Absolutely Education Prep & Pre-Prep Summer 2018

ABSOLUTELY EDUCATION PREP & PRE-PREP • SUMMER 2018

ABSOLUTELY

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P &EP E PR -PR E PR

GROWING

STRONG Inspiring nextgen gardeners

Free Speech Teaching a skill for life

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Young MINDS

Plus…

Pl ay TIME! Our pick of great summer camps

NURTURING CHOICES FOR EARLY YEARS AND PREP

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SUMMER 2018

CONTENTS upfront

14 WHAT'S ON

84

Fun family events this summer

16 SCHOOL NEWS

Out and about in the world of education

20 FAMILY VALUES

The 40th birthday of Dallington School

22 GROWING STRONG

As the RHS Campaign for School Gardening enters its second decade, we look at what it's achieved

pre-Prep

32 FOODIE REVOLUTION

Forget pink banana custard, we dig in to find out what's on the menu in schools

38 GENERATION GAIN

An intergenerational nursery is being hailed as a new model for the future

43 STUDENT POWER

Lessons from the Florida high-school shooting

45 CHOOSING WISELY How to choose a nursery or pre-prep

46 CREATIVITY COUNTS

Why creativity really matters in the classroom

Prep

50 MUCH TOO MUCH?

Are we taking extra-curricular activities too far?

56 CRACKING THE CODE

Q&A with Elizabeth Tweedale of Cypher Coding

78

59 GIRL POWER

The Study Prep in Wimbledon celebrates 125 years of educating girls

60 A PROBLEM SHARED

56

The role of independent listeners at boarding schools 6

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EDITOR

Libby Norman

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EDITOR I A L A SSISTA N T

Georgia McVeigh

EDUC ATION SPECI A L IST

Nicola Owens

EDUC ATION M A NAGER

Tracey Richardson

COMMERCI A L DIR ECTOR

Leah Day

GROUP SA L ES DIR ECTOR

Craig Davies

A RT DIR ECTOR

Phil Couzens

SENIOR DESIGNER

Pawel Kuba

DESIGNER S

Catherine Perkins, Rebecca Noonan

M A R K ETING M A NAGER

Lucie Pearce

FINA NCE DIR ECTOR

Jerrie Koleci

PA TO THE DIR ECTOR S

S c h o o l’ s O u t

74 SPEAKING OUT

Speech & drama gives children skills for life, argue the practitioners. You decide

78 BOOKS

74

Eva Lehoczky

DIR ECTOR S

Greg Hughes, Alexandra Hunter, James Fuschillo

PUBL ISHING DIR ECTOR

Sherif Shaltout

For advertising enquiries please call 020 7704 0588 or email: andy.mabbitt@zest-media.com

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80 THE GREATEST GIFT

ABSOLUTELY

ABSOLUTELY EDUCATION PREP & PRE-PREP • SUMMER 2018

Our top picks for summer

Q&A with Dame Jacqueline Wilson

84 NURSERY 2.0

& EP P PR -PRE E PR

GROWING

STRONG Inspiring nextgen gardeners

90 SUMMER CAMP FUN

How to navigate the bedtime wars survive the dreaded sleepover

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98 BEDTIME

Free Speech Teaching a skill for life

London's coolest nurseries look after parents too

Our pick of day and residential camp providers for a brilliant summer of fun

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Young MINDS

Plus…

Pl ay TIME! Our pick of great summer camps

NURTURING CHOICES FOR EARLY YEARS AND PREP

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FRONT COVER Cumnor House is a Prep School for boys and girls in Surrey cumnorhouse.com

SUMMER 2018

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IS YOUR CHILD FUTURE READY?

CON T R IBU TOR S

Charlotte Phillips Director of The Good Schools Guide Education Consultants

> CREATIVITY & CODING CAMPS FOR CHILDREN AGES 4-14_

Charlotte Phillips is a former teacher and a consultant and writer on children's education. She gives her advice on choosing the right school for your child (page 22).

> SURF THROUGH SUMMER ENROL YOUR KIDS ON OUR NEW BIG BLUE ADVENTURE CAMPS_

Sophie Pender-Cudlip Journalist and education consultant

Sophie Pender-Cudlip attended Leweston School. After reading Philosophy at Reading University, she trained as a journalist, and is now a freelance writer. She writes about the role of Independent Listener on p34.

Dame Jacqueline Wilson Children's author and Honorary Fellow, Corpus Christi College Cambridge

www.cyphercoders.com

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Jacqueline Wilson attended Coombe Girls' School.

Her novels have won worldwide acclaim and numerous awards. She talks to us about how parents can spread the joys of reading on page 80.

E D U C AT I O N P R E P & P R E - P R E P

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To book a tour of any of our Nursery, Preparatory or Upper Schools visit:

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We grow through what we go through

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FROM THE

EDITOR

A

wakening, and then feeding, children’s interests is a key theme of our summer issue.

It’s what all schools and educators seek to do, and all of them understand that sometimes the flame of passion for a subject – be it English music or sport – is ignited outside conventional class situations. Two of my passions get an airing here, I confess. We look at the wonderful work of the RHS’ Campaign for School Gardening, now in its second decade and growing stronger than ever (see page 22).

This issue also explores extracurricular speech & drama. Talking to practitioners in the field has reminded me of the huge pleasure I got from ‘out of the classroom’ time to explore poetry and prose and understand the power of the spoken word. Being able to stand up and speak in public is a skill for life and some argue oracy should be a much higher priority in schools, so see what you think (from page 74).

Finally, if you are contemplating how you will keep your children occupied over the long summer break, check out our pick of summer camp providers (page 90). From wild encounters to high-octane sports to filmmaking, there’s a day or residential camp to suit all tastes and make memories to last a lifetime.

L I B BY N O R M A N Editor

RHS YOUNG GARDENER PHOTO: LUKE MACGREGOR

SUMMER 2018

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All children can achieve

The Moat School - London’s premium SpLD specialist school NOW TAKING ADMISSIONS:

0207 7610 9018 office@moatschool.org.uk www.moatschool.org.uk

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Up Front W H AT ' S O N p . 14 • S C H O O L N E WS p . 1 6

GARDENING WITH THE RHS, SEE PAGE 22

PHOTO: ADRIAN WHITE

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W H AT ’ S ON

M U ST S E E S U M M E R PE R FO R M AN C E S Underpants, a favourite performed live and horrible histories

Highlights for summer, including a dinosaur extravaganza and an outdoor performance

Aliens Love Underpants Until 3 June Underbelly Fest ival

Who knew that aliens loved underpants, too? This fun fantasy is guaranteed to get giggles from the whole family. underbellyfestival.com

Gangsta Granny 14-26 August T he Harold Pinter T heatre

EDITOR’S PICK

David Walliams' books have made children laugh all over the country, and now the fi rm favourite, Gangsta Granny is coming live to a stage near you. birminghamstage.com

Dinosaurs in the wild Until 31 July • West Parkside

Take a walk on the wild side with this fully immersive experience that transports you back to the age of the dinosaurs. Described as a real life Jurassic Park, here you can watch baby dinos hatch, and gain panoramic views of the Cretaceous plains. Warning: approach any T-Rex with caution. Greenwich Peninsula, SE10 dinosaursinthewild.com

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Horrible Histories 2 August-1 September Apollo T heatre

Returning to the stage in full glory, Horrible Histories Barmy Britain is the all new outrageously funny performance of Britain's history. birminghamstage.com

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Up Front

EVENTS

PETER PAN Until 15 June Regent ’s Park Open Air T heatre

This magical production of Peter Pan will fling you straight into Neverland with its magical setting right in the heart of Regent’s Park. Under the light of the first star on the right, watch puppets dance, crocodiles snap and Peter fly right before your eyes. J.M. Barrie’s masterpiece is performed to catapult young and old into the world of childhood while you relax under the stars on a summer evening.

Regent’s Park, NW1 openairtheatre.com

ROMAN DEAD Until 28 October Museum of London, Docklands

F

ollowing the discovery of a Roman sarcophagus in Southwark last year, Museum of London Docklands will be displaying parts of the discovery alongside other Roman artefacts in an exhibition at their London home.

Wander among tombstones, jewellery cremation urns, and even the charred remains of food that were discovered in the city – all serving as a poignant reminder that the Romans were here long before us – and learn about the history of 'Londinium' at its finest. With activities for the whole family, it's a step back in time you would be mad to miss. museumoflondon.org.uk

HERE BE DRAGONS Until 30 September Kew Gardens

ecome a “dragonologist” on a quest around Kew Gardens this summer. Six dragons are hiding around the grounds as part of a trail in association with BBC’s Blue Peter. Meet Ting, the resident dragonoligist, and have a tour around the 'Here be Dragons' exhibition, before heading out into the wild to see how many you can find for yourself. kew.org

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3 Great Exhibitons

S E N SATI O N A L B U T TE R F LI E S

G R E AT F I R E O F LO N D O N FA M I LY WA LK

Until 16 September Cromwell Road

29 May - 31 July Museum of London

ongoing Buckinghamshire Railway Centre

Become a real flower fairy at the Natural History Museum this summer.

The collection of butterflies is sourced ethically from all over the world; watch them hatch and transform.

It's one of the most well known disasters in London's history, and now it's possible to take a walk around London, follow the path of the flames and find out who was to blame..

There’s transport fun all summer long at this Aylesbury museum, including Thomas The Tank Engine rides. There’s even a visit from the PAW Patrol’s Marshall.

TR A N S P O R T F U N

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SCHOO L N EWS Top Story

EXAM PLANS

P E DA L P OW E R It was best foot forward at Hazlegrove Prep when children aged aged from two-and-ahalf to seven pedalled and scootered for 45 minutes in their bid to raise money for the Safari Simbaz Trust. The charity offers children the means to become self-sustaining and is the brainchild of David Kinjah, a former mentor to Chris Froome.

Head of Pre-Prep Ellie Lee says: ‘It is a privilege to have the opportunity to contribute to such a great charity in a way that the children so greatly enjoy”.

“Children aged two to seven pedalled and scootered to raise money for the Safari Simbaz Trust”

Gabbitas Education has announced the launch of a weeklong 11+ preparation course over the summer holidays. The course will be held in and around their Westminster offices and will run from 23 to 27 July, offering a combination of academic and extra-curricular activities.

These will include testing, interview practise and a tailored assessment report with age-related standardised scores. Lessons will be active and fun, and Gabbitas are hoping to utilise local parks and cultural experiences where possible.

Wellbeing focus Felsted School has opened a dedicated Wellbeing Centre, designed to sit at the heart of the school’s pastoral care and support mental health and wellbeing of staff and parents as well as pupils. The centre sits at the heart of the school and is designed as a place where people can go to take time out during the day.

