Pupils Encouraged Not to Be Perfect

A piece by The Times Education Editor Nicola Woolcock, who was invited into school to talk to teachers and pupils, was followed up The Telegraph and even mentioned on ITV’s daytime chat show Loose Women.

The press interest was sparked after LEH asked author, researcher and consultant Chloe Combi, who specialises in Generation Z and Alpha, to work with pupils in Years 6, 7 and 8 (aged 10 to 13) to identify new approaches to support girls facing perfectionism head on, and to reframe how they view and strive for success in a healthy and positive way.

Chloe has been holding a series of workshops to ask pupils in this vital tween age group to reflect on how they see themselves, and to work on strategies which enable them to tackle perfectionism as they move through their teenage years and on to life beyond school

The initiative was introduced last term following the launch of LEH’s new five-year strategy Facing the Future Undaunted, which sets out the school’s ambition to be a bold voice in girls’ education. The results of the research will be shared with parents and other schools.

Chloe told The Times: “Life has become like the horizon for girls: no matter how far or long they swim, they won’t ever reach some idealised end that is impossible to reach anyway.

“This is largely because they are comparing themselves to an illusion: beauty is photoshopped, experiences are managed and even when almost perfect results are obtained there is always someone on social media who they’ve never met who has done just a little better.”

She added that girls need to be allowed to step back and be proud of their real-world achievements, flaws and imperfections and taught that glossy worlds on social media are an illusion.

Her work has highlighted that some pupils feel pressure to be perfect from their peer group judging their appearances and are worried about disappointing their parents or not being as good as their siblings. Strategies being taught include not comparing their performance with others and recognising that competing shows determination and resilience even if they don’t win.

Head Mistress Rowena Cole said: “Everyone struggles with perfectionism to some extent — including boys of course — but research has shown that adolescent girls are much more mindful of how they appear to others, and this can cause them anxiety.”

She said the aim of the lessons was to ensure that girls were happy to take a bold approach, accept failure and setbacks and pick themselves up again.

One Sixth Former told The TImes: “This is a very high achieving school. We’re surrounded by people who are so impressive, such as national champions in sports or they’ve been in productions in the West End. But you’re not going to be the best at everything. Everyone has their niches and their interests. As long as you are happy with where you are, that will be celebrated by the school and by your peers.”

Deputy Head, David James, said: "As teachers, we discuss the issues of anxiety and perfectionism with parents and our pupils: they all acknowledge that it can be an obstacle to progress, but we want to find workable, evidence-informed answers to it."

Mrs Cole added: "Schools spend a lot of time dealing with the emotional lives of their pupils. Some issues are hugely complex, but can add to the growth of the individual, but anxiety is wholly unhelpful.  We need to figure out how our girls can overcome it: to care a little less about what others think of them."

In addition to this project, LEH has set up a group of staff and teachers to pursue their own research and play an active role in improving practice within school.

LEH is also a part of BrainWaves, an exciting new mental health and wellbeing cohort study run by the University of Oxford’s Department of Psychiatry. It recognises there is a pressing need to improve the quality of scientific knowledge around adolescent mental health. BrainWaves aims to address this by creating a large-scale national data research collection involving LEH’s Sixth Form students completing annual questionnaires about their mental health over the next ten years. In addition, BrainWaves resources will be used in our Life Advice (PSHE) lessons to continue to educate our pupils about their mental health.

Plus, LEH is a founding member of the Youth Mental Health Coalition in Schools, which is a collaboration involving independent and state schools working together to call for improvements to how mental health is supported in education settings in a number of different ways.