Philippa Davies
Q. Your name?
Philippa Davies
Q. Your school?
Croham Hurst, Roedean
Q. Your current occupation?
Maths Teacher (Former head of department, Harrow School)
Q. Your favourite subject at school?
Maths (of course)
Q. Your best and worst memory of your school days?
Worst – being told after a house play (where I played a man who murdered his wife), that I made a good looking man! Also cross country running in the really big gym knickers.
Best – Winning a really important ‘adult’ netball tournament even though we were a school team. Our PE teacher was so pleased with us she treated us all to chips on the way back to school.
Q. What or who inspired you to follow your career?
Dr. Baolin (physics teacher at Roedean) – very glamorous and wore amazing saris even in the winter. She had been at Imperial College and believed in me when I was going through an extra stroppy phase aged 17.
Q. What do you feel you gained by attending a girls’ only school?
My subjects were all maths and science and my self-esteem probably wasn’t great (being really tall with acne – hard to blend into the background) so being in an environment where that was minimised and I wasn’t so self conscious was really important. I could be as clever as I liked in maths and science without fear of being called a nerd (although obviously I was) and as hopeless as I liked in English and French without anyone making judgements. Also very good to have quite a few female teachers in maths and science as they were all very good role models. There was always an ethos of “you can do what you want, nothing should stop you”.
Q. Any advice for parents choosing a school for their daughter?
Go with your gut instinct. If it feels right, it probably is. Don’t automatically go for a very highly academic school if your daughter is not that way inclined, it will only make her feel less than clever. Look carefully at extra curricula and class size – these two things are a big reason to pay fees.
Q. Any advice for girls planning their university and/or career choices?
Don’t, don’t, don’t don’t veer away from your favourite subject just because you think it’s a bit masculine. Go for your favourite subjects and see where they take you.
Q. Any other comments you would like to make?
My own children are currently at a mixed primary school, but I will definitely be sending them to single sex senior schools. There is a huge advantage to having the teenage years as a single sex learning environment. When I look at my own very feisty and independent 6 year old daughter, I wouldn’t want her to be intimidated and her strong-will dampened by being in a mixed school environment when she is a teenager. I want her to continue to feel comfortable and confident and I believe that is best served by her being at an independent girls’ school.
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