ABSOLUTELY EDUCATION PREP & PRE-PREP • SPRING 2019
ABSOLUTELY
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P &EP E PR -PR E PR
THINK
LEFT
Helping a left hander to thrive
STEM heroes
Games to inspire young scientists
JOIN A
CLUB
Happy
A parents’ guide to youth organisations
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PLACES EARLY YEARS & PREP SCHOOLS TO BRING OUT THE BEST IN YOUR CHILD
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An all-through education for your whole family Boys and Girls 2-18 years old To book a tour of any of our Nursery, Preparatory or Upper Schools visit:
www.eatonsquareschool.com
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SPRING 2019
CO N T E N TS upfront
14 WHAT'S ON
90
Fun family events for spring
16 SCHOOL NEWS
Out and about in the world of education
20 BACK TO THE FUTURE The 400th birthday of Dulwich College
24 SUPERHERO SCIENCE Old-school games to inspire young people to dream of a science career
29 STAGE CRAFT
A brilliant scheme to bring drama into schools
33 NEWS ROUND
Engaging children in current affairs
pre-Prep
38 LEFT BEHIND
What does being left-handed mean for a child's development? Absolutely Education investigates
43 ACTION STATIONS
Why active learning is great news for boys
45 TAKE IT OUTSIDE
Sandpits and secret gardens for young learners
Prep
48 11 YEARS OF 11+
Expert advice on tutoring children for the 11+
50 WRITE ON?
How important is penmanship in a computer age? Our experts decide
76
57 CONFIDENCE BUILDING
How lessons both inside and outside the classroom are the key to building confidence in children
65 A WIDER OUTLOOK
Parenting tips from an expert for building a growth mindset in your child 6
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61
EDITOR
Libby Norman EDUC ATION GROUP EDITOR
Amanda Constance
M AGA ZINE M A NAGER
Donna McCafferty
GROUP A DV ERTISING M A NAGER
Nicola Owens
SA L ES DIR ECTOR
Craig Davies
DIGITA L STR ATEGY DIR ECTOR
Leah Day
A RT DIR ECTOR
Phil Couzens
SENIOR DESIGNER
Pawel Kuba
MID-W EIGHT DESIGNER
Rebecca Noonan DESIGNER
Catherine Perkins M A R K ETING M A NAGER
Lucie Pearce
FINA NCE DIR ECTOR
Jerrie Koleci DIR ECTOR S
Greg Hughes, Alexandra Hunter, James Fuschillo PUBL ISHING DIR ECTOR
Sherif Shaltout
70
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S c h o o l’ s O u t
70 JOIN THE CLUB
A parents' guide to youth organisations and the fantastic adventures they offer
76 SPRING BOOKS Great reads for spring
ABSOLUTELY-EDUCATION.CO.UK
84 AICHA MCKENZIE
LEFT
Helping a left hander to thrive
JOIN A
Happy
WWW.ZEST.LONDON
98 SUGAR CRUSH
STEM heroes
Games to inspire young scientists
CLUB
90 PARK LIFE
Now that sugar is public health enemy number one, how do we control the cravings?
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THINK
The former Team GB gymnast who found her athletic feet at Putney High School
The fairytale theme park in the Netherlands that parents really should know about
ABSOLUTELY
ABSOLUTELY EDUCATION PREP & PRE-PREP • SPRING 2019
80 ROYAL BATTLE
One parent of three boys gets to grips with the craze for Fortnite
20
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A parents’ guide to youth organisations
PLACES EARLY YEARS & PREP SCHOOLS TO BRING OUT THE BEST IN YOUR CHILD
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F R O N T C OV E R The Study Prep, Wimbledon is a leading prep school for girls aged 4-11 thestudyprep.co.uk
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IS YOUR CHILD FUTURE READY?
CON T R IBU TOR S
Aicha McKenzie
> CREATIVITY & CODING CAMPS
Team GB gymnast, choreographer and wellness guru
FOR CHILDREN AGES 5-12+
The former British gymnast, dancer and choreographer – and now wellness guru – talks about how she found her athletic feet and her confidence to succeed at Putney High School
> THE FUTURE OF PERFORMANCE WITH CODE - MUSIC, DANCE, SPORTS, CIRCUS, FILM & PRODUCTION
Camilla Hood Founding director of The Parent Practice
Camilla Hood talks about the steps parents can take to nurture a growth mindset in their children, keep communication lines open and also help them to succeed – whatever their talents and career ambitions.
Will Orr-Ewing Founder and director of Keystone Tutors
Harrow- and Oxford-educated Will Orr-Ewing answers the questions parents typically ask about the 11+, and discusses how they can ensure their child (and their family life) maintains a steady course through the stress.
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Boys & Girls 3 - 11 years old Please join us for our special
Open Morning
Tuesday 26th March
to hear all about our future plans and get a sneak preview of the new building Book your place online today!
We are Confident, Creative and Kind 2019 will be an exciting year for the Lyceum as we move around the corner into our new five story building on Worship Street (EC2A).
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Open Morning 3rd May 2019
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FROM THE
EDITOR
S
pring is always a time to look forward. With that in mind, we meet Katy Alexander’s The Remarkablz – old-school-games to inspire both girls and boys to see themselves in STEM careers (page 24), and review the National Theatre’s Let’s Play scheme to give original drama to primary schools (page 29). One of my biggest learning curves for this issue was researching left-handedness for Left Behind (page 39). Even today, there is a surprising amount of misinformation, and also a surprising amount to learn about how and why the brain favours left or right. Writing is one of the first issues that can challenge left-handers, but there seems to be unanimous support for the inherent value of developing penmanship skills from our panel of experts (page 50) – surely that's good news in a computer-driven age. If you are exercised about your child’s preference for screen over outdoor time, check out our guide to the major youth organisations (page 70). The sheer variety of skills and adventures on offer to young people makes them as relevant today as they ever were.
L I B BY N O R M A N Editor
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Up Front W H AT ’ S O N p . 14 • S U P E R H E R O S C I E N C E p . 2 4
A PUPIL AT SAINT CHRISTINA’S SCHOOL saintchristinas.org.uk
PHOTO: SIMON JONES FROM BONJOUR PHOTOGRAPHY
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W H AT ’ S ON Our pick of great family-friendly shows and events taking place this spring
3 CLASSIC FA M I LY S H OWS From a rapping octopus to a banyan tree, three classic shows to catch
The Boy and the Mermaid 2 March Little Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith
In a small fishing town a boy dreams of the ocean. Can his unlikely friendship save the town from disaster? A rapping octopus and original songs add up to a magical play. lyric.co.uk
Wind in the Willows Until 17 February Polka Theatre, Wimbledon
Editor’s Pick
Gardens at
When Mole heads to the riverbank, he has no idea of the adventures ahead. Last chance to catch this classic retold. polkatheatre.com
EDEN
Ongoing • Cornwall
The Eden Project has a variety of family-friendly events taking place throughout spring. Children can explore five continents in one day and pick up stamps for their passport with the Passport to the World event (16-24 Feb). Easter at Eden starts on 6 April, featuring a farmyard theme. Expect a Golden Egg Hunt and lots of outdoor games and activities. edenproject.com
Three Sat Under the Banyan Tree 20th-23rd February • nationwide
In the foothills of the Himalayas, three refugees sit under a Banyan tree to read a magical book. This is the first UK stage adaptation of The Panchatantra. tara-arts.com
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EVENTS
Imagine Children’s Festival 13-24 February, Southbank Centre
Manna for families looking for fun activities over half-term, Imagine returns to the Southbank Centre with a series of great shows and events, over half of which are free. From We’re Going on a Bear Hunt (with live soundtrack from the City of London Sinfonia) to puppets and dinosaurs in the Les Petits production of Captain Flinn: The Magic Cutlass, the shows are crowd pleasers. southbankcentre.co.uk
BABBLE BEDFORD
Squish
T
Various dates The Bedford, Balham
SPACE
ED Talk-style events at the iconic Bedford pub, Balham make a great meeting point. It has teamed up with Babble Talks to offer parents something to stimulate their minds – babies and toddlers welcome. The Bedford is also host to Screaming With Laughter, a daytime comedy club where children are welcome. A further bonus, the venue has a fast and fresh kid’s menu.
Ongoing
Barbican
or a multi sensory adventure, head to the Barbican’s new Squish Space. It offers a safe environment to experiment with versatile material, giving under 5s the freedom to redesign the space. In this playground for the senses, children and their families have the chance to connect through creative construction play. barbican.org.uk
F
thebedford.com
Gallery highlights
FAUSTO MELOTTI: COUNTERPOINT
G O O D G R I E F, C H A R LI E B ROW N !
RO C K ET BAC K PAC KS
A beautiful place to explore and easy to navigate – even with a buggy. Merlotti’s playful artworks inspired by the harmonies of maths and music are engaging and surprising. estorickcollection.com
Enjoy interactive installations including the Snoopy Cinema, complete with bean bags on a baseball pitcher’s mound. Children will adore the bright colours and life-size doggy cartoons. somersethouse.org.uk
Blast off into the Tate! Designed to encourage maximum engagement with the art in the Constellations display, the rocket backpacks are jampacked full of fun props and games. tate.org.uk
Until 7 April Estorick Collection
Until 3 March Somerset House
Ongoing Tate Liverpool
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SCHOO L N EWS Top Story
DOG THERAPY
MONEY M I L E STO N E Pupils, parents and staff at Beaudesert Park School in Gloucestershire are celebrating, having hit a massive £100,000 fundraising milestone. The school organises many initiatives to support good causes. Its annual Autumn Fair shopping event is the biggest fundraising event, and has been donating funds it raises to local charities since 2004.
NEW HEAD Joanna Wright will be the new head of King Edward’s Witley and principal of Bridewell Royal Hospital from September 2019. Currently deputy at St Peter’s School York, Wright says: “I feel privileged to take over the stewardship of King Edward’s, working with a dedicated team to fulfil the School’s future aspirations and ambitions". Her predecessor John Attwater becomes principal at King’s Ely.
A head teacher’s pet has become the school's ‘pupil whisperer’. Selkie, 4, has been helping pupils at Bickley Park School with cynophobia (fear of dogs), as well as acting as a talking therapy provider for those who need extra support in difficult times. Head Patrick Wenham says: “She is a very calm, good natured dog who is happy to take on the role.”
Stormy Success
OPEN DOORS
Hazlegrove's Year 7 have taken on ‘The Tempest', delivering a stunning production in their first brush with the Bard.Head of drama Kimberley Arnold says: “Revenge, magic arts, love and blessings of marriage – as with most of Shakespeare’s plays, it has it all. The pupils embraced the challenge with such determination and professionalism.”
The Study Prep Wimbledon, which is located by Wimbledon Common, is to host its annual open morning on 9 March. The school for girls aged 4 to 11 is renowned for its caring, creative ethos and academic results. Last year saw a record number of senior school offers, and a record 39 scholarships awarded – beating the previous year’s record of 35.
G R OW I N G STRONG Falcons Prep in Richmond is adding Reception and Year 1. Headmistress Olivia Buchanan says: "We have been thinking about our school and the community it serves... for many parents, a Reception through to Year 8 pathway is the most attractive and we believe that we can offer a first-class education for boys from as young as four”.
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Up Front
NEWS
Role Models President of the Girls’ School Association Sue Hincks has called for public figures to remember that they are role models. She says: “More than ever, we need to work together to provide children with skills to enable them to navigate the 21st century.
HELPING HAND
Y O U N G S TA R T Gordonstoun Junior School will open a Year 1 class this autumn. Head Robert McVean says: “We've had many requests ... so we are very pleased to be expanding and creating a new Year 1 class. Our main aim is to encourage a love of learning and knowledge."
Talented Twins
Pupils at Bassett House School are helping out their community. The children, assisted by parents and staff, have organised a ‘hot water bottle network’. The aim is for hot water bottles to be distributed to local homeless people and to partner with businesses and organisations – including cafés, and churches – prepared to display a sign and then refill bottles for free.
St Benedict’s pupils, twin brothers George and Mark, have been accepted into the National Youth Boys’ Choir. The brothers are choristers in Ealing Abbey Choir, and sing in other choirs at St Benedict’s. They will attend two National Youth Choir residential courses later this year.
B u r s a r y S ch e m e Abercorn School’s bursary scholarship is available to all pupils entering Year 7 – including new and existing families at the school. Assessment is via a written exam in English and Maths as well as a taster day in class, individually arranged with each family. The school for girls and boys aged from 2 to 13 is located across three sites in Westminster.
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Prepared. To grow somewhere new.
Our new preparatory school opens in September 2020 Prince’s Gardens is a new independent preparatory school, in the heart of Kensington, for children aged 3 - 11 years. It will be a school where every one of our pupils is prepared to step out into the world with confidence, assurance and an open, inquisitive mind. To think for themselves whilst exploring their ideas and creativity. To develop not just all-round academic excellence, but the all important strength of character essential for success in our fast changing world. Call 020 7591 4620 or contact admissions@princesgardensprep.co.uk To reserve your place at our launch event, go to princesgardensprep.co.uk/event
Prepared for everything.
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NEWS
E A R LY O F F E R
R AC I N G F O R M S Rose Hill’s racing prowess is a source of pride to both pupils and their families. RHS Motorsport was born in 2012. Since then, the garage at the Tunbridge Wells school has grown to accommodate two Goblins and one Formula 24 car. The club attracts boys and girls equally to build, repair and improve the cars. Last year RHS Motorsport attended ten race meets, – from HMS Excellent in Portsmouth right up to Ford’s technical centre in Essex.
Westonbirt is expanding its early years provision, offering all-year-round care from Easter and accepting children at age 2 from September 2019. The co-ed nursery and reception classes are located on the same campus as the prep and senior schools. Westonbirt is set in 210-acre grounds in the heart of the Cotswolds. Its early years curriculum includes swimming lessons, languages, phonics and numeracy, as well as lots of outdoor and extra-curricular activities.
NEW NURSERY TO P S C H O O L Kensington Prep School has been named ‘Independent Prep School of the Year’. At the Fulham Road GDST school for girls aged 4-11, classrooms have been transformed into dynamic learning spaces. Ultra-contemporary facilities include an immersive high-tech Explore Floor with multi-screens and moveable furniture. There’s also a multimedia recording studio on site and the grounds include an ecogreenhouse.
St James Preparatory School (formerly St James Junior) will extend its provision from September with the opening of a new nursery. The Kensington Olympia school has expanded into a building in Marcus Garvey Park, creating an open-plan space with free flow to the adventure playground and access to St James’ forest school. Head Catherine Thomlinson says: “The space is absolutely stunning”.
Top Story
NEW ADDRESS The Lyceum Prep School is on the move. Headmistress Hilary Wyatt says: “The Lyceum’s heart has always been in the bustling and vibrant Shoreditch... We wanted to seek out an environment that would enable us to increase our capacity to take on more students.” Currently located on St Paul Street, the school for children aged 3-11 will head just around the corner to Worship Street.
S TA R B R I G H T Year 5 Alleyn’s pupil Lottie scooped the top prize in the junior category of the Empiribox ‘Win a Star’ competition, which invited children across the country to invent an alien. Lottie was presented with her prize at a special school assembly, winning a star in her name, and another named after Alleyn’s.
