Prep students connect and collaborate at GDST

26/01/2026

Last week, three Year 5 and 6 students visited the GDST HQ, accompanied by Ms Chambers and Ms Nicholson, to represent Streatham & Clapham Prep at an EDI workshop. The theme of the day was empathy and building connections, and the girls had the opportunity to meet pupils from other GDST schools across the country.

The workshop was led by inspirational educator and creator Antonio da Veiga Rocha. Antonio emphasised that having empathy for yourself is key to developing empathy for others. During the day, Antonio spoke about how to build safe spaces and encouraged the girls to engage positively with diversity, explaining that the path to equality is through equity. He also spoke about the importance of welcoming difference.

Later, the pupils created a soundscape, which will be shared with schools across the GDST. They also took part in an empathy and connections activity, cutting colourful string to represent parts of themselves and sharing these across the table when they discovered connections with others through attentive listening – a vital characteristic of empathy. The girls then worked collaboratively to build sculptures from their strings, thoughtfully naming their creations.

On the train journey back to school, the pupils wrote down their reflections from the day. A Year 6 student shared, “We mixed with pupils from other schools and built confidence in socialising” while a Year 5 student reflected, “The soundscape really brought people together.”

We are incredibly proud of the girls and look forward to them sharing their learning and experiences with the rest of the school.