Q U E E N ’ S AWA R D AT L I T T L E FOREST FOLK Little Forest Folk, a London fulltime outdoor nursery, has received a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation. The Queen’s Award for Enterprise scheme is highly prestigious and competitive, and this category awards companies that go above and beyond in offering a unique and innovative concept.

SPORTING CHALLENGE Pupils at Westonbirt Prep school set themselves a tough challenge for this year’s Sport Relief: 50 sports in a 24 hour period to raise £1,000. The bulk of the challenge was taken on by Year 6 students who attempted to complete 24 sports in 24 hours, with the remainder of the school making up the other 26 sports across one Friday. They raised £1173.52!

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Up Front

NEWS

SCHOOL E X PA N S I O N

Parent power Dolphin School Wandsworth Year 5 pupils became mamas and papas for a week with their 'Flour Babies' project. The task was to take care of their child (a bag of flour), and aimed to teach responsibility, negotiation and just how hard being a parent can be!

Leading independent schools group Eaton Square Schools has announced its latest expansion with the addition of a new South Kensington site. Eaton Square School, Kensington – previously Hyde Park School – launched under its new name in April, and celebrated the occasion with a family assembly and tea. Aatif Hassan, Chairman of Minerva Education, which owns the Eaton Square Schools group, said it: “marks the start of an exciting new chapter for the group”.

Stuffed In Space

SKIRTING SCIENCE

In celebration of Science Week, St Mary’s Calne launched a teddy astronaut into near space.

Pupils watched as it embarked on its trip attached to a helium balloon, parachute, data box and a camera. It was recovered near Oxford after its balloon swelled to the size of a bus, and popped.

Taunton School hosted a handson ‘Skirting Science’ event in April, organised by women’s group Soroptimist International Taunton. Girls from local Somerset schools attended the event, participating in experiments such as designing a jet engine in the hope of encouraging girls to consider STEM subjects.

Exam Aid The revision tool GCSEPod has been named supplier of the year at the Education Resources Award 2018. GCSEPod provides expertly written, concentrated learning and revision content to reinforce key topics for over twenty subjects, and has improved GCSE performance in over 1,000 schools.

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Š2018. All rights reserved Young Soles. Photography by Emma Donnelly.

A cool treat for little feet www.youngsoles.co.uk Use code ABM18 for 10% off all orders Promotional code only applicable to footwear bought from the official Young Soles website. Offer expires 30 June 2018.

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Up Front

NEWS

CAMBODIA VISIT

FUNDS AND FUN Year 6 children at Cumnor House Sussex raised a mighty £1,028 in a fundraising extravaganza organised independently by the 56-strong year group, in aid of their nominated Charity, Cancer Research UK. Innovative ideas for raising money including selling homemade biscuits and cupcakes, finding the treasure, guessing the name of the rabbit, a basketball shoot-out, apple bobbing, beat the goalkeeper, and hair braiding, as well as a coconut-and-can shy.

Walhampton head Titus Mills and a group of teachers and parents had the opportunity to visit a school in Khe Nang, Cambodia during the Easter holidays. Home to 130 pupils, it opened last September and was built thanks to the generosity of the school community. Only one per cent of this remote community can read or write and the school will become an important hub for the area. The school worked with the charity United World Schools to manage the project.

SKI TO SUCCESS

S U M M E R AT SCHOOL St Benedict’s School has announced the launch of a new summer club. The club will be open to all children aged 6-12, regardless of whether they attend St Benedict’s themselves, and will offer a wide range of activities, including sport, arts and crafts, science, dance and more. The club will run on weekdays, from Monday 23rd July to 17th August.

The New Hall School ski team found success in Pila, Italy, winning 10 medals from the Artemis Inter-School Ski Challenge 2018. New Hall have received a special commendation from judges for winning 3rd place out of 90 British schools. Pupil Allegra Martin, who recently returned to the sport after a battle with cancer, came home with a gold and two silver medals.

Top Story

RECORD BREAKERS It’s been a record year for The Mall School in Twickenham, which has received 65 offers from 15 senior schools, including a record number of 11+ offers. This result comes just 12 months after the school announced that from 2019 all boys will leave the school at the end of Year 6 and demonstrates how well the school prepares them for all types of entrance examinations and interviews.

GOODWILL WA L K Papplewick School, Ascot completed their annual charity walk around Windsor Great Park and were blessed with “the best walking weather”, says Headmaster, Tom Bunbury. The walk raised over £15,000 for the charity Railway Children.

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Family

VALUES

Dallington School’s story began with one teacher’s quest to deliver the education she wanted for her own children. Today it remains a family run and Ofsted Outstanding school committed to its original mission of giving children independence of spirit, ownership of their own learning and the confidence to succeed

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CELEBRATING THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY IN 2003

M

ogg Hercules MBE established Dallington School, Clerkenwell 40 years ago because, as she put it in a 2015 interview with grateful former parent and avid fan Luella Bartley in Violet magazine: “I just wanted to set up an environment where every child was valued”. Part of the inspiration was the experiences of her own children – her son Fabian was severely dyslexic and this remained undiagnosed by his school, while daughter Abi was fast becoming a ‘school refuser’ and used to escape and run home at every opportunity.

Mogg Hercules’ background had prepared her for a challenge. Born in England, she was educated in Melbourne, Australia and trained as a teacher there. Having been cited as an outstanding graduate teacher, she was offered her pick of schools in the state of Victoria. She chose a one-classroom school in the Bush with outside ‘dunny’, taking on a class of three to eleven-year-olds, snakes, spiders, unremitting red dust and an unrelieved diet of lamb mince. Fast forward through the 1960s, and she returned to London to be with her future husband Evan Hercules.

Later, Mogg Hercules taught Art and English in Hackney secondary schools before a quest to find a place where her children could thrive led on to 8 Dallington Street. Dialogue began with the Department of Education in 1976, and the school opened its doors in April 1978. The building had formally been The Gatehouse School and was set over five floors in then somewhat less fashionable Clerkenwell.

The first class comprised five pupils – including daughter Abi Hercules. Mogg recalls the first day: “Through word of mouth, five children

arrived, it should have been six, but one had measles!”

From the start, key principles that still underpin Dallington School were in place.

Children didn’t wear a uniform, called teachers by their first names and the school was non-selective – something Mogg and team remain adamant about to this day. She says: “We have ‘high-fliers’ and children who will need ongoing support”.

Today, Mogg Hercules continues to teach in what remains a family-run business.

Daughter Abi Hercules is school bursar, as well as a trained actor and established singersongwriter, and now her own two children have followed in her footsteps as Dallington pupils.

Son Fabian – who Mogg finally taught to read herself using his preferred diet of Observer’s books – went on to win a scholarship to City of London School for Boys, earn an MA and become an Art teacher.

In 2009, Mogg Hercules was awarded a Tedd Wragg Lifetime Achievement Award with Distinction, which was presented by Baroness

Up Front

ROOTS

“ THRO U G H WO R D OF MO U T H, FIVE CHI L D R E N ARRIVED T HE FIRST DAY, I T SHO U LD HAV E B EEN S I X , B U T O NE HA D MEASL E S !”

Shirley Williams. In March of this year, she received an MBE for Outstanding Services to Education, presented by HRH Prince Charles.

But the achievement at Dallington that brings most pride is its pupils. “When I say to visitors looking round Dallington that we help to make lovely adults, I can say this with absolute confidence…We feel privileged to share the gossip with ex-pupils, who ‘just happened to be passing by and wanted to call in’.” Many of those ex-pupils have selected Dallington for their own children. She adds: “I feel privileged to have been a small part in the lives of so many children and included in their rites of passage into lovely adults”.

DALLINGTON PUPILS GO ON AN ADVENTURE

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Growing STRONG

While it started small just over a decade ago, the RHS Campaign for School Gardening has grown into a full-scale ecosystem across the UK that aims to nurture next next generation gardeners L I B BY N O R M A N

he Royal Horticultural Society is best known internationally for its contribution to horticultural and gardening expertise. But alongside the gardening showcases – Chelsea and Hampton Court flower shows and its beautiful gardens at Wisley, among others – this national charity is steadfastly campaigning for a greener future by nurturing nextgeneration gardeners. Nowhere is this more evident than in its Campaign for School Gardening.

The Campaign started small 11 years ago and, says the Campaign’s skills development manager Alana Cama, its initial offer was based around a website of resources targeting teachers and learning providers. “At the outset, the broad aim was to get kids outdoors, sowing seeds pricking plants on, decorating pots and having fun.”

Perhaps what nobody realised at the outset was how big this seed was going to grow. The statistics are impressive, with over 36,000

member schools and organisations today.

These span 70 per cent of the nation’s primary schools and 80 per cent of its secondary schools, with many independent schools in the mix, but also youth and uniformed youth groups, childminders and home-educators. It is a Campaign with momentum, probably because everyone can agree that gardening is a positive and lifeenhancing activity for young people.

But this goes way deeper than a bit of muddy fun tilling the soil. How deep was revealed in a survey of Campaign members commissioned by the RHS last year to mark the tenth anniversary. When asked about gardening goals, Campaign members cited improving mental wellbeing as number one priority (97 per cent ticked that box). Improving physical wellbeing came a close second at 90 per cent. Member schools and groups typically spend over two hours a week in their plot and use their gardening time productively – almost all grow fruit and vegetables, with 81 per cent also focusing on plants that attract wildlife.

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Up Front

GARDENING

“ N OBODY REA LIS E D HOW BI G T HI S S E E D WAS G OI N G TO GR OW – TODAY 70 PE R CE NT OF T HE N AT IO N’S PRI M ARY SC HO O LS AN D 80 PER CE NT OF I TS SECONDARY SC HOOLS A R E M EM BERS”

RHS YOUNG GARDENER PHOTO: LUKE MACGREGOR

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Outstanding boarding and day school for boys and girls, 4 to 13 years

The Dragon School, Oxford Fostering a Lifelong Love of Learning 50 MILES FROM LONDON Arrange a Visit T: +44(0)1865 315405 E: admissions@dragonschool.org Dragon School, Oxford “We chose the Dragon because it combined excellent academic qualities in a co-educational environment with an extraordinary offering of extra-curricular activities.” Parent Dragon School Oxford

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UP Front

FRASER FRANCIS, RHS YOUNG GARDENER OF THE YEAR

Nearly half grow plants they can sell to raise money for good causes.

Large gardens remain a privilege, especially in urban areas, but Alana Cama says that schools and youth groups work around this creatively, with gardens housed in containers, on balconies and with the assistance of community groups and businesses – there is massive support for the idea of school gardening from both sectors and almost half of Campaign members work with their local community.

Alana Cama says that the Campaign is about much more than simply getting back to nature. “We know the benefits of giving PHOTO: LUKE MACGREGOR

GARDENING

the School Gardening Awards. While Level 1 is relatively easy to attain and wins the school a year calendar full of growing tips, progression earns all sorts of goodies.

