Why Girls and GDST
We put girls first, in everything we do. Our professional and passionate staff work together to put girls at the very heart of all that we do; empowering them to lead, shine and thrive.
Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST)
Wimbledon High School is a proud member of the Girls’ Day School Trust, a unique family of 26 girls’ schools, including 24 independent schools and two academies, across England and Wales. As specialists in girls’ education, we tailor our teaching to the way girls learn best.
The GDST was founded in 1872 by four pioneering women who believed that girls should be entitled to the same academic education as their brothers.
GDST’s mission is to help girls learn without limits, so that they go on to lead lives without limits.
GDST’s vision is to create a more equitable world for all by equipping girls to be the leaders and changemakers of the future.
When Wimbledon High School’s founding mothers established our school in 1880, they declared that “girls have minds as fine as men’s which are worth educating” – a revolutionary statement in its day. 145 years on, we’re keeping true to that pioneering, progressive spirit in SW19.
We build on that history every day, in a community that allows girls to be themselves. We think the school’s first headmistress, Edith Hastings, would be proud.
Why Girls only?
Our specialist teaching and pastoral care is designed around girls’ needs, creating a supportive environment where students celebrate one another and lift each other up. Our system of vertical connections—from the oldest to the youngest—builds integration, mentorship, and fellowship.
Academically, there are no unconscious biases at play in choosing subjects. Our academic outcomes (42% A* at A Level) back up the well-evidenced narrative that girls thrive intellectually in girls- only environments.
We are a school filled with talented, curious and brilliant girls, who help to build our culture every single day. No two girls are alike, and all are treated both as the unique individuals that they are, and as members of a powerful collective which, when distilled down, can be summed up as Wimbledonian spirit.
A mission to help girls learn without limits
“At the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST), we are united in a mission to help girls learn without limits, so that they can lead lives without limits. We believe that the proof of a great education is what happens in a girls’ future: the professions and industries they choose, the journeys they take in their careers, the qualities they are valued for and, of course the people they become.”