Painting at the Angel Club
“I want to LIVE at Regina Caeli!” Barbara Kay reports on a visit to a new hybrid education venture in Bedfordshire
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he children chuckled with laughter as they pretended to walk in Christmas pudding, in outer space and then in feathers. The laughter then stopped as they pretended to walk through a quiet church. It started again as they pretended to walk in high heels, roller skates and cowboy boots. This was the last lesson of the day, an all-age drama lesson at the Regina Caeli UK Academy, a centre for home educators operating in the Catholic tradition. It is an affiliate of Regina Caeli Academy, which was founded in the USA in 2003 and now has 15 locations across the States. Regina Caeli’s first concern is to help parents – the primary educators of their family – to lead their children to grow in holiness and the knowledge and love of God. In practical terms,
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it supports home educators with a structured two-day programme in the classical, Catholic tradition and is committed to faithful adherence to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. It receives pastoral support from the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter (FSSP), one of whose priests acts as chaplain and says Mass at the Academy once a month. In April 2018, a small group of people had the vision to set up Regina Caeli’s first academy in the UK. After much planning, visits from representatives of Regina Caeli from the USA and a great deal of prayer, Regina Caeli UK opened its doors just 17 months later, in September 2019. It is based at a hall in Barton Le Clay, a village between Bedford and Luton, and is open on Mondays and Thursdays each week.
When it opened, the Academy had 17 children aged 4-10 on its books. In January 2020 it added three more, with the prospect of younger siblings coming along in September. The children are divided into three classes according to their age. The two younger classes work in the main hall divided by a screen and the oldest class, currently consisting of three girls, works in a side room. All the children wear a navy uniform to give them a sense of community and unity; they come to the centre looking smart and ready to work! Some children have been homeschooled in the past, for others it marks a new chapter in their education. Such is the need for this sort of institution that some families have even moved into the area so that their children can be part of Regina Caeli.
SPRING 2020