By Level 5, schools have hosted a gardening event involving the community, recorded it via film and photo and submitted a written account of their event or project that demonstrates their enthusiasm to share and pass on their gardening skills.

They can display their prowess with school plaques and earn the right to use a special RHS logo.

The star prizes (think of them as the Campaign’s equivalent of a Gold at Chelsea) are the School Gardeners of the Year. Last year’s individual winner Fraser White, 10, from Dairsie Primary School in Fife – whose confident and poised film about his love of gardening is a joy to watch – was, by his own admission, often frustrated and angry until he was encouraged by his school to start gardening. In the film he says: “Gardening was like something that was sent from above.

It was calming, it cleared my head”. Now an ambassador for the school’s garden, he mentors younger children to pass on his skills and passion for growing things.

“ M EM BER SC HOOLS GARDEN PRODUCT I VELY – AL M OST AL L G ROW F RUI T AN D VEG ETABL ES AN D N EARLY HAL F G ROW PL AN TS T HEY SEL L TO RAI SE M ON EY FOR G OOD CAUSES”

children access to outside space, but gardening has multiple health and learning benefits.

It improves mental and physical wellbeing – we know, for instance it can be a powerful aid in overcoming behavioural issues in SEN environments. But the young child who is struggling in the classroom with, say, literacy skills is suddenly there in a group activity and this child joins in and, without thinking about it, starts reading seed packets.”

The ability of an outdoor environment to link school lessons to real life can’t be overestimated. Over the years school gardens have become a place where the curriculum is presented in a creative way to help children to absorb material in a practical and alternative way. Last year’s survey found that 70 per cent of schools use the garden as an opportunity to teach science. It’s also a place where maths and English lessons take place. Even geography and history lessons may get a bit of fresh air as groups discuss where those exotic chilli pepper, aubergine or pak choi seeds are from – or the humble seed potato, come to that. Alana Cama says: “Gardening is such a useful learning tool – whether you are looking at STEM, other areas of the curriculum or at areas such as team working and citizenship”.

Schools and youth groups are encouraged to earn their gardening stripes by entering

A GREEN ROOF AT HAMMERSMITH ACADEMY PHOTO: JULIAN WEIGALL

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UP Front

The skills among last year’s finalists are equally impressive.

Tallis Inger-Flecker, 14, from Writhlington School, Somerset is passionate and hugely knowledgeable about orchids, working in her spare time with Bristol Aquarium to create orchid displays and passing on her skills in growing beautiful specimens.

The judges’ conclusion was: “Tallis seems destined to work in botany”. And watching her brilliant film describing the finer points of plant propagation of tricky Gongora orchids, it’s hard not to agree.

The Campaign for School Gardening has achieved many things – not least in helping children to explore their environment and appreciate the link between seed and plate.

Alana Cama hopes that it might also show at least some young gardeners the possibilities in horticulture careers. “There is a huge skills gap in horticulture, and there are many career opportunities, be it as a scientist, in land management or in the field of design”.

As the Campaign for School Gardening enters its second decade of growing future gardeners, it has a new focus – on letting

PHOTO: LUKE MACGREGOR

children take the reins. It’s I Can Grow campaign wants young people to take gardening out to a wider audience and is asking them to explore how growing and harvesting can benefit their local community and the planet.

“We want to talk direct to young people,” says Alana Cama. “We’re asking them to campaign around social and environmental issues using plants.” The four core strands they are being asked to explore are gardening in relation to the food on our plates, in the context of a changing

PHOTO: JULIAN WEIGALL

climate, for the benefit of wildlife and for the wellbeing and health of communities.”

This is big-picture stuff, and young campaigners are encouraged to design campaigns using all the 21st-century technology at their able fingertips – vlogs, blogs, social media.

“We want to harness their energy, with plants at the heart of what they are doing,” says Alana Cama. “And we also want them to feel empowered and feed ideas back to the RHS.” Perhaps the most inspiring thing about the Campaign for School Gardening is that it has blossomed from the RHS’ roots into something that feels totally in tune with the 21st century. It recognises that while we love the heritage of our fine parks and gardens and the achievements of Christopher Lloyd, Gertrude Jekyll, Capability Brown, et al, the future gardener is much more likely to be urban, small scale, challenged by an uncertain world and focused on issues such as food security, water scarcity and clean air.

Giving young people the chance to direct the future of the Campaign for School Gardening seems a smart way to ensure that next gen gardeners keep us all in the green. You can’t help thinking that the future of our planet may depend on it.

“SC HOOLS L I ST ED I M PROVI N G M EN TAL W EL L BEI N G AS N UM BER ON E GARDEN I N G PRI ORI T Y (97 PER C EN T T I C KED T HAT BOX).

I M PROVI N G PHYSI CAL W EL L BEI N G CAM E A C LOSE SECON D”

PHOTO: LUKE MACGREGOR

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HEAD

Life on the outside

If we want young people to develop into independent thinkers, we have to let them explore, argues Cognita’s Robin Davies

F

ew parents would disagree that encouraging children to go outdoors and experience nature is beneficial.

Instinctively, most appreciate that a child that is playing in the garden, mucking round in the local park or building dens is doing what children should be doing and learning from their environment.

Those parental instincts are backed up by sound educational research. Various studies have shown that outdoor learning can lessen anxiety, reduce

attention deficit disorder, enhance creativity, increase memory and generally support wellbeing.

This consensus has to contend with an equally powerful parental instinct – the overwhelming desire to be protective.

From those early days when a toddler first crawls off the picnic blanket onto the grass, a parent’s instinct is to haul their baby back. That grass may look fun and inviting but who knows what nasty stuff lurks out of sight? This concern is natural – and, of course, children should be taught how to handle the environment safely and responsibly – but excessive protection can be damaging.

“Children lead incredibly structured lives – with not much free time – so let them create and discover on their own”

Up Front

Talking

ROBIN DAVIES Assistant Director of Education Cognita Group of schools

OUTDOOR LEARNING HELPS TO REDUCE ANXIETY

OPINION

CHILDREN NEED 'REAL' ENVIRONMENTS

Unfortunately, I suspect the situation has deteriorated since we were children.

In a recent survey, three-quarters of parents said their children would prefer to play sports online rather than in real life. And we tend to lead busier lives than our parents did, so it’s tempting to let technology take the strain. The sedentary, virtual lives too many of our children lead cannot be physically or intellectually healthy. Arguably, they need to interact with the great outdoors more than ever. This is not about packing youngsters off on a residential outward bounds course, but allowing them to experience a multiplicity of environments – the street and park as much as the field and forest – as often as is practicable.

Parents can start by not being too directive, by allowing children to discover things for themselves.

So instead of saying to really young children, “We’re going there to see so and so…”, try “We’re going on a journey, but we won’t know what we’ll see or who we’ll meet…”. On a walk, point out things and ask children who they think put that building there or how tall they think that tree will grow.

Children today lead incredibly structured lives – they get up, go to school, absorb a pretty demanding curriculum, get packed off to an afterschools club, go home, do homework, go to bed and next day start all over again. There isn’t much in the way of unstructured free time. One of the most valuable things parents can do is to deliver children occasionally from that rigid timetabling. If we want to nurture a generation of creative, confident selfthinkers, parents need to let children explore the environment ‘beyond the blanket’ – because otherwise that green grass will never seem safe.

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‘ Enjoying childhood and realising our imagination.’

2018. What a year! Our 40th Birthday, an MBE and an Outstanding Ofsted. Celebrate with us…

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.

Headteacher, Proprietor and Founder: Mogg Hercules MBE Email: hercules@dallingtonschool.co.uk Phone: 020 7251 2284 www.dallingtonschool.co.uk

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PUPILS AT REDCLIFFE SCHOOL

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hen Prince George started his first term at Thomas’s School Battersea last September, one of the biggest news stories, broken by the Evening Standard and subsequently carried as far afield as Australia and New York, was not about the curriculum, fees, his new social set or uniform but the Puy lentils on the menu at lunchtime. There were even reports of a dramatic spike in Puy lentil sales across London, while French producers voiced the hope in L’Express magazine that this could be a sign of the impact of one of the world’s youngest food influencers. Such a lot of fuss about a humble pulse – albeit the RollsRoyce of lentils from Le Puy region of France, and with an Appellation to call its own – does seem to reflect more on the adult generation’s memories of their own schooldays.

Those who remember their school dinners – whether nostalgically or with a shudder – may be wondering what on earth happened to stew and dumplings, runny minced beef and onions, fingernail pie, pink banana custard and jam roly-poly. The answer is that, apart from being served up at kitsch revival nights to hen and stag parties, and perhaps finding favour in certain bastions of the gentleman’s club variety, they are toast.

Angela Johnstone, much loved catering manager at Oakfield Prep in West Dulwich, says the thing that attracted her to working at

FO O D IE REVOLUTION

Those bad old days of runny mince, pink banana custard and fingernail pie are long gone, replaced by miso, Puy lentils and pomegranates. Absolutely Education digs in LIBBY NORMAN

32 | E D U C AT I O N P R E P & P R E P R E P

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PRINCE GEORGE – FOOD INFLUENCER

Up Front

Oakfield (via the Harrison Catering specialist team) was the use of fresh ingredients, and the fun surrounding everything to do with food at the school. Here is an environment where children are encouraged to explore and become excited by choices on the menu.

Oakfield participates in Chefs Adopt A School, the annual celebration of all things foodie designed for schools by the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts (patron: Prince Charles; major supporters include Harrison Catering). This reaches over 20,000 children a year by taking chefled programmes into the classroom. The aim is to bring the excitement of food to life, place it into context (where it comes from, why we need it) and also show practical lessons in everything from cooking to the importance of farm to plate.

This spring at Oakfield’s Chefs Adopt a School event, Johnstone was – among other things – showing Year 4 pupils how to make bread (something a fair few adults could do with help on). She says a lot of the focus with this style of workshop is on the sensory, textural and science elements – but the foodie celebration touches on so many elements in the curriculum that it’s easy to

S CHOOL DINNERS

“S UCH A LOT OF FUS S A BO U T A HUMBL E P U LSE – A LBEIT THE R OLLS ROYCE O F LE NT I LS – DO ES S E E M TO REF LECT M OR E ON A DULTS’ ME M OR I E S O F THEIR OWN SCHO O L DAYS”

see while both pupils and staff love the initiative.

While this is a great way of celebrating food, it’s always high up the agenda at Oakfield.

Johnstone says: “One of the most important things we do is to get children excited by choices – and by trying different things.” Oakfield does this through games – for instance getting children to try things that don’t taste how they look – through its fruit or vegetable of the month events and by offering up a varied and adventurous CHEFS ADOPT A SCHOOL IS menu, both at lunchtimes and INSPIRING YOUNG FOODIES for the early-birds who attend Breakfast Club. Lentils are on the menu, alongside ‘trendy’ in-season vegetables (curly kale, celeriac, cauliflower) and the more familiar child pleasers such as broccoli, sweetcorn, carrots and peas.

