac.uk/ioe/cms/get.asp?cid=9347] ] The dates relate to when the school was connected to the Trust. Unless otherwise stated the later date signifies the date of the closure of each school.
* Carlisle High School, 1884-1904. Transferred to the Cumberland County Council. Later became [http://www.st-aidans.net/ St Aidan's County High School and Specialist Sports and Science College]
* Charters-Ancaster School, 1988-1995. Merged with Battle Abbey School.
* Clapham Middle School, 1875-1904. Merged with Clapham High School.
* Clapham High School, 1882-1938. Merged with Streatham Hill and Brixton High School.
* Clapton and Hackney High School, 1875-1899. Originally Hackney High School.
* Dover High School, 1888-1908
* Dulwich High School, 1878-1913. Transferred to Church Schools’ Company. Later closed in 1938.
* Gateshead High School, 1876-1907. Merged with Central Newcastle High School.
* Greycoats School, Oxford c1990s, Merged with the Squirrel School to form the preparatory department of Oxford High School.
* Highbury and Islington High School, 1878-1911.
* East Liverpool High School, 1891-1921. Merged with Liverpool High School.
* Newton Abbot High School, 1881-1888. School transferred to Miss Ridley.
* Maida Vale and Paddington High School, 1878-1912. Originally Maida Vale High School. Transferred to London County Council in 1912.
* Royal School for Daughters of Officers of the Army, Bath. Merged with Bath High School to create Royal High School, Bath.
* The Squirrel School, Oxford, 1996-1997. Merged with Greycotes School for form preparatory department of Oxford High School.
* Swansea High School, 1888-1895.
* Tunbridge Wells High School, 1883-1945.
* Weymouth High School, 1880-1894.
* York High School, 1880-1907. Transferred to Church Schools’ Company and became York College for Girls.

History

Origins

The origins of the GDST can be traced back to the Schools Enquiry Commission set up in 1864 to survey the field of male and female secondary schools, which concluded that there was a ‘general deficiency’ in the provision of secondary education for girls. [ Cite book
last = Carmichael
first = Oliver Cromwell
title = Universities: Commonwealth and American. A comparative study
publisher = Harper & Bros.
year = 1959
location = New York
ibsn = 0836927605
pages = 159 ]

The challenge to provide education for girls aged over ten was tackled by Maria Grey and her sister Emily Shirreff, who had previously published"Thoughts on Self Culture" which the pointed out the deficiencies shortage of education for women in England. [ Cite book
last = Grey
first = Maria
coauthors = Shirreff, Emily
title = Thoughts on Self Culture
year = 1850
location = London ] In November 1871 the sisters launched the ‘National Union for improvement of the Education of Women of All Classes’, later known as the Women's Education Union. [ Cite book
last = Littlewood
first = Kathleen D B
title = Some Account of the History of the Girls' Public Day School Trust
publisher = Girls’ Public Day School Trust
year = 1960
location = London
pages = 9] [ Cite book
last = Kamm
first = Josephine
title = Indicative Past: A Hundred Years of the Girls' Public Day School Trust
publisher = George Allen & Unwin
year = 1971
location = London
pages = 42] The Union aimed to establish good and cheap day schools for all classes of girls above the level of elementary education and was the leading force behind the formation of the Teachers’ Training and Registration Society and the Girls’ Public Day School Company. [Cite book
last = Littlewood
title = History of the Girls' Public Day School Trust
year = 1960
pages = 10] The Union was supported by many major figures of the time, notably Lady Henrietta Maria Stanley of Alderley; Mary Gurney, and HRH Princess Louise, who became the President of the Union. [ Cite book
last = Kamm
title = Indicative Past
year = 1971
pages = 42-44 ]

Foundation

The Union planned to create a limited liability company to raise revenue to achieve their aims and presented the proposed scheme at a public meeting at the Royal Albert Hall in June 1872. [ cite book
last = Kamm
title = Indicative Past
year = 1971
pages = 46-47 ] The new company was registered as the Girls’ Public Day School Company (GPDSC) with a nominal share capital of £12,000. Many of the figures involved in the Women's Education Union also were key figures in the creation the GPDSC including Maria Grey, Emily Shireff, Mary Gurney and Lady Stanley. HRH Princess Louise also became the patron of the Company. Other members of the founding council included David Graham Drummond Ogilvy, fifth earl of Airlie, (GPDSC's first president); Henrietta Powell; Sir George Bartley; Douglas Strutt Galton; Sir Walter James, second baronet; Joseph Payne; James Phillips Kay-Shuttleworth; Charles Savile Roundell, and the Marquess of Lorne.cite encyclopedia
last=Goodman
first=Joyce F.
title=Girls' Public Day School Company (act. 1872–1905)
encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edition
publisher=Oxford University Press
url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/theme/94164 |date=October 2005
accessdate=2007-11-07]

