Hope's Story

Elaine was Head of Mathematics at The Abbey, 2003 – 2023

I passionately believe in single-sex secondary education for girls, particularly because of the confidence it gives them to flourish in mathematics and science.

This means that when they choose subjects to study in the Sixth Form and think about career pathways, they are not constrained by the stereotyping that I have seen occur in some co-educational schools, but freely choose that which interests them.

In 2022, Mathematics was the most popular A-Level subject for boys but only the fourth most popular among girls. My hope is that this is where I have made a difference.
I have not changed the world by going on demos, but I have perhaps helped students to open doors through education and then go on to change the world in more creative and effective ways than I ever could.

Each year the Upper Sixth Leavers’ Yearbook and annual Alumnae reunions show that students have made lifelong friends at The Abbey in addition to many happy memories that they will cherish forever. As a member of staff at The Abbey, I have also made lifelong friends and have enjoyed working with amazingly dedicated and supportive colleagues, particularly in the Mathematics Department.

Bursary places provide an opportunity for a breadth of students, irrespective of background, to study at The Abbey. Yet, whilst many all-boys’ independent schools or formerly all-boys’ independent schools can support transformational bursary places from large endowment funds, The Abbey relies on donations.

That is why I am making the choice to contribute financially to the 1887 Bursary Fund and am advocating for others to join me.

The glass ceiling still exists in the workplace. The Abbey, which has girls’ education at its heart, can help to change this and support students to become rounded individuals, preparing them to make a significant difference in the world.

My sincere thanks to all the wonderful students I have had the privilege to teach, tutor and work with over the last 20 years at The Abbey.

Remember that making mistakes is the way you learn; having a go is the most important thing; and NEVER say “I wasn’t any good at Maths at school” – you were!

Liz is the Chair of Governors at The Abbey and an alumna

I ate a lot when I was at school. I remember we used to eat in something called ‘The Old Gym’, which was a kind of hut in the grounds, or in the dining room, depending on where we were allocated. The Old Gym was actually used for gym as well in the daytime, it was all very higgledy piggledy the way the school was set out. A great thing was the buns, sold by the tuck shop. The tuck shop consisted only of buns. These lovely sticky buns for a penny which you could queue up for and buy at break time. We had school milk then. Milk would arrive in little third of a pint bottles and they would often be frozen in the winter, so they would be sat on the radiator to kind of thaw out-horrors!

I was hopeless at games. We did hockey, tennis, netball and swimming. We were given ‘sports for life’ in the sixth form, and for reasons I don’t understand, I chose fencing. So, for two years, I learned how to fence. That was quite exciting because amazingly, we had a fencing teacher who was a man and we hadn’t had any male teachers up to that point.
The times in the field in summer were lovely. We’d do handstands and all kinds of stuff outside. Some of the teachers and lessons were fantastic. Miss Packer, who taught English, was wonderful. She had pleated skirts, blouses and cardigans and what she said was terrific- how to write an essay, how to put together a piece of prose, how to understand a play, how to analyse a novel. I always liked English lessons.

I do consider myself very, very lucky to have attended The Abbey.

At The Abbey I learnt to write well, which I think I can still do now. I’m good at solving problems, and I learnt that at The Abbey too. I also think I’m good at reading situations- working out what the best next step is to try and get a difficult situation forward, and understanding what people are saying, (the subtext). All the foundations for these skills were learnt at The Abbey, and I’ve carried them through my life.

I do consider myself very, very lucky to have attended The Abbey. The system was different then as I didn’t have a bursary but I had my fees paid by Reading Borough Council. There were a certain number of places paid for by the council. To get one of these places, you had to pass The Abbey entrance exam highly, and pass the 11+. My parents did have to pay for uniform from the uniform list and a hockey stick, but everything else was provided.

Advocate for Transformational Bursaries

One of the things that I really appreciated about The Abbey was how diverse the girls were in my class in terms of social economic diversity. There were a lot of us who were the first people in our families to go to university or receive higher education. There were several of my friends whose parents were blue collar workers, doing really manual work. My dad was a clerk working for Prudential and he called himself an administrative worker. My mum worked as a secretary.

We were kind of in the middle group. On the other end, there were people who belonged to families with a degree of significance, either locally or nationally. For instance, there was a girl in my year whose father had led the 1951 expedition that conquered Everest. What was super, was that all of us girls with very different backgrounds all mixed together. There wasn’t any sense of anyone being any better, worse or different than anybody else.

Something I do in my present role as Chair of Governors is help make decisions about bursaries. I would love to help more girls than we currently are able to do. We’ve spent a lot of money on bursaries and it would be wonderful to be able to spend more.

A bursary enables students to come to The Abbey to receive a terrific experience and do wonderfully well. There’s no distinction between girls who have bursaries and girls who don’t. I wouldn’t have been able to come to The Abbey if I hadn’t had the old equivalent of a bursary, what we used to call a free place. Several of my friends wouldn’t have been able to come either if they hadn’t had free places, demonstrating the importance of bursaries.

Having bursary students in The Abbey absolutely enriches the school. The more variety in the school community, the better. I want all the students to feel comfortable within the school community, regardless of their different backgrounds, and to know that they belong.

May is a former parent and a powerful advocate for transformational bursaries

When I was invited by The Abbey to become a Bursary Ambassador, I was very excited to be asked. Over the years, I have wanted to find a way to give back to the school because of the opportunities it has provided to my daughter.

