BRIDGING THE GAP

from Absolutely London Chiswick, West & Richmond March 2023

MUSIC MAKER

The beginning of this school year marked an exciting addition to the learning landscape of London, Cavendish Education and my career as Headteacher of a new prep school – Burlington House Prep. The school takes pupils from seven to 13 (Years 3-8) and, most excitingly, is for children with a speciﬁc learning di erence such as dyslexia or dyspraxia. The new prep school is an expansion of the current successful senior school, The Moat – now renamed Burlington House Senior. With the new prep school just a seven-minute walk away from our Fulham base, the two schools are able to share outdoor space as well as a fabulous indoor sports hall.

One of my personal education heroes Ken Robinson once said: “Education needs to be transformed. The key to this transformation is not to standardise education, but to personalise it, to build achievement on discovering the individual talents of each child”. Burlington House aims to do just that, providing a unique, supportive learning environment where pupils with a speciﬁc learning di erence can progress and ﬂourish. Every child is respected as an individual, with their own valuable strengths and talents, alongside learning challenges.

Our schools are, as we describe them: ‘mainstream in structure but specialist in nature’. Our pupils may need additional support to help bridge the gap between their performance and their potential. Therefore, every aspect of the education provided at Burlington House is designed to support pupils as they meet the challenge of bridging this gap. Provision for speech and language and occupational therapy are both integrated within the curriculum and small class sizes guarantee high levels of attention from our empathetic sta .

Having taught in mainstream and independent primary schools, internationally and, more recently, in a specialist setting, I have witnessed the importance of a nurturing environment where a child feels understood and so ready to learn. Self-belief, conﬁdence, the ability to reﬂect on mistakes and a growth mindset are just some of the foundations of a child’s learning. They need a safe, happy environment so that they are motivated to learn.

Headteacher, Burlington House

Children with speciﬁc learning di culties often have an incredible sense of creativity, as well as an aptitude for many subjects, but they may also face di culties with reading, writing, spelling and numeracy, as well as organisational skills or speed of processing. I envisage every child to be on a journey at Burlington. Not every child will reach the same destination at the same time, but we will help them to discover their strengths at their own pace. For some children, delays to literacy or numeracy development lead to frustration, anger or a reluctance to learn and this can lead to false belief about their real ability which, down the line, will a ect them socially and emotionally. Once a false belief is ‘set’, it can be di cult to reverse – and that is why early intervention is key for an individual. At Burlington House, we are championing the individual.

Baby Bloom

Danish children’s brand BIBS has launched a new exclusive ﬂoral collaboration with iconic British brand Liberty. Liberty’s heritage prints meet BIBS’ popular paciﬁers, and other new baby essentials. Seriously dreamy, this is a collection where we can honestly say we want every single piece.