The Independent Schools Council is a politically independent, not-for-profit organisation representing 1,270 independent schools educating more than 500,000 children. It exists to promote choice, diversity and excellence in education, developing talent at all levels of ability and from all backgrounds.

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New girls' schools president

6 January 2003

Pauline Davies, headmistress of Wycombe Abbey School, Buckinghamshire, is the new president of the Girls' Schools Association (GSA) for 2003.

A graduate of Manchester University, where she read botany and zoology, Mrs Davies has taught in both state (girls' and boys' grammar schools and a co-educational comprehensive) and independent schools, and in day and boarding schools. In 1990, she was appointed head of Croydon High school GDST, before taking up her present post eight years later.

As a member of the GSA Council, she chaired the GSA Inspections Committee for three years during the transition to the new Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) system in 1999/2000. Married, with two sons, both of whom are former boarders, she enjoys spending her free time with her family, reading, theatre and travelling.

On her year in office, Mrs Davies commented: "I am looking forward to keeping the Girls' Schools Association at the forefront of educational debate and to promoting the success and diversity of GSA schools - whether large or small, day or boarding - we share in a common aim of providing a first-class education for the girls in our care."

"I am also looking forward to working together with colleagues in the other ISC associations to promote the independent sector generally, and to contribute to the debate on possible models for the post 16 curriculum in both the medium and long term."

Wycombe Abbey School is a girls' boarding school, with about 540 pupils aged 11-18, all of them (with the exception of some 30 ‘day boarders') full boarders. The school, founded in 1896, prides itself on its pastoral care and on encouraging its pupils to serve others. It seeks to educate the whole person, promoting excellence not only in academic work but also in a wide range of other activities including music, drama and sport.

The Girls' Schools Association is one of the five professional associations of heads in the Independent Schools Council. Its 208 member schools are all single-sex schools, educating over 109,000 girls in England, Scotland and Wales. Its annual conference takes place in November and in 2003 will take place in St Andrews.