As a single parent working as a teaching assistant, I don’t have the means to give back to the school financially. That’s why I am so grateful for the opportunity to help the school in this way: helping them raise funding to help more girls like my daughter.

I come from a country where women are not valued. My daughter is gifted in so many ways: she has been able to read since the age of two; she is very talented in music; and has received recognition for her academic achievements. I knew I couldn’t afford for her to go to a private school; however, she wasn’t able to reach her full potential at a state school, as her curiosity and hunger to learn were not encouraged.

I saw the difference in her after joining The Abbey, as she would always have a smile on her face. She was finally able to discuss her questions with teachers and they were able to guide her down the right path.

She is an independent, caring, loving young lady and I am so proud of her. She wants to be a barrister and eventually become a judge. She has been awarded top performing student at university and best performance in the criminal law exam. I am confident that her achievements are due to the skills and determination she developed during her time at The Abbey. The school taught her the ability to work hard whilst still being able to enjoy life.

So many girls out there have so much to offer and the ability to achieve a great deal for society, but their family situation means schools like The Abbey, where they could flourish and reach their potential, are out of their reach. The bursary fund gives girls like my daughter this opportunity. Your kind donations, big or small, will give girls a chance to receive an outstanding education from The Abbey.

Your support will change their life. Thank you.

(Independent Today, 2021)

A bursary does have the potential to transform someone’s life.

I benefited from a free place at The Abbey in the 1970s and 1980s. At the age of ten, I was living on a council estate in a village with my parents and two older brothers.

I support the school by making a monthly donation to help a student from similar circumstances to my own.

In a single-sex school, I was able to develop academically without feeling that some subjects were for boys and others were for girls. At The Abbey, I was able to learn and achieve in a supportive atmosphere, where a thirst for knowledge and an interest in all subjects was encouraged.

I left school knowing that exams were not the be-all-and-end-all of education – that the most important thing was to want to carry on learning throughout your life. My natural curiosity was encouraged, not stifled.

I feel privileged to have attended a school that meant, and still means, so much to me. I know the sense of community and belonging is something that few people seem to feel towards their school.

I would like to thank all donors, both past and present, for enabling girls to attend The Abbey. My hope for the future would be that one day ALL children can receive an education of the quality that The Abbey provides. Then there would be no need to ask for financial support to provide bursaries for some. However, just because we can’t help everyone now doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t help anyone. We shouldn’t give up – we should do our best to help those that we can.

An Abbey education is not just about the benefits to the individual student but the development of adults who will have a positive impact on their community and society throughout their life. Giving academically-able girls an education they would not otherwise be eligible to receive is an extremely worthwhile thing to do.

Supporting one girl now will benefit many lives in the future.

Why Flick is passionate about the opportunities provided by bursaries

At The Abbey, I was able to experience an education that taught me many life skills as well as academic subject learning. I built soft skills such as time management, teamwork and communication. I have found these assets very helpful with my university and professional experience.

I feel that the bursary programme gives the opportunity to other girls, that are equally motivated to work hard, to push themselves to their potential and have a full and rounded learning experience. I do not believe I would have had the same educational experience elsewhere or if I had been in a mixed school. I feel that I was able to concentrate fully on my education and my extracurricular activities.

Without the financial support I received during my time at The Abbey, I would not have been able to attend the school. I do not think I would have had the confidence to choose the creative direction I have chosen for my life if I had not had the great support of my teachers and the staff at The Abbey. I am very grateful for the support I received as it got me to where I am today.

My next steps once I graduate are to find a job in Animation VFX and to travel. I would love to be able to support bursary projects in the future when I am able to as I would love for other young people to have the same opportunities as I did growing up.

Why Ella is a Bursary Ambassador and supporting the 1887 Bursary Fund

As a child in primary school, I never felt that I fitted in. My interests did not align well with my peers, and as a result I was subject to bullying from the ages of eight to eleven. Naturally, I began retreating further and further from the people around me, which only led to worsening circumstances. The final straw was when members of staff joined in teasing me. As well as the general taunting, it convinced me that I was too dumb, especially in terms of maths and sciences, to get anywhere in the future. To get away from the people who ostracised me, I looked around at secondary schools where I found The Abbey.

When starting at The Abbey, I was incredibly shy and unsure of myself as a result of my primary school experience, however, I quickly realised the stark contrast between the two schools. I soon felt part of the community: my confidence began to grow and I learned to trust again. The staff at The Abbey were incredibly patient with my sensitivity to criticism and reluctance to share anything with anyone. As time progressed, The Abbey allowed me to flourish in ways that I don’t think would have been possible without the support provided.

During my time at The Abbey, I became unwell with pneumonia and was absent from school for approximately three months and became very behind. This is when I discovered my love for science and maths, despite the nagging thought from being told I was not good enough when I was younger. Again, the community at The Abbey helped me to catch up with my studies, as well as growing my passion for STEM.

Now, three years after leaving The Abbey, I am in my third year of studying Chemistry at the University of Oxford and looking at research groups to join for my fourth year. Going forward, I would love to stick to chemical research (especially in solid state chemistry/chemical crystallography) and am also hoping to get into teaching at a university level, to help others develop the passion that The Abbey allowed me to form.