GALS - Girls Active Leader Squad
GALS empowers our girls to build confidence, promote physical activity, and support one another through sport and teamwork.
As part of our ACE enrichment programme, GALS provides a welcoming space for girls to stay active, make friends, and develop leadership skills. Sessions run every Tuesday evening and include activities such as netball, football, and rugby.
Her Time to Shine
Her Time To Shine represents the culmination of our GALS students’ development journey, bringing together their ideas around puberty and the barriers to confidence in PE and everyday life.
As part of this initiative, students design and lead a student-led experience for girls from local secondary schools, creating a space to share experiences, build confidence and promote positive attitudes towards physical activity.
Participants engage in open discussions around confidence and empowerment, alongside physical activities, and create pledges to take back to their own schools to inspire positive change.
GALS Achievements
Youth Sport Trust National Conference - 2026
We proudly represented the voice of teenage girls at the Youth Sport Trust National Conference held on 4 March in Telford, Shropshire.
Invited to attend this prestigious national event, GALS students led a workshop titled “From Childhood to Womanhood”, where they:
- Shared honest experiences about barriers to participation in sport
- Led discussions on puberty, confidence, and social pressures
- Explored the impact of social media and peer influence
Remarkably, they were the only students among over 100 professional delegates, confidently leading conversations and providing authentic insight into the experiences of teenage girls.
Girls Active & Youth Sport Trust Young Changemaker Award Winners – 2021
The GALS were shortlisted for the national Girls Active & Youth Sport Trust Young Changemaker Awards and went on to win the award following a ceremony held on 24 November 2021.
As part of the process, a film crew from the Youth Sport Trust visited the Academy to capture the students in action, showcasing their teamwork, leadership, and commitment to encouraging girls’ participation in sport.
Student Voice
Our students are at the heart of everything we do:
“We love coming to GALS”
“It’s built my confidence”
“It makes me so happy”
“We’re like a small family”
“I come to GALS to be active and make new friends”
“It makes me look forward to Tuesdays”
