Ten-years of girl power in the KES sixth-form

He was educated in a room in the Upper Guildhall and from the age of seven he was taught Latin, rhetoric and Greek.

When the Herald reported on the inclusion of females, the first question asked – ten years ago – was: “What would Shakespeare make of girls going to his school?”

Headmaster, Bennet Carr, responded: “That’s a good question. I think he would have been very much in favour of the idea.”

Ten years on from that special moment in the school’s history, many female students have enjoyed their two years in the sixth form studying a variety of subjects before going into higher education and pursuing their chosen careers.

And with that passage of time it seemed an ideal opportunity to catch up with four former female pupils and ask them the same question posed ten years ago and to find out what’s happened in their lives since.

The four female Old Edwardians – as they are known – are:

Sabrina Evans who attended Yale University and now works in the U.S.

Taz Chape, who was the school’s first head girl and is training to be a doctor.

Esme Booth is training with British Rowing on their Olympic programme and

Lara Davies has a successful career in broadcasting with ITV.

The questions the Herald asked each one to consider for this feature were:

What did you study at KES?

What was it like being the first inductees in a previously all male sixth form?

What do you think Shakespeare would think about girls going to his old school?

Were there moments of inspiration from the experience or from teachers?

Did you enjoy your time at KES and did it help lay foundations for the next important phase of your life and what did you do after KES?

Do you still think about your KES days and have you ever been back?

What are you doing with your career or life now?

Here are their answers and this is their story so far.

Sabrina Evans

I studied maths, further maths, physics, German A-level, French AS-level.

It felt special, as if there was the chance to make history. There were many opportunities to be ‘the first girl to do X’, which comes with excitement as well as pressure.

At KES, we were all teenagers working out who we were, so we (especially the girls) wanted to define ourselves, but I always felt I was representing a larger group of women.

There were times when it was a bit of a battle too. There was only one set of women’s toilets, so if you needed to go during a science class you had to run around the whole school first!

The boys were receptive in the end, but it took some adjustment on both sides – I think some thought we were invading their space, so we had to learn to coexist.

Shakespeare’s views on women vary a lot throughout his career but his later characters are pretty progressive, so I think he would have been excited.

I felt very supported by the teachers in general, especially those that taught me for A-level. They treated us like young women and had a lot of respect for us which grew my self-confidence. I felt they were invested in my future and supported me to go down an unconventional path, even tutoring me for essays and tests that were part of the American university application process.

There were definitely hiccups at KES – sexism doesn’t disappear overnight – but on the whole, I had a great time there. My experiences set me up well to navigate male-dominated environments at university, growing my confidence in STEM and teaching me how to overcome impostor syndrome.

After KES, I studied maths at Yale University. I then studied social innovation and I’m now a Software Engineer for ZOE Health (who made the Covid-tracking app) and want to build a career combining scientific research and engineering for social impact.

I had a lot of fun and many formative experiences at KES. I changed a lot, made a few mistakes and met some lifelong friends. I’ve been back a few times, though not recently.

A big “thank-you” to KES. It gave me lasting confidence and has probably affected my life in ways I don’t even know.

Taz Chape

I studied chemistry, maths and biology.

It’s very daunting to begin with, as you are definitely a minority, however your contributions to the school soon enable you to be welcomed into the KES family.

Shakespeare would approve. He was all about innovation and creating exciting and thought-provoking work, so this “new” idea would appeal to him.

My moments of inspiration came from feeling part of the school community. You felt like you belonged. The connections you make are ones that continue throughout your life. This belonging definitely inspired me to want to be the best I could for the school, pupils and teachers. The teachers were amazing. They made you genuinely want to learn and achieve the most you could, supporting you every step along the way.

After leaving, I started my MBBCh degree at Cardiff University. I’m now in my 4th year of medicine. KES pushed me to achieve things I didn’t believe possible. I came out with grades I could only imagine, which enabled me to pursue my journey to become a doctor. They also helped shape me into the person I am today and I developed a lot of my personal skills during my time there. They taught me how to be a genuinely good person.

I still think about them all of the time. I made life-long friends and stay in touch with a lot of my fellow pupils. I have been back a few times giving colours, old Edwardian luncheons, watching plays, etc. My Mum actually volunteers for KES which is helping to keep it close within our hearts. She wanted to give something back to the school after everything they did for me.

I have one year left of medical school and hopefully will hopefully qualify as a doctor. It’s a very scary and stressful time in my life but I’m extremely excited to see what my future career holds. I’m hoping to specialise in paediatrics and potentially return from Wales, as my heart lies at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Hopefully then I may have more time to visit KES more often.

Esme Booth

I studied geography, physical education and biology.

Attending a majority male school didn’t bother me so much. I arrived with a few friends from my pervious school and made many new ones whilst at KES. I also knew a lot of faces from being at the rowing club.

Shakespeare wasn’t afraid of having female characters being at the centre of his works such as Juliette and Cleopatra so I think he would be happy to see women receiving the same education he did.