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FUTURE The Master of Dulwich College tells Absolutely Education that his school’s 400th anniversary celebrations this year are not just about past glories. He has his sights set on new horizons W o r d s A M A N D A C O N S TA N C E
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n 2009, when Dr Joe Spence arrived at Dulwich College as the prospective new head, he spotted an opportunity. “I saw we were 10 years from a milestone anniversary,” he says. So as part of his pitch to the governors he said: “I’m here for the long game, I’m sticking around’. I promised I would have a clearly defined message as to what a Dulwich College education is by 2019.” “And so what you will see this year is the work of a decade which we are now harvesting,” he says. Spence is referring to Dulwich College’s impressive 400th Anniversary Programme, a blistering roll-call of events throughout 2019 that involves and includes past and present pupils and staff, international pupils and the wider community. Highlights include the Dulwich Olympiad in March, the Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral in June, and the unveiling of two newly commissioned artworks, Gerard Stamp’s Dulwich College
– which will sit alongside Camille Pissarro’s 1871 painting of the school – and Helen Whittaker’s commemorative stained glass window which will be installed in the school's Lower Hall. While the huge array of events on offer has clearly been the work of the whole school community, Spence has been the engine behind it. “It has been very personal,” he says. “This is what I promised on arrival.” But he is at pains to point out that the school’s 400th birthday will not just be about looking back over past glories. "What I want from this very special year is that balance of celebrating the best moments from our history but also looking forward, not missing the chance to think about where we go next – for me it’s about what the 2020s are going to look like.” The event that Spence thinks most symbolises this coming together of the past and present is Old Alleynians Day in Founders Week (June).
"It's not the most ‘wow’ day, but it’s at the heart of the year. The College is in touch with more than 3,000 alumni; leaders from every vocation imaginable will come back to their old school and give masterclasses to our current students. They will reflect on the past but also look to the future,” he says. Dr Joe Spence is not a man to stand still. Arriving at Dulwich via a first headship at Oakham and ten years as a History and Politics teacher and housemaster to the King’s Scholars at Eton, he fizzes with intellectual energy. And there's a palpable sense of moral duty; he clearly feels he must continue the remarkable legacy of the school’s founder Edward Alleyn. Alleyn – allegedly known as Ned to his friends – was one of the first celebrity actors, playing lead roles on the late Elizabethan and Jacobean stage. A darling of the theatre world, it is said that when he retired at the height of his fame circa 1598, Queen
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RO OTS
“THIS YEAR WILL BE THE WORK OF A DECADE WHICH WE ARE NOW HARVESTING” SPRING 2019 | 21
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DR JOE SPENCE
DULWICH'S RUGBY TEAM
Elizabeth I personally requested his return to the stage. Through a good marriage and sound business sense, Alleyn amassed a small fortune and in 1619 he founded the College of God’s Gift in Dulwich village for ‘12 poor scholars' with letters patent from King James I. From those small beginnings grew a successful independent school for boys aged 11-18. Nowadays Dulwich College is an international global brand. There are now 1,800 pupils in London at Dulwich College and James Allen’s Girls’ School (JAGS). And 11 partner schools with some 7,000 pupils overseas. The roll call of alumni is long and impressive: the actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller, authors Graham Swift, Michael Ondaatje, Tom Rob Smith and Tom McCarthy; TV executive Sir Peter Bazalgette. Then, further back in history, writer PG Wodehouse and explorer Ernest Shackleton were alumni. Starry indeed, but the school still has the same social mission at its heart as it did 400 years ago: to provide access to an outstanding education to pupils regardless of their ability to pay. Spence is positively evangelical about the need for fee relief in the form of scholarships and means-tested bursaries. Thirty five per cent of boys from 11 to 18 are currently in receipt of some form of financial assistance at Dulwich and Spence wants this to grow to 50 per cent. Even this ambition doesn’t match that of Christopher Gilkes, Master during the 1940s and '50s. During his tenure, the academic standing of the College not only grew but it also took
in large numbers of boys whose fees were funded by the London County Council (LCC) – this was known as the Dulwich Experiment and, at its peak, some 85 per cent of the boys entering Dulwich College were in receipt of fee assistance and the College roll rose from 700 to 1,000 boys. Another of Spence’s predecessors Master Canon Carver (1858-1882) resented the prescriptive public examinations of the age and instead aimed to identify the right subjects for a boy rather than a syllabus of shallow breadth. Today, Dulwich College has 'Free Learning' at its core, the second tenet of a College education about which Dr Joe Spence is, well, evangelical. “When I first coined that term half the Common Room would have said, 'Nice Blairite soundbite’, and looked doubtful – now those very same staff are coming to me with ideas,” says Spence. Free Learning, he explains, is learning that is free from a syllabus, free from teaching to the test, and free to challenge pupils into the worth of thinking for its own sake. It is fed by intellectual curiosity, often supported by the interests and enthusiasm of a teacher, and takes place both in and outside subject lessons. Examples of Free Learning at Dulwich are 'Creative Weeks’ (an entire week off timetable, e.g., Political Week, Linguistics Week) and the Upper and Junior School Symposia. “We’re not all about Oxbridge here,” says Spence. “We’re not all about attainment. Yes your sons will do well in public exams, but if you send them here they won’t strain
every sinew to get every grade.” And just as the College archives show many 18th century OAs heading into the recognisable trades of the time – tailors, carpenters, wheelwrights, drapers, dyers and stationers – so today Dulwich College supports the many and varied routes for pupils after school, including apprenticeships. “We don’t have a crystal ball; we don’t know what the future holds, but we aim to prepare our students for the world of work in the 2030s,” says Spence. He believes developing students' empathy and original thinking, their IT competency, leadership and communication skills are paramount. He says this will become even more the case with the death of the passive CV (when the listing of top exam grades will not be sufficient to secure a top job). And, he adds, the school isn’t afraid to back a boy who has chosen an alternative route. “We’ll encourage the boy who wants to do a CAMILLE PISSARRO'S 1871 WATERCOLOUR OF THE COLLEGE
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THE DULWICH OLYMPIAD
Foundation Course, even if his parents are still wanting him to choose STEM,” he says. For Spence, it is vital that the same core ethos of a Dulwich Education – the Social Mission and Free Learning – runs through the 400th Anniversary Programme. “I’d like to think it isn’t too rah rah,” he says. “This isn’t us saying how fabulous we are.” The grandest of all the events will be the June Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral, at the beginning of Founders Week. More than 2,000 people, including all pupils aged 11 and above, will gather at St Paul’s. But the day will begin somewhat earlier for 18 Dulwich rowers from the school who will deliver a letter of
ONE OF THE NEWLY PUBLISHED QUARTERCENTENARY SERIES
RO OTS
when Spence took 110 London pupils to Beijing. This time 600 pupils from the international schools will travel to London and it is hoped that the Olympiad will continue every four years. “It’s a way of bringing us together,” he says. “We really are a community, not just a franchise.” While there are many events planned for this year, the two that Spence is especially proud of are the unveiling of a newly commissioned artwork of the school by architectural portraitist Gerard Stamp and the Quatercenternary Series – four newly published books concerned with, and inspired by, Alleynians. Stamp’s work, which Spence personally commissioned, will be unveiled alongside Camille Pissarro’s 1871 watercolour of the Barry Building, the neo-Classical, neo Gothic New College built by Charles Barry Junior in the mid-19th century. Stamp, an architectural portraitist, “plays off Pissarro’s watercolour,” says Spence, but has included the Laboratory, the College’s newest building, thus “brilliantly capturing both the old and the new". This year will see the last two books of the Quartercentenary Series published: a collection of 11 short stories from OAs, staff and pupils (Spence is writing one) and a book about five of the best known Alleynian authors by Patrick Humphries to which he is contributing an afterword. “The idea of Dulwich as a cradle of writers is very important to me,” he says. 2019 will be a chance for Dulwich College to spread the message about what it is and
“THE OLYMPIAD IS A WAY OF BRINGING US TOGETHER. WE ARE A COMMUNITY NOT JUST A FRANCHISE” congratulation from the Queen, rowing the Queen’s rowbarge, Gloriana, from Putney to Westminster, before entering the Cathedral and processing down the aisle with blades. “That will be our moment of pomp and circumstance,” says Spence. But he likes to think that the Friday before – Community Service Day – is: “more emblematic of what the school is". On that day, every pupil will be involved in a service project helping others. "We are not about looking inwards and
gazing at the collective naval,” he says. Perhaps the event that most typifies this wider outlook is the Dulwich Olympiad 2019. Taking place in March, it is a celebration of sport, music, drama and art that brings together students from the Commonwealth of Dulwich College International (DCI) Schools to participate in workshops and events and showcase their talents in competitions and performances. The first Olympiad took place in 2015,
what it stands for. “We have a very historic sense at this school, a tribal loyalty which perhaps my predecessors had trouble articulating," says Spence. "I think we have got better at that.” And while Dr Joe Spence isn’t one to blow any sort of trumpet about the accumulated wisdom of 400 years of educating young people, he will admit to “some pride in getting to this point,” before hastily adding the proviso: “there is still much to do”. SPRING 2019 | 2 3
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SUPERHERO
SCIENCE The Remarkablz has developed new twists on traditional card games to help children – especially girls – engage with science and envisage themselves in exciting STEM careers Wo r d s LIBBY NORMAN
THE MAE JEMISON REMARKABLZ CARD
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aty Alexander is creating educational games designed to help children aim high – superhero high – and it all started with her daughter’s confusion over whether girls could inhabit the world of science. She says: “We were walking home one day and my daughter asked me if she could be an astronaut – she wanted to know if this was a job that girls could do.” Alexander recognised that her daughter, then aged three, had picked up on a real issue. “If you can’t see yourself in a role you are less likely to engage with or pursue the subject matter”, she says. “Even at the age of three children attach labels to themselves – ‘I’m a girl, and girls do/don’t do that’.” What made Alexander’s realisation more poignant is that she has a career in STEM herself. She attended medical school (leaving when she decided she was too squeamish to be a doctor) before moving into scientific publishing at journals such
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Up Front STEM
IF YOU CAN’T SEE YOURSELF IN A ROLE, YOU ARE LESS LIKELY TO ENGAGE WITH OR PURSUE THE SUBJECT MATTER
as BMJ and Nature. Now she is marketing and communications director at Digital Science, which provides investment and support to cutting-edge science and technology research sectors. Alexander says female STEM pioneers still tend to be overlooked. While people may now know about the work of Ada Lovelace and Mary Seacole, chemist Alice Ball (developer of the first modern leprosy treatment) and physicist ChienShiung Wu (after whom the Wu parity experiment is named) have had only recent credit for their achievements. In a blog post for Digital Science Alexander noted that: “We need to start much, much earlier in helping young boys and girls of any ethnicity or ability to understand that STEM-related professions can be their future”. As a past Wikimedia volunteer on the regular ‘edit-a-thon’ events that seek to improve the skewed gender balance of biographies on Wikipedia, Alexander had an existing knowledge of lesser-known female pioneers. Her daughter’s comment set her wondering how she could help change the future landscape – and that’s how The Remarkablz came into being. She has always enjoyed creating art as a hobby, but also the experience of playing traditional card and board games. She began by designing simple cards for her daughter to play with, working in the evenings to create the images and stories around them. She initially envisaged them as trading cards, but over time they morphed into Top Quarkz, a version of the card game Top Trumps. While it was originally designed just for her family, this custom-made pack of playing cards attracted interest. “Friends
with children started asking about it, and we got feedback from parents when we took the cards out with us to restaurants." Originally she had designed the cards with a muted palette, but she soon realised that children became much more engaged when colours were vibrant, so added a bolder Pop Art style to the superhero portraits. “Whereas adults will be polite, getting feedback from children is tough,” says Alexander. “If they hate something they will throw it back at you!” After around five months’ testing, the prototype went into production. The Top Trumps method of play is maintained in Top Quarkz, so picking the highest or lowest number is key to beating your opponents. Each of the pack’s 40 superheroes is assigned numeric values for scientific field, superpower (Einstein’s superpower is ‘space-time control’, while Mary Seacole’s is ‘empathic healing’), location, sidekick and weakness. The superhero’s weakness can be something related to their field or their life story – asteroids for palaeontologist Mary Anning and horses for inveterate gambler Ada Lovelace. Four joker-style cards add extra spice – Gluon Superpower Enhancement enables you to win a hand, while the Up Quarkz card lets you skip your turn. Each superhero’s achievements are described briefly on their card and in a way designed to encourage curiosity. Who wouldn’t want to find out more about curator of reptiles at London Zoo Joan Beauchamp Procter after finding out that she once took a pet crocodile to school – St Paul’s Girls’, incidentally – to show to her classmates? While the stories are engaging, Alexander believes one of the game’s chief benefits is that families can play together and on the move. To fuel the ambitions of would-be space travellers, including Alexander’s daughter, a female astronaut role model is in the mix – the first African-American to travel into space Mae Jemison. She sits alongside a diverse body of scientists, engineers, inventors and researchers in a gallery
stretching from current pioneers to ancientworld astronomers Hypatia and Zhang Heng. Some superheroes in the pack gave us everyday, but nonetheless life-enhancing, advances. Developer of the first wheelchairaccessible vehicle Ralph Braun is in, alongside the inventor of liquid paper Bette Nesmith Graham. Cards can be switched around as more current and past pioneers join the Top Quarkz hall of fame. In the meantime, Alexander has developed two further games within The Remarkablz portfolio. Newton’s Rainbow is a colouring book of science superheroes, while Black Hole is an updated version of Old Maid – with a cool space twist and without the spinster stereotype. Alexander is planning to grow The Remarkablz portfolio still further and believes that parents, scientists and educators need to engage all children in STEM, do it more creatively and start when they are very young. As she put it in a recent blog, we all need to: “consider how we can encourage more high quality, diverse role models to inspire the next generation of science superheroes”. * THE REMARKABLZ games cost from £4.95-£9.95; theremarkablz.com
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Thrive
(verb)
1. To grow or develop well; to flourish 2. To be successful; to prosper
W W W.R O S E H I L L S C H O O L.C O.U K
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02/07/2018 14:04
Prep-Prep
OPINION
Musician making The head of music at St Nicholas Prep in Kensington Mark Batten believes teaching children to enjoy playing and listening is far more important than ensuring they take graded music exams
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arents are often surprised when I tell them that I only took two graded music exams during my time at school. All things considered, I don’t think my musical education was harmed. I was offered a place to study at the junior department of one of the London schools of music, and later I auditioned successfully for a top music college, picking up a scholarship along the way. Neither my teachers, nor my parents suggested I take graded music exams until I was well into my teens. Looking back, I’m grateful for this approach. My teachers guided me into learning pieces that they thought would interest me and I learnt that music was about communicating with an audience. When deciding to prepare for any exam it is important to consider what exactly the exam facilitates. Students with ABRSM qualifications at Grades 6 to 8 benefit from UCAS points. Additionally, a number of universities accept Grade 8 Theory as a substitute for A level Music. Beyond these two examples, music exams do not directly facilitate progression in education. Various London schools of music – including the Royal College of Music – offer junior departments where young musicians have the opportunity to take part in a programme of lessons, concerts and other activities. Entry is by audition and, while institutions may use graded music exams as a guide to the standard, there is no formal requirement that children should have taken the exams. Similarly, most senior school
MUSIC EXAMS ARE BEST VIEWED AS MUSICAL HEALTH CHECKS
scholarships are for children who show a genuine interest, so schools primarily look for potential. For children who are not aiming for a music award, extracurricular interests undoubtedly enhance their applications. But extracurricular interests should be just that – interests. I would much rather meet a child who, despite not having taken any music exams, can speak enthusiastically about the school music groups they’ve taken part in than a child who has passed music exams but can’t remember the composers of their exam pieces! Sometimes a parent will ask me to teach their son or daughter to sight read or cover the aural test requirements a month or so before a music exam, because they have
