Personalised Curriculum Support

Encouraging dyslexic students at Millfield School

Millfield was founded in 1935 by Boss ‘Jack’ Meyer, who returned to England from time in India with seven Indian boys, six of whom were princes and suffered from word blindness (dyslexia). In 1939, Millfield became one of the first co-educational independent schools and the first school in the country to successfully adapt their teaching methods for students with dyslexia.

Since then, Millfield has become known for its proactive approach to learning support for children with dyslexia, with many former students going on to become innovators and entrepreneurs through harnessing their outside-the-box thinking. Multiple students have gone on to achieve places at top higher education institutions by learning ways to manage the challenges of their dyslexia and embracing the positive skills it brings them.

Millfield’s Learning Support Centre and Millfield Prep’s Personalised Curriculum Centre offer specialist support to children with specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia. The school views dyslexic thinking as a superpower that gives students a different perspective on problem-solving and creativity. It also works closely with the charity Made By Dyslexia, founded by Old Millfieldian, Kate Griggs. Everyone at Millfield prides themselves on creating environments where children thrive and are equipped with strategies to become independent learners, encouraging children to question, challenge and ask: “Why?” Every student, staff member and volunteer lives by Millfield’s values: Be Curious, Be Authentic, Be Kind, Be Disruptors and Be Brilliant.

In 2022, Millfield Headmaster, Mr. Gavin Horgan, was invited as a special guest at Made By Dyslexia’s first World Dyslexia Assembly, held at the Swedish Royal Palace. Discussing dyslexia on a wider scale, Mr. Horgan stated: “Dyslexia is still too often seen as something that will set a child back in their development. It continues to be unidentified, unsupported and misunderstood in many schools, despite the creative industries and organisations such as GCHQ describing the power of being able to think differently as a vital workplace skill. One in five people have dyslexia and so we need to embrace it and support those children to flourish and change mindsets so that we view it as a superpower. It is a brilliance that can lead them on exciting paths.”

MARK GOULDING Marketing Assistant www.millfieldschool.com