and creative house activities planned throughout the year. A House cup is presented at Sports Day and House points are awarded for all activities. There is one House event planned in school diary for each half term. The student leadership team which consists of year 12/13 students are Heads of each House. In 1995, Heenal Raichura, at the age of just nine years old, joined Frances Bardsley School for Girls. She was the youngest person in UK to join a secondary school. In 1998 Head of Physical Education, Melanie Cambridge, appeared on the now decommissioned LWT show Don't Try This at Home. The programme was based on a series of daredevil stunts, and Melanie had to jump out of a plane. This was most noteworthy to pupils at the time, because Essex-boy Darren Day brought his camera crew into the Lower School to "challenge" Melanie. In 1999 the school choir, at the time led by Christine Petherick, sang on the London Heart 106.2 FM especially commissioned version of ‘I Have a Dream’ with Irish boyband, Westlife. They won this privilege after sending the radio station in a tape of them singing the song. The actress currently playing Louisa in The Sound of Music revival at London Palladium attends the school. Her name is Sophie Onslow Current teacher (& Deputy Head) at the school, Karen Tann, was awarded a Royal Institute of ChemistryTeacher Fellowship in 2005. Former teacher Kate Spiller had her obituary published in The Guardian when she died in 2006. Absence rates The school has a 7% authorised absence rate and 0.5% unauthorised absence rate. This compares favorably to the 7% national authorised absence rate and 1.2% unauthorised absence rate in the UK. GCSE results The last published available information is from 2004, when 73% of pupils in Year 11 achieved 5 or more A*-C GCSEs. This was up on the previous year when 70% of pupils in Year 11 achieved 5 or more A*-C GCSEs. Ofsted results The last Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education) inspection took place on 13–14 October 2011 (inspection number 376704). Liz Duffy led the investigation, assisted by a team of five other inspectors. The full report, as well as previous reports, can be read on Office for Standards in Education website. Relationship with parents From as far back as the school has existed the school has maintained strong links with parents and pupils.