spent so much time learning exam pieces at the very limit of their technical ability. The result is that children often do not fulfil their potential in the exam and are left disheartened. To be an all-round musician, students need a range of skills, including in performance, technique, notation, listening and musical perception. Just like language acquisition, these are developed incrementally over time. There are no short cuts. In my view, music
exams are best seen as musical health checks – something children might be encouraged to take every few years, when they have progressed well beyond that standard. Music exams then becomes a recognition of what has already been completed, not the end point of a race to the finish line. SPRING 2019 | 27
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aunched last year, Let’s Play is an initiative from the National Theatre that aims to put drama centre stage in state primary schools. What makes it encouraging for anyone who cares about arts provision in education is that it is delivering both original plays and training for teachers in professional theatre-making skills. Apart from addressing the ongoing debate about an over-focus on SATS and curriculum goals to the detriment of creative space, the scheme stands out because of its refreshing approach. Here we have an outreach programme that aims to embed drama within the primary-age curriculum and let children explore the mechanics of putting on a play, as well as developing their critical thinking and performance skills. Another key issue it seeks to address is that, while the school play remains a
Stage
CRAFT The National Theatre’s Let’s Play initiative targets primary schools in areas where there is least access to the arts, giving children opportunities to stage original plays while also developing skills beyond acting Wo r d s LIBBY NORMAN
DRAMA
cherished institution, it often sits in its own silo. Deputy director of learning for the National Theatre Paula Hamilton says: “Most schools still value a school play and make time for it. It’s just that it tends to sit separately from other learning activities”. Let’s Play has been five years in the making and started life as an original idea from renowned theatre and opera director Katie Mitchell, who was watching her own child’s school play. She felt – as a parent and audience member – that schools might benefit from a bit of professional support. “Teachers are not necessarily from an arts background,”adds Paula Hamilton. “They may be unconfident or don’t really know how to set about staging a production.” In other words, the school play can be a bit of a 'stress fest' – shoehorned into an already packed school day and carrying the artistic goals of pupil actors and their proud audience of parents. From Katie Mitchell’s idea, the Let’s Play initiative gained SPRING 2019 | 29
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Up Front
DRAMA
ONE KEY ISSUE IS THAT, WHILE THE SCHOOL PLAY REMAINS A CHERISHED INSTITUTION, IT OFTEN SITS IN ITS OWN SILO
momentum, bringing together professional theatre artists, teachers and senior leaders from primary schools up and down the country. It attracted grant funding from, among others, Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Integral to the initiative is the perspective of teachers – not only in developing the original idea to make it practical in a school setting, but in being given the chance to develop their own skills as theatre makers. Schools that sign up for Let’s Play (which costs £350 per academic year) get access to teacher training courses led by professionals. These, says Hamilton, are all about skilling them up. “The CPD is designed to make putting
on a play less stressful, more enjoyable. The whole production process becomes important and the skills they learn have a legacy, cascading down to colleagues.” While the training and workshop materials they take away are a vital part of the mix – giving teachers the confidence to be bolder directors and producers – so too are the plays schools can access. There are eight entirely new scripts, including musical scores and easy-to-learn songs. “Let’s Play supplies everything they need to put on a play,” says Hamilton. “It’s brilliant.” The original scripts and scores include Erich Kästner’s children’s classic Emil & The Detectives (two versions for different age groups), a ripping retelling of Arthurian legend called A Quest for Arthur and a new play about friendship called Megaball. Hamilton says these scripts are incredibly flexible – adapting to the size of group and specific needs of the school and year. They are also designed to engage all the talents. A carefully balanced script focuses more on ensemble work to inspire team working and a collegiate atmosphere (as opposed to the small number of lead roles typical in many old-style school plays). There’s also a strong emphasis on the value of behind-the-scenes roles – from stage manager, props and costumes to lighting and sound. “It’s about encouraging children to step up without pressure,” says Hamilton. “Rather than a focus on just acting, the aim is to help them create a theatre company.” The pilot took place in 2017, and the extensive testing and feedback continue as the programme is rolled out. The team from the National Theatre continue to attend a variety of school plays. Hamilton says it’s about watching how Let’s Play works for schools, never critiquing individual school productions. Their team have seen firsthand the impact on individual pupils – from the Year 6 pupil at one school who took on the
role of director to the child with specific learning needs at another who acted as sound operator for the show, with both fulfilling those roles brilliantly. What underpins this whole project is the idea that the opportunity to participate in drama can offer children lifelong benefits – from building confidence and helping with communication skills to fostering a love of the arts, even sparking the desire to pursue a career on the stage or behind the scenes. Since all the plays are linked right back to the curriculum, offering opportunities to expand learning from the production back into the classroom, Let’s Play ticks a lot of boxes for schools. It also helps with areas that are hot topics in education, notably oracy. Commenting at the launch, deputy head of Hill Mead School in Brixton Becky Lawrence – whose pupils participated in the pilot – said the impact on the children has been huge, adding: “It has developed their speaking and listening skills, supported their reading and writing skills and their confidence and empathy grew rapidly.” The objective is to sign up 400 state primary schools across the country over the next three years. There is an implicit goal to recruit especially strongly in areas where there are higher levels of deprivation and in areas where children have least access to the arts. That, surely, has to be good news for the wider arts scene, as well as for future generations of artists and play-makers just waiting in the wings.
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RE GI ST ER FO R
EATON HOUSE SCHOOLS
20 20 NO W
AN UNFORGETTABLE JOURNEY
Eaton House Schools – where potential is everything EATON HOUSE BELGRAVIA PRE-PREP, PREP AND NURSERY • The best Pre-Prep results in 5 years • In 2018, 40% of 7+ and 8+ pupils received offers to Westminster Under and St Paul’s Junior School, amongst many other fine schools
EATON HOUSE THE MANOR GIRLS’ SCHOOL
EATON HOUSE THE MANOR BOYS’ SCHOOL
• Outstanding results and pastoral care • 11 Scholarships offered to top London day and boarding schools this year
• Excellent all round results to the best senior schools • A number of scholarships and a coveted John Colet Scholarship to St Paul’s School
We are non-selective, register from birth and take children from 3-13. If you want to start a conversation about your child’s brilliant future, ring Jennifer McEnhill on 0203 917 5050 to book an Open House Morning.
NURTURING EXCELLENCE EATON HOUSE SCHOOLS www.eatonhouseschools.com
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Up Front
News
ROUND
A teacher-led business is delivering news and current affairs – through engaging pictures – to help children analyse and debate the really big issues in our society B y L I B BY N O R M A N
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icture News is one of those brilliantly simple ideas that helps schools to consider the really weighty debates in society. Since its launch in September 2016, it has been shortlisted for the Education Resource Awards (ERAs) and it also picked up a New Business of the Year 2017 gong at The Press Business Awards. The starting point of the service is a powerful image, which is then supported with additional material that can be used in assemblies, in classroom situations or both. While each image delivers one overarching theme in one picture, it sets the ball rolling for a whole host of related talking points and activities that help children make sense of their world.
Picture News was established by teachers Katie and Rob Harrison, and now comprises a team of three, with additional proofreading support from an education editor who is also a former teacher. Between them, the team have the expertise and practical skills that enable them to create and deliver appropriate material for early years and primary. A further Advanced Picture News has been launched for secondary level, offering the same image-led idea, but with more complex supporting material. The business came about through Katie Harrison’s own experiences in the classroom. As a primary-school specialist in RE and Citizenship, she looked in vain for source material to use for her class, and ended up collating material herself. Since she and the other members of the team recognised that
FOCUS
CHILDREN HAVE A POSITIVE WORLD VIEW, BUT THEY DO NEED SPACE TO TALK ABOUT NEWS teachers don’t always have the time to collate and organise material around ‘live’ news items, they specialise in timely news hooks that offer scope for much wider debate. “We wanted a resource that was easy to use and could be delivered in a short timeframe,” says Harrison. “We undertake the research, source the image and material around it and ensure it’s suitable for all target age groups”. In an era of rolling news we can barely digest, there’s something pleasingly considered about Picture News. There are a variety of ways of receiving the material, but most schools opt for online access plus the Picture News ‘Tube’. This is a bright A2 poster with a question on it designed to stimulate debate and discussion. Also in the cardboard tube posted out to schools is an assembly plan and focus cards, a school newsletter and further material children can take home to share with parents and siblings. Schools can opt for weekly, fortnightly or flexible Picture News deliveries. Harrison says schools use the pack in different ways – some schools like to do a ‘big reveal’, opening the pack in front of children so they can all see the theme of the week. Other schools put the poster up on display at the start of the week, give children a chance to consider the issue and post comments, then build a series of activities around it. The images are always strong and, while the questions are usually deceptively simple they open up a whole raft of geopolitical and philosophical themes. Something as SPRING 2019 | 33
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straightforward as: ‘Should we spend more time with people who are older than us?’ may inspire discussion around generational divides, elder care and social isolation, while ‘Should drones be banned?’ takes us into the complex areas of liberty and lawmaking, not to mention technological advancement. Other topics take on wider themes that are topical and tap into children’s social conscience. ‘Have we become a throwaway society?’ provides supporting material that encourages younger children to consider which items can be repaired or recycled, while older children consider the debates around repair-reuse-recycle, finite resources and consumerism. The choice of story always comes first, says Harrison, and then follows the task of choosing an appropriate image and open question that will engage children as young as four. Implicit in every theme is
a subject broad enough to be used in cross-curricular ways, and also something that taps into British Values and the SMSC (social, moral, spiritual, cultural) requirement that underpins this. With over 1,500 schools signed up, and counting, the service has clearly hit its mark with teachers and pupils. Harrison says there is a healthy split of subscribers between independent and state schools (roughly one third to two thirds). It’s also increasingly popular with British international schools, which want to include British Values material and tap into the current affairs scene of the UK. While there has to be sensitivity to some of the more difficult stories, Harrison says that there is nothing that is off the Picture News agenda. In fact, for both the Manchester attack and Grenfell Tower stories they supported schools by providing additional material alongside their main news theme of the week. “We had to include both these extras because we knew that all children were aware of them – and some schools even emailed us to request we provide support material to help them address children’s questions”. Sometimes the news can be tricky, but Harrison and the rest of the Picture News team believe that children need to have the space to consider and digest what’s happening in the world. She says: “It’s important, and children tend to have a much more positive world view than most adults, but they do need space to talk about news and current affairs”.
FOCUS
WHILE EACH IMAGE IS DECEPTIVELY SIMPLE , IT SETS THE BALL ROLLING FOR A WHOLE HOST OF ACTIVITIES More than that, she believes that talking around news and current affairs is of benefit for children’s wider development, including teaching them how to question and analyse. “It’s important that children look at all information they get with a critical eye – who said this, what did they mean, and why did they say it? are essential questions,” she says. “The nature of what we do, and how we plan our stories helps children to develop these critical-thinking skills and question what they read.” It’s also important to recognise children’s innate ability to sort wheat from chaff. “We’re constantly surprised by children’s responses, some of which we receive via our Twitter feed,” says Harrison. “Whereas adults tend to overcomplicate, children have a way of getting to the point of the question.” Take, for instance, the Year 1 pupil from Ambrook Primary School in Nottinghamshire who posted on Picture News’ feed the following about the Brexit debate: ‘Leaders should listen more about what people have to say’. It’s hard to argue her logic or fault her grasp of British Values. SPRING 2019 | 35
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Becoming the best we can be…
“The school is extremely successful in fulfilling its aims of providing an academically challenging and fulfilling all-round education” ISI inspection
ORWELL PARK SCHOOL
Leading Independent Prep School Co-educational Boarding and Day 2½ to 13 t: 01473 659225 admissions@orwellpark.org www.orwellpark.co.uk Orwell Park, Nacton, Ipswich, Suffolk IP10 0ER
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Pre-Prep LE F T B E H I N D p . 3 8 • TA K E I T O U T S I D E p . 4 5
A PUPIL AT BEAUDESERT PARK SCHOOL
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Left
BEHIND Do left-handed children get the support they need to thrive in a right-handed world or are they being let down? Absolutely Education investigates Wo r d s LIBBY NORMAN
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enius or challenged – being left-handed still singles you out for labels. Parents of any child who favours left may be concerned that their offspring will have a bumpier journey, with more obstacles to overcome, because – let’s face it – the world is designed for right-handers. Parents are likely to have read eagerly the stories of famous southpaw creatives – including Picasso and Einstein – and read (less eagerly) that left-handers have a lower life expectancy. Misinformation is still common and both of the above widely circulated stories are not true, according to Professor Chris McManus, author of Right Hand, Left Hand. McManus, Professor of Psychology and Medical Education at UCL, has a long-term interest and academic specialisation in handedness and lateralisation (the study of left and right brain functions). He devotes a whole chapter of his book to some of the more persistent myths surrounding left-handedness. Picasso and Einstein were both extensively photographed during their
D E V E LO PM E NT
lives and every photo shows both to be right-handed, and with no other recorded evidence to suggest otherwise. As to the story of shorter lives, which first emerged in the 1980s in scientific press and was subsequently splashed across mainstream press, this is unsound. It used handedness of death cohorts (people who died within a given window) as the sole statistical hook, without factoring in that at the dawn of the 20th century only around three per cent of the population showed as left-handed. In other words, the base was entirely unstable as there were so few left-handers before 1910. Today most estimates of left-handedness place it at around ten per cent of the population (although some suggest higher). The increase is put down to a societal shift – left-handedness is no longer a source of shame in most societies so most children are not ‘retrained’. Left-handedness was once closely associated with otherness, even witchcraft, but if you imagine that idea had vanished by the 20th century, then think again. The English Dialect Survey, conducted on living subjects between 1950-61, unearthed only two terms for righthanded (one of which was right-handed), as opposed to at least 87 distinct dialect terms for left-handers. Many were, as McManus noted in Right Hand, Left Hand, obscene
PARENTS INVESTIGATING WHAT BEING A ‘LEFTIE’ MEANS FOR THEIR CHILD’S FUTURE DEVELOPMENT WOULD BE WISE TO READ AROUND THE SOURCES WITH A SCEPTICAL MIND SPRING 2019 | 39
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HAVING A LEFTHANDER CAN BE A MORE ANXIOUS JOURNEY FOR FIRST-TIME PARENTS, WHO WORRY THEIR CHILD WILL BE LEFT BEHIND
or scatological. Others, such as southpaw (which looks to have first emerged in Cumbria rather than on the baseball field or boxing ring), tap into the idea of ‘not from around here’. While the left-hander largely escapes negative labels today, parents who are investigating what being a ‘leftie’ means for their child’s future would be wise to read around the sources with a sceptical mind. Inaccurate information and dubious methodologies are still out there. Implied causal links between left-handedness and illness or cognitive/development issues are unproven and raise more questions than answers. What we can be certain of is that the incidence is currently somewhat higher among boys (around five boys to every four girls). So how differently are left-handers wired? The short answer is we are still not sure, since we still don’t fully understand the genetics of handedness and how this affects brain function. There is increasing interest in ideas surrounding degrees of handedness and other facets of lateralisation. There is a simple test – The Edinburgh Handedness Inventory – developed in the 1970s and still used today (you’ll find versions online).
