Jessica Miles

The opportunity to lead Badminton – a pioneering school which aims to be at the forefront of girls' education – was something Jessica Miles did not want to miss. 'I am a fierce advocate of girls' single sex education,' she explains. 'There is something incredibly exciting about leading a school which has a purposeful sense of calm about it, influenced in many ways by our beautiful campus, but we live on the edge of one of the most exciting cities in Europe – Bristol – with all that it has to offer in terms of history, culture and diversity.'

As one of the oldest schools founded specifically to educate girls, Badminton counts among its former pupils Indira Gandhi, the first female Prime Minister of India, and novelist Iris Murdoch was Head Girl. Badminton has long had a pioneering philosophy, so how does Jessica see the school today? 'My vision for Badminton is that it will continue to provide the best preparation for young women living, working and thriving in a global society. I also want every student to emerge as confident, intellectually curious, courteous and kind. It will be a school which has pockets of excellence wherever you look – be that academic, artistic, musical, sporting or dramatic. The young women who leave Badminton will not be afraid of failure and they will have learnt to be brave, not perfect.'

Supporting the pastoral needs of pupils is a key aspect of life at Badminton. 'We appreciate that each pupil, depending on their age and year group, will have different needs. Our horizontal boarding system means that our boarding staff are experts in dealing with the ups and downs that come with a particular age. Communication is key – between parents and the school, and between pastoral staff and academic staff – knowing when and how to manage that pressure which is so common in girls who want to do everything to the very best of their ability.'

For Jessica, another key benefit of Badminton is the size of the school. 'One of the benefits of being a relatively small school is that our teacher to pupil ratio is excellent, and our class sizes are small, which means that we really do know each individual student exceptionally well. Our pastoral care is therefore bespoke and focussed – there is no sense of one size fits all.'

Today's pupils, following in the footsteps of pioneering women before them, leave having gained so much from the school. 'I see the pupils leave Badminton equipped with a social and emotional intelligence which enables them to put their academic qualifications to good use in their professional lives, but also equips them with the soft skills that will help them with all their future aspirations in a competitive global society.'

And as a boarding school, welcoming pupils from across the world, Jessica recognises that Badminton provides girls with another unique quality. 'Our global community also means that they are brilliant at building positive relationships with people from a variety of cultures and backgrounds and they are open minded and respectful. They are incredibly good people, who you would want on your team.'