There’s a salad bar every day, and a truly imaginative mix of modern and traditional with a twist when it comes to choice of main dishes.

Today’s children still have a sweet tooth, and while fruit platters are the usual

HAPPY EATERS AT CUMNOR HOUSE

pudding, the school does offer a ‘treat’ on the menu twice a week – indulgences such as russet apple & toffee cake, lemon muffin or pineapple & cherry sponge. Custard may be served on the side, but without even a hint of pink food colouring.

What Angela Johnstone is convinced of is that children are far more open to new flavours than adults may imagine – for instance, pomegranates and olives have both found favour among pupils. She even convinced them to try haggis from her native Scotland and reports that it went down very well. “It’s about leaving things up to them.

We give balanced choices and make lots of variety available. What we do find is that once one child tries something and likes it this can influence the whole class to try it too.”

Young food explorers at Cumnor House, East Sussex, which caters to children from nursery years up to age 13 (including boarders), are also offered a wide range of SUMMER 2018 | 33

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Up Front

avour? fl n i ’s What OUT

One way in which Kelly Mileham manages the menu, and gets the choices children want, is to get them involved.

There’s a four-week menu cycle, but also a food committee made up of representatives from each class.

They participate in directing the menu – voicing opinions, giving feedback from their peer group and suggesting what they would like more or less of on the menu. Food education is a core part of this, with competitions and information widely disseminated and designed to give pointers on food groups and nutrition so that children come informed, rather than just thinking in terms of easy protein, carb and sugar fi xes.

“When we design menus, we will always make sure things are nutritionally balanced,” says Mileham. “We work with the nutritionists at our caterer Holroyd Howe to ensure that, but it’s so important to give the children choice. My experience is that, even from an early age, they are more adventurous and open to fresh ingredients and ideas than you might imagine.”

Mileham says that the children at Cumnor House have given the thumbs down to ‘traditional’ stews and brasserie classics like Boeuf Bourgignon – finding them too heavy – but they are very happy to give another retro classic, the fondue, a go. “They particularly love street food and anything you can eat with your fingers,” she adds. “So tapas, enchiladas and sharing platters are very popular ideas at the moment.” In this, they appear to be following current restaurant trends if the London landscape is anything to go by.

Like Oakfield, there’s care taken with

S CHOOL DINNERS

fries French « rs otato twiz zle Swe e t p Turkey « « ns jo u o ans g ke n rs & be ade chic nk furte Homem ned fra in T « « mame ade & ith eda homem lmon w (unless Thai sa al) za e s iz n m P a be whole possibly « « ngs s dumpli B urrito ew a n d B eef st « « gine custard Lamb ta s, pink Banana « rd « usta anilla c ly-poly onge, v Jam ro Apple sp « « r tte na Fruit pla Semoli « « g in d d u ie rice p onut) p ut milk ail (coc C o co n Fingern « ffins mon mu Fresh le

IN

healthy options. Catering manager Kelly Mileham says it’s about encouraging children to broaden their foodie horizons – and fill up!

Every lunchtime a soup is on offer – chicken noodle is popular, but so too is red lentil & coconut and celeriac & apple. Then there’s a hot main course, with vegetarian option. You’ll always find jacket potato available, plus a salad bar with at least ten different salad options, including some proteins in the mix.

“HERE IS AN EN V IRO N M E NT W HERE CH I LD R E N A RE EN CO URAG E D TO EX P LO R E AND BECO ME E XC I T E D

BY CHO IC E S ON THE ME NU ”

BREAKFAST CLUB AT OAKFIELD

CHOICES, CHOICES AT CUMNOR HOUSE

health and nutrition’s current bête noire, sugar. Rather than ban it, the emphasis is on moderation. For instance, the afternoon snack at Cumnor House is more likely to be savoury (cheese scones or crumpets), than a cake. Fruit platters, yoghurt bars with toppings and the occasional sweet treat are on the lunchtime menu.

Another key issue at Cumnor House – as with most schools right now – is food provenance. Mileham says that there is huge pride in sourcing food as locally as possible, including cheeses from a local farm, awardwinning and local Lingfield sausages and seasonal fruit from the trees in the school garden. She says: “Children take pride in these things, and also care about food issues, from recycling to plastic, so we work very hard to ensure both food and the packaging we use are responsibly sourced”.

So forget lumpy mash and unidentifiable pies, these days miso, edamame beans, quinoa and, yes – Puy lentil salad – are being offered in at least some school canteens.

While the revolution is still a work in progress on a national scale, initiatives such as Chefs Adopt a School and now Chefs in Schools (aiming to put 100 restauranttrained chefs into 100 state schools by 2023) are aiming big. In doing so, the grand plan is to equip children with an understanding and appreciation of good food that will set them up for a healthier life. Now if only someone could reinvent a wholesome pink banana custard for the health-aware and sophisticated 21st century…

SUMMER 2018

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16/05/2018 11:26

Solid FUELS

As sports-day season approaches, a Harley Street nutritionist has some tips on supporting young athletes with the right food

N

utrition plays a pivotal role in your child’s development and good food choices help make sure they have enough energy to run and jump, as well as being key investments for their health. One of the most successful ways to teach children to make healthy choices is for your family to eat well and build healthy relationships with food; children mimic adult likes and dislikes, as well as picking up startling ideas about ‘being on a diet’ if another family member is restricting food intake.

Children have relatively high energy requirements for their size, and when they are very active healthy balanced meals and snacks become even more important. It’s easy to think carbohydrates are the best way to fuel high energy demands and there’s an acceptance that it’s ok for kids to eat junk foods; they’ll work it off. This can feel especially true at competitive events, where sugary snacks and blue sports drinks are the norm for a 30-second swim or a three-minute gymnastic routine, but energy is about more than calories. It’s about blood

sugar balance and higher nutrient demands. Sugary foods steal energy.

They throw blood sugar off balance, leading to tiredness, energy dips, loss of concentration and – ultimately – a bigger waistline. This can, in itself, lead to poor health long term. Sugary snacks and drinks also fill children up so they have no appetite for healthy nourishing foods. A child who seems to be constantly fighting infections and injuries, may need more essential nutrients from whole foods.

To produce energy we need A QUEEN’S GATE PUPIL AT SPORTS DAY

“Sugary foods steal energy. They throw bloodsugar off balance and lead to energy dips”

Pre-Prep

SARAH GREEN the Vice Chair and a Director The British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine sarahgreennutrition.com

OPINION

nutrients: a balance of protein (dairy products/meat/fish/eggs/beans/ chicken); starchy carbohydrates (root vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes and whole grains); essential fatty acids from foods like olives, olive oil, avocado, coconut, oily fish (such as salmon, mackerel and trout), nuts and seeds plus a rainbow of vegetables and fruits. Treat the “Five a Day” quota as a minimum and try to stick with unprocessed versions. For example, a whole fresh apple is better for your child than the packaged dried or juiced version. A 250ml glass of apple juice has very limited nutritional value and contains around six teaspoons of sugar (similar to cola) Before sporting events try a sweet potato with tuna, sweetcorn and spinach; beans on wholegrain toast with cheese; cereal with yoghurt, nuts, seeds and berries; carrots with nut or seed butter; cheese and apple slices or cottage cheese with pineapple or pomegranate.

To recover quickly from highenergy activity, you still need balanced nutrients. One good option is a homemade berry and yoghurt smoothie, blended with a handful of spinach and a dash of olive oil or some avocado. These good fats help us absorb the smoothie colours, which have their own beneficial effect on the body. Chocolate milk provides a balance of protein and carbohydrate in an easily digestible form, and has been shown to be effective form of hydration.

Good hydration is essential for physical and mental function, yet most children don’t drink enough water. Sugary drinks and juices are a source of calories we can all do without and low-calorie equivalents can be just as detrimental to long term health. Encourage children to drink water – flat or fizzy – and jazz it up with berries, lemon, or a splash of pure pomegranate juice if necessary.

A more active child can be a healthier child, but at a time when growth and repair are also key, it is important to ensure your child is properly nourished to flourish in sporting endeavours, and every other aspect of growth and learning.

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Generat ion

GAIN A south-London nursery co-located with a residential care home is being hailed as a flagbearer for new models of learning and sharing across the generations LIBBY NORMAN

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NEW MODELS

W “CHIL D R E N DEV ELO P A SE NSE O F THEI R OWN P L ACE I N T H E WO RLD – T H E CYCL E O F LI F E A N D CH AI N OF TRA DIT I ON”

hen Apples and Honey Nightingale Nursery opened its doors last September at Nightingale House residential care home in Wandsworth, it attracted a shower of positive publicity as the UK’s first intergenerational nursery setting – young and old located together, sharing facilities and interacting on a daily basis. Stories appeared in specialist early years press, on national radio and TV and were also widely shared on social media. You can understand the flurry, for it’s hard not to conclude that this is one of those lightbulb ideas that could profoundly influence the future design of early years and residential care settings.

The nursery is a social enterprise that utilises space within an existing residential campus with beautiful grounds. Like Nightingale House, this is a Jewish faithbased setting but the nursery welcomes all children.

It reserves 20 per cent of its place for the children of staff at Nightingale House and hosts a free baby and toddler group every week. This means local residents with very young children can share and socialise within a nurturing, well-equipped and intergenerational environment.

This is certainly not the first time care homes and nurseries have been co-located. Japan pioneered schemes in the 1970s; others have been built or are in planning across the Far East. There are co-located nurseries and care homes in Canada and the US, notably the much-lauded Providence Mount St Vincent intergenerational centre (known as The Mount) in Seattle. But Apples and Honey Nightingale remains unique in some respects. It was carefully designed from the outset as a planned meeting point and community hub of young and old and its social enterprise status places it at the heart of an urban village.

For Judith Ish-Horowicz MBE, co-founder of the nursery, it is much more than a social winner. It’s been a long-term vision that she describes it as her: “baby”.

With a stellar career in teaching and early years, plus an MBE (2010) for Services to Early Years Education, this is her second nursery. The original Apples and Honey in Wimbledon opened in 1991 and is consistently SUMMER 2018 | 39

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11+ preparation during the summer break

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5-day fun & active course Monday 23rd July Friday 27th July 2018

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This unique course takes place at our prestigious Westminster offices between Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square, with the opportunity to extend our active lessons out of the classroom into local museums, cultural experiences and parks.

The course includes a computer-based practice test and a tailored assessment report with age-related, standardised scores; comparing your child with British and independent school children of the same age.

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With 145 years of experience in helping families with children of all ages, Gabbitas Education will take time to understand your needs and your child’s potential before giving you the best advice.

Gabbitas Education consultants have a detailed personal knowledge of the British independent education system, enabling us to support you through the whole process.