It asks which hand you use for a series of everyday tasks beyond writing – eating, cutting, kicking a ball, and so on – and the answers give an indication, rendered as a percentage. While true ambidextrousness is extremely rare, there is a possibility that your left-handed (or right-handed) child is more mixed than you had realised. Of course, children may switch between hands for certain tasks as they grow up, try new activities and become more confident of their motor skills. The first concern for most parents of lefthanded children is development of writing skills. Children typically start to display hand preference by around the age of two, but that’s not set in stone. In early years settings, the current practitioner focus is on all the fine motor skills. Dr Paulette Luff, Course Leader for the MA in Early Childhood Education at Anglia Ruskin University, says it’s about a head down approach. “It’s not just hand dominance, but also arm and foot.” She also suggests we may be in danger of labelling children too early – they may take a while to show a dominant hand. This is why it’s vital that early-years settings offer a range of different equipment so they can watch how children interact with it and let them experiment. “It’s important to remember that children try to do things like the people around them, so sensitivity and awareness of all possible differences are key. Children who are struggling can be helped and encouraged to try the other hand,” says Luff. “Part of the problem is that children are taught to write quite formally quite early – when their fine motor skills are still developing”. There are some who believe we are still not doing enough for the ten per cent. Anything Left-Handed opened in Soho in 1968 as a meeting point and resource. The son of its founder, Keith Milsom established
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the Left-Handers Club with his wife Lauren Milsom and ships specially designed kit around the world from the company’s Surrey base. A left-hander himself, Milsom says there is a lack of understanding that many everyday objects – from pens, scissors and rulers to spiral bound notebooks – can be a struggle. “While sometimes there’s an assumption that children need to ‘get used to it’, many of these everyday tools are not designed to work effectively when you are using your left hand. Even something as simple as sharpening a pencil becomes hard.” Mark Stewart of Left ’n Write in Worcester also sees lack of understanding. He and his wife Heather, a teacher, have created handwriting practice books and guides, delivering courses and advice to individuals, schools and early years settings as well as retailing left-handed equipment. Their work grew out of a quest to find functioning scissors for their “very left-handed” son. They have campaigned via their MP to get more information on teaching left-handers included within the teacher-training curriculum. Stewart is particularly exercised by writing. He says: “It takes five to ten minutes to sort out a good technique and correct grip”. Children have come from as far afield as London for his guidance – his oldest pupil was in her late 60s, and until he sat her down and showed her she had never been taught how to use a pen left-handed. Here, I should declare my own hand – left – and my recollection that even in my dim and distant schooldays at a small
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MOST CHILDREN START TO DISPLAY THEIR HAND PREFERENCE BY AROUND THE AGE OF TWO, BUT IT CAN TAKE LONGER TO SHOW A DOMINANT HAND rural primary school I had lots of guidance. Writing was not a huge problem, tasks such as tying shoelaces and telling the time were. So teachers and educators have long been helping left-handers overcome their individual learning challenges – although there’s no doubt some children have slipped through the net. Katie Paynter, Head of Pre-Prep at St Nicholas Prep, and also SENCO lead at the Knightsbridge school, says that while lefthandedness is not a special need, today it is often handled by SENCO staff as they have specialist training and know the adaptations that help. “These include slanting paper and supporting the development of children’s handwriting, also providing appropriate equipment such as easy-grip pencils”. Her experience is that parents take having a lefthander in the family in their stride, although – like every other aspect of development – this may be a more anxious journey for firsttime parents, who worry their left-handed child will be left behind. The good news for parents – as Katie Paynter points out – is that most adaptations are small and easy to implement. The most important part of school and home support is to ensure children are encouraged and helped to experiment, rather than made to feel awkward or different. As there is still a lot to learn about handedness – even the genes influencing it – it seems likely that the whole area of what Left ‘n Write’s Peter Wright calls “neurodiversity” will continue to throw up discoveries to inform parents and educators as they help children of every degree of right or left dominance to reach their full potential.
4 really simple aids for left-handers Sitting on the left so they don’t bump elbows with their classmates • Slanting paper to stop smudges – a writing mat may help • Specially designed pencils and pens – and a left-handed nib for fountain pens • Left-handed craft scissors – so they can see what they are cutting out
Anything Left-Handed; anythinglefthanded.co.uk Left ’n Write; leftshoponline.co.uk Right Hand, Left Hand by Chris McManus (Phoenix, 2002). SPRING 2019 | 41
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‘ Enjoying childhood and realising our imagination.’ “My time at Dallington has helped me to grow in body, mind and soul – this is something that I am immeasurably grateful for. Dallington has given me a push in the direction of success and I am thankful for all they have done. I will do the best I can to repay them, the best I can, by leading an honest and dignified life.” - Nick (Year 6 pupil) Dallington is a family-run co-educational independent school, with a nursery, in the heart of London.
Personal tours each day of the week, except Wednesday. Next Open Evening: Thursday 16th May 2019 from 6 to 8 pm
Headteacher, Proprietor and Founder: Mogg Hercules MBE Email: hercules@dallingtonschool.co.uk Phone: 020 7251 2284 www.dallingtonschool.co.uk
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Pre-Prep
HEAD
Action STATI O N S Nicola Borthwick, head of Eaton House The Manor Pre-Prep, says active learning is one of the best ways to engage younger boys
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all it nature over nurture, but we firmly believe that boys learn better when they learn actively – rolling up their sleeves, picking up and examining, evaluating, getting involved, getting excited and sometimes making lots of noise and getting dirty. We feel that old-fashioned ‘from- thefront’ teaching would be quite dull for the majority of 4-8-year-old boys, which is why we try to make every lesson as active as possible. Experiments can be a wonderful way of getting boys deeply involved in learning – and our ‘exploding volcanoes’
project is a great example. Based on our geography topic of ‘Magical Mapping’ for Year 2, the boys worked in groups to design a papier-mâché base structure. They then added painted features to the islands, including trees, animals and pirate ships. The final step was to create a ‘volcanic explosion’ by dropping baking soda and vinegar inside the volcano. All the boys agreed that it was extremely exciting to see the eruption! The boys also loved being allowed to drop an egg from a parapet next to our new science block as part of the STEM Egg Drop Challenge. The challenge was to create a container that would protect an egg from cracking or breaking from a high fall. The boys produced some very creative containers and predicted
“Experiments can be a wonderful way of getting boys deeply involved in learning”
TA L K I N G
NICOLA BORTHWICK Headmistress
Eaton House The Manor Pre-Prep
OPINION
which would break and which wouldn’t. Afterwards, the boys did what real scientists do and reflected on what they would all do differently next time. Themed immersive events are another way to get boys really involved. Our ‘Medieval Day’ was designed to consolidate learning from the boys’ castles topic. The boys had a great day getting involved in jousting tournaments, medieval dancing, attending a royal banquet and creating beautiful medieval text using quill pens. Topic work in the field can also be very successful if it is active. One topic in the summer term was ‘minibeasts’, studied by the youngest boys. They learned about the lifecycle of various insects, focusing most closely on the lifecycle of a butterfly. Each class was given a number of caterpillars. The boys thoroughly enjoyed observing the changes that they went through on a daily basis until they flew off as butterflies. They were also very lucky to receive a visit from ‘Spirit of the Wild’ and spend the morning in the company of many animals, including meerkats, a python, a fruit bat, tarantulas, frogs, owls and even cockroaches. The boys were absolutely mesmerised. By its nature, art is an active subject, but art using vegetables proved especially fun for our boys and the perfect introduction to Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo, painter of portraits using fruit and vegetables for facial features. Here, the boys worked as a team (collaboration skills were a must) to create Arcimboldo-style faces from seasonal fruit and veg. Now, that’s really fruitful learning. SPRING 2019
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All children can achieve
An award winning independent SpLD specialist school “It’s palpably cheerful inside. The potion, as a parent describes it, ‘is an acceptance of others; celebration of your talents (which they will find); joyful eccentricity and a low anxiety environment. Resulting in happy achieving children.” - Good schools guide 2018 VISIT OUR NEW WEBSITE www.moatschool.org.uk
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28/01/2019 14:20
Pre-Prep
OPINION
CHIL D R E N NAT U RA L LY G RAV ITAT E TO S U R R O U ND ING S T HEY F IND INT E R E ST ING
Take it OUTSIDE
Sandpits and secret gardens, the head of Hyde Park School Hilary Wyatt considers the joys, and the value, of an outdoor education
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quick scan of the newspapers or a few Google searches throws up research that demonstrates today’s generation of children are spending more and more time engrossed in tablets and screens – and less time celebrating the great outdoors. A recent report suggested even prisoners are spending more time outside than our children and that we, as adults and parents, used to enjoy double the amount of time in the open-air compared to our youngsters. The debate around the roles of technology versus outdoor play in education has long been a key point of discussion, both for parents and educators, and this shows no sign of abating. Here at Hyde Park Nursery School we firmly believe that a combination of both
technology and outdoor play is crucial to helping our students flourish. But how do we strike the perfect balance? And what if some children respond better to one over the other? As an independent nursery and prep school, we are in an incredibly fortunate position where we are able to tailor our learning environment to bring out the very best in each and every one of our students. This means that, in addition to creating a stimulating and engaging educational programme, our surroundings – both indoor and outdoor – can be adapted so they are fun and exciting spaces that all our pupils enjoy and learn from. To encourage a combination of technology-based and outdoor-based play, we operate a free-flow nursery, where children have the option to spend time inside or outside throughout the school
day. We also encourage our pupils to decide for themselves when and how they want to utilise the indoor and outdoor space, rather than operating a rigid daily schedule that may not always suit their individual needs or goals. By affording our students the opportunity to make these decisions for themselves, we believe that we are enhancing their learning experience, – like all young children, they will naturally gravitate towards surroundings and stimulus that they find the most interesting and motivating. Luckily, our nursery school – aptly named The Long Garden – has vast amounts of outdoor space where we have installed a huge sandpit, butterfly gardens and vegetable patches, as well as a large grassy space where children can run around. Our teachers and assistants encourage students to be out in the fresh air as much as possible. We run weekly Outdoor Adventurer sessions where our children learn to make fires, cook marshmallows, pop popcorn and burn sticks to make charcoal. They also learn about the wildlife that lives in the garden. Den building forms part of the weekly challenge lessons and the Mud Kitchen is used to make imaginary stews and magic potions! Caring for our three cute guinea pigs (Alvin, Simon and Theodore), and the chicks and butterflies when they hatch, is fun and also teaches our children to be kind and gentle. SPRING 2019
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“A wonderful place to grow a rooted sense of self, and joy in life and learning.” Good Schools Guide 2016
3–18 | Boarding & Day | 1 hour from London To book a place on an open morning or to arrange an individual visit, please contact Janie Jarman, Registrar.
T 01730 711733 E jjarman@bedales.org.uk Petersfield, Hampshire GU32 2DG
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08/10/2018 16:32
Prep
1 1 Y E A R S O F 1 1 + p . 4 8 • A W I D E R O U T LO O K p . 6 5
PUPILS AT OAKFIELD PREP SCHOOL, DULWICH
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ABBEY SCHOOL PUPILS
WHEN SHOULD CHILDREN START PREPARING?
11 YEARS OF 11+
The founder and director of Keystone Tutors has sage advice for parents Wo r d s WILL ORR-EWING
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have run a tutoring company at the crucible of the 11+ scene for the last 11 years, and have seen first-hand how hundreds of families approach the exams. Here I answer questions often put to me by parents, teachersand others connected to the sector.
DO I NEED TO HIRE A TUTOR?
No. There are , but most 11+ exams do not require children to learn more than is on a typical age-appropriate prep school syllabus (or, for parents in the state sector, the National Curriculum) so a diligent and conscientious child should not need extra tutoring. There is lots that parents can do on their own with good
textbooks and freely available past papers. If children are sitting for one of the more academically competitive schools, it is important to bear in mind, however, that there is not much room for error and that children often need to be taught how to avoid losing silly marks under exam conditions. Furthermore, successful candidates will need to be able to perform well on the more challenging questions that are designed to differentiate strong candidates. Of course, good prep schools teach these exam skills – but a tutor (or parent) can be very effective in reiterating these points, or teaching them to children who have not had the benefit of good preparation at school.
Most, but not all, 11+ exams are sat in the January of Year 6. We tend to recommend that children begin formal preparation 12 months before that day, in January of Year 5. Some families like to do a diagnostic assessment in the first term of Year 5 to see if there are any significant gaps. Of course, attention to reading, writing, core numeracy and any other part of the Key Stage 2 curriculum in Year 4 will not be harmful, but we would counsel against formal preparation at such an early stage. It is important to bear in mind the ‘opportunity cost’ of starting formal preparation so early. An hour of Bond or BOFA is an hour not spent reading, going for a walk,playing outside and other essential human experiences.
WHERE SHOULD TUTORING BE FOCUSED?
The first point is to check the specifications of each school’s exam as some have moved towards Reasoning only. As a general rule, though, shoring up children’s foundations in English and Maths is the first priority. These core skills tend to be the most malleable and improvable in the often novel one-onone context, and they also deliver the most long-term educational benefits. Tutors should check the understanding of core topics first, and then check that their students have
“IT ’S NEVER AS SIMPLE AS NUMBER OF HOURS EQUALS NUMBER OF MARKS”
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When hiring a tutor, what questions should a parent ask? mastered the skill of showing understanding in an exam context – quite another skill. If Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning are being assessed, they should also be attended to but less so, as Reasoning skills are less plastic. We tend to recommend that students familiarise themselves with these types of question on sites such as BOFA, Bond and Keystone Tests, – a few short sessions in the months before the test should be plenty.
HOW MUCH TUTORING IS ‘THE RIGHT AMOUNT’?
Most children receive one hour per week in each subject (Maths and English) for the 12 months leading up to the exam. Given holidays, etc, that usually means about 30 weeks of tutoring. It is a lot of time that could be perhaps more richly spent, but it is not excessive and means that sports and other extracurricular passions can still be comfortably accommodated. Many children establish great rapport with their tutor and many families tell us that the period of 11+ preparation was of more value than anticipated.
CAN WE 'OVER PREPARE'?
There certainly is such a thing as over-tutoring, and it is clear from my discussions with school leaders that it is this problem that makes schools so alarmed about the effect of tutoring on their pupils. We have heard of children who have had tutoring more than five days per week in the lead up to 11+. It is hard to apply a hard and fast rule as each family context is different, and each child has different capacities. My OVERTUTORING: TOO MUCH PREPARATION?
• What is your experience preparing children for this exam?
• Have you had any relevant training? • What is your plan over the weeks and months ahead?
• How will you be monitoring my child’s
progress? How will you be reporting this?
• Do you have testimonials or references?
Can I read them and speak to the referees?
• Will you be available for the entirety of the tutoring program you have suggested?
• Can you let me know any holidays you have booked or intend to book?
Prep
FOCUS
T H E 11+ H A S BEEN EN T H R ONED IN PA R ENTS' MIN DS AS A D O - O R-DIE STAG E
• Will you have any interaction with my
child’s school teacher to make sure that your approach does not contradict theirs? Can I see a copy of your DBS certificate?
•
When hiring a tutor through a tutoring company or agency, what questions should a parent ask?
•
How was this tutor selected or screened to join your organisation? Was this tutor interviewed face-to-face? Why have you selected this particular tutor for my child? How well do you know this tutor and how many families has this tutor worked with that you know? How many tutors do you have on your books? (and all the questions in the question above)
•
•
•
•
years in tutoring have certainly convinced me that, although there is a correlation between the number of lessons and the eventual 11+ performance, it is a not a simple equation of number of hours = certain number of marks. Parents should consult their own sense of balance and proportion before deciding, but should again bear in mind the opportunity cost of tutoring and the shrunken and withered hinterlands it can create in the broader lives of their 10 year olds.
IS THE 11+ MORE STRESSFUL NOW THAN IT EVER HAS BEEN?
