Girls On Board

“Early adolescence appears to be especially stressful on adolescent girls’ friendships and peer relations, signified by a sharp increase in indirect relational aggression. More typical of girls and more distressful to girls than to boys, relational aggression, characterised by such behaviours as spreading rumours or threatening withdrawal of affiliation, appears to emerge as girls attempt to negotiate current power relations and affirm or resist conventional constructions of femininity.” (The American Psychological Society, taken from Girls On Board website)

At SGS we have decided to adopt the ‘Girls On Board’ approach, to help our pupils to navigate their friendships and peer relationships effectively, making for happier, more resilient girls and leaving much more time for the enjoyment of their school life.

From September 2025 we will be working with First Year girls initially and then all Lower School girls to help them to understand ways in which they can resolve the inevitable friendship issues, which naturally develop amongst 11-18 year olds. There is less teacher involvement, and the emphasis is placed upon the girls to work with each other empathetically, which enables them as they learn to secure their own friendships and relationships at school and beyond.

The Girls on board Approach:

Taken From Girls On Board Teacher handbook:

The Girls on Board approach in a nutshell is an approach adopted by schools and understood by parents which empowers girls to resolve their friendship issues for themselves. It does this by evoking empathy through teacher-led, non-judgmental sessions which are called in response to conflict amongst the girls.

What a Girls on Board does NOT do is:

• provide a way to prevent girls ever falling out with each other – that would be impossible!
• suggest that, because the role of adults in this approach is relatively recessive, girls should not talk to or share their problems with adults. Quite the reverse, the approach encourages continued dialogue; it is how the teachers and parents react and respond that is radically different.

There is a very useful parent guide to go with this programme and we will be sending this to parents of Lower School girls when we launch Girls on Board with the pupils in September 2025.

Alongside this guide there is also a useful book:

“When Girls Fall Out’’ is the book that accompanies the Girls on Board approach and is written specifically for parents. The book looks at parenting from the daughters’ point of view and offers fresh and often radical advice for parents of daughters who are experiencing friendship turbulence at school. The book is also a vital resource for schools who have adopted the Girls on Board approach and completes the library of resources available to support parents in this tricky area of life. Four years in the writing, the authors are Andrew Hampton (CEO of Girls on Board) and his two grown-up daughters, Holly and Naomi. (Taken from Girls On Board website)

We are excited about this new endeavour, which we trust will further strengthen our already very successful pastoral work here at SGS. We hope that parents will support us and join us on this journey as we aim to enable our girls to be the very best and happiest of Stopfordians whilst at school and in their lives beyond.

Heather Ashton
Head of Lower School