Receiving a KES education set me up so well for my university. I had to begin to manage my time training with KES rowing and Stratford Boat Club and completing my studies around that.

Mr Pengilley was a great help to me as he was my geography teacher and rowing coach, he understood the stresses and time rowing takes and was able to support me in the classroom.

I very much enjoyed my time at school and felt it was the perfect learning environment for me. I went onto study physiotherapy at Oxford Brookes University where I achieved a first-class degree. Alongside my studies I continued my rowing and by my second year represented British Rowing at the U23 World Championships in Sarasota, Florida.

Unfortunately, due to the level of commitment rowing requires with training camps, racing and crew formations I rarely get the chance to come home and therefore haven’t gone back to school. I do however reminisce on my KES days with great fondness.

Since graduating from Oxford Brookes I am now a member of the GB Rowing team training for the Paris 2024 Olympic games. Last season I won a World Cup gold and silver, Henley Royal Regatta, European Championships silver medal and had the opportunity to compete at the World Championships where I was placed 5th. I am now training hard and in preparation, ready to qualify boats for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Lara Davies

I studied maths, geography and psychology.

It was definitely different going to a boy’s school - especially as I came from Stratford Girls’ Grammar School.

It helped knowing some of the boys already at KES through discos, rowing and hockey. Because of the trust and freedom that comes with being a sixth former, it felt more balanced than people would think.

Vertical tutor groups were one of my favourite things because it meant I knew students across all age groups.

Shakespeare wasn’t afraid of doing something out of the ordinary-Elizabethan way with his unexpected plots. It was definitely a surprise when KES introduced female sixth formers and I can’t name another school that does it - even now. He likes strong, young female characters in his plays so maybe he’d welcome females at school.

Before I even joined KES, I knew I wanted to go because of the amazing rowing coaching programme there. I was gutted when I got the rejection letter because my predicted grades weren’t good enough and it really made me study hard for my GCSEs. Then on the day I did a lot better than predicted, went straight to KES and was offered a place right away. I was beyond excited. As soon as I got there, I threw myself into hockey, rowing and school life.

In my first term, I was offered to do work experience with BeIN Sports in Qatar and it was my first insight into broadcasting which I loved. I went into KES with a completely different career path in mind and thought from the age of four I wanted to be a pilot. It was actually through loving sports - and treating every sports lesson at school like it was the Olympics and talking in front of a crowd - that I came up with the idea of sports presenting and journalism.

In year 13 I was house captain, rowing captain and juggling applications to a number of apprenticeships.

I’d say, teacher-wise, my two biggest inspirations were Andrew Pengilley and Dominic Leach. Mr Leach was my vertical tutor. He really prioritised becoming a friend to myself and the other two girls in the tutor form as soon as we got there. His reaction when I said I wanted to be on the telly was different from most other ones up until then it was like ‘Lara, I don’t doubt you can do anything you put your mind to’.

Mr Pengilley was my rowing coach, geography teacher and strong support network. He was a teacher we always had a good laugh with and I think he secretly liked that I was a rower that loved geography. I got to know him a lot through rowing - he was a coach that was firm but fair, would always make sure we had our in depth debriefs after every session and he would cycle up the river every Sunday at 7am during head races in the pouring rain which made it completely worth it when we became Ball Cup W4+ champions two years in a row.

I carried on rowing after sixth form and rowed at Henley Women’s against Oxford A 4+ in the quarter finals, I sent him the livestream to watch, which was a nice full circle moment.

He knew how adamant I was about not going to university, so needless to say when I turned up to the clearing room on results day, he thought I was playing with him. After a ten minute ‘phone call, despite having never written a personal statement, signed up to UCAS or even looked around a university, I had an offer to one of the best broadcasting schools in the country and there was no other description for his face that day other than shock.

Despite being at the school only two years, it’s impressive that two teachers can have such lasting impressions on you.

I loved my time at KES, although the whole of sixth form goes by so much quicker than you ever think it will. Things like getting my Grade 8 LAMDA qualification in public speaking, massively helped me when I didn’t even know what LAMDA was before joining. The rowing successes, the sports reports and more generally in my job I’ve got to be able to interact with anyone of any age, so I think throwing myself from an all-girls school to an all-boys school definitely would’ve helped.

I mentioned while I was at KES I was adamant I didn’t want to go to university. After getting to the assessment centres of a number of sports journalism apprenticeships, including Sky Sports News and not getting them, the moment it got to results day, I didn’t really know what to do.

I think that was the last time I was physically at KES. I studied broadcast journalism at Nottingham Trent, worked at Notts TV alongside university, got my first job presenting on Freeview on a children’s television show. Then two days after graduating I was heading to the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games where I presented the hockey live to over 100,000 people over ten days (easily the scariest and best two weeks of my life). I then started my job as a production Journalist at ITV News Central, producing the early, lunch and late bulletins that some of your readers may have seen.

I haven’t been back to KES but have joined them virtually on one of their career’s days.