From Ms Allum

A note about communication between girls and their parents/carers during the school day.

We know that sometimes girls email home during the school day with some concerns about what is happening the school day, usually bad news, communicating their distress, anxiety or upset to their parents/carers.

If you have concerns for your daughter’s immediate safety, please don’t hesitate to ring the school and report your concerns – we will take it from there.

Otherwise, please do one of two things. Either don’t respond at all, or respond along the following lines:

Dear Daughter

I am not going to do this via email. Let’s talk about it tonight. I know we can sort it out then.

Love you.

Mum or Dad or whoever…

We know that some girls have a great ability to catastrophize situations and expect immediate solutions to any distress. Please refrain from engaging in this behaviour. Times of hurt and anxiety are learning experiences, and you can help your daughter to cope with life’s complexities through calm face-to-face discussion and negotiation. It’s important to listen to what happened and help your daughter to come to her own conclusions about the way forward, rather than trying to solve her problems for her. You want her to develop the skills and resilience she needs to cope with life’s pains and problems, and that is best done face-to-face, at home, calmly, with time to talk and explore emotions and facts.

Jenny Allum
Head of School