Global Girl Leading Summit 2025

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On Friday 10th October, 2025, over 300 students attended Mulberry Schools Trust’s annual Global Girl Leading Summit at Mulberry School for Girls, with other schools across the country and abroad watching live online. This year, four international schools attended the event in person: Lenana Girls High School (Kenya), Penola Catholic College (Australia), Colegio Carol Baur (Mexico), and Foscarini High School (Italy). 66 Global Girl Leaders – students from across Mulberry Schools Trust, who were selected from over 165 applicants – helped lead the conference by welcoming and registering schools, managing logistics, hosting international schools, and compèring the event. The livestream was managed by a team from the Mulberry Production Arts Academy.

At 9am BST, the main conference began with a keynote speech by Tina Tchen, Executive Vice President, Programs, for the Obama Foundation, focused on her personal and professional journey and highlighting the importance of resilience.

Students then engaged with an interactive activity based on the Beijing+30 Action Agenda established by UN Women, reflecting on current gender statistics and associated actions to achieve the equal rights of all women and girls.

Next, was the first panel, titled ‘Inspirational Women’s Leadership at a National Level’. It featured:

  • Baroness Nicky Morgan, Member of the House of Lords and former Conservative MP and Minister
  • Dr. Joanna Abeyie MBE, MD of People, Data and Culture Consultancy for Blue Moon & Partners
  • Fatima El-Meeyuf, Acting Headteacher of Mulberry School for Girls
  • Natalie Campbell MBE, Co-CEO of Belu Water & Chancellor of University of Westminster
  • Dr. Fatima Rajina, Senior Legacy in Action Research Fellow at the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre at De Montfort University
  • Dr. Vanessa Ogden CBE, CEO of Mulberry Schools Trust (Chair)

Following the panel, students watched Voices Across Time, a film created in collaboration with Magic Me. This marked the first public showing of the film, with the students and adults involved in creating the film watching in the room. This was followed by a short panel featuring two student and two adult project participants, alongside the filmmakers, where they reflected on the creative process of making the film, and its impact on them.

After a short break, students moved into workshop rotations focused on the tools needed to lead change at a local level. These were hosted by various social impact organisations and skilled individuals, including:

  • Women for Women International: #PowerToChange workshop
  • Sisterhood: Your Future Legacy
  • Amnesty International UK: Intro to Youth Activism
  • Applied Stories: Global Girl Writing
  • Faima Bakar: A Journalism Workshop
  • Dr. Joanna Abeyie MBE: How to be a values-based leader
  • Dr. Fatima Rajina: What does building a campaign look like?
  • Fawcett Society: Closing the Gender Pay Gap

Following these engaging workshops, conference attendees enjoyed an exhibition held during the lunch break, featuring stalls from some of the workshop hosts and displays from the Voices Across Time film and For Our Mothers poetry projects, alongside a range of interactive activities, including gingerbread women decorating and a polaroid photobooth.

After lunch, the final session was launched with a performance of five poems from this year’s poetry anthology, led by Applied Stories, For Our Mothers. Through their poems, students reflected on the impact their mother, or a key maternal figure, has had on them.

Next, was the second panel, titled ‘: Inspirational Women’s Leadership at International Level’, again hosted by Dr. Vanessa Ogden, featuring:

  • Tina Tchen, Executive Vice President, Programs, for the Obama Foundation
  • Ms. Ritika Anand, Principal, St. Mark’s Sr. Sec. Public School, Meera Bagh, New Delhi
  • Dr. Edna Adan Ismail, Founder and Director of Edna Adan University & Hospital in Somaliland

Following the panel, a selection of Speakers’ Corner videos was then shown, showcasing the power and passion of Global Girl Leading’s international sisterhood.

To close, conference attendees reflected on their summit experience by completing an evaluation form and writing a ‘Letter to My Future Self’, outlining their takeaways from the conference and hopes for the future.

The summit culminated in a powerful rendition of Alicia Keys’ Girl on Fire, led by a choir of Mulberry Schools Trust students and accompanied by videos from students across the globe.

Following the summit, conference attendees were invited to the House of Commons for a post-summit reception event, sponsored by Apsana Begum MP. Reflections were shared about the day, highlighting the empowering nature of the event and the global connections the Global Girl Leading programme fosters.