Throughout the past year, Mrs. Southall has guided efforts to encourage girls to pursue Computer Science, leading to our school's recognition for improving gender balance in the subject.

Our current success began with the I Belong programme, a foundational course that Mrs. Southall undertook to identify and understand the gender imbalance in our school. This course provided insights into national trends and equipped her with strategies to engage girls in Key Stage 3 and beyond. Armed with this knowledge, she became an advocate for change.

One of her first initiatives was hosting live webinars and organising a 'Women in Computing' afternoon. During this event, industry professionals shared their experiences, and the girls participated in various coding activities. The event was a success, with the girls highly engaged and inspired by the professionals’ stories.

To further support this initiative, Mrs. Southall underwent additional training to adapt our KS3 curriculum to better encompass girls' interests. She shared these developments with her team, ensuring that our teaching approaches are inclusive and engaging for all students. Additionally, she runs an extracurricular coding club, providing a supportive environment for all students to explore and develop their coding skills.

Additionally, this year has seen the successful launch of the iDEA Digital Award initiative at our school, with many students achieving notable success. This program has further enriched our efforts to encourage student participation in digital skills development and has been a testament to our commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive learning environment in Computer Science.