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Gabbitas Educational Consultants is registered in England No. 2920466. Part of the Prospects & Shaw Trust Groups.

GABBITAS.indd 1

Gabbitas Educational Consultants is registered in England No. 2920466. Part of The Prospects & Shaw Trust Groups.

Images supplied by St Swithun’s School, St Mary’s School and Eastbourne College.

10/05/2018 11:06

Pre-Prep

rated outstanding by Ofsted; her track record with an exemplar early years setting helped when it came to convincing the powers that be of the merits of a new-style nursery setting. Co-founder Ali Somers has a Masters in Public and Nonprofit Management from New York University and special expertise in social enterprises, while head teacher Cindy Summer’s CV includes spells as director of Tiger Tots American Preschool in Taipei and head of Alyth Kindergarten in Temple Fortune, London. In other words, this is a team of very big hitters.

You may conclude they needed to be. Ofsted only issued first guidance on registering and inspecting co-located intergenerational care centres in mid April.

Stephen Burke of think tank United for All Ages (he prefers the term ‘think and do tank’) campaigns for intergenerational environments – with a target of 500 intergenerational centres by 2022.

He organised the April roundtable meeting that brought Ofsted and the CQI together with providers. Like everyone who has visited Apples and Honey Nightingale, he’s inspired by the environment, adding that while other nursery and care home sites are co-located, they are not sharing activities. He would like to see many more initiatives like this. He says: “In theory,

THERE ARE WEEKLY BABY AND TODDLER MEETS AT APPLES AND HONEY NIGHTINGALE NURSERY

“ WATCHI NG A MA N IN HI S 90 S W HO N EVE R HA D CHILD R E N HIMS EL F B OT T LE F EED A BA BY I S SO METHIN G VE RY S P ECI AL”

SCHOOLS SUCH AS WALHAMPTON CHAMPION INTERGENERATIONAL LINKS

NEW MODELS

every nursery could link up with its local care home”.

It is the integration at Apples and Honey Nightingale that has set policy makers, care providers and campaigners thinking. Activities here are part of the rhythm of the day. There are shared games, sing-songs, cooking lessons, storytelling sessions and celebrations of festivals. “We have planned intergenerational activities every day,” says Ish-Horowicz. She is careful to point out that this is managed carefully and respectfully – never forgetting that this is the residents’ home.

The outcome of these activities has been, says Ish-Horowicz, beneficial for young and old alike. “They really do interact beautifully.”

Some Nightingale House residents have told her that being around the children has given them a reason to live, to try harder to exercise and keep up their energy levels. She says: “Many of the residents here haven’t, because of war or personal circumstances, had children. As we also have the baby and toddler group every week, they feel part of a wider community and can watch the children grow and develop week by week. Seeing a man in his 90s who never had children himself bottle feed a baby is something very special.”

Children’s families get involved too

(Ish-Horowicz says the home has an amazing pool of volunteers). Birthday cards and presents get swapped and links are formed that benefit all generations. The children – many without grandparents nearby – form bonds with older people, also learning not to fear ageing or frailty or think it’s something weird. “It’s enriching for them and they develop a sense of their own place in the world – the cycle of life and chain of tradition.” She adds: “The children have become remarkably sensitive to the needs of older residents. They move and interact with them in a sensitive way”.

This intergenerational exposure goes beyond an emotional bond and life lessons learned. Practical benefits include communication skills – the residents have the time and patience to teach young minds new tricks and the children engage with and entertain the residents in the way that children do.

While many schools and nursery settings have a clear and laudable programme of intergenerational mixing, Apples and Honey Nightingale has taken things several steps further. Stephen Burke of United for All Ages suggests that this could be a model for the future.

“Children and residents benefit from the interaction and parents who visit the nursery become closely involved. The other beneficiaries are staff – care homes can feel quite closed and isolated from wider society.

This opens them up as shared and social places.”

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HEAD

Time together

Redcliffe School, Chelsea head teacher Sarah Lemmon explains why she made the decision to take the school fully co-ed

F

ollowing my appointment in September 2017, I announced that Redcliffe was to become a fully co-educational school for pupils aged twoand-a-half to 11. In the independent sector the movement towards coeducation seems to grow apace. It is my view that co-education encourages selfesteem, social skills and better prepares pupils for a diverse world where both genders play important roles. It teaches children to have respect for their peers,

regardless of gender, and exposes them to different viewpoints.

I believe that early years and primary education is best delivered where boys and girls learn to work together and be prepared for the challenges they will face as they confidently transition to their senior schools. While pastoral care has always been one of our strengths at Redcliffe, our priority is to ensure all pupils reach their highest potential.

Being fully co-ed, we are now able to give the boys the same gift of time as the girls – time to enjoy learning, time to grow intellectually and time to develop co-curricular interests before

“Being co-ed, we are now able to give the boys the same gift of time as the girls – time to enjoy learning”

Talking

SARAH LEMMON Headmistress Redcliffe School

OPINION

PUPILS AT REDCLIFFE SCHOOL

sitting 11+ exams for their next schools.

Supporting this focus on cocurricular interests, we have redesigned our sports to increase the physical time for sport and widen the range of options for team and individual activities. Team sports that were traditionally ‘boys’ or ‘girls’ only are now open to pupils of both genders. We encourage every child to participate, with the hope of finding new activities that they are passionate about. This means that our co-ed girls and boys can try a broad and exciting range of new and familiar activities – everything from athletics, ultimate frisbee, climbing, fencing, martial arts and dance to ‘traditional’ team sports.

This is very much in tune with the well-being programme at Redcliffe, which focuses on self, others and the wider world. It helps pupils to discover their character strengths and weaknesses through academic work, sport and when participating in the many after-school clubs we offer.

Children continue to build on these as they move from pre-prep to prep and become their best selves. All pupils adopt our Redcliffe Values of perseverance, resilience and courage, with the capacity to appreciate others, kindness and a ‘have a go’ mentality sitting alongside these.

Unique tailor-made education provides a differentiated, personalised and challenging curriculum where teachers know each pupil well. The school’s high expectations, with no limitations as to what individuals can achieve, is designed so that everybody reaches their full potential as they move from nursery through to Year 6. At Redcliffe, we see it as our responsibility to ensure that we prepare children for the world in which they live.

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OPINION

Choosing

WISELY North Bridge House head Christine McLelland outlines what she would advise parents to look for in a London nursery or pre-prep CHRISTINE MCLELLAND

C PUPILS AT NORTH BRIDGE HOUSE

"TH E FIRST PIECE OF ADVICE I GIVE TO PARENTS IS TO LOOK AROUND – AND DON'T FIXATE ON ONE SCHOOL TO THE EXCLUSION OF ALL OTHERS

hoosing a nursery and pre-prep for your son or daughter can be a daunting experience.

Parents have a bewildering selection to choose from in London and, for some, the process is also inherently fraught. Most are entrusting their child to carers outside the home for the first time when they start in nursery school, and that makes the decision incredibly challenging.

The first piece of advice I give to parents is to look around. Don’t fixate on one school to the exclusion of all others. You may have an initial preference but you will lose nothing by comparing several local options. Inspection reports, The Good Schools Guide and talking to other parents are useful starting points. But there is no substitute for visiting in person – more than once!

What then should parents look for when they visit? The most obvious question is: do the children appear happy and engaged? In my view, happy learners are better learners. Children who are engaged, who are motivated and playing well together will be happy and will learn. There will be occasional tears, especially in the first few days, but children should rapidly settle down and look forward to going. Is the nursery or pre-prep you’re visiting that type of school and can you envisage your child being eager to go to it?

Equally important is the attitude of staff. Do they greet you naturally or do you suspect it’s a performance? Do they celebrate the individual child, or boast about the academic performance

of the school? Ultimately, it’s a question of trust: are the staff caring and confident enough to do the best for your child?

I would also urge parents to look beyond pre-prep to any related prep school; I would say that this would certainly be worth a visit. Often pre-prep to prep is a natural progression, and this is certainly the case at North Bridge House.

Look at the school’s prep offering, check if the same ethos is applied here and find out about senior school outcomes for the children.

Finally, look at the facilities to see if your child will be safe and secure. Do they cook food on the premises and what is it like? Check play areas and equipment to see if they are well maintained. A word of warning, though: do not be distracted by state-of-the-art classrooms and piles of iPads. Technology is not a proxy for good teaching and shiny new buildings are no substitute for a great education. A school is made by the people in it, parents would be wise to look to them first and last.

CHRISTINE MCCLELLAN D Head Teacher, North Bridge House, Hampstead SUMMER 2018

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Creativity

COUNTS An education expert talks about the difference between the arts and being creative at school, and why the latter is so important...

FIONA MCKENZIE

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he days when your children come home buzzing with excitement about something they have learned are the days you know they have truly engaged with a topic.

Perhaps they spent the school day as Romans. Suddenly, there is nothing they don’t know about what the Romans wore, ate, drank or talked about. Yes, making that costume might have been a chore, but suddenly it is all worth it when you see what a memorable experience it has been for your child. That is creativity in education.

It is far more memorable to actually “experience” being Roman, than to be “taught” about it. The children will have had the opportunity to research Roman food, cook some ancient delicacies, work out how Romans sat at a banquet, and even speak some Latin. They have not only learnt about a historical topic, but also acquired valuable life skills by creating their own

“IT IS FAR MORE MEMORABLE TO ACTUALLY ‘EXPERIENCE ’ BEING ROMAN THAN TO BE ‘ TAUGHT ’ ABOUT IT ”

understanding and appreciation of how the Romans lived. They get the opportunity to use their creative voice to act out the parts, acquire some contextual knowledge and perhaps some technical skills, working collaboratively with their classmates and then sharing it with you on the car ride home.

Many of us fall into the trap of thinking that creativity is the preserve of the arts, and can only be acquired through activities such

as drama, dance, music and creative arts.

Of course, these subjects do give multiple opportunities to develop different talents and skills, but being creative is about playing with ideas and this can equally be done in a number of subjects, including Maths, Science and Technology.

Educationalists appreciate the vital role of creativity across the curriculum and – within the sometimes-rigid confines of an assessment-driven curriculum – there is recognition that the “academic” way is not the only way to learn. For many children, approaching traditional subjects in different ways can fire up their curiosity. Encouraging them to look at things from a different angle and to try things they would not expect to do in lessons can draw children into learning.

Di Latham, an experienced primary school teacher, talks about using the stimulus of Sir Michael Morpurgo’s novel Kensuke’s Kingdom. “From reading this one book we had children working out how to build a shelter, and then writing an instruction manual on how to do it, painting in the Japanese style, producing Haiku poetry, and writing a diary about living on

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“ORGANISATIONS EVERYWHERE SAY THEY NEED PEOPLE WHO THINK CREATIVELY ”

a desert island.” Children thrived on the practical tasks, learned about teamwork and decision-making, and found writing an instruction manual much easier once they worked out how to create the structure. Less able scribes loved keeping the diary as they could write in their own style. Having gained confidence, they were better able to tackle more complex writing tasks.

