Inspired by Rebel Women
Mae Jamison, the US mathematician and astronaut, once said, “Don’t let anyone rob you of your imagination, your creativity, or your curiosity.”
That’s exactly the goal of St Mary’s School: to help girls embrace their imagination, creativity, and curiosity. Today, and throughout Black History Month, we’ll be doing that by celebrating amazing women, both past and present.
St Mary’s girls have long been inspired by the book Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls and we want to take the opportunity to represent some of the incredible black women the book features, from Harriet Tubman to Simone Biles.
To celebrate and highlight the lives of these courageous, bold women, we will be doing a poster campaign throughout the school. As we always say, we empower your daughter to dream big and we strongly feel that showing our young pupils’ examples of black women achieving their dreams will further inspire them to achieve their ambitions.
In conjunction with our caring, dedicated staff of teachers, this poster campaign is opening the doors to an honest conversation about women’s issues and racial issues we are now facing in our country. We believe the best way to create a new generation of strong women to lead this country is to look to our past. It will be the women of history that will show the roadmap to success and change for our girls.
In the words of Harriet Tubman: “Always remember you have within you the strength, the patience and the passion to reach for the stars, to change the world.”
We believe that each and every one of our pupils can reach for the stars and change the world. We know your daughter’s potential is limitless, especially as a World Class High Performance Learning (HPL) school.
We combine our love of and passion for learning and striving with a nurturing community. We know that women standing together can do anything, as we’ve seen from stories in Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls. To do this, we foster your child’s excitement about their favourite subjects and offer extra-curricular activities to help them grow.
As we proceed with our poster campaign to celebrate Black History Month, we aim to help our students learn to explore more issues of society and equality. We believe that by bringing the lives of these women to the forefront of all our pupils’ minds, we will guide them towards a life of action, standing up for what they believe is right, and making the world a more equal, unified place. Ultimately, we want them to make positive change in the world. They are our future and they make that future bright.
As we engage your daughter at school with stories of great women throughout history, especially these women, we hope that you will continue the conversation at home. A two-pronged approach to these issues will show our pupils that they have safe spaces to talk about their questions and concerns. Your dedication in guiding your daughter to a successful future, paired with our dedication to her academic success, will lead to a new age of women, guiding the world in a nurturing, ethical way. Your daughter can be part of that evolution in society.
Matthew O’Reilly
Head of Juniors