The new headteacher of one of London’s top-performing schools will personally give all new girlspublic speaking and rhetoric lessons in a bid to boost their confidence.
Clare Wagner, head of the Henrietta Barnett school in north London, said people are not always born confident about speaking in public and need to be taught.
She will tell all year seven pupils at the all-girls grammar school she was nervous about speaking in assemblies when she became a teacher but taught herself how to overcome it.
Mrs Wagner said: “You can’t just say to children ‘have confidence’ and it happens. We have to teach them how to do it. Oracy skills are the key to success.”
She said she has always been interested in “why clever girls don’t speak in class”, and focused on girls’ oracy while studying for a master’s degree in education.
She added: “Being put on the spot is something girls don’t’ always like.”
Teachers can help, she added, by encouraging detailed answers and asking pupils to expand on their thoughts.
Ms Wagner, who was previously head of the West London Free School, said she joined the Toastmasters’ organisation, a global club which helps people practise public speaking, and read and researched the subject.
She also was coached by the late Bernice McCabe, former head of the North London Collegiate School in Edgware, where Mrs Wagner has previously worked.
She said: “When I stand up in assemblies people think I find it easy. But I didn’t feel confident as a child. I learned it over time.
“As a teacher you develop your skills. When you first give assemblies you are nervous but over time you build up your confidence.
“I want pupils to know you are not born good at it. I tell them I wasn’t confident when I was at school.”
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She added: “If I have an important speech or assembly, I practise it. My daughter gives me feedback. I really want to get across the need to be always learning and improving.”
She said single-sex schools are of benefit to girls because they can build up their confidence. She added that girls at single-sex schools seem happier to take subjects such as maths and physics, whereas in co-educational schools these classes are dominated by boys.