Thomas Friedman, author of The World Is Flat, says those people with the imagination “to invent smarter ways to do old jobs, energy-saving ways to provide new services, new ways to attract old customers and new ways to combine existing technologies” will thrive. While education is not a linear path, with the sole aim of preparing children for the future, one of its roles is to ensure that people are equipped with the skills they will need to earn a living. And one of the most marketable skills this future generation will need is creativity.

As Sir Ken Robinson, the renowned British author and creativity guru, explains: “the real driver of creativity is an appetite for discovery and a passion for the world itself”.

This takes us back to the Romans… The children engaged on a journey of discovery and became passionate about this topic. They might have thought they were learning about the Romans, but, in fact, they were learning about research, collaboration, teamwork, communication, decision making, adapting to new circumstances and being creative.

These are the skills that will give them the best opportunities in the future.

FIONA MCKENZIE Director, Gabbitas Education Middle East

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MUCH TOO MUCH? With lengthening days and the promise of warm afternoons, the summer term is a great time for after-school pursuits. But with some schools reporting that they have pupils taking on a minimum of two extra-curricular activities every day following a full school day, we asked some schools, when is enough enough?

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JAMES WORMERSLEY

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H E AD MA STE R Beaudesert Park School

t’s vital that children aren’t overloaded, especially at prep school age. We certainly ensure that children aren’t taking on too much whilst they’re here at school (whether they are day pupils or flexi/ weekly boarders), but then it’s over to their parents to balance that with how busy they are during home time. First and foremost, it should be a case of quality as opposed to quantity. To my mind there are a couple of other golden rules for parents as well. Firstly, if children are keen to do things, parents should support them. Secondly, children should only be getting involved in extra activities which they actually enjoy. That might sound obvious, but

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“First and foremost it should be quality over quantity, and never coerce a child into an activity that might ‘be good’ for them” sometimes parents can feel that certain experiences might 'be good' for their child, or might even help them 'get ahead' in some way. The trouble with this approach is that is goes against the very well-established principle that a happy child thrives. While being coerced into undertaking something they don’t enjoy, that child might be missing out on doing something they really want to do.

At Beaudesert we have extracurricular activities during the latter part of the school day on one or two afternoons a week, depending on which term we’re in. The children have over 30 to choose from, and the range is vast – from mountaineering club to knitting, and iPad animation to skateboarding. Taking a different approach, our recent ‘community activity’ involved children regularly helping out at our local foodbank.

activities indicate a school timetable where planning for more formal lessons takes precedence over discovery, discussion and involvement in a child’s learning journey? Naturally, children will express an interest in new activities and indeed, may reveal a natural talent which they wish to enjoy and develop.

However, a balance with downtime after school can be so beneficial. To head home after school and have a play date or just go to the park – these times are precious.

The opportunity to ‘get bored’ rarely arises in the enriching-activity-packed

TALKING P OINT

lives of young people today. Lest we forget, creativity often stems from boredom, from allowing the mind to wander, allowing children to fill their own time with their own ideas, games, plays, projects and activities.

“Boredom always precedes a period of great creativity”.

ROBERT M PIRSIG

A DALLINGTON PUPIL GETS CREATIVE

MOGG HERCULES H E ADTE AC H E R Dallington School

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hat do parents mean when they mention their child’s extra-curricular activities?

Flick through any schools' publications and phrases such as ‘exam-orientated approach’, ‘unlocking your child’s potential’ and ‘boosting your child’s confidence’ are often used to promote a variety of after-school activities. These promises must play a part when parents subscribe. How many children are ferried around to take part in an activity each evening or arrive home to work with their tutor at the end of a full school day? What has happened to family time?

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“When the 4pm bell rings, it does not signal the end of school, rather the start of a plethora of activities”

MARK WHITE H E AD MA STE R Hazelgrove

T OAKHAM SCHOOL

NIGEL LASHBROOK H E AD MA STE R Oakham School

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sking the question ‘how much extra curricular is too much?’ is akin, in Oakham’s eyes, to asking ‘how much education is too much?’

We don’t label activities such as sport, creative and performing arts and service as ‘extra curricular’, instead we talk about our Total Curriculum – because we believe they are integral to a good education. Taking part in activities outside of the classroom gives students more opportunities to learn. Just because the outcomes are not measurable in our exam-result dominated system, it doesn’t mean they are not of intrinsic value. We shouldn’t reduce the amount of extra-curricular opportunities students encounter just so that they can, instead, focus solely

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on the outcomes that are measurable in grads. What we should be mindful of is ‘how much’ is right for each child. There isn’t a magic formula that students should have to conform to – what may be just right for one, could seriously overburden another. Students need to be actively supported to find their own, personal, fulcrum. They also need to be reminded that when exam time comes, stopping their activities to save time really isn’t in their best interest – they need to allow their subconscious to work to allow their revision to bed in.

Nothing works better than exercise – so that extra-curricular activity becomes integral to exam success

hose of us of a certain vintage might remember a 1970's TV programme called Why Don’t You…? which encouraged children to find something to do in the summer holidays. In flare–trousered Britain, there were no hockey clinics or bushcraft weekends. Now the reverse is the case. When the 4pm bell rings it does not signal the end of school rather the start of a plethora of activities from archery to xylophone clubs. Sometimes those enthusiasms that can only happen after school – jazz tap dancing or cross-country – allow a child to indulge in their passions. They need less of the same – not another two hours of Maths when they have already had a double period before break. What they need above all is the opportunity to enjoy their interests and time with friends or family, to process the day and smile.

A HAZELGROVE PUPIL

“Just because the outcomes are not measurable, doesn’t mean they are not of intrinsic value”

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“Parents shouldn’t just consider the volume of activities but where and when they take place”

ALASTAIR SPEERS H E AD MA STE R Sandroyd

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fter finishing school many children are whisked off to hockey club or cricket nets twice a week, musical lessons once a week, and then swimming club. Some children have such a packed itinerary of extracurricular activities it takes an expert in logistics and diary management to keep on top of it all. All of this can be exhausting for everyone involved, and parents need to carefully consider how much their child can handle. How much can they really cope with before it begins to affect their concentration in the following day’s lessons?

Of course, that’s the advantage of being at a boarding school like Sandroyd, where taking part in these types of extra-curricular activities (which are so very crucial) doesn’t come at the expense of exhausting the children. Therefore, instead of just considering the impact of the volume of activities, I think it’s also essential to take into account both when and where they take place.

AN EATON SQUARE PUPIL

SEBASTIAN HEPHER H E AD MA STE R Eaton Square School

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he benefits of a varied extra-curricular programme should not be underestimated. The many different experiences which are available can stimulate, educate, engage and develop the whole child. However, what one should also be aware of is the increasing trend for the extra-curricular becoming another layer of the transfer process to senior schools, with parents adopting the competitive philosophy of ‘the more my child does the better it is when it comes to their application to senior schools’.

It is not uncommon today for a young girl or boy to be ‘occupied’ for five afternoons a week after school and then, worryingly, to go on to another activity elsewhere. Clearly, in addition to these arrangements, there also has to be the time to complete homework, eat supper, wash and get to bed at a

reasonable hour, hopefully with some reading thrown in, too.

The prep head’s reports to senior schools are becoming increasingly similar in relation to the extracurricular, with their pupils being involved in a whole host of activities, to the point of their being normalised as far as the receiving Registrars are concerned and therefore almost rendered obsolete.

Children should undoubtedly be given the opportunity to take part in after-school activities, but they should also be allowed to simply ‘be’; to have time to reflect, to socialise, to relax at home in an activity of their choice and to grow at their own pace.

SANDROYD PUPILS

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Open Morning

Friday 21st September 2018

9am - Arrival and Coffee, 9.30am - Head’s Welcome Talk 10am - 11am - School Tours

~

Year 3 Entrance Assessment (for September 2019 entry) Saturday 24th November 2018 Register now for Reception Entry in September 2020 Milbourne Lodge is a selective Pre-Preparatory and Preparatory School where boys and girls work hard and play hard. We have a reputation for academic excellence and strong traditional values.

‘Outstanding’ in All Areas SIS Inspection June 2017

www.milbournelodge.co.uk Arbrook Lane, Esher, Surrey, KT10 9EG T: 01372 462737 E: registrar@milbournelodge.co.uk

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“Excellent across all categories” ISI INSPECTION 2017

OPEN MORNINGS SAT 29TH SEPT 2018 9.00am until 11.30am

An invitation to discover Foremarke Hall...

If you are looking for immediate school provision or are planning ahead, a warm welcome awaits you at Foremarke Hall, an Independent Boarding and Day School for children aged 3 to 13.

To register your interest or for further information please contact the Registrar on 01283 707100.

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Student power

Colin Baty, head of Bedales Prep, Dunhurst, discusses implications for teaching and learning of the Florida high-school shooting

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doubt there is a teacher anywhere who absorbed the news of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Florida, and then the subsequent responses, with anything except a combination of sorrow, fury, admiration for the students’ demand that they be kept safe, and bafflement as to how this might be achieved.

Somewhere in the middle of all of this, we teachers must make sense of our responsibilities to the young people in our care. How would I feel about my staff – hired for their knowledge, skill,

empathy and dedication – having to carry guns, as has been proposed in the US? I would feel that the game had been lost, in truth. It would seem that a vocal chunk of the Floridian, and indeed the American, student population has also had enough of guns – irrespective of who is wielding them.

Perhaps, then, it is the principal responsibility of educators to help students to understand political and institutional structures. The gun debate is complex, highly politicised, and characterised by a race to the bottom in terms of tactics. The students’ organisation and mastery of media –

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“Our curricula must be adaptable and high on student input. It must be mindful of their hopes, fears and interests”

Talking

COLIN BATY Headmaster Bedales Prep, Dunhurst

STUDENTS AT BEDALES PREP, DUNHURST

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both conventional and social – has been total, relentless and highly strategic. Mr Trump has wavered – unthinkable not so long ago.

As I marvel at the skill, courage and tenacity with which students have conducted themselves, I am even further convinced of the folly that is the idea that adult educators know about the world and that their job is to teach it to young people (who don’t) so that the latter can successfully live in it. The response to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School rips up that particular playbook. Is there a politics teacher anywhere who would now presume to tell those students that he or she knows better when it comes to the exercise of power? I would hope not, although of course we might offer structure, context, precedent, and room for reflection.

This, in turn, requires us to have a school educational ethos and way of doing things that allows us to pick up on topics such as this one when they arise. Accordingly, our curricula must be flexible, adaptable, and high on student input. It must be mindful of the hopes, fears and interests of students, and it must never, ever presume to think that adults and institutions know best. We must remember that the world is waiting for, and needs, our students at their very best. No less importantly, we must have our students’ backs – to protect them as they work out how to make their worlds, and not simply to maintain the one that we have handed to them.

