Independent School Parent - Prep Summer Preview

INDEPENDENT SCHOOL

Summer 2015 | independentschoolparent.com

NURSERY & PREP EDITION

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A LUXURY HOLIDAY

HEALTH

HOW TO GIVE YOUR CHILDREN CONFIDENCE BOOKS

CLASSIC NOVELS FOR CHILDHOOD

DON’T MISS • THINGS TO DO AT HALF TERM • BEHIND THE SCENES AT MILLFIELD • 12 BOOKS TO READ BEFORE YOUR CHILD IS 12

TRICK OR TREAT? WACKY GIFT IDEAS FOR YOUR TEACHER

Choosing a

PREP SCHOOL

EDITOR’S LETTER

CLAUDIA DUDMAN Editor

INDEPENDENT SCHOOL

HELPING YOU MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICES FOR YOUR CHILDREN

CNP Ltd, Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London SW3 3TQ Tel (020) 7349 3700 Fax (020) 7349 3701 Email editor@independentschoolparent.com For website and subscriptions, please visit: independentschoolparent.com/register EDITORIAL Editor Claudia Dudman Senior Sub Editor Natalie Milner Editorial Assistant Eleanor Doughty Senior Art Editor Chloë Collyer Senior Designer Emily Weller Designer Maria Sagun PUBLISHING Publisher & Managing Director Paul Dobson Deputy Managing Director Steve Ross Commercial Director Vicki Gavin Media Manager James Dobson Subscriptions Manager Will Delmont 020 7349 3710 will.delmont@chelseamagazines.com Production www.allpointsmedia.co.uk Printed in England by William Gibbons ADVERTISING Client Development Manager Lesley McDiarmid Sales Executives Coco Strunck, William Bernard DISTRIBUTION Independent School Parent magazine is for parents of children educated in Prep and Senior independent schools across the UK. The prep and senior issues are published termly. Parents can subscribe for a free issue at: independentschoolparent.com/register Independent School Parent also publishes The Guide to Independent Schools biannually to help you choose the right school.

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© CNP Ltd 2015. All rights reserved. Text and pictures are copyright restricted and must not be reproduced without permission from the publisher. The information contained in Independent School Parent magazine has been published in good faith and every effort has been made to ensure its accuracy. All liability for loss, negligence or damage caused by reliance on the information contained within this publication is hereby excluded.

r WELC ME… w e

This issue our curriculum feature (page 12) asks: What is a Classic? How do novels that we read as children fare with our offspring? Do novels transcend through the generations with ease or should they be consigned to our bookshelves as a nostalgic reminder of our past? There was heated debate in the office and the whole team pitched in with their favourites while we were compiling our list of 12 books your child should read before they’re 12 (page 19). We all have a book that we loved when we were young and I hope you’ll be a fan of at least one from our selection. In Prep School Unpicked, we look at the eccentricities of the junior school system. Does your child start school at aged four or eight? And at what age do they leave? Is it 11 or 13? It all depends on what type of senior school they’ll head off to. Turn to page 37 for our writer’s analysis. Plus, enter our competition where you can win a luxury family break (page 74) to Tunisia! Enter at: independentschoolparent.com/win.

Claudia Dudman, Editor

COVER: Pupils from All Hallows School, Shepton Mallet, Somerset

Independent School Parent, independentschoolparent.com

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WHAT’S INSIDE? Issue 17 Summer 2015 • independentschoolparent.com

44

News Our round-up of hot topics

How to navigate the uniform shop,

What Makes a Classic?

Eleanor Doughty explains all

47

Charlotte Phillips looks at how some novels stand the test of time

19

12 Before 12 The best books for your child to

12

read before they turn 12

21

Heads-Up Female school leadership is on the up

child in the most sensitive way

48

28

50

want children to do over the summer?

48

Present Day others, writes Katie Hughes

Surf ’s Up

56

independent school sector

59

34

century castle in the Tuscan countryside

56

64 73

40

Prep School Unpicked

The Education Equation How to buy the near-school property of

59

60

Download our free app to read the magazine on your phone or tablet...

74

Win a Luxury Holiday!

A getaway to Tunisia could be yours

77

Calendar Our top dates for your diary

82

your dreams, by Andrew Brooks

On the cover...

