But what is Girls on Board?
Girls on Board, as the name suggests, is a programme which supports girls between the ages of 8 and 18 to navigate the sometimes complex waters of their friendships. Girls on Board received the ISA Award for Innovation and Excellence in Pupils’ Mental Health and Wellbeing in 2016 and 2019 and was shortlisted for the TES Wellbeing Initiative of the Year, 2019 and 2020.
The Girls on Board programme enables girls to explore the particular dynamics of their friendships, and so better understand that it is in fact only they, and not the adults around them, who ultimately have the skills and ability to independently resolve any conflicts that they will inevitably experience. In fact, when parents and teachers try to sort things out, they can make things worse, not better!.
At school this week, each class from Year 3 to Year 6 has had their official Girls on Board training session with Mrs Windsor, whilst Miss Telford will prepare the Year 2 girls as part of their transition to the Upper School.
We are very pleased to be able to introduce this programme to our Lyonsdown girls, as we believe it will support them in working out their friendship difficulties when they occur at Lyonsdown. In addition, it will also give them a firm foundation from which to navigate the more complicated and nuanced friendship difficulties they will experience as they move on to secondary school and further into adolescence.
Parents will find the introductory video on the Girls on Board website very helpful in explaining the premise and raison d’etre of the programme https://www.girlsonboard.co.uk/
And perhaps the following will resonate with many a parent too. It certainly does for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMdOzwnqpLU The clip is from the BBC sitcom Outnumbered. The girls found it very funny, having much sympathy for poor old Dad!
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions, or would like any clarification on any aspect of the programme. But please do speak to your daughter too.
Of course, the girls have all been told that they should continue to speak to their parents and teachers about anything that they are worried about, but to remember that they are the best people to resolve their everyday friendship frictions.
Mrs Windsor
Deputy Head