This lockdown, teachers at Witchford Village College, a secondary school on the outskirts of Ely, have been working hard to ensure that as many of the school’s extra-curricular clubs and activities can continue to take place as possible.
One of its most popular clubs that has made the transition online is The Female Lead, a club that engages female students across all year groups in important and inspirational discussions.
The Female Lead is an educational charity dedicated to making women’s stories more visible and offering alternative role models to those ever-present in popular culture. The charity highlights the breadth of female achievement in order to offer inspiration for future generations. Witchford Village College started its after-school club in order to get its female students involved and engaged in the conversations surrounding important topics such as representation of women in the media and gendered language, and to challenge traditional gender expectations and perceptions of women. As part of the club, students and teachers recount and discuss the remarkable stories of women from all backgrounds and careers, with an aim of showing girls that anything is possible.
Charlotte Doswell, Lead for KS3 English and Parental Engagement and leader of the club at Witchford Village College, said: “Running such an important club and engaging female students throughout our whole school is a fantastic experience and one that I’m glad we’ve been able to continue while students are studying from home. I have been blown away by the group’s self-determination and enthusiasm for the project and can’t wait to get stuck into the key themes and topics that we’re set to cover over the coming weeks.”
As part of the extra-curricular club, students have been tasked with choosing an inspirational female who they subsequently spend the following weeks researching and exploring the challenges they may have faced. So far, as a group they have considered focussing on the following: the suffragettes, Ada Lovelace, Sienna Mae Gomez, Malala Yousafzai, Emma Watson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks and Florence Nightingale. The group has also discussed the problematic nature of “the marriage plot”. Often, in literature when a female protagonist marries her narrative subsequently closes, a topic which the students have been keen to explore in more detail.
Bessie Owen, Head of School at Witchford Village College, said: “Our wide and varied extra-curricular clubs programme ensures that there is something for everyone, meaning that we are able to offer our students a fulfilling and well-rounded experience so that each student can reach their full potential. The Female Lead is a real asset to our College, with each session allowing participants to engage in meaningful discussions, challenge apathy and discover the interconnectivity of many aspects of life and career. I am proud of both staff and students for how effortlessly they have made the transition to online working and glad that important clubs such as this can be maintained.”
Press release from Witchford Village College
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