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Cracking the

CODE Absolutely Education meets the founder of Cypher Coding, Elizabeth Tweedale GEORGIA MCVEIGH

Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself.

A: I’m the founder of Cypher and we teach children to code through holiday camps. My background is in Computer Science and I have a Masters in architecture. Cypher’s been going for two years. I’m also a mother of two and I’ve got another one on the way.

Q: Could you tell us what Cypher is and what it aims to do?

A: At Cypher, we aim to prepare children for the future through an education in technology and computer science.

We believe that we are a crucial part of our students' journey in primary school and secondary school, as all careers will include not just technology, but at least a base understanding of coding and computing. Because we incorporate creative themes – such as architecture and fashion and digital art – we cover all bases.

We’re not creating a generation of computer scientists or coders, but teaching the base fundamentals everyone will have to know.

Courses are a week long and take place at holiday times, so for about 14 weeks a year.

Q: What age can children start and what programs do you teach?

A: Classes at Cypher are designed for ages 4-14. The younger children start, the better. They’re like little scientists at the beginning – they're always trying new things – logic is built into them.

We often have parents ask us which computing language they should be teaching their children. But our main purpose is to teach children the fundamentals behind the languages so that they can switch between them.

They all learn how to touch-type as part of our programme, and once they’ve reached the text-based languages, they learn to transition between them.

By understanding how the languages are built up, and the logic behind them, they can figure anything out because they’ve got the base fundamentals. This is not like learning Spanish or French. Languages here are all the same, just structured differently.

CYPHER CODERS GET TO WORK

“ THE YOUNGER CHILDREN START, THE BETTER . THEY ARE LIKE LITTL E SCIENTISTS AT T HE BEGINNING”

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Q: What’s the most popular course?

A: It’s difficult to say because children all have

such varied interests, but we have a lot of creative themes and in the afternoons there’s always a different themed project. Our courses are so broad and children learn to apply principles in coding and technology at all of them.

Q: Do they get a qualification?

A: All courses earn them a certificate of achievement at the end, and children can progress up through our levels. They start

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out as Micro Coders and move to Kilo Coders, and so on. These are age based, and within each course they work towards their own achievements. In the afternoons they’re doing their own projects, so they’re all getting something different, with different concepts covered that way.

A: The national curriculum sets the basis for what all children should learn as the bare minimum. Our curriculum is based on the core fundamentals of computer science, which aren’t really touched on until GCSEs or at university. We start this at aged four, so these concepts quickly become second nature.

further across the UK and London. We’ve done some initial camps in America, and had interest from the Middle East. We are also developing our foundation. As we grow, I’m keen to be able to give back and find a way to offer what we’re teaching to a broader range of children.

Q: Why is it so important for the future generation to learn to code?

A: With the rise of AI, the most important thing for the next generation is to understand what it is, how to program the robots, and how we can use technology to our advantage.

This will take over people’s jobs, so the future generation is going to have to adapt and change. The key skills that we need to be teaching them are areas like communication, collaboration, and creativity – things computers can’t do. That’s why coming to a camp is so different to sitting in front of a computer at home and learning to code online. Here, kids have to work together, understanding how to problem solve as part of a team.

Q: Where do you hold classes?

A: We hold our classes in schools and sometimes in community centres.

We’re located in places like Notting Hill, Twickenham, Hampton Hill, Chelsea and Harrow. We are also looking at expanding

Q: Which schools do you work with?

A: We have our after-school clubs in both independent and state schools. We are based predominantly in West London, and we have just started at Harrow, which is exciting.

Q: How does Cypher expand on coding taught in the national curriculum?

ELIZABETH TWEEDALE

Q: What about your own kids and coding?

A: My nine-year-old son has been coding for five years. He’s severely dyslexic, so it was hard for him to grasp it at first. But it really helps with dyslexic children because their brains work so differently. And things like touch-typing are so important because they can use this in exams. My daughter is seven and she just loves everything her older brother does. They already have their own online shop for their school charity. It’s really sweet.

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125 years of

GIRL POWER Susan Pepper, head of The Study Prep in Wimbledon, talks about her school’s ethos and 125-year history of educating girls for careers and life

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he Study Preparatory School, Wimbledon, has been educating girls since 1893, when a local governess set up a small school from the study of a private home in Wimbledon Village.

Demand for places soon grew, and a beautiful purpose-built school, Spencer House in Peek Crescent, opened its doors to local girls in 1901. The school went from strength to strength during the 20th century, and acquired the Wilberforce House site in the early

1990s, to accommodate demand for prep school places in the area.

A Wimbledon resident myself, I have been Headmistress since January 2011, and I am proud to be at the helm of a successful non-selective girls’ prep school, with many achievements across academics, sport and the creative arts. This year saw a record-breaking 39 scholarships awarded to the Year 6 group by leading senior schools.

However, The Study is not only about academic and sporting achievements, but also a creative ethos. Arts Council England has this year recognised this by awarding the school Artsmark Gold

“I am proud that it is the happiness of the girls, their solid friendships and their love of learning that stays with them”

Talking

SUSAN PEPPER Head of The Study Prep in Wimbledon

OPINION

CHILDREN PLAYING AT THE STUDY, WIMBLEDON

for the third time. The girls enjoy a variety of creative experiences, from residential choir trips and performing on stage at The New Wimbledon Theatre, to taking part in a huge array of workshops, trips, and visits.

As this year marks the 125th anniversary of the school, we are looking forward to welcoming back old girls of The Study – opening our doors to alumnae for a special celebration event in June. Spencer House was recently refurbished with a newly landscaped playground, and this celebration is a chance for the school’s alumnae to meet up with old friends, relive happy memories, and see the school looking at its best. There are exciting plans in the pipeline to improve the facilities at the Wilberforce House site too, for the benefit of the existing girls and for future generations.

The school has many unique strengths, but if I had to sum up what we’re about, it would be the warmth and sense of community of a traditional village school with the facilities of a preparatory school. I am very proud of the fact that it is the happiness of the girls, their solid friendships and their love of learning that stays with them as they move on to their senior schools.

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ONE OF FARLEIGH SCHOOL’S FEIPS (ENHANCED INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT) PRACTITIONERS TALKING TO AN OLDER PUPIL

A problem shared The role of the Independent Listener is a vital one in modern boarding schools SOPHIE PENDER-CUDLIP

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he bell rings at breaktime in a small rural prep school, nestled in the middle of the Dorset countryside. Girls in jodhpurs dash across to the stables narrowly missing a brood of hens strutting happily after a proud cockerel. The playground has become tarmac heaven for the scores of brightly clad rollerblading girls holding on to each other’s jumpers and pretending to be horseracing. I visit the school every other week in my new

role as an Independent Listener and am slowly getting to know the girls, thanks to my two dogs, a biddable black Labrador keen to catch a few biscuit crumbs off a passing child and a Border Terrier who is slightly more interested in keeping an eye on the passing chickens. One girl skips over and says cheerily: “You’ll fit in easily here because we all love dogs.”

The role of the Independent Listener forms part of the boarding inspection by the ISI (Independent Schools Inspectorate), the body approved by the Secretary of State for inspecting schools. Every school belonging to the ISC Association must have an Independent

Listener who is known and accessible to every boarding pupil. Their photo and a contact number can be seen on the wall of most boarding houses, offering children the option to speak to someone outside of the school.

The Independent Listener is not a trained counsellor and is only required to report back to the school if there is a safeguarding issue.

The role varies widely between schools, with some Independent Listeners – all of whom are voluntary – being much more involved in school life than others. Those that are more familiar to the children are more utilised, particularly by younger children. At

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Port Regis prep school, Len Renouf was the Independent Listener for 15 years up until his death in December 2016. ‘Listening Len’, as he was referred to by the children, was not only a familiar face in the boys’ boarding houses, but also on the touchline giving encouragement and as the scorer for the 1st XI cricket team.

“Len immersed himself in school life. He wasn’t a coach, a teacher, a houseparent or a tutor but someone the boys could speak to about anything they wanted to, independently from school. He was like everyone’s favourite grandfather,” says Phil Lawrence, a housemaster and head of PSHE. At some schools, such as Farleigh prep school, the Independent Listener has less participation, but headmaster, Fr Simon Everson says this is because, “we hope to intervene earlier and solve issues way before children need to speak to our Independent Listener”. At Farleigh, the children have relationships with a wide range of staff members, who meet regularly to discuss each child in the school. The school's emotional literacy support assistants are available to children from Reception to Year 5 and support those with additional emotional needs. If further development is needed, then Year 6 to 8 pupils participate in an enhanced and conversational pastoral support group. Father Simon says: “We have a whole network of adults who can recognise, anticipate and enable a child to feel stronger, resilient and more understood by us

'LISTENING LEN', WHO WAS AT PORT REGIS FOR 15 YEARS, WAS LIKE EVERYONE ’S FAVOURITE GRANDFATHER

and their families.

The fact that our Independent Listener is fairly redundant is a positive as we want to diagnose, intervene and help children feel liberated from their worries earlier. Every child needs to leave prep school feeling they’ve been understood and prepared for the world. All schools have different models in place and it’s about meeting the needs of the child, not just the system.”

In senior schools too, pastoral provision and its framework has been significantly extended in the last IN DISCUSSION AT BRYANSTON five years, with a huge increase in the safeguarding guidelines from the Department of Education as well as changes to legislation.

Bryanston School has had an Independent Listener for almost 30 years, with the second master Peter Hardy introducing it after the Children’s Act of 1989.

Preetpal Bachra, Head of Pastoral, says: “We aim to put the child first, and this means that the networks utilised must have different ways of supporting a child’s needs – and also for each cog in that system to

BOARDING

PUPILS AT PORT REGIS

be able to work with every other". The school’s network – its cogs – consists of the medical centre with many nurses (including one specialist in mental health), a daily GP surgery, access to a child psychiatrist, two visiting counsellors and a CBT counsellor. “The Independent Listener is part of the wider network of support, and if they can help one student then the role is relevant and important," says Bachra. "Pupils have told me they’ve spoken to the school’s Independent Listener. Sometimes they’re concerned about a friend or about themselves and issues of identity or authenticity, which they want to share with someone completely distant. It’s very important to have the medium to allow them to be supported. Extending the range of pathways to ‘opening up’ is crucial."

Alicia Drummond, Counsellor and Parenting Coach, who runs Let’s Talk, says: “The key thing in schools is to make sure there is a system in place which avoids children falling through the net. It’s about signposting early as issues are much easier to treat if they’re picked up on sooner".

Pastoral provision in boarding schools has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years, in tune with our increased awareness of children's mental health issues. Whether it is just being an occasional familiar face in the playground to a younger child or a reassuring voice on the end of the phone for a teenager, the role is an important part of a much bigger support network to let children know that they are listened to and in safe hands.

