| Girls' Schools Association | |
| Abbreviation: | GSA |
| Formation: | 1974 |
| Purpose: | Professional association for headteachers of independent girls' schools |
| Headquarters: | Suite 105 108 New Walk Leicester England |
| Region Served: | Mainly United Kingdom |
| Leader Title: | President |
| Leader Name: | 2020–21: Jane Prescott[1] |
| Affiliations: | ISC |
The Girls' Schools Association (GSA) is a professional association of the heads of independent girls' schools. It is a constituent member of the Independent Schools Council.
The GSA can trace its history back to the Association of Headmistresses which was founded in 1874 by Dorothea Beale and Frances Buss. The aim was to agree which issues need challenging and which could be ignored. Buss served as the founding president.[2]
Enid Essame of Queenswood School was an honorary secretary before she became president in 1960.[3] She was succeeded by Diana Reader Harris in 1964.[4] She was in post until 1966, and organised a response to the Plowden Report.
It was established in 1974 following the amalgamation of two of the AHM's sub-groups: the Association of Heads of Girls' boarding Schools and the Association of Independent and Direct Grant Schools. It moved from London to new headquarters in Leicester in 1984, where it shared offices with the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) before moving to its current office, still in Leicester.
The chief executive is Donna Stevens.
Below is a list of GSA member schools. Some members are the girls' sections of "Diamond Schools".
Northern Ireland