Saturday’s Spotlight: Mrs Dart
Introducing Mrs Dart. Director of Sport, Adventure and Leadership and member of the Senior Leadership Team at Sherborne Girls. She is an incredibly strong, empowering, and empathetic leader to our girls, who firmly believes that gender should not stand in the way of success.
Who inspired you to become a strong female leader?
My Platoon commander at Sandhurst, Captain Emma Glover, was probably my greatest inspiration. She was a woman who understood about empathetic leadership at a time when nobody had ever heard of the term. She was a trail blazer in the Army and understood how to relate to people and get the very best out of a team. She sadly lost her life to ovarian cancer when she was in her early forties leaving a young family behind. She left a lasting impression on anyone who knew her and inspired me to follow in her footsteps and commission into the Royal Signals.
What area would you like to see positive change in?
I would love to eradicate the term ‘glass ceiling’, I don’t believe any young woman should enter the world of work thinking they can’t achieve anything they want to because of their gender. I think self-belief, self-determination and hard work are key to achieving our dreams regardless of where we have come from, who we are, or where we are heading.
Which value at Sherborne Girls resonates with you the most?
Courage – I love seeing our pupils pushing themselves to the limits of what they thought they could achieve, and then just that little bit further. I see it regularly on the athletics track and in challenging cross-country races, on the wilds of Dartmoor in the driving rain, or on the Royal Marines’ assault course at Lympstone. Our girls can be remarkably tough and it is so rewarding seeing them take this new found self-confidence back into the classroom and their everyday lives.
What piece of advice would you pass on to the future generation of female leaders?
Treat those around you with kindness and compassion, ‘people may not always remember what you say, but they will always remember how you made them feel’. To be a strong leader in the 21st century you need to understand your team and how to get the best out of them. That takes time, patience and empathy but the rewards are worth the investment.
