In March, our Year 6 girls had an unforgettable day at St Anne’s College, Oxford, where they proudly shared the story of their community project with an audience of teachers, pupils and members of the St Anne’s Outreach team. They joined pupils from sixteen other United Learning schools, taking to the stage with courage and enthusiasm to celebrate how young people can make a difference in their own community.
Their project began with one powerful idea: to help tackle book poverty and encourage others to recycle unwanted texts. The Girls’ Prep team invited everyone in our School community – pupils, teachers and families – to donate their gently used children’s books. Partnering with The Children’s Book Project, they ensured that every book would reach a child who needed it most. The response was overwhelming: more than 2,400 books were collected to share the joy of reading across the UK! Also working with the Boys’ Prep and the Senior School, the girls were delighted to wave off a whole van load of books off to their new homes, receiving thanks and praise from the charity for their endeavours.
At St Anne’s, the girls swapped their project leader hats for budding scientist caps during an Astrophysics lesson with the college’s Science team. They explored mind‑stretching questions like how many galaxies might exist and how many stars fill our skies. Making their very own “universe in a pot,” they took part in Zooniverse, a Citizen Science quiz, sharpening their observation and classification skills, while contributing to real scientific discovery.
A special highlight came when the girls met a former Surbiton pupil, now a student at Oxford, who chatted to them about life at university and answered their curious questions about her journey to get to St Anne’s. Inspired by her story, they set off on a campus tour, delighted by the stunning libraries – and, of course, St Anne’s famous giant deck chair!
Having collected their badges and certificates, the day ended with some fun in the St Anne’s quad. However, their project doesn’t end there. The PSLP team are now preparing to award House Point prizes to the most generous year groups at the Girls’ Prep and to share what they’ve learned about teamwork, leadership and community service with the whole school in a Summer Term assembly.
Most of all, the girls came away with a lasting message: that leadership isn’t about age or title – it is about stepping forward with purpose and heart. And that is exactly what they’ve done.