Book Club Brilliant reads for the summer holidays

worth all the hard work

school choices, and where best to go

Best for Family… Islands Smith & Family give their favourite spots

Dead Alive

Eleanor Doughty unravels the prep

A Taste of Italy Claudia Dudman escapes to a 12th-

Thalia Thompson explains why Latin is

37

School Hero Felsted’s director of cricket Jason Gallian

outdoor curriculum Highfield Prep’s focus on mental health

Ones to Watch Keeping up with success stories from the

60

Behind the scenes with Millfield’s

Changing the Landscape

Talking Heads Our new regular: what do headteachers

Eye Can See Clearly Now

An end of term tradition to beat all

31

Private or State?

The Good Schools’ Guide lends a hand

54

the importance of our eyes

28

Heads on the Move Which headmaster is going where?

Clare Holland of Keith Holland on

27

Brave New World How to explain world events to your

– quite rightly, says Alison Fleming

24

Up, Up and Away

School Memories Television presenter Ben Fogle

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD David Moncrieff, Chairman Tor Down, Parent James Durant, UCAS Andrew Fleck, Sedbergh School Tory Gillingham, AMDIS Rachel Kerr, Girls’ Schools Association Glynis Kozma, Education journalist Zoe MacDougall, Teacher Heidi Salmons, The Headmasters’ & Headmistresses’ Conference Elaine Stallard, Elaine Stallard Consulting The Rt Hon Graham Stuart MP, Chairman of the Education Select Committee Sheila Thompson, Boarding Schools’ Association Ben Vessey, Canford School David Wellesley-Wesley, Independent Schools Show Peter Young, Marketing/Brand Consultant Sir Anthony Seldon, Wellington College

Ben Fogle shares his school memories from Bryanston (p.82)

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SUMMER 2015 | independentschoolparent.com

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W

HAT MAKES A

CLASSIC? In the 150th year of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Charlotte Phillips looks at which novels stand the test of time…

SUMMER 2015 | independentschoolparent.com

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CURRICULUM

T

he time: deepest childhood. The mood: emotionally charged. The occasion: a defining family moment, or so I hoped, as darling little chicks at my knee, my voice quivering ever so slightly with emotion, I prepared to introduce my offspring to an iconic book, Swallows and Amazons.

As a 10-year-old, I’d been captivated by Arthur Ransome’s tale of pre-war nautical derring-do featuring the four Walker children, turned loose on an island to fend for themselves. Decades on, nostalgia at Proustian levels (as long as you traded madeleines for pemmican sandwiches) I wanted to share the love with my brood.

The experience, needless to say, was a complete failure, scuppered by the unholy hoots of mirth that greeted the appearance of feisty but unfortunately-named girl sailor, Titty, at the bottom of page one.

I was devastated. Having a childhood favourite reduced to a cheap joke makes you feel like your earliest literary loves aren’t just out of fashion, but antediluvian.

As far as your children are concerned, they qualify as a brand new archaeological era (mum-o-lithic, anyone?).

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independentschoolparent.com | SUMMER 2015

MUM’S OLD BOOKS?

Share your own childhood favourites on Twitter… @ISParent

But was my pleasure to purgatory experience a one off, the result of misplaced parental nostalgia, or should I face up to the harsh reality that classic children’s works – aka, to my family, as “Mum’s old books” – just don’t hold their readability down the generations?

Should former bestsellers like CS Lewis’ Narnia series, Charlotte’s Web and The Adventures of Tintin be consigned to a digital-only existence as films and DVDs while the print versions slide into literary oblivion, with a twilight existence as Kindle comfort reading for adults of a certain age?

After all, with authors like JK Rowling, David Walliams and Neil Gaiman strutting their stuff, it’s not as if there’s a dearth of gripping modern fiction for young readers to sink their teeth into.

CAN YOU LOVE IT TOO MUCH? Below, a Millfield pupil devours a novel

But all is not yet lost. Kate Agnew, former chair of the Children’s Bookselling Group, now runs the Children’s Bookshop in London’s Muswell Hill where classic books continue to sell in steady numbers.

Agnew’s own favourite is Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: “I named my daughter after her,” she says.

It’s often not the titles themselves that are the problem, Agnew says, but parents’ understandable tendency to get a bit overexcited when it comes to sharing them. “Sometimes the danger as a parent is that one loves it so much one wants to introduce one’s own child too young…

Because it’s right for you, it’s not necessarily the right one [for them].”

