How can UK schools close the gender gap in tech?
While percentages of girls studying Computer Science in the UK have dropped from 43% in 2015 to 21% in 2023, at Francis Holland Regent’s Park we have seen a consistent increase in girls taking Computer Science at GCSE over the past four years – a trend which we aim to continue to encourage.
Our ‘Women in Tech’ series brings together transformational experts offering inspiration to our pupils, and our programmes have been recognised in being shortlisted for the TES Best Use of Technology Award 2025, as well as the winning of Muddy Stilettos Best Schools’ Excellence in STEM Award 2024. Yesterday evening, we were excited to welcome to Francis Holland Regent’s Park some of the most transformational experts in the fashion and beauty industry for an event designed to inspire secondary school girls to see themselves as future tech leaders.
The event was the brainchild of our Head, Katharine Woodcock and Louise Laing, founder of Recode the Curriculum, Phygitaltwin.io and mother of two teenage daughters, bringing together pioneering women from biotech, gaming, fashion, and beauty tech sectors directly into the classroom to run interactive workshops that went beyond traditional coding lessons. The evening acted as a pilot for a wider movement to reshape tech education in the UK, introducing a creative, applied approach to digital literacy, emphasising design, storytelling, ethics, and entrepreneurship alongside coding.
Pupils from both Francis Holland Regent’s Park and partner school The St Marylebone CE School heard from five trailblazing women reshaping tech across industries, including biotech innovator Dr. Stasa Stankovic, Co-founder of OvartiX, who is pioneering therapeutics to extend fertility and delay menopause – a potential game-changer for addressing the “motherhood penalty” that forced over 250,000 UK women out of work last year.
The panel also featured Dr. Dr.Alex Box, Founder of V-Metrics Beauty; Simone Oloman, Co-founder of NIFT; Nona Dimitrova, Content & Community Manager at Whering; and Louise Laing, Founder of Phygen and Phygitaltwin.io.The school is proud to have hosted this event that aligns perfectly with our ethos of nurturing curiosity, creativity, and resilience. Our girls deserve an education that prepares them for the future, and we are proud to be hosting the first of many events in this important area.
Feedback from pupils was overwhelmingly positive, with one pupil sharing, “it was super cool and interactive – it taught me to get creative, think outside the box, and that you can achieve anything!” Another remarked, “these women are the faces of their companies. It was really powerful to hear about the challenges they overcame and their journeys to success.”
A post-event survey showed remarkable results – 65% of pupils said they felt more confident about pursuing a career in tech or entrepreneurship after the event.
We are so grateful to all the panelists and look forward to seeing the impact of this initiative, both within our FHRP community and across the UK secondary school sphere.