In the mid-1990s, I was fortunate enough to attend one of the most academic prep schools in the country. Yet I recall almost no academic stress or anxiety whatsoever. None of us applied to scores of schools; none of us sat multiple 11+ entrance exams day-after-day (I met a girl who had sat six in six days last year); none of us, as far as I’m aware, were so worried that we pulled off a toenail, as did the daughter of a mother I spoke to recently. The tragedy of it now is that the prep school years are often paradoxically less intellectually demanding (how many nine year olds are learning Latin, Greek and reading Shakespeare?) but much more stressful. Top UK independent schools have never been so popular and the increased pressure on places in these top schools has undoubtedly upped the ante. Now schools boast of applicant to place ratios of six to ten or even 15 to one. The 11+ exam, used by these schools to sift the outstanding from the merely excellent, has been ever-more enthroned in the minds of parents as a do-or-die stage in their children’s academic future – and who can blame them when a few percentage points can be the difference between pass and fail? Naturally, many parents look to tutors to help their children make ‘marginal gains’ over other applicants, the supposed need for which only adds more stress to an already stressful time.
DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER ADVICE FOR PARENTS?
Keep the dialogue going with your school about which exams your child is sitting for, whether they need extra preparation and whether the school is putting on extra classes. Additionally, try to manage your own stress about the results of 11+, as stress is contagious. emotions of their parents and pick things up implicitly.
WILL ORR- EWING Founder and Director Keystone Tutors SPRING 2019
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WRITE ON?
Rising numbers of students are doing their exams on computers rather than having to complete handwritten papers. Universities such as Edinburgh, Oxford and Cambridge are all testing the move and more than 60 per cent of universities have brought in ‘e-exams’ in at least one or two modules according to a recent academic survey. As touch-typing takes over, we ask teachers and education experts, is this the end of handwriting? 50
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H I L ARY W YAT T HEAD The Lyceum
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ometimes parents ask why we teach handwriting at school at all? Of course, we must teach computer skills to ensure that our children are well-prepared for the future but developing a neat and swift cursive script is just as important. Joyce Rankin, who is on the State Board for Education in America and wrote The (Hand)writings on the Wall, cites research studies that have proven direct links between developing good handwriting skills at an early age and academic achievement in both literacy and numeracy as children progress; brain imaging has actually
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HANDWRITING But never did I consider found that handwriting dropping handwriting activates the brain more ACTIVATES THE from the curriculum. than typing because it BRAIN, INVOLVING There was too much involves more complex evidence to support its motor and cognitive COMPLEX MOTOR value. Children in Early skills. AND COGNITIVE Years develop physical I have always found SKILLS co-ordination and mental that the process of writing stamina through marksomething by hand helps me making, colouring and tracing. to learn it, and research says it The Montessori method helps to ‘etch it into the memory’. advocates a kinaesthetic approach, Why would we deny our children this using sandpaper letters, salt trays learning tool? and plasticine so children feel the Studies show that handwriting shape of the letter and develop contributes to reading fluency as fine motor control. They draw the it activates the visual perception. shape in the air as they repeat it. According to Marilyn Zecher, a All children, left- or right-handed, language specialist, children with should be taught the correct posture dyslexia have difficulty learning for writing and pencil grip to avoid to read and to spell because their discomfort. I am firmly in favour of brains associate sound and letter cursive writing right from the start, combinations inefficiently. She says with Early Years children being cursive helps with the decoding taught the ligatures to connect one process because it integrates letter with the next. Letter strings, hand-eye coordination, fine such as in words ending in -ing or motor skills and other brain and -ght, come naturally to children memory functions. The last and writing these cursively. most important reason to teach handwriting is that having illegible handwriting can have a serious impact on a child’s self-esteem and can hinder their learning irreparably.
TA LKI N G P O I NT
When asked to advise on future schooling I always found the most efficient way to assess a child’s written level of English and creative potential was through a piece of unaided writing. All pupils, with only a handful of exceptions, need to write quickly and legibly in their examinations. On school visits parents should search for handwritten work by the pupils and value the integrity of the teacher who leaves untouched the occasional spelling mistake, celebrating the originality of the work displayed. To support their child’s learning, parents must – alongside paying attention to regular reading, number bonds and the world around them – ensure their child witnesses them, their primary role model, handwrite thank you letters, telephone messages or shopping lists. What better 2019 resolution than to spend ten screen-free minutes each day on handwriting? It will be a sound investment.
SALLY HOB B S FORMER HEAD AND SCHOOLS C O N S U LTA N T Mavor Associates
I
am very aware of how deeply embedded into our lives the typed word has become. In the 1990s and Noughties many of us involved in primary education eagerly embraced technology, seeing the potential of the infinite variety of applications. Touch-typing programs proliferated. Certificates were awarded for the successful integration of ICT into the primary curriculum and I studied this subject on a scholarship to the USA. I was definitely not going to be a Luddite.
ABOVE AND TOP LEFT: PUPILS AT THE LYCEEUM
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J U LIAN DE BONO D I R E C TO R O F S T U D I E S Port Regis
A PUPIL AT PORT REGIS SCHOOL
STEPH EN WI NCH ESTER HEAD OF ENGLISH Beaudesert Park School
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andwriting is still alive and kicking here at Beaudesert, but very much part of a mix. We certainly place more importance on typing skills as the children near the age when they move on to their various senior schools of choice aged 13. Most can touch-type by the time they are 11, and we are working towards this being by the time they are 9. The children start to put pen to paper in Nursery, with dedicated handwriting sessions the order of the day during those early PrePrep years. At that stage physically forming the letters helps the children develop fine motor skills, and the action of writing or drawing them also taps into different ways of learning which helps embed the information. In fact, there is a substantial body of evidence which suggests that, whatever your age, the physical act of writing something makes that thing more readily memorable. As a result, work such as revision notes and spellings can hold more benefit if written than typed, even if the latter may take less time.
HANDWRITING FORCES US TO TAKE RESPONSIBILIT Y FOR WHAT WE PUT ON THE PAG E
Good, clear handwriting is celebrated in different ways throughout the school. Standout examples are displayed on noticeboards across various year groups, and children in Year 4 are each awarded a ‘Pen Licence’ when their handwriting has achieved a certain standard. At that point they are promoted to writing in class with a special pen instead of in pencil. There’s also a popular calligraphy extra-curricular activity. Touch-typing skills are celebrated, too. They are taught in dedicated ICT sessions, with children encouraged to practise at home using BBC Dance Mat or typing.com. Once the children have reached a certain standard they can choose to sit a WPM (words per minute) test, and we publish a top 100 list. The current winner clocked up 63 WPM.
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he difference between a handwritten thought and a typed one goes beyond the merely technical. Handwriting teaches fine motor skills and handeye coordination that will be crucial to the work of future surgeons and engineers; it is also the case that its slowness allows children to think and edit more carefully. Every sixth-form invigilator has seen A level students, having spent years typing, massaging the muscle between finger and thumb just 40 minutes into a handwritten exam. There is more to it than that: typing and writing are not the same. Typing is the common currency in adult life: every keystroke is the same, unrelated to the eventual shape of the letters, and this disassociates us from the words we use – it promotes a bureaucratic, uniform style. We write what the reader wants to read, not what we want to say. Handwriting forces us to take responsibility for what we put on the page. Few poets start by typing a first draft; if we want our children to stand out in a world saturated with written information, we need to teach them that writing is more than a function – it is a craft.
PUPILS AT BEAUDESERT PARK
SPRING 2019
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30/04/2018 12:10
Prep-Prep
OPINION
Common good The new head of North Bridge House James Stenning says revisions to the 11+ and 13+ common entrance exam are welcome news for the school and its pupils
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ith the reformation of the London Consortium set to change 11+ testing, and many prestigious boys’ schools now dropping the 13+ common entrance exam, there is a fresh approach at work. And here at North Bridge House Prep School we are firm advocates of the revised process and what it means for our school. I took over as Head of North Bridge House in January and, in preparing for the role, I focused specifically on being able to make positive changes to our curriculum. I welcome the new 11+ assessments as an exciting opportunity for our co-educational school. Historically, NBH Prep School has successfully SCHOOLS WILL prepared girls and boys for entry to the top as Westminster and HAVE MORE TIME TO senior schools in the St Paul’s, to which DEVELOP CRITICAL country at 11+ and NBH graduates often THINKING IN PUPILS, AS 13+ respectively. For gain scholarships, WELL AS WIDER 'SOFT' entry from September are replacing the 13+ 2019 onwards, however, common entrance with SKILLS TO BUILD THEIR girls applying to a 11+ pre-tests – also in a CONFIDENCE London school in the bid to reduce pressure on 11+ Consortium will sit a pupils, parents and teachers. new bespoke, multiple-choice These changes should be cognitive ability test, which will lauded. Schools have more time to incorporate mathematics, verbal and develop critical thinking in pupils, as well non-verbal questions. as wider ‘soft’ skills. This will build their The change is intended to reduce confidence to shine at interview. Secondary the amount of preparation required schools should end up recruiting pupils with to sit the exam. Consensus was that the most potential, rather than those who this was restricting the curriculum have been through intense tutoring. in schools and causing damage In preparation for my new role, I have also to girls’ mental health from the been working closely with NBH Nursery and extensive tutoring that was required. Pre-Prep head teacher Christine McLelland, Meanwhile, elite boys’ schools such who prepares pupils for progression to the
JAMES STENNING WITH NORTH BRIDGE HOUSE PUPILS
prep school. Our early years and pre-prep does not prepare children for the 7+ because the process can be very bruising. Instead, we prepare children very well for the next stage in their learning – with almost half of the entire Year 2 cohort performing in the top five per cent of the country for English and Maths. We feel the best preparation is to deliver a broad and creative curriculum. Here at NBH, we see the changes to the 11+ assessment within the London Consortium and former Common Entrance groups as a refreshing opportunity in education – benefiting children, their parents, and teaching and learning. Liberated from the over-focus required for exam preparations, we are continuing to explore how our school builds on its outstanding curriculum – to ensure that our children are challenged to achieve, but never pressurised. SPRING 2019 | 5 5
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HEAD
Confidence
BUILDING Head of Bassett House School Philippa Cawthorne says that lessons both inside and outside the classroom are key to building a confident outlook
C
oding, abseiling, singing carols to tourists, cooking paella, broadcasting the news, negotiating with French marketstall-holders, goal-shooting challenges – Bassett House children take it all in their stride. Education is about building character and resilience, in and out of the classroom, so we give each child the academic skills to succeed, but also expose them to as many other positive experiences as we can. Providing a broad and challenging curriculum is the best way to spark children’s natural curiosity about life.
Exciting classroom activities develop new skills, but the best schools also provide a rich and varied extracurricular and enrichment programme, including clubs and residential trips. These are crucial to a child’s personal development. Our wide range of clubs give children life skills; they can hone their sporting or creative talent or learn something new, such as producing their own newspaper or radio programme. Clubs such as chess, fencing and cooking teach concrete skills, but also develop softer skills such as teamwork and problem solving. Children learn to organise themselves for a task, developing a sense of independence and self-reliance.
“Extra-curricular activities help children develop social skills and have a more confident approach – they also improve their mental health”
TA L K I N G
PHILIPPA CAWTHORNE Headmistress Bassett House School
Prep
OPINION
Children need strong emotional development in order to counter the challenges life presents. Extracurricular activities help children to develop their social skills and have a more confident approach to working with others. They also improve children’s mental health. The earlier we provide access to a world of stimulating new activities the better. Studies have shown that young people who take up extra activities are less likely to suffer from depression: it is always good to shake a leg or two, paint, sing, write, or try something new. Bassett House’s challenging residential trips combine these benefits. On their first residential trip, simply sleeping away from home gives children greater independence. Our older pupils gain self-confidence on our popular sailing and bushcraft trips, when they successfully manage to rig and sail a boat or build a shelter and sleep in it. Orienteering through the Normandy countryside gets our Year 6 children working together and speaking French. Nobody knows what new jobs will exist in the future; very few people will have a job for life. We must help our young people become flexible, creative thinkers who can use their initiative to solve problems but also work well with others. Our aim is for each child to leave the school with a solid core of confidence and skills for life, and to remember their years at Bassett with joy. SPRING 2019
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North Bridge House Nursery, Pre-Prep & Prep Schools
Knowing the individual, realising their potential.
Age: 2y 9 mo ears nths – 13 years .
Now accepting September 2019 applications for Nursery, Pre-Prep and Prep School entry. admissionsenquiries@northbridgehouse.com 020 7428 1520
North Bridge House Nursery School, NW3 • Pre-Prep School, NW3 • Prep School, NW1 NBH.indd 1
28/01/2019 09:08
Prep
Don’t believe
THE HYPE Head of ICT at St Benedict’s Christian Smith on five ways to challenge fake news
W
e have all heard the phrase ‘Fake News’, often decrying news stories that are unflattering or unfavourable to politicians and public figures. But have you really considered how difficult it must be to be a student these days, researching and learning when you cannot be 100 per cent sure that the source you are reading is legitimate? Fake News is not a new phenomenon. Many of us will have been shown the 1957 Panorama ‘Spaghetti Harvest’ programme as part of our education, or perhaps used the ‘DiHidrogenOxide dangers’ website as part of our teaching activities. But in recent years, the number of satirical, biased or outright false news sites and sources has exponentially increased, many with names, layout and URLs designed to fool us into thinking they are sites linked or aligned with other trustworthy sources.
We’ve all been there, scrolling through our social-media feed when a post pops up, shared by multiple friends, with a headline just outlandish enough to spark interest, or so outlandish that the only response is to re-share. Most of the time it’s an outraged response or a wry laugh, but always with some form of visceral emotional reaction, because that is what these posts are designed to do, to get us to react, to share and increase traffic to a site and increase ad revenue by sharing.
OPINION
When talking with many of our students, we discussed this change in how we receive news, and for many of our young people news isn’t something you search out, it’s something that’s fed to you. Sometimes by push notifications from sources such as the BBC, but more often, it’s given to us through social feeds, via friends or sources we have chosen to hear from. And when the sources are people we know, rather than mainstream media, we do less fact checking and we are more likely to engage with or share a false story with a sensational headline, than a fact-based one. In the three months leading to the November 2016 Presidential election, Buzzfeed found that 8.7 million fake news stories were shared or interacted with on Facebook regarding the election. So what can we do about this? Actually, we can do what we’ve always done in ‘analogue’ research, and encourage everyone to challenge and research information: 1 SOURCES – Have you checked the initial source? Is it legitimate? What else have they published? 2 PATTERNS – How are similar stories presented? Is there a bias, or other posts?
FOR MANY YOUNG PEOPLE, NEWS IS SOMETHING THAT’S FED TO YOU
3 FACT CHECK – Is it being reported elsewhere? Sites like Snopes and Politifact are your friend. Use these sites to check and debunk clickbait headlines. 4 TRIANGULATE – How are other sources reporting this? Can you find two other sources that verify what’s being said? 5 CHALLENGE – Tell people when they share false stories. Educate them by telling them how you know and where you found conflicting information.