We’re also our own worst enemies, pantingly eager, like springer spaniels with

a tennis ball, hell-bent on micromanaging their every moment and in the process doing a fine job of stifling their natural curiosity about the world around them.

PACE IT

Instead, let them get on with discovering books on their own, urges psychologist Dr Simon Moore, a member of the British Psychological Society and project design and management director of Innovation Bubble (childhood favourite was Finn Family Moomintroll: “a fantastical place of talking hippos and invisible girls”).

“As a child, I hated everything that my mum and dad recommended,” he says.

“What I really liked was finding out something for myself, realising I could read what I wanted to read and that no-one was going to make me.”

TIME TO SHARE

But getting the generations together to discover classic stories can still be intensely enjoyable. Lucy Keat, senior librarian at Danes Hill School in Surrey, is passionate about books. Her favourite as a child was Tom’s Midnight Garden, “I loved the idea of a magical garden only I could see,” she says.

Her parent and child reading groups are hugely popular, not just because of the mugs of hot chocolate on offer but also on account of a literary menu that includes some venerable titles. Modern bestsellers feature, naturally, but she’s also had an enthusiastic response to Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House series, published from the 1930s: rugged, sock-it-to ‘em tales set in the American West and stuffed with pioneering can-do attitudes.

Their fascination, she says, is down to their “otherness” – a world so utterly different from our children’s own: simpler, and minus the technology and pressures of the modern day. Following the dénouement

A taste of

ITALY

I

t’s not every day that you get to stay in a former medieval castle with 12th-century frescoes and vaulted ceilings, sweeping vistas of ancient vineyards and of olive groves stitched into the countryside. Situated in the heart of the Chianti region, the five-star, 50-room hotel, set within a 740-acre estate, is a perfect blend of contemporary elegance and historical charm.

The impressive cypress tree-lined drive heralds back to the days when the castle was home to a noble Florentine, Del Nero,

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independentschoolparent.com | SUMMER 2015

A 12th-century castle lovingly restored into a family hotel captures the essence of the Tuscan experience, writes Claudia Dudman

and his family. Generously-sized suites tastefully decorated in complimentary tones with terracotta floors, also play host to kingsize four poster beds. The understated opulence continues in the bathrooms with unique features such as marble floors, mosaic walls and huge claw-footed baths.

A LOVE LETTER TO TUSCANY

There is sometimes no better way to learn about a country’s history and its people

Take a refreshing dip in the outdoor pool overlooking the castle’s olive groves

TRAVEL

Ttalian food lives up to its reputation in Tuscany

than through its food. Castello Del Nero’s aimiable executive chef, Giovanni Luca di Pirro, treated us to what can only be described as a culinary love letter to his native Tuscany. If you’re looking for traditional, lighter Italian cuisine, then head to the hotel’s other eaterie, La Taverna. But for fine dining, di Pirro’s Michelin star restaurant, La Torre, will blow you away.

Set in the castle’s former stables, in an elegant room with french windows that look on to the garden terrace, it was a

and black truffle, followed by spaghetti with smoked tuna fish and baby squid.

Our main course was a toasted fillet of turbot, exquisitely cooked with a pesto of fresh basil, stewed artichokes, potatoes and pine nuts. Dessert was a parfaitflavoured Moscadello of Montalcino and passion fruit marmalade. The freshly baked bread that was served deserves a mention of its own: specialities such as sorrel, olive and black squid ink were just a few that were displayed before us.

The hotel’s location, equidistant between Florence and Siena, means guests can take full advantage of all that Italy’s Renaissance has to offer.

Architecture and a myriad of art by Italian greats such as Leonardo, Michelangelo, Brunelleschi and Donatello are an unmissable experience.

Above, Castello Del Nero, left, the hotel pool, right, ice-cream flavours at Gelateria Dondoli

gastronomic dining experience, Tuscan-style, with produce that is homegrown thanks to the region’s excellent climate. We began with slow poached organic hen’s egg served with parmesan cheese mousse, herb sauce

LOOKING TO GET AHEAD WITH YOUR CHILD’S EDUCATION? Then look no further than our Guide to Independent Schools…

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