SMASHING the "glass ceiling" will be high on the agenda during a centenary gathering at a North Yorkshire independent girls' school.

Harrogate Ladies' College is bringing together about 50 former pupils and "high-flyers", who have succeeded in traditionally male-dominated careers since the 1950s, as part of its centenary celebrations in July.

The school has been trawling the archives for information for the celebrations, and has identified dozens of suitable examples - including Juliet Bremner, the ITN news correspondent; Susan Binns, now director within the Internal Market Directorate-General of The European Commission; Anne McIntosh, Tory MP for the Vale of York; and Susan Hundleby, portfolio finance director of the Corus Group plc, a business with a £7 billion turnover.

Although the school is celebrating 100 years since being founded on its current site, records of pupils' subsequent careers have only been maintained for around half of that time, and show some notable successes.

Records from the school's 1904 beginnings paint a very different picture, however. At that time, there was "housewifery" stream, which taught pupils how to manage a home and organise the servants. It even taught and used the nationally-recognised qualification, the "Housewife's Certificate of the National Union for the Technical Education of Women in Domestic Science".

Leavers since 1952, when records began, have gone into a range of high-flying careers at home and abroad, in law, finance, oil exploration, telecommunications, medicine, media, power generation, academia, the judiciary, and local government.

College headmistress Dr Margaret Hustler said: "We don't drive our pupils towards high-flying careers, we simply give them the skills, confidence and determination to achieve their ambitions, whether at home or work. We're delighted to welcome these very successful old girls to our centenary celebrations. I'm sure they'll be excellent role models for our present pupils".

Susan Binns will be keynote speaker at the school's centenary speech day on July 3, and Juliet Bremner will present a careers talk to current pupils on July 6.

Updated: 09:29 Wednesday, June 23, 2004