Fake news is not going to go away. It’s always been here, but in a more interconnected social-app world, it is far easier to share false narratives that can become part of an ‘understood’ truth. It is the responsibility of all of us to pause, read and then challenge false online news before sharing to ensure that we don’t add more fake news to our feeds and the feeds of everyone who follows us. CHRISTIAN SMITH Director of ICT St Benedict's School
PUPILS AT ST BENEDICT’S
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28/01/2019 23/01/2019 09:36 17:23
HEAD
Screen
TALK
Head of Prep at Sydenham High School Claire Boyd believes we need a real-world attitude to young people’s screen time
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his year kicked off with the release of a report from the Royal College of Paediatricians and Child Health (RCPCH), which oversees training in child medicine. Its research found there to be no good evidence that time in front of a screen – be that television, phone or tablet – is toxic to the health of children and young people. While the report drew some connections between prolonged screen time and an increase in instances of obesity and depression, the College resisted calls to publish recommended screen times for children of different ages and at different stages of development. Choosing pragmatism over definitive advice, the College focused upon encouraging families and schools to consider the nature of the relationship a child has with screens, the way they connect with social media and the impact this relationship has upon the quality of their sleep and their rate of regular physical exercise. Responses to this straight-talking and easy-to-digest report have been polarised. A simple Google search on this subject reveals a cacophony of different views on whether the report should be heralded or reviled. Calls for screens to be demonised and
purged from the lives of our children and young people for fears their use stifles creativity and promotes social isolation, anxiety and depression sit at odds with opposing calls to embrace the opportunities offered by the digital revolution. As leader of a prep school for girls and a part of the Girls’ Days School Trust (GDST), I am particularly frustrated with this tendency towards extreme reporting and a fanning of the flames of emotional hyperbole when dealing with issues that affect
“Calls for screens to be demonised sit at odds with opposing calls to embrace the opportunities offered by the digital revolution”
TA L K I N G
CLAIRE BOYD Head of Prep Sydenham High School GDST
Prep
OPINION
the women of tomorrow. Our growing understanding that girls are twice as likely to show signs of depressive symptoms linked to social media use at age 14 compared with boys should be treated sensitively and without drama. Girls and young women deserve us to respond to such matters with the integrity and measure that allow the best course of action and approach to be discerned rationally. It is only by setting an example of pragmatism now that we can set a tone for the dispositions of self-awareness and self-knowledge to develop in girls and young women as they move into adulthood. As Dr Russell Viner, president of the RCPCH, puts it: “Screens are part of modern life. The genie is out of the bottle – we cannot put it back”. So, let’s pledge ourselves to a mantra of moderation. A life lived in extremes is a sure-fire way to unhappiness and discontentment. Choose moderation and space to consider what works best for each individual. Choose opportunities to cultivate a discerning approach to decisionmaking and watch as your wellbeing, and that of the young people you care for, flourishes.
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TEAM talk Nicola Huggett, Head of Cheltenham College, on the importance of parents and schools staying in close touch
Y
ou have reviewed the glossy prospectuses, shortlisted your favourites, had the red carpet treatment at numerous open days and now it’s time. Of course every school looked the part and the subject teachers said the right things. But how exactly are you supposed to know which school will provide the all-important behind the scenes pastoral support, to best help children in all other areas of their school life; in the classroom, on the sports field, or when being ambitious with their goals? At the core of a really excellent school are their values, communication and willingness to form a team approach with parents. Good parent / school teams share the same values. If you support the school’s values and boundaries, you
show your child that they are in safe hands. That trust and confidence from a parent means that a child can relax and just get on with doing their best. Clear boundaries and consistent routines mean that, as a pupil, you know where you stand and you know what is going to happen if you do not, on occasion, meet those expectations. If you get it wrong – and people always do – you want the same thing to happen and then we all move on again with no lingering disappointment, shame or long-lasting guilt. Great parent / school teams communicate well. Ask lots of questions about the communication you will have with staff who care most closely for your child; their tutor, form teacher, head of year or house parent. A good school with staff who pick up the phone rather than email will give you all the confidence that you need. If you keep
“A good school with staff who pick up the phone rather than email will give you confidence”
TA L K I N G
NICOLA HUGGETT The Head
Cheltenham College
Prep
OPINION
in close touch with the school pastoral staff, giving them as much information as you can, you will become part of the essential dialogue that they are having daily with your child, albeit indirectly for a time. Remember that young people (especially teenagers) can find it easier to talk to teachers than to their parents. That is not the sign of a failing home-life in any sense. It is just that the fear of disappointing your parents is removed and you often just get straight, consistent advice, that you may or may not want to hear. As a parent, pastoral care at a school that encourages open dialogue is really good news and nothing to be feared. Excellent parent / school teams realise that your child is part of the team, too. When you are attending open days, observe how your child interacts with both staff and pupils. If they feel relaxed in their company, even after just a few hours, then it is probably the right fit for them. For all of the lists and tally charts you can make comparing one school to another, never forget to trust your gut on these decisions. It can be a challenge entrusting a school with the care of the most precious person in the world to you. But don’t ever think that we do not understand or appreciate the responsibility that you have placed in us. Once you have made your choice, take a deep breath and relax about the contact you have with your son or daughter. Sometimes, the best thing to do is to just sit back and wait. We all want the same thing for your child; confidence without arrogance, the curiosity to take on the inherent risks of growing up with caution but not fear, and a willingness to see the glass that is half full. That is at the heart of the growth mindset that all schools seek to develop. If you can trust your child's school to encourage this all-important independence, you will be amazed, and justifiably proud, of the engaging and resilient young person that returns home to you at the end of each term. SPRING 2019
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PA R E NTI N G
A wider OUTLOOK A parenting expert on bringing a growth mindset to raising children
I
have been a parenting educator for 18 years, and every time I start a course I get parents to imagine the future when their child is grown-up. I ask them which attributes they would like to see in their child. Inevitably, happiness and success will be among the qualities mentioned. Of course parents want their child to be happy, but happiness is a state of mind that changes all the time. Pursuit of happiness can, in fact, lead to narcissism and dissatisfaction. Real happiness occurs when we have purpose in our lives. So, what does success look like? Happiness may be a by-product of accepting that
Wo r d s MELISSA HOOD
success comes in many different forms. Will it be attainment of wealth, power, fame, status, or accomplishment of some externally set qualification, grade or promotion? Many parents have quite a fixed view of success, determined by their own upbringing and by whatever societal narrative of success they are tuned in to. But when there is a definite goal for a child, in their parents’ minds, there is often one predetermined path to achieve it. There are many successful people who have not pursued a conventional path. Think of Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney and Lucille Ball, none of whom ‘succeeded’
in conventional education. There is a Hasidic teaching that says: 'If your child has a talent to be a baker, don’t tell him to be a doctor'. When this was mentioned in a class one of the parents said: “Oh no, my son will be a doctor!” When success can only look one way there is potential for causing much stress in children, as well as rigid thinking, loss of creativity and missed potential. A child pursuing someone else’s agenda may feel overwhelmed and anxious. That child may feel very controlled and lose rapport with the parent. Juliet asked her 'tween' son what his definition of success was and he said: “It’s Usain Bolt – because he gets to do what SPRING 2019 | 65
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he loves and he has the physical and mental energy to do it really well”. If we set our own standards for success, and follow them, then we are successful. Whatever shape it takes, success is achieved in small steps and takes effort. Don’t feel you have to justify your version of success to anyone else. The workplace of the future will look very different. Machines have moved on from being able to do manual labour better than us and are now able to process and learn from data at frightening speed, and without the requirement of sleep or days off. White collar jobs that used to be the exclusive domain of the university graduate are rapidly being taken over by computers. Entry-level jobs in law, finance, education and healthcare may soon not exist. The rise of robots and artificial intelligence means that the set of skills to enable humans to succeed in the new world will include creativity, imagination, enterprise, the ability to challenge information (critical thinking) and the ability to understand the way other humans think and feel. Parents can encourage those attributes in their children and create the conditions in which those skills will grow. You can work with your child – accepting their temperament and understanding their educational profile – to help them succeed, with academic attainment being only one part of that success. Success in the educational sphere and the workplace often hinges on non-academic skills like emotional intelligence. To encourage creativity and imagination, your child needs time to chill and think. A low-stress environment with consistent routine and a calm, problem-
MELISSA HOOD
PA R E NTI N G
IF YOUR CHILD HAS A TALENT TO BE A BAKER, DON’T TELL THEM TO BE A DOCTOR
solving approach to discipline is necessary. If you want to encourage understanding of other perspectives, you need to show and teach empathy. Be an emotion coach for your child. Your child’s rational, thinking, impulse-controlling brain (they have got one but it won’t be fully mature until their mid-20s) works most efficiently when less stressed. When your child is upset, validate and describe their feelings to them. They will be able to manage emotions much better when they understand them and see that you accept them. That frees up the brain to look for solutions. Naming the feeling makes connections between the language centres of the brain and the emotional amygdala. And hugs also produce oxytocin, which calms the brain. Supporting them can start with empathy, such as: “I know sometimes it’s hard to get started on your homework/music practice when you’d rather play your new game. Those computer games are designed to be really appealing and when something’s new it’s even more tempting". Emotion coaching works even better when combined with descriptive praise (noticing and mentioning the qualities you want to encourage): “You seem really stuck on this problem. It can be hard to think of solutions when you feel like that. Last week when you had those spellings to learn you really persevered and had some creative ideas for remembering them. As I recall, you found it helped you to move around while you were
memorising. You got them in the end.” Pressure to achieve at school is a leading cause of stress for children. Sometimes in our efforts to encourage our children to do their best, we may in fact be de-motivating them and simply adding to their stress. Parents often say that they want their children to be confident and self-motivated, willing to try things and take risks, to work hard and persevere. You can motivate your child without causing stress by: • Making sure you have realistic expectations for this child, given their stage of development and temperament • Showing an interest in their learning • Avoiding the seven deadly habits: criticism, blaming, nagging, shouting, controlling, threatening and punishing. • Encouraging input from your child • Using descriptive praise, not for results or grades, but for effort and attitude. T H E PA R E N T P R AC T I C E For more information, visit theparentpractice.com
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ON THE WATER WITH THE SEA CADETS, P70
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School’s Out
YO UTH G RO U PS
JOIN THE
CLUB
From camping and festivals to developing computer skills, going skydiving and learning marksmanship, Cadets, Scouts and Guides offer great benefits for children, and their parents. Absolutely Education investigates what’s in it for your child
A
ny parent looking for after-school activities is spoiled for choice, but the major youth organisations offer the benefits of the most exciting clubs in one inclusive and affordable package. Plus, there’s a membership pathway that can take children from early years to adulthood. Some branches operate in schools, but others are community based – and joining a branch in your community can be a great way for your child to make friends with 'locals' who don’t attend the same school. There's increasing interest in the work youth organisations do – it has been suggested they may help children become more resilient to mental health problems in later life. These ‘brownie points’ count for nothing unless your child wants to be a member, but among the four profiled here you will find all kinds of adventures to tempt them in. From learning how to sail (or abseil), to developing skills on the rifle range to coding, there is a rich mix to spark their interest. And if you haven’t checked out the member benefits since you were at school, our parents' guide may make you wish you were still eligible to join.
G I R LG U I D I N G
ESTABLISHED: 1909 MOTTO: We discover, we grow MEMBERSHIP: 500,000 girls and young
MAGIC AND MAYHEM IS A TWODAY CAMP FOR RAINBOWS AND BROWNIES THAT INCLUDES A GIANT SLEEPOVER IN A BIG TOP
women STRUCTURE: Rainbows (5-7), Brownies (7-10),
Guides (10-14), Rangers (14-18) FAST FACT: Members also belong to World
Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), a movement representing 10 million girls in 150 countries.
F
rom the first group of girls who gatecrashed a Scout meeting demanding equal opportunities for adventure, Girlguiding has come a long way. It remains a formidable advocate for girls’ and young women’s rights, encouraging them to campaign about the issues they care about – from weighing in on sexism to taking part in Pride marches. It is still single-sex and its ongoing annual research shows members value a girls-only space. Badges are still a big part of the mix and the recently redesigned programme offers an impressive variety – from baking, grow your own and first aid to inventing, personal branding, human rights and vlogging. There are terrific large-scale events; Big Gig is a giant annual pop concert
for members aged 10+ – past performers have included Ed Sheeran, Pixie Lott, Jess Glynne and Ella Henderson. Magic and Mayhem is a two-day camp for Rainbows and Brownies that happens at Girlguiding properties and includes a giant sleepover in a big top. At Guides, they can also attend Wellies and Wristbands and enjoy the full festival experience (pamper zone, live bands, fun games, and so on) in a safe setting. Girlguiding is totally volunteer led. There are 70,000 eager girls on the waiting list, so more adult helpers are badly needed to grow the pack. THEY S AY
girlguiding.org.uk SPRING 2019 | 7 1
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YO UTH G RO U PS
SCO UTS
ESTABLISHED: 1907 MOTTO: Be prepared MEMBERSHIP: 460,000 boys and girls STRUCTURE: Beavers (6-8), Cubs (8-101/2),
Scouts (101/2-14), Explorers (14-18) World Organization of the Scout Movement has 50m members, and several tens of thousands of young people attend the global jamboree held every four years.
FAST FACT:
AR M Y CAD ETS
ESTABLISHED: 1859 MOTTO: Going further MEMBERSHIP: 39,000 boys and girls STRUCTURE: Cadets covers ages 12-18 FAST FACT: Army Cadet Force (ACF) is one
CHIEF SCOUT BEAR GRYLLS MAKES AN ANNUAL WHISTLESTOP TOUR AROUND SUMMER CAMPS, FLYING IN BY HELICOPTER TO RAPTUROUS WELCOMES
of four cadet organisations supported by the Ministry of Defence, but no interest in a military career is required to join.
T
he Army Cadets has a long and distinguished history – and lest you imagine it started out as an all-male design, influential women involved in its earliest days include Queen Victoria and social reformer Octavia Hill (she formed the Southwark Cadet Battalion in 1889 to help urban youth find a direction). There were at least eight units within schools by 1860. Today, the Army Cadets has some 1,600 detachments in communities around the UK with a rough split of one-third girls to two-thirds boys. Cadet units can still be found in many independent schools, where the Combined Cadet Force offers a huge a range of activities; the number of units in state schools is growing. What’s on offer is a huge focus on action and adventure alongside leadership and teamworking skills. For many girls and boys, the biggest draw is the military-themed activities they offer, but for any active 12-year-old the opportunities in sports such as abseiling, rock climbing
R
obert Baden-Powell’s movement, inspired by the book Scouting for Boys has been welcoming girls into all its sections since the 1990s, and with older-age units accepting girls for longer than that. Today it is roughly 25 per cent girls, and with opportunities for fun and skills development from the age of six. Its new Skills for Life plan, shaped by its membership, is now piloting Scouting for children aged from four and up. Membership is growing across all age groups, and is especially strong in Beavers and Cubs. The opportunities are carefully designed to match children’s age and stage, starting out with games, crafts and sleepovers
and shooting (many of our Olympic shooting team members started out here) will swing it. Parents love the clear structure of awards and qualifications that help build confidence and CV – the Army Cadets is among the biggest providers of DofE Awards – and also the fact that children return from their first cadet camp with a newfound ability to make their bed and tidy their room without even being asked. Volunteers are highly trained and many have Armed Forces backgrounds; you learn things in the ACF that you can’t learn at school. THEY S AY
armycadets.com SPRING 2019 | 73
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FOUR SEASONS
Q U I N TA D O L A G O
Your Time, Your Place For friends, family, or just you
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YO UTH G RO U PS
S E A CAD ETS
ESTABLISHED: 1856 MOTTO: Ready aye ready MEMBERSHIP: 14,000 STRUCTURE: Junior Cadets (10-12), Sea
Cadets (12-18) The core focus of Sea Cadets is on youth development, following traditions and customs of the Royal Navy...and it has a sister branch in Bermuda. FAST FACT:
S KEEN SAILORS WILL BE IN HEAVEN IN THE SEA CADETS, BUT IT’S ALSO A GREAT PLACE FOR BUDDING ENGINEERS AND MUSICIANS TO DEVELOP SKILLS AND HAVE FUN
in Beavers and working up to gliding, climbing and potholing in Scouts. There’s big emphasis on the great outdoors – good news for parents who want their children to get fresh air. Badges include hiking and camping, but also IT, PR, healthy eating and mechanics; older children can complete the DofE Awards or gain an Explorer Belt. High-profile ambassadors and fans include the Duchess of Cambridge and Tim Peake, but jewel in the crown is Chief Scout Bear Grylls. He makes an annual tour around summer camps to inspire members, flying in by helicopter to rapturous welcomes.
ea Cadets began its life as the Naval Lads’ Brigade, when ports and coastal communities banded together to pass on nautical skills and training to orphans of the Crimean War and give them a brighter future. Today Sea Cadets is about exciting times on and off the water, although the mission to develop skills and opportunities for young people remains at its heart. There are 400 units around the country led by 9,000 volunteers. The split between boys and girls is pretty even and young people can work towards a variety of awards, with a clear progression route, badges and qualifications to add to the CV. These include Royal Yachting Association (RYA) and British Canoeing Union Qualifications, alongside the DofE Awards. Keen sailors and rowers will be in heaven, but it’s also a great place for budding engineers and musicians to develop skills and have fun. Off-the-water activities are diverse, ranging from orienteering and rock climbing to weather forecasting.
