Our Head of History and Government and Politics, Kristina Lewis was recently interviewed by the Fawcett Society who have been very much inspired by our History Summer competition #FindHerOnTheMap – where we challenged our students to visit as many female statues across London, from Anna Pavlova in Victoria to Violette Szabo at The South Bank and record it with a selfie.
Fawcett Society: Can you tell us about #findheronthemap – what is it and what prompted you to start it?
Our Head of History and Government and Politics, Kristina Lewis was recently interviewed by the Fawcett Society who have been very much inspired by our History Summer competition #FindHerOnTheMap – where we challenged our students to visit as many female statues across London, from Anna Pavlova in Victoria to Violette Szabo at The South Bank and record it with a selfie.
Fawcett Society: Can you tell us about #findheronthemap – what is it and what prompted you to start it?
Kristina: #findheronthemap is a summer (photo) competition launched by the History & Politics department at Bromley High School. After I visited the Millicent Fawcett with my 4-month-old baby, I couldn’t wait to share my thoughts with our girls at Bromley High. The best way to spread an idea quickly is to deliver a school assembly. So that’s what I did in my first week back. As I started reading more about Gillian Wearing’s statue, I was intrigued to find out more about other female statues dotted around our city. Although it’s thought that just 2.7% of all Britain’s statues are of women, it’s important for our pupils to know who & where they are. I decided to round up more than 10 statues of amazing women around London (Virginia Woolf; Emmeline Pankhurst; Mary Seacole…) and encourage pupils to see them in REAL life, which is why I launched a photo competition, with a guided map of who, and where the statues are (edible prizes for those who visited the most statues – of course!). It’s a fun way to get our girls thinking about the wonderful contributions women have made to history.
Fawcett Society: Have your students been taking part in #findheronthemap this summer? What are the best responses you’ve seen so far?
Kristina: Yes! We have had plenty of photo entries so far, our Sixth Formers have quite a competitive spirit so they’re not telling me how many they’ve been to yet… But they expect to win! Members of staff are very excited too. Several have emailed over the summer with photos attached – it’s getting everyone thinking and looking (up). At the end of September I hope our notice board dedicated to the competition will be full of fun photographs. The winner will be announced just before half-term in October.
Fawcett Society: You mentioned that you held an assembly on Millicent Fawcett’s statue. What were students’ reactions?
Kristina: I don’t think my pupils were surprised that I delivered an assembly on the Millicent Fawcett statue. The statue was unveiled during my maternity leave and I was desperate to (positively) shout about it when I got back to school. The reaction to my assembly was great – it got everyone talking about how Parliament Square is lined with bronze statues of men: Mandela, Churchill, Ghandi, Lloyd George… But where are the women? Our focus on the role of women underpins Bromley High’s ‘Girls First’ approach to the study of history, celebrating women’s achievements and giving voice to the neglected.
Fawcett Society: We’re so impressed with all the suffrage related activity you’ve been running this year! What has been the highlight for you? What are you most proud of?
Kristina: We began the centenary celebrations by hosting a Women’s History Conference with historians from the University of Kent. It was a whole day of academic workshops focusing on inspirational women: Saint Mary Magdelene; Mary Queen of Scots; Emily Davidson; and Harriet Tubman. The day ended with each historian championing the woman they thought the most inspirational historical female figure. Harriet Tubman’s courageous exploits freeing slaves through Underground Railroad persuaded the audience to vote for her as the most inspirational female. This event firmly highlighted the significance of female characteristics such as strength, determination and independence, strongly refuting the stereotypical domesticated propaganda of women within the twentieth century.
Another very proud moment was when our Junior History Club worked alongside their Sixth Formers in February (during ‘Suffrage Week’) to produce striking banners in the style of the WSPU and NUWSS for their centenary procession, marching through the school to celebrate 100 years since women won the vote. The banners were then used by our Sixth Formers at the ‘PROCESSIONS’ London march in June. It was so exciting to see our pupils fired up for the feminist cause.