The last two years have been a time of great change for Durham School. As well as dealing with the challenge of the pandemic, we have also successfully navigated a school merger; the newly formed Durham Cathedral Schools Foundation is a result of the coming together between Durham School and The Chorister School, the prep and choir school of Durham Cathedral.
Whilst mergers inevitably lead to some unsettlement for pupils, parents and staff, they provide an opportunity to look at not only the new institution but also the existing schools afresh. If you are, like me, embedded in the day to day life of a school, or indeed other institutions, you aren’t always aware of how that school is perceived from the outside. In particular, if you know an institution really well, you may forget that others’ perceptions may be different. This is something we became conscious of when thinking about the history of both schools, but particularly Durham School over recent years.
It was clear that, whilst those who are currently connected with the school understand it for what it is, there were still some members of the local community who thought of the school as it had been many years ago. Specifically, a surprisingly large number – well, surprising to us at least – still regarded us as a boys’ school. Whilst for much of its history Durham School was indeed an all boys’ school, the school has been co-educational for almost forty years, first started taking girls in the sixth form in 1985 and then at all ages in the late 90s. There are now over 250 girls who are part of the Foundation.
For those of us who work at the school now, it is hard to think of the school as having ever been any other way. But, for those who have not had some contact with the school for a time – and in the context of a school with 600 years of history – this is a relatively new development. It was clear therefore that we had to address this particular misconception about Durham School and potentially the new Foundation. It was very clear to us that we had to emphasise that Durham School was for girls as well as for boys.
Articulating the issue in those terms actually provided the germ of an idea of how to tackle it. Luckily enough, we have a recent alumna of the school in our marketing department, and so she was very well placed to think through the most effective ways to emphasise our co-educational status. In addition, given that the message we needed to convey was that “Durham School is #ForGirls”, it was really important to us that that message was conveyed by the girls themselves. Clearly, they needed to be front and centre of any marketing that was done. Happily, we were inundated with girls, and indeed female members of staff, who were only too willing to talk about how Durham School was for them. You can watch the video at www.dcsf.org.uk/dcsf/for-girls.
Did it work? Well, only time will tell; changing misconceptions is a slow process. But, we are hugely proud of the work that has been done not only because it has led to a good deal of contact from girls interested in joining us but also because it has resonated so much with our current pupils, parents and alumni. It’s given us an opportunity not just to emphasise what the school does for current pupils; it has been great to hear from former female pupils how much the school set them up for the next stage of their lives.
So, if you are a girl who is thinking about the next stage of your education, you would be very welcome to visit us, safe in the knowledge that Durham School is For Girls.