Scouting’s mission is skills for life, developing empathy, cooperation and leadership as well as ensuring children have a brilliant time.
London is a really great place to be a Sea Cadet, as there is superb access to the River Thames for sailing, windsurfing and other water-based activities.
THEY S AY
scouts.org.uk
THEY S AY
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Spring
BOOKS Great reads about pirates, fox cubs and an ancient fish – plus, we’ve got rather a lot of feline company B y F LO R A T H O M A S
AN ODE TO BOOKS
COOL CATS
C O L L E C T I N G C AT S By Lorna Scobie
This hilarious picture book is author/ illustrator Scobie’s debut and it’s heaven for young cat lovers. Can anyone ever have too many moggies? The answer might be yes, especially if they are rather large, with big teeth. £12.99. lornascobie.com
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HUG THIS BOOK By Barney Saltzberg and Fred Benaglia
Whimsical illustrations accompany this heartwarming celebration of a love of books. Embark on an imaginative journey where you are invited to read upside-down in the mirror and munch on letters of the alphabet. With echoes of Dr Seuss, adults will enjoy it as much as children. £10.95. phaidon.com
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B O O KS
SEA TALES
THE HUNDRED YEAR OLD FISH By Lara Hawthorne
Alba the fish has spent her life collecting precious artefacts from the ocean floor. Over the years, Alba’s special finds begin to lose their sparkle and the world around her gradually fades to grey. Alba decides to leave her home to investigate. This poignant book aims to educate children about plastic in our oceans and provides ample opportunity to discuss how to protect the environment. £11.99. templar.com
YO U N G LOV E M Y A R T B O O K O F LOV E By Shana Gozansky
AHOY MATEY M E E T T H E P I R AT E S
This stylish ode to love and beauty features 35 full-page artworks. For young children, connecting their own emotions to those they see on the page allows them to truly engage with the material. A great choice for young readers with an artistic flair, and for parents who want to spark a conversation about love. £14.95. phaidon.com
By James Davies
The ‘Meet the…’ series returns with an exciting title: Meet the Pirates. These short introductions are just the thing for inquisitive minds. Get to know the basics with easy-todigest, humorous text reminiscent of the Horrible Histories series. £9.99. bonnierbooks.co.uk
PAIRING PERSPECTIVES BIG MEETS LITTLE By Yang Liu
Yang Liu is an award-winning graphic designer and this is the fourth instalment of her best-selling pictogram series. Big Meets Little playfully pairs the perspectives of grown-ups and children on the ups and downs of family life. The book is bursting with incisive observations designed to encourage both big and little people to consider their counterparts’ views. £10. taschen.com
S E A S O N A L TR E AT A Y E A R I N N AT U R E By Eleanor Taylor
This nature book is a visual treat, opening out into a four-part carousel which could serve as a permanent decorative feature in a child’s bedroom. Follow a family of fox cubs as they navigate autumn, winter, spring and summer. £16.99. laurenceking.com SPRING 2019
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School's Out
BOOK bonanza The Awesome Book Awards is a brilliant scheme for young readers created by the Head of English at Cranleigh Prep School B y A M A N DA C O N S TA N C E
T
he Awesome Book Awards is, well, awesome. The brainchild of Kate Schutte, Head of English at Cranleigh Prep School, it began in 2016 specifically to inspire children aged 7-10 years about books and reading. It offers pupils the chance to vote for their favourite books from five shortlisted authors in order to select the winner. Previous winners are Peter Bunzl (2018) with Cogheart and Ross Welford (2017) for Time Travelling with a Hamster. “It’s been very successful,” says Schutte, “because it’s about children, for children, aimed at children – that’s why all the authors want to be involved".
And it is for all children. While it's run by Schutte and CPS librarian Alison Fenton, the school has little involvement other than staging the ceremony. Schools can register online so their students can vote on the books and receive resources and updates such as book club blogs and Q&As with the authors.
Registered schools are invited to take pupils to the awards ceremony itself in May. “It’s about creating a community of readers,” says Schutte. “We want children to explore different genres and to enjoy new authors’ adventures.” The process of finding this year’s winner began last Easter. There are rules: each book must be by a UK-based author, it must be their debut novel and it must appeal to a co-ed audience. Fenton keeps an eye on all debut novels. “She’s hugely proactive,” says Schutte. They create a longlist, then a group of pupils and adults read all the books over the Easter holidays – that’s 15-20 books – before meeting in the summer to whittle them down to a five-book shortlist. The awards
RE ADING
are launched in September. Participating students are then encouraged to read the shortlist. “If they read one or two, that’s fine,” says Schutte. “If they read all five, they are encouraged to vote”. Voting opens in March and culminates with the ceremony in May. “It’s like the Oscars for children – there’s real glitz and glamour,” says Schutte. She admits the awards night is already a victim of its own success. "It’s too popular, more than 60 schools brought students last year.” This means they now have to limit numbers. “We’re trialling tech this year so that in 2020 we can live stream and take it national.” For something that is essentially a two-man band – plus great support from Cranleigh’s IT and marketing departments – the Awesome Book Awards already looks like the real deal. “It’s a lot of work, but great fun,” says Schutte. “With children you don’t want to do something half hearted. If we’re going to do it well, we’re going to do it really well.”
AW E S O M E B O O K AWA R D S Voting for the 2019 Awesome Books Awards opens on Monday 11 March 2019 and closes on Friday 26 April 2019. Sign up at awesomebookawards.com
2019 Awesome Book Awards Shortlist
The Starman and Me by Sharon Cohen
Being Miss Nobody by Tamsin Winter
Brightstorm
by Vashti Hardy
Running on the Roof of the World by Jess Butterworth
The Ice Garden by Guy Jones
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R O Y A L B A T T L E A war is being waged in our homes and schools. Absolutely Education finds out more about gaming phenomenon Fortnite Wo r d s SOPHIE PENDER-CUDLIP
D
inner party conversations have shifted to a new topic in recent months. Property and schools are out the window and replaced with something much more pressing among 21st century parents – Fortnite. It seems the survival game, which has attracted around 125 million players across the world, has captured the attention of most young people (mainly boys) much to the exasperation of parents and teachers. With three sons, our parenting has been tested to its limit and at times become irrational in a desperate attempt to break the Fortnite craze. We have hidden controllers in the attic and my husband even took the console with him in his briefcase on an overseas business trip. It seems the firm ‘no’ and subsequent threats don’t make a jot of difference to the boys’ desire to play the game. And we aren’t alone. One friend described how he arrived home to find his son on his knees pleading for his mother to return the confiscated controller. “Next year, he’s going to a holiday camp so we don’t have to battle with him.” Despite thinking we are fairly sensible parents who have embraced
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parenting well up to this point, it appears Fortnite is presenting some of us with one of the biggest parenting challenges of our time. Schools, both boarding and day, are also wrestling with gaming culture. Some teachers believe there is a link between gaming addiction and mental health and that it has a detrimental effect on pupils’ learning. Others have even gone so far as to tell parents to ban the game at home. A few heads believe gaming leads to aggressive behaviour, as children act out violent scenes from Fortnite. One school banned 'flossing' on the grounds that the dance moves were intimidating others in the playground. Parents of those children who don’t have Fortnite complain to schools that their children are being excluded. One prep school made a decision to ban Fortnite chat at lunchtime. We all accept that Fortnite is addictive. The game designers understand cognitive structures and they aim to hook the player. As parents, we can either continue the parenting battle or try to understand it better, educate ourselves over Fortnite’s potential advantages and perhaps refine our approach towards it. After all, not all gaming children are destined for addiction, although some may display a touch of cold
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WE CAN EITHER CONTINUE THE PARENTING BATTLE OR TRY TO UNDERSTAND ITS POTENTIAL ADVANTAGES
GA M I N G
turkey when they’re forced to end a game mid-battle. But there is a difference between casual play and unhealthy obsession. Alicia Drummond, a therapist who works with over 100 schools offering pastoral consultancy, explains that because of its addictive nature, Fortnite fires up the reward system in the brain releasing stress hormones during the player’s quest for survival. “Teenagers aren’t wired to think about long-term outcome. Revision or homework don’t satisfy their needs, but the instant thrill of gaming does.” The key thing, she says, is: “to get the stress hormones out of the system after the game has ended and to rebalance the nervous system, so that the sympathetic (fight and flight) and para sympathetic (rest and digest) nervous systems are balanced”. She believes that education around gaming is crucial and schools should be offering this at prep and senior level. “Screens are great and children will spend up to three-quarters of their time on them but, like a plate of food, this needs to be balanced with exercise, hobbies and conversing with one another face-to-face.” She points out that Fortnite is not such a bad game in moderation as it is cartoon-like in appearance and, with each game being 20 minutes, it can be easily stopped. Fortnite is also sociable, bringing together friends across schools and year groups. One mother of a boy at a leading boarding school says Fortnite has helped her son to integrate with his peers. “When he started playing Fortnite, he made friends, and now enjoys
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school.” Alicia Drummond agrees that Fortnite does benefit those who lack confidence socially, providing they also develop social skills face-toface. A London parent, with two sons at day school, also likes the social element of Fortnite, limiting play to an hour a night – after homework. A parent of a 13-year-old boy at boarding school Harrow praises its technology policy in limiting gaming. The device restrictions are rigorous, which prevents boys from gaming, and pupils only have access to mobile phones for half an hour each evening. “I feel empowered as a parent that someone is doing this on my behalf. When my son was at a day school, I would hide the controllers when I was at work. He has now learnt to self-regulate." She adds: “Harrow have formed a super link between parent and child and the housemaster is an important parent-figure in my son’s life”. One headteacher believes all schools must have a stance on gaming and work with and support parents. “Forcing gaming underground and not allowing children to play or talk about it is ludicrous. Offer workshops to parents and educate pupils on selfregulation, particularly ahead of them joining senior schools,” he says.
After much analysis and battling with Fortnite, I am beginning to understand it a little better. It is encouraging that researchers at Stanford Graduate School of Education conclude that the game encourages teamwork, collaborations, strategic thinking, spatial understanding and imagination. But, without doubt, what our boys love most about it is the social element – 'We just like playing with our friends', they say. As a result, I’ve decided to stop demonising Fortnite and put an end to the endless arguments with our children because, whether we like it or not, it is here to stay. It’s not the technology but the use of it that is the challenge. And here, responsibility lies with us parents, endorsed by schools. We need to teach children how to self-regulate, and enjoy a rich variety of activities – and perhaps even acknowledge that Fortnite might have a positive impact on our children’s education.
GA M I N G
ALICIA DRUMMOND’S GAMING TIPS: MANAGE TIME ON FORTNITE GAME BY GAME RATHER THAN BY TIME • ENSURE YOUR CHILDREN DO SOMETHING ACTIVE AFTER GAMING • KEEP SCREENS OUT OF BEDROOMS AT NIGHT
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Aicha McKenzie The former British gymnast, model, dancer and choreographer on finding her groove at Putney High School
Q Would you send your own children there? A I would have sent my daughter there but now she will go to the same school as my son, who is 11 years older.
Q Where did you go to school and when? A Putney High School, an all-girls’ day school. I finished in 1995. Q Did you love it or hate it? A Loved it Q What was your favourite subject or activity there? A English and netball. Q Who was your most influential teacher? A My English teacher Ms Sharp Q Where was your favourite place at school – what did you do there? A The sixth-form common room. We sat on bean bags and contemplated life and boys... and made pot noodles. Q What beliefs do you think your school instilled in you? A That anything is possible with hard work.
Q What was your proudest achievement? A Managing to complete my A Levels to a good standard while at the same time competing and training for Great Britain in gymnastics. Q Did you ever get into trouble? A I was in trouble all the time. Almost every registration I was outside the classroom for chitchat or wearing the wrong uniform. I never did anything really reckless, that's just not me. Q What is your most vivid memory of your time at school? A Being with my girlfriends and the unwavering support and sisterhood that I found within the walls of Putney High from peers and staff alike. Q Were you too cool for school? A Yes! I tried to bring a bit of my south London estate to school with me each day. It probably looked a bit like a chip on my shoulder!
Q What effect do you think your schooling had on your character? Did it change you? A It didn't change me, but it most definitely enhanced my intuition. I was allowed to become the individual that was in me. Q How did it influence the rest of your life and career? A I became very entrepreneurial at an early age at school. My mother and I ran a gymnastics after-school club which was also a really good opportunity to be responsible for something that was bigger than me and my teenage problems. Q What is your relationship with your old school now? A It’s great. Actually probably even better than when I was there. I think that when I was at school, although some people were very supportive, not every person there could see the potential in me. Now I feel that the school recognises my success and that it helped me achieve that by letting me develop in my own way.
