Return Visit of Groundbreaking Pupil

<p style=”text-align: center;”> <img alt=”” height=”221″ src=”images/events/karen_dodd_web.jpg” width=”310″ /></p> <p style=”text-align: justify;”> One of Bancroft’s very first female pupils paid a visit to the School on Saturday 23 November.  Karen Dodd (nee Sklayne) was one of two girls who joined the Sixth Form in 1973. She had previously been a pupil at the all-girls City of London School but left as she was not allowed to study separate sciences for A Level.  She told parents and pupils of her first day, “I was late because they were building the M11 and was told to stand at the back of the Great Hall.  All I could see was a sea of trouser legs.  I had been told at my interview that there were going to be twenty girls, but I couldn’t see another nineteen! Katie, the other girl, was also late.  We were both put into North House so that we were together.”  She recounted the various skills Bancroft’s had given her – learning to barter for furniture for the girls’ common room and playing Brag at the back of the chemistry class.  More importantly, her time spent at Barnado’s in Barkingside as part of General Studies laid the foundation for her career; she is currently Assistant Director of Therapies and Head for LD Psychology for Surrey and Borders NHS Trust.   Karen was the guest of East House for their seventies themed family evening, during which the pupils took a light hearted and rather fanciful look at how the arrival of girls impacted life at Bancroft’s.</p>