The Old Girls’ Association is delighted to announce that the 2022-2023 Dorothy Lester Travel Scholarship has been awarded to Year 13 Sixth Form student, Katie Bishop.

Katie is planning a trip to Germany where she hopes to improve her conversational German and also to learn more about the History and Culture of the country. During her stay she will visit Dusseldorf, Cologne, Bremen, Bonn and Berlin, and is taking a gap year before going to university and intends to use her German language skills whilst working in Austria and Switzerland.

The Old Girls’ Association awards this £400 scholarship in memory of Miss Dorothy Lester, who was a much loved and respected Headmistress from 1954 to 1979. When Miss Lester died, the Old Girls’ Association wanted a way to ensure that we never forgot her or her contribution to the School. Miss Lester loved to travel and always believed that it broadened the mind and gave you experience and knowledge which would be of great benefit. For this reason, the Old Girls’ Association decided to award a Travel Scholarship to a Sixth Form student.

The Scholarship is awarded to a Year 13 student who proposes to use initiative and enterprise in planning to travel somewhere and to do something which is of educational value.

Previous recipients of the award have:

1. Worked with pre-school children in the very deprived areas of South Africa.
2. Taught in Perth, western Australia and Ghana.
3. Worked in a YMCA camp in Alberta, Canada and with Camp America.
4. Studied the benefits of using public transport in Berlin to reduce carbon emissions.
5. Farmed in the Norwegian Fjords.
6. Explored the language, literature and geography of Iceland.
7. Participated in Gap Medics in a hospital in Tanzania along with time with a Masai tribe.
8. Travelled to Nepal and carried-out scientific experiments in the Himalayas.
9. Travelled to Norway canoeing on the world-renowned Fjords and taking twelve hour-long treks including the very demanding Trolltunga hike.

On their return, the winner of the award will write a report about her experience and will return to School to deliver a whole school assembly about their travel adventures.

The Old Boys’ Association also award a travel scholarship to a Sixth Form student.

We wish her a very successful trip and look forward to hearing about her trip when she speaks to the School on her return.

Diana Robinson

Chairman of The Old Girls’ Association