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Q&A
Q What other influences did you have in your younger life? A My mother was my biggest influence. She was the force behind everything and all of me. Q Where did you develop your love of gymnastics and dance? A I tried many things as a child from swimming to piano, but gymnastics found its place in my heart as I loved to perform. The dance side developed later as I began to try and explore different ways to influence my gymnastic performances. I started to take jazz classes at Pineapple Dance Studios in central London after school and soon dance became the direction that I wanted for my life, even after I had retired as a gymnast. Q Do you think going to a single-sex school altered your view of the world? A Not really. It meant that I had a safe space to do my growing up without the complications of boys. Q Do you think it developed you as a leader? A Indeed. I was given the chance to lead in many scenarios. Some I chose and other scenarios chose me – much like in life. I lead now because I think I have the ability to help people see the path for themselves. I think of myself as more of a guide than a leader. Q What are you doing now? A I’m focusing most of my time on my latest business which is a company that delivers wellness – be that yoga, breathing, personal training, nutrition or mental health
I TRIED TO BRING A BIT OF MY SOUTH LONDON ESTATE TO SCHOOL WITH ME EACH DAY
awareness – directly to people who primarily work within the music, fashion and creative industries. We are working with artists backstage at awards shows and models on photo shoots, as well as designers or magazine editors in their offices (amckfit.com). I also run a male model agency (amckmodels.com) and a dancer, choreographer and creative director agency (amck.tv). Q What are your plans for the future? A Actually I’m very much trying to be mindfully present in the moment and enjoy the journey with less emphasis on the end game. Q How would you sum up your school days in five words? A Well actually its 7: TANK FLY BOSS WALK JAM NITTY GRITTY SPRING 2019
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Alternative ASCENTS
Snowsports charity Snow-Camp provides inner-city youngsters with the opportunity of a lifetime Wo r d s FLOR A THOMAS
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now-Camp is a UK charity that uses winter sports to effect change in the lives of disadvantaged, inner-city youngsters. Founded in London in 2003, the organisation has supported more than 10,000 young people in its 15-year history and operates today in Bristol, Scotland, Wales, the Midlands and Manchester. Snow Camp ambassadors include Sir Steve Redgrave and it is the UK’s only registered charity using a combination of snowsports, life skills sessions, qualifications and vocational opportunities to support young people's development. By making snowsports accessible to those who would never normally have the opportunity to learn how to ski or snowboard, Snow-Camp breaks down barriers and broadens
horizons – introducing young people to entirely new environments and affording them invaluable life skills. The charity’s work increases their motivations and aspirations, enabling them to gain employment in the snowsports industry and beyond. To gain a place on Snow-Camp’s initial programme, young people must have no prior snowsports experience. Initially, children as young as 13 are referred to the charity’s First Tracks Programme, which is a two-day course in skiing or snowboarding at one of the UK’s artificial winter sports centres. Then, having experienced the thrill of snowsports for the first time, they move on to the Graduate Programme, which takes place over six weeks and involves a series of group classes. This gives young people the opportunity to learn from professionals in the snowsports industry and from athletes, with the aim to inform and inspire them. Those who have been through
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S KI S C H O O L
A SKIIER IN THE VALS THORENS RESORT
FOR THE VAST MAJORITY OF YOUNG PEOPLE IT’S THEIR FIRST TIME BOARDING AN AEROPLANE SPRING 2019 | 87
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L’Ecole des Petits “10 minutes from Chelsea” Founded in 1977
International Bilingual Nursery and Pre-Prep school for 3-6 year olds
Creative and structured learning from the earliest years OFSTED 2017 Report: “Outstanding in all categories” 2 HAZLEBURY ROAD, FULHAM, LONDON SW6 2NB TEL. 020 7371 8350
admin@lecoledespetits.co.uk
www.lecoledespetits.co.uk
L’Ecole de Battersea “5 minutes from Chelsea” Founded in 1977
International Bilingual Nursery and Prep school for 3-11 year olds leading on to top English and French schools, including Lyée Français
In Tatler’s Top 225 Private Schools list, 2009-2019 OFSTED 2018 Report: “Outstanding in all categories” TROTT STREET, BATTERSEA, LONDON SW11 3DS TEL. 020 7371 8350
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S KI S C H O O L
TWO YOUNG SNOWCAMPERS AT AN ARTIFICIAL WINTER SPORTS CENTRE
Graduate Programme are awarded an ASDAN Sports and Fitness qualification. The Excel Programme is Snow-Camp’s ten-week youth instructor training programme. It involves a week-long trip to Italy and those who complete it become an accredited Snowsport England Level 1 Ski or Snowboard instructor. For the vast majority of young people on the Italian trip it’s their first time boarding an aeroplane. For five of those who have completed the Excel Programme there is the opportunity to progress onto the next step: apprenticeship. Snow-Camp apprentices benefit from work placements across the industry over the course of a year, including the chance to work at international snowsports events. Those who complete the Excel Programme but don’t make it onto the competitive paid apprenticeship route are directed toward the Snow-Camp Youth Forum. The Youth Forum meets monthly in each region, and is run entirely by its members – two of whom sit on the charity’s Board of Trustees. Now, as part of a partnership between Snow-Camp and Les Hotels d’en Haut hotel group, two young SnowCampers and Youth Forum members have been selected to spend a season working at the five-star Le Fitz Roy Hotel in Val Thorens. 18-year-old Zulekha Dennis and 19-year-old Hamza Alkebida, both from London, were first introduced to Snow-Camp at the age of 13. The partnership has allowed them to practise the skills they learnt on their Snow-Camp journey.
THE DEDICATION TO CHANGING LIVES MADE US JUMP AT THE OPPORTUNITY TO GET INVOLVED
Dan Charlish, founder of SnowCamp has said of the partnership: ‘‘We’re so proud to be partnering with Les Hôtels d’en Haut. They are offering our young people an amazing opportunity to build on the skills they’ve learnt with Snow-Camp that will help them go on to securing successful careers in the ski industry. We’re extremely grateful for Les Hôtels d’en Haut’s support and can’t wait for our young people to experience working in such an impressive ski resort.’’ Ten further youngsters have also benefited from the partnership through the chance to visit the hotel group’s nearby Hotel Le Val Thorens, to get a taste of professional life in the mountains at an Alpine hotel.
SNOWCAMPERS CELEBRATING COMPLETION OF FIRST TRACKS
Valéry Grégo, Founder of Les Hôtel’s d’en Haut said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Snow Camp on such an exciting and worthwhile project. Seeing their amazing work and their dedication to changing lives made us jump at the opportunity to be involved in any way we could”. Last year, 100 per cent of young people who completed the SnowCamp programme journey gained at least one nationally recognised qualification and 91 percent went on to further education or employment. And, perhaps more importantly, 98 per cent said they were proud of themselves.
FOR MORE INFORMATION • Twitter: @SnowCampInfo • Facebook: @SnowCampCharity • Instagram: snowcampcharity • Web: snow-camp.org.uk SPRING 2019
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IN THE NETHERLANDS A VISIT TO EFTELING IS A RITE OF PASSAGE
Park Life The Netherlands’ largest theme park, Efteling may not be well known in the UK, but it’s a magical place for the whole family to visit
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here’s something magical about waking up somewhere when you’ve arrived in the dark and have no idea what you’ll see from the window. Especially when you’re staying in a theme park. We open the curtains in our third-floor hotel room with no idea of what to expect – and we’re rewarded with a dreamy rustic scene: small wooden huts clustered around a clearly man-made lake. It’s very controlled and clean and slightly surreal. We love it immediately. An eager queue is already forming for the shuttle bus. Hotel guests are offered VIP early-entry tickets to the rides, which means breakfast at 7.15am. We’ve missed that slot but, as it turns out, anyone who has survived Legoland has nothing to fear from Efteling’s queues. Europe’s fourth-largest theme park remains virtually unknown in the UK but in the Netherlands a visit to Efteling is a rite of passage. Conceived in the 1950s by children’s illustrator Anton Pieck, it’s a theme park with
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heritage and a strong fairytale tradition that sets it apart from the heavy commercialism of some of these places. When we arrive it’s teeming with Dutch grandparents, parents and children groups, many of the oldies reliving their childhood memories with their grandchildren. But that’s not to say Efteling’s only appeal is nostalgia. The original Fairytale Forest remains, but there are enough new daredevil rides to appeal to the seasoned theme park enthusiast (and frighten their grandma). The Fairytale Forest is where we start and it is magical, and not just if you’re aged five. This is a large woodland inhabited by animated installations retelling lots of classic fairytales, and our daughters – aged 12 and nine – are as entranced by it as they would have been when they were five. Some of it is dark and genuinely scary, like when the Little Match Girl dies and becomes a hologram, and when the wolf wearing grandmother’s nightie and lying in her bed turns out to be breathing heavily, and when a convincing mist envelops the pathways. There are talking trees and fairytale touches at every turn; memorable exhibits include Rapunzel letting down her hair, Rumpelstiltskin chanting eerily and the hilarious sedan-chair nudity of the Emperor in his new clothes. It seems that we’ve missed a few of the classic tales: The Gardener and the Fakir leaves us baffled (it turns out to have been specially written for Efteling) and we had never encountered The Chinese Nightingale before. But Efteling isn’t exclusively about cute. We queue for probably 40 minutes to try
what is reputedly the park’s scariest ride, the Baron, described as a “dive coaster” and with a minimum height requirement of 1.4m. From the queue we can hear people screaming, and if we could have seen the vertical drop they were screaming about we’d probably have abandoned the idea. This ride is pure terror – or pure joy for people who like that kind of thing. Happily, we weren’t in the front row, and even more happily it’s over very quickly. Less extreme rides include the Bobsleigh and the Vliegender Hollander, which are rollercoasters of a less terrifying variety. There are several narrative-based rides, including the “dark ride” Symbolica – a sort of interactive magical dreamscape. What we liked most about Efteling was its easy infrastructure and size. It’s small enough for one day to be enough and spacious enough not to feel crowded, while the queueing isn’t
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overwhelming. In egalitarian northern European style, there are no fast-track passes, but there are shorter queues for people on their own (filling up lone seats) and the Python even allows you to book a time slot at no charge via the Efteling app. On top of all that, there aren’t as many souvenir shops as there could be and the problem of rubbish is solved ingeniously. Ask a Dutch person for their memories of Efteling and they’ll probably mention the bins: these are huge grinning faces with wide open mouths. When you throw your crisp packet in, a friendly voice thanks you. This inspires children of all ages to run around voluntarily litterpicking – an instant solution. Except, of course, there aren’t crisp packets everywhere – not just because the Dutch are tidy and have a sense of civic duty but because there’s a notable lack of junk food at Efteling. Sure, there are sweet shops, but there are also fruit stalls, and the restaurants offer relatively healthy fare. At the end of the day we take our seats for Caro, a new circus performance with a touching narrative and lots of acrobatic spectacle (we decide it is better than Cirque du Soleil) before heading back to our family room at the surreal yet comfortable Loonsche Land hotel, where the children retreat to their bunkbeds gratefully.
H OT E L LO O N S C H E L A N D A two-night stay at Hotel Loonsche Land in February 2019 starts at €605 for a family of four, including breakfast and three days’ unlimited access to Efteling. Efteling is 100km from Amsterdam, 90km from Antwerp and easily accessible via train or car. efteling.com SPRING 2019 | 91
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Oakfield Preparatory School 125 -128 Thurlow Park Road, London SE21 8HP T: 0208 670 4206 www.oakfield.dulwich.sch.uk
Where every child is valued and nurtured, leading to exceptional outcomes
To book a visit or register your child please email admissions@oakfield.dulwich.sch.uk
130 years of education for boys and girls aged 2 to 11
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Westonbirt Nursery will be operating all year round from Easter 2019 and will be accepting 2-year olds from September 2019. Early learning play and education in the heart of the Cotswolds. Wrap around care offered 8am-6pm. PREP SCHOOL & NURSERY
Open Day 2 March 9am-12noon www.westonbirt.org
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Hawkesdown House School
For Boys & Girls aged 3 to 11 years
27 Edge Street, Kensington, London W8 7PN Telephone: 0207 727 9090 Email: admin@hawkesdown.co.uk www.hawkesdown.co.uk
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St. Nicholas Preparatory School an outstanding education for boys and girls up to Year 6
020 7225 1277 www.stnicholasprep.co.uk 23 Prince’s Gate | South Kensington | SW7 1PT
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A place with a palpable buzz and vibrancy that gets the balance between giving children the freedom to be themselves, whilst maintaining a focus on traditional values The Good Schools Guide Review 2018
OPEN MORNING - SATURDAY 2 MARCH 2019 South Oxfordshire • 0118 976 6924
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registrar@oratoryprep.co.uk • oratoryprep.co.uk
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C A M E RO N H O U S E S C H O O L 4 T H E VA L E , L O N D O N S W 3 6 A H
Headmistress: Mrs Dina Mallett T: 020 7352 4040 W: www.cameronhouseschool.org
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T: 020 7352 4040 W: www.cameronhouseschool.org
A SPRINGBOARD FOR LIFE
A SPRINGBOARD FOR LIFE • SOARING START T: 020 7352 4040 C A M•E RO N H O U S E S CCURRICULUM HOOL CHALLENGING W: www.cameronhouseschool.org 4•T HESTABLISHED E VA L E , L O N D O N S W 3 6AH EXCELLENCE ISI REPORT “EXCELLENT”AINSPRINGBOARD ALL CATEGORIES FOR
LIFE
• SOARING START • CHALLENGING CURRICULUM • CHALLENGING CURRICULUM • ESTABLISHED EXCELLENCE ISI REPORT “EXCELLENT” IN ALL CATEGORIES • A SOARING START
• ESTABLISHED EXCELLENCE
• ISI REPORT “EXCELLENT” IN ALL CATEGORIES
A SPRINGBOARD FOR LIFE • SOARING START • CHALLENGING CURRICULUM • ESTABLISHED EXCELLENCE ISI REPORT “EXCELLENT” IN ALL CATEGORIES
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A thriving independent day, weekly and flexi-boarding co-ed prep school for children aged 3 - 13
a Cotswold childhood…
Open Morning Friday 22nd March 2019 9.30-12.00 noon
Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire t: 01453 832072 e: office@bps.school w: www.beaudesert.gloucs.sch.uk
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Farringtons...
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TWITTER AT HANFORD
Creating a culture of high expectations
OPEN MORNING Tuesday 5th March 2019, 9.15 – 11.00am
A leading independent co-educational day and boarding school offering high academic standards, excellent pastoral care and a wide extra-curricular programme within a supportive Christian environment. Co-education Juniors 3 – 11, Seniors 11 – 16, Sixth Form 16 - 18 Perry Street, Chislehurst, Kent BR7 6LR T: 020 8467 0256
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H A Ntraditionally FOR D modern An all girls boarding & day prep school in Dorset
FARRINGTONS SCHOOL
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PARENT P OWER
Sugar Crush Sugar-scare stories may be all around us, but it’s not all bad news when it comes to the irresistible sweet stuff. Here’s what you need to know
B y L I B BY N O R M A N
This can be tough for sweettoothed adults, but even more so for children – who are hardwired to crave sweet food. Good news: sugar consumption has, in fact, decreased in the UK (by over 15 per cent since 1992), but there is ever-growing concern about its role in a raft of health issues. Sugar consumption is not always the indicator of an unhealthy life – top athletes may eat a higher-sugar diet to maintain stamina – but way too many of us are consuming more than we burn off.
2. A SPRINKLING
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h those halcyon days of sweets you could eat between meals and a finger of something small and chocolatey that made the journey home from school pass in a flash. Now that sugar has been declared public-health enemy number one, what do parents with a sinful sweet-eating past do to ensure their own children eat better than they did?
1. SINFUL WAYS There are an awful lot of guidelines out there, but current UK advice suggests that added sugars should not make up more than five per cent of our diet.
OF FACTS While sweets are classed as ‘empty’ calories, not all sugars are created equal. Strawberries, carrots and apples also contain sugars – and all evidence suggests that children should tuck into fruit and vegetables at every mealtime. (We’re still not hitting that five-a-day target and the British Dietetic Association points out that tinned or frozen fruit and vegetables are just as good as fresh.) Cereals contribute around eight per cent of children’s sugar intake, while flavoured yoghurts, fromage frais and dairy desserts make up a hefty six per cent. There are some easy swaps –porridge oats or natural yoghurt with a swirl of puréed or chopped fruit, for instance.
3. PALATE TRAINING Sugary drinks still come in at around ten per cent of children’s sugar intake, although a new report from the Food Standards Agency and Public Health England paints a somewhat brighter picture. Also under fire as a high-sugar hit are the ‘healthy’ smoothies and juices – eating the whole fruit is better and adds valuable fibre. There’s evidence that training the palate to want less sugar can be done over a matter of weeks, but this is best done as a whole-family activity. Substituting artificial sweeteners tends to support a sugar craving, whereas introducing more complex flavours – including spices – may help to deliver satisfaction without saccharin.
ALL O F US ARE ACTUALLY MORE LI KE LY TO BE TEMPTED BY TH I NGS THAT ARE LABE LLE D AS OFF LI MI TS
4. SWEET TREATS Ultimately, a world without sugar would be bland, and some experts warn that it’s simply not healthy to demonise any foodstuff, including sugar. In a recent article for BBC Future, dietitian Renee McGregor pointed out that all of us are actually more likely to be tempted by things that are labelled as ‘off limits’. So rather than denial, it’s more about practising moderation – when life serves you a large bar of chocolate, you cut it into smaller pieces and share.
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