Girls’ Public Day School Company (1872-1905)

The GPDSC's aim was to establish academic high schools for girls of all classes which provided a high standard of academic education, together with moral and religious education. School fees were kept low and schools were expected to become self-supporting as soon as possible, though the GPDSC council retained overall control of the schools. [ cite book
last = Kamm
title = Indicative Past
year = 1971
pages = 50 ] The policy of the Council, the executive body of the GPDSC, was to only found new schools were they were most needed, funded by shares taken up by local people. The first school opened at Durham House, Chelsea in January 1873 (later transferred to Kensington). [ cite book
last = Kamm
title = Indicative Past
year = 1971
pages = 51-54 ] In February 1875 they opened Norwich High School for Girls which was their first school outside London. By 1905 the Company owned 37 school across the country, including 19 schools in the London area.

Each school was to have three departments, (preparatory, Junior and senior), under a headmistress with a staff of trained teachers. Schools were to be tested by regular inspections and examinations. Girls were prepared to take Oxford and Cambridge Local Examinations or examinations administered by the College of Preceptors. A class of student ‘pupil teachers’ were attached to each school. [ cite book
last = Kamm
title = Indicative Past
year = 1971
pages = 50 ]

Initially the schools provided in-house training for pupils who intended to go on to teaching after graduation through the ‘Pupil teachers’ system. From 1903 some of the larger school also developed teacher training departments, recognised by the Board of Education, where post-graduate students training to become secondary, kindergarten, or art teachers. The largest was housed at Belvedere School in Liverpool. Clapham Training College, founded in 1900, also had a domestic science department. In 1938 it moved and became the Clapham and Streatham Hill Training College, later transferring to the London County Council in 1949 to become the Phillipa Fawcett Teacher Training College.

From 1875-1901 Company amended its constitution so it could gradually be recognised as a charity to receive grants from the Science and Art Department (and the Board of Education from 1899), who only wanted to give public grants to non-profit organisations. [ cite book
last = Kamm
title = Indicative Past
year = 1971
pages = 183 ] Due to the financial needs of the trust there were many years in which the dividends were not paid to shareholders. By 1900 the GPDSC educated over 7000 pupils in 33 schools. [ cite book
last = Kamm
title = Indicative Past
year = 1971
pages = 96 ] In 1899 the new established Board of Education became responsible for issuing government grants under much stricter regulations and the GPDSC agreed for their schools to be inspected by school inspectors to continue to qualify for grants. [ cite book
last = Kamm
title = Indicative Past
year = 1971
pages = 97-99 ]

Girls’ Public Day School Trust (1905-1998)

The Education Act of 1902 determined that secondary education should be accessible to as many children as possible which had financial complications for the Company as they had to provide more free places and cater for increasing numbers of pupils. In 1902 the GPDSC was warned that they would not longer received grants from the Board of Education after 1903 because they were registered as a dividend-paying company. [ cite book
last = Kamm
title = Indicative Past
year = 1971
pages = 108 ] This date was later extended to 1905 and the Company was reconstituted as the Girls’ Public Day School Trust (GPDST), as a limited company with charitable status in Jan 1906. The new constitution required that the new Trust would have to be wound-up by 1 January 1956 if the Trust failed to make an acceptable offer to buy the existing share capital. [ cite book
last = Kamm
title = Indicative Past
year = 1971
pages = 110-111 ]

To combat the closure of the Trust, 100 ‘new’ shares were created in 1911, held as trustee shares of nominal value which carried large voting rights to enable the Trust's Council to buy the existing share capital before 1956. [ cite book
last = Kamm
title = Indicative Past
year = 1971
pages = 183 ]

From 1912 no dividends were paid to shareholders and, along with the financial burdens caused by World War I and the proceeding economic depression (see Great Depression), some share holders became restive due to the lack of dividends they received. [ cite book
last = Kamm
title = Indicative Past
year = 1971
pages = 184 ] World War II plunged the trust into more financial trouble and the 1944 Education Act presented them with new challenges as they had to extend the schools to cater for increasing numbers of pupils. The Trust was increasingly unable to purchase the remaining share captital from the shareholders and was quickly approaching the 1956 deadline.

