Schoolgirls have been urged to pursue their hopes and dreams through poetry, dance, art and song at a special event in east London encouraging them to plan their future.

Live entertainment was staged after the pupils at Stepney’s Bishop Challoner Secondary heard from speakers in the areas of law, engineering and fashion as part of the school’s ‘Girls With Goals’ personal development programme.

“This programme celebrates all that girls currently are and all they are yet to be,” Bishop Challoner Girls’ Head Chantelle Easmon-Johnson said. “Girls should have licence to grow and learn in their education and personal development without shame or fear of ‘getting it wrong’. There is power in vulnerability and power in what is yet to be.”

The programme encourages girls to adopt healthy academic and body self-esteem and develop a positive mindset on their academic studies.

Speakers at the event—such as Elisha Sempa from Osbourne Construction, Holly Edwards of Beazley law firm, Fioye Laniyan who founded Virgos Lounge and Avalon Rathgeb who set up Old Kent Road Tap encouraged them to “persevere, dream big and expect to work hard” even if they have setbacks on the way.