How Girls Learn Best: Shaping Our Timetable for 2027
As we look ahead to 2027, we are reviewing our timetable with one central question: does the structure of our school day truly reflect what we know about how girls learn best? Alongside feedback gathered directly from staff and students, we have been drawing on the latest research to ensure our structures are not just familiar and functional, but evidence based and aligned with best practice in girls’ education.
Our findings show that academic research aligns with feedback from our students: girls thrive when they have enough time in each lesson to develop their thinking, and when they have the space to “talk their way into understanding” through collaborative discussion and dialogue. Slightly longer lessons of 55–75 minutes create the conditions for this genuine depth of engagement, meaningful collaborative dialogue, and the kind of coherent, unhurried thinking that girls find most rewarding. They also make a real difference to wellbeing. Fewer, longer lessons reduce the number of cognitive context switches across the day, allowing girls time to move past initial reorientation and into genuine intellectual engagement, and create a school day that is structurally less anxiety-provoking.
Girls also respond well to predictability and clear routines, and a well-structured day provides exactly that kind of holding environment. But the best girls’ school classrooms don’t simply accommodate that preference, they use it as a foundation to build from; gently pushing girls beyond the comfort of certainty toward genuine risk-taking and intellectual adventurousness. The goal is a timetable that feels secure enough to be liberating and gives girls the confidence to back themselves, sit with difficulty, and think boldly.
We have spent the past week surveying our students, asking them directly about how they learn, when they feel most engaged, and what gets in the way. The responses have been thoughtful, honest and remarkably close to what the research tells us. Our girls have a great deal to say about their own learning, and we have been listening carefully.
The review will look at lesson length, the shape and flow of the school day, the balance between different kinds of work, and how we can make the best possible use of staff time to support great teaching, providing the best environment for our students to thrive.
We will share more as the work develops, and we welcome your questions along the way.
Natasha Mercer
Director Teaching and Learning