After the War, the Trust relied on funding from the Ministry of Education and any profits received from school fees were used to refurbish the schools. The Council worked on a reconstruction scheme which would satisfy the shareholders and for the trust to be recognised as an educational charity before the 1956 deadline. The scheme, led by William Cash, was presented in March 1950 and confirmed in May 1950, saving the trust from liquidation. [ cite book
last = Kamm
title = Indicative Past
year = 1971
pages = 190 ] The Trust still had to make the repayments of £75,000 to shareholders and extended its mortgages and set up an endowment fund to pay off the debt. [ cite book
last = Kamm
title = Indicative Past
year = 1971
pages = 189 ]

After the debts were repaid the Trust set up The Friends of the Girls' Public Day School Trust in March 1951. [ cite book
last = Kamm
title = Indicative Past
year = 1971
pages = 190 ] The Friends published an annual newsletter and also awarded scholarships and gift to schools. The Friends also created schemes to raise money to refurbish the schools.

In 1944 the GPDST joined the Government's new Direct Grant Scheme to help keep the school fees low during the financial difficulties. As the name suggests, this scheme used grants to support independent, academically selective schools outside the non-selective public education system of the time. The scheme insisted that a third of the members of the Governing Bodies had to be representatives of the local education authority and 15% of pupil admitted had to come directly from elementary schools. [ cite book
last = Kamm
title = Indicative Past
year = 1971
pages = 179 ] The GPDST schools remained academically selective, and reverted to full independence when the scheme was discontinued in 1976. cite web
last = Girls’ Day School Trust
title = History
url = http://www2.gdst.net/history.php
accessdate = 2007-11-08 ]

In the same year the GDST instituted the Girls' Public Day Trust Bursaries Fund, a separate charity, to cater for the loss of the Government funding. The fund provided bursaries for girls who otherwise could not afford to go to the schools.

In 1980 the Trust applied for the Government's Assisted Place Scheme for all schools and registered as a private company under the Companies Act 1980. The Trust was a part of the scheme until the scheme's closure in 1997.

Girls' Day School Trust (1998-)

In 1998 the word "Public" was dropped from the name of the organisation and it became the Girls’ Day School Trust.

In 2005 some GDST schools began to be co-educational, such as Howell's School, Llandaff, which taught male sixth-formers and the co-educational preparatory school, Hilden Grange, joined the GDST. In 2007 the GDST administered 29 day schools, offering education from the age of three up to 18.

Patrons of the Girls' Day School Trust

* Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll 1872–1939cite encyclopedia
title = Louise, Princess, duchess of Argyll (1848–1939)
encyclopedia = Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
last = Stoker
first = Mark
publisher = Oxford University Press
date = Sept 2004; online edn, January 2008
url = http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/34601
accessdate = 2008-06-23]
* Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester

Published histories of the Trust

*cite book | last=Magnus | first=Laurie | title=The Jubilee Book of the Girls' Public Day School Trust, 1873-1923 | location=Cambridge | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=1923
*cite book | last=Littlewood | first=Kathleen D. B.| title=Some account of the history of the Girls' Public Day School Trust | year=1960
*cite book | last=Kamm | first=Josephine| year=1971 | title=Indicative Past: a hundred years of the Girls' Public Day School Trust| location=London | publisher=George Allen & Unwin | isbn=0043730027

Primary sources

The Archives of the Trust are held by the Institute of Education Archives and full details can be found on the [http://archive.ioe.ac.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=NaviTree.tcl&dsqField=RefNo&dsqItem=GDS#HERE on-line catalogue] . The records of individual schools are held by the schools or in the relevant local authority archives.

References

External links

* [http://www.gdst.net Official website]
*UK charity|306983
* [http://www.independentschools.com/england/girls'-day-school-trust_32472.html Entry in Independent Schools Directory]
*
* Citation
last = Jackson
first = Nick
title = Girls' day school trust: Rise to the charity challenge
newspaper = The Independent
date = Oct 25 2007
url = http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/girls-day-school-trust-rise-to-the-charity-challenge-397761.html.