A group of female students from Oasis Academy Coulsdon were recently spotlighted in BBC Radio 4’s latest docuseries, About the Girls, which explored what it means to be a teenage girl today.
A group of female students from Oasis Academy Coulsdon were recently spotlighted in BBC Radio 4’s latest docuseries, About the Girls, which explored what it means to be a teenage girl today.
The series, created by journalist and documentary maker Catherine Carr, hears directly from girls across the UK about the pressures, hopes and challenges shaping their lives today. Over the course of the project, Catherine met around 150 girls and young women aged 11–24 in classrooms, youth clubs, sports halls and community spaces, speaking to them about topics ranging from friendship and family to social media, consent, inequality and the realities of growing up in a rapidly changing world.
Our Year 10 students at Oasis Academy Coulsdon feature prominently in Episode 5, which focuses on the topic of ‘friendship.’ The girls speak openly at the beginning of the episode about the dynamics of teenage friendships, from the joy and support found in strong “sisterhoods” to the complexities of group chats, misunderstandings, and the pressures that can arise through social media. Their reflections offer an honest and thoughtful insight into how young women navigate relationships, belonging and identity during their teenage years.
We are incredibly proud of our students for brilliantly contributing their voices to such an important national conversation. They have represented their academy, community and the Oasis family with maturity, honesty and confidence.
If you would like to listen to the episode, you can find About the Girls on BBC Sounds.