Northwood College pupils will wear Superhero capes for a day as reward for good work

Headmistress Jacqualyn Pain said: “Anyone who read about the recent controversy concerning Clarks children’s shoes may have wondered if this highly reputable company realises we are actually in the 21st Century.

“To the uninitiated, they recently had to withdraw girls’ school shoes, entitled Dolly Babe, from sale. The comparable boys’ shoe was called Leader.”

“The everyday sexism embodied in the names of these shoes, that does not see an issue with the notion that boys are doers, are powerful and set the agenda for the future yet that little girls are defined by their looks, their sexual availability, their desirability, is startling.

“It might have been acceptable in 1957, when gender stereotypes were the norm, but it really isn’t OK in 2017.”

She said the college was determined to challenge the stereotypes.

“We want our girls to be empowered to see they can be whoever they want to be and not to feel limited in how they view their potential” said Miss Pain.

Zara Hubble, head of the junior school, has devised a radical way to challenge limitation.

She has ten Superhero capes and the nominated girls can choose which cape they want to wear for the day.

“No more will we entertain the ‘Princess Culture’,” said Miss Pain. “When one of our junior pupils does something amazing (and they do so most of the time,) whether that is in a maths test, or in sport, or in being kind to another, or making a speech, her reward will be to become a Superhero for the day.

“Not a passive Princess waiting to be brought to life by her Prince, but a Superhero, with all that suggests: power, self-affirmation, strength and independence.

“Schools like ours were set up because pioneering people (usually women) saw inequality and they literally put their money where their mouths were.

“Their vision and inspiration was the beginning of the journey to a more equitable society: votes for women, equal pay and equal rights under the law.”