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PROVIDING FIRST CLASS SITTERS. ENSURING YOUR CHILDREN ARE IN THE SAFEST HANDS WE ARE A LOCAL BABYSITTING AGENCY OFFERING CHILDCARE SERVICES FOR ALL AGE CHILDREN IN BLACKHEATH, GREENWICH AND ALL SURROUNDING AREAS ALL OF OUR SITTERS ARE OFSTED REGISTERED, PAEDIATRIC FIRST AID CERTIFIED, ENHANCED DBS BACKGROUND CHECKED, IDENTITY VERIFIED, REFERENCE CHECKED, FULLY INSURED AND THOROUGHLY INTERVIEWED

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16/05/2018 14:42

‘One school, two buildings, great teaching, and tip top facilities.’ The Good Schools Guide The Study is a leading prep school situated in the heart of Wimbledon Village.

We identify and nurture each girl’s unique academic, creative and sporting skills in a caring and supportive community.

OPEN MORNING DATES: WEDNESDAY 23RD MAY 2018 WEDNESDAY 17TH OCTOBER 2018 TUESDAY 30TH OCTOBER 2018 (9:30 am - 11:00 am Doors Open at 9:20) For further details and to book a school visit, contact Jane Davis on 020 8947 6969 www.thestudyprep.co.uk Registered Charity No. 271012

We welcome enquires about our scheme of assistance with fees for girls aged 7+.

Preparatory School for girls aged four to eleven

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10/05/2018 10:27 THESTUDY.indd 1

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Prep

HEAD

London learning

Being in central London has huge benefits when it comes to taking learning out of the classroom, says Eaton Square School head Hilary Wyatt

B

eing based in central London is a wonderful benefit, and something we take advantage of every single day.

Our building, on Elvaston Place in South Kensington is conveniently located for a whole host of exciting, stimulating and unique resources that we encourage all of our teachers to use as frequently as possible when it comes to planning lessons.

For us, London is well and truly our ‘extra classroom’ and each yeargroup will have at least one lesson off-site each week. We take traditional subjects like maths, science and history and host them in the Science Museum, Natural History Museum and the Museum of London.

Recently, we held our entire Science Week at Imperial College, meaning students got to work alongside real scientists. The amazing teams at these institutions help to bring subjects to life and demonstrate examples, case studies and experiments that we’d never be able to recreate

in any classroom setting. Children are able to ask questions and discuss topics in detail with experts in those fields – making the experience even more exciting and much more likely to resonate with them.

As with many city centre schools, outdoor space is a real luxury, so in addition to maximising the room we have, London’s open spaces are a brilliant excuse for us to get students out in the open air to enjoy some of the city’s best parks. The vast majority of our sports and PE lessons take place in nearby Hyde Park. We play football, rounders and cricket,

“We held our entire Science Week at Imperial College, meaning students got to work alongside real scientists”

Talking

HILARY WYATT Headmistress Eaton Square School, Kensington

EATON SQUARE PUPILS

OPINION

LONDON PARKS ARE PERFECT FOR SPORTS

alongside athletics, and students relish the chance to use such a large open space to move around and fully immerse themselves in the activity.

We operate walking buses to and from off-site lessons; this helps to really instil a sense of responsibility and road safety in young people.

Alongside core subjects, a big focus of the curriculum and after-school clubs is music and the arts – from orchestra classes, singing lessons and band practice through to musical theatre, art lessons and drama clubs.

Here again, London is our classroom and we regularly host lessons in the capital’s superb theatres, galleries and music halls.

Since introducing these off-site lessons, feedback from the students has been incredibly positive, with many of them saying they look forward to these hands-on lessons more than any other. Likewise, we have seen an increase in engagement and enthusiasm – the students actually get to see for themselves real examples of the work they are studying. Whether it’s an inspiring play or performance, famous artwork or live science experiment, using London creatively and taking lessons out of class affords our students the opportunity to really get under the skin of the subject and develop their understanding of real-world applications of their knowledge.

SUMMER 2018

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Prep school located in Purley and South Croydon for Girls and Boys aged 2-13 At Cumnor House Nursery, Boys’ and Girls’ Schools, we pride ourselves on encouraging a genuine love for learning.

We challenge our children to aspire to high academic standards, and we are very proud of our record of scholarship and examination success to leading HMC schools, the Whitgift Foundation Schools and local grammar schools.

Now accepting applications for September 2019.

Walhampton_Happening history_HampshireLife.pdf

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12:31

Contact admissions@cumnorhouse.com 020 8 645 2614 cumnorhouse.com

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Happening history Happening history Open Morning 5th October 2018

Independent co-educational preparatory day, flexi and full-time boarding school, ages 2-13. Contact the school Registrar on 01590 613 303 or email registrar@walhampton.com WALHAMPTON SCHOOL, LYMINGTON, HAMPSHIRE SO41 5ZG.

www.walhampton.com

Registered charity Number: 307330

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16/05/2018 17:53

Prep

SEALOF

APPROVAL

The Tutors’ Association’s work to maintain high standards in an unregulated sector is invaluable, says a senior consultant at Gabbitas Education

OPINION

The Tutor’s Association TTA was set up, first and foremost, to create a community for members of the tutoring profession. TTA exists to provide tutors and agencies with support in six areas:

RECOGNI TI ON:

A

KIRSTY REED

British family recently approached us for emergency assistance in helping their daughter Emily apply for a place at a leading British boarding school. The family, who live overseas, were out of touch with the system and had therefore left it quite late to start preparations.

To start, Emily sat the UKiset test to assess her academic potential and English language skills, and we interviewed her by Skype. Her results were encouraging so we agreed on four schools for the family to visit which we felt would be most suited to Emily’s character, talent and ambitions.

Emily's school of choice required her to sit the Common Entrance exam. Only a month away, the way to ensure Emily had the best WILL ORR-EWING, FOUNDER OF KEYSTONE TUTORS AND BOARD MEMBER OF TTA

chance of success was to send one of our most respected tutors to stay with the family for a week of intensive tutoring.

Our tutor, Matthew, was hand-picked from a pool of highly qualified, often Oxbridge educated, DBS checked tutors.

Matthew is a Cambridge graduate who has an excellent reputation for entrance exam success and complies with all our rigorous codes of conduct as set down by The Tutor’s Association (TTA).

Tutoring is a profession that employs hundreds of thousands of people and one that, consequently, touches and potentially transforms the lives of millions of children and adults as students. As a founding member of the Association, Gabbitas believes that with this level of influence comes responsibility. Membership of TTA is a significant reassurance to parents that a tutor or an agency takes that responsibility seriously.

TTA holds an Annual Conference at which hundreds of tutors and agencies gather to listen to an array of speakers on a range of topics that reflect the diversity of the tutoring industry and supplementary education sector. The conference represents a microcosm of the activities TTA undertakes in support of its objectives to provide development, engagement, collaboration and reputational advancements for the profession.

When asked about the ambitions of the Association, its President Adam Muckle says, “It is our aim to be a standard-bearer for good practice and to demonstrate the highest standards of self-regulation.”

As for Emily? Her results were fantastic and she was offered a place at her school of choice, starting in September 2018.

Of a commitment to behaving ethically and professionally

D EVELOPMENT:

Opportunities to learn and acquire new skills (or hone existing ones)

CO L L A B O R AT I O N : Opportunities to exchange knowledge and experience

RE SOU RCE S :

Access to information and resources that assist with all aspects of tutoring

EN GAGE MENT: Helping to shape the future of the profession

R E P U TAT I O N : Creating a voice for the profession and building bridges

For more information on The Tutor's Association visit thetutorsassociation.org.uk

“ T UTORS HAVE GR E AT I N F LUEN C E , AND WITH I N F LUEN C E CO ME S RESPON SIBILIT Y ” SUMMER 2018

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SMART

summer Oppidan Education camps offer learning plus the great outdoors GEORGIA MCVEIGH

F

inally, clever Brits are embracing the North American summer camp dream. But gone are s’mores, hotdogs, and bugles in favour of plain marshmallows, slightly overdone British sausages, familiar games and learning opportunities that add something special to the mix. Rising stars of the tutoring world Oppidan Education have run with this bright idea, offering week-long camps that take place over the Easter and summer breaks.

They’ve used the concept of an American camp environment and transformed it into something quintessentially British.

The brainchild of two Old Etonians, Henry Faber and Walter Kerr, Oxford and Durham graduates respectively, the camps revolve around an “invisible learning” approach: learning with the aim of instilling a love of education without the stress of exams or targets.

No more stuffy old teachers hammering Latin grammar into terrified eight-year-olds – Faber and Kerr’s idea is much cleverer than that.

Using the skills of only the best and the brightest “mentors” (the word tutor still, apparently, holds too many bad connotations), their philosophy revolves around the development of a particular set of skills to aid learning.

Travelling to one of their two countryside locations, Culden Faw Estate in Henley or The Woodhall Estate in Hertfordshire, children aged eight to thirteen can expect a host of activities: from sport, practical skills and team games to cooking and interactive lessons. Think summer days spent predominantly outside, followed by long evenings toasting marshmallows in front of a campfire, stepping back to a time before screens or mobile phones. But it’s the "supercurricular" programme that gives these camps their edge. Driven by pure energy from the mentor team, the camps play host to Dragon’s Den-style business pitches, drone building and coding, outdoor creative writing and maths games, science and rockets, a debating club, poetry and drama games. With such a myriad of activities, there’s something for all children, whether their orientation is arts or sciences.

In fostering these skills, each disguised as part of the “invisible learning” programme, Oppidan hopes to encourage the crucial skills children need for help with exam and interview preparation, helping them to build up confidence and find areas in which they can excel. The aim of Oppidan is to make learning fun and take it outside the classroom, so this camp feels like the best bits of the larger American camps, but with a clear focus on the individual child – less Camp Nowhere and more Dead Poet’s Society.

A CAMP LEADER WITH HAPPY CAMPERS

On the practical side, children are accommodated in single-sex bell tents, each with a capacity for eight people, and the mentors sleep nearby in case of any problems. Every mentor is DBS checked and first-aid trained, and will be sure to inform parents if anything goes wrong.

The camps can accommodate children from Years 4-8 and each child is placed in a group suitable for their age range.

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And for those with the garden space who want a more exclusive event, Oppidan also offers private camps. These are, obviously, more flexible, and run for a minimum of ten children, so if your child is not likely to enjoy going away (or you don't want to lose them) they can do summer camp at home among their friends. These private camps take a more focused approach – for younger children there is emphasis on sport and “focused fun”, whereas thirteen-year-olds can expect a Common Entrance preparation course – but with all the best parts of the main camp schedule thrown in. Children will still be accommodated outside, so there’s no need to worry about stashing the prize china, either.

In fact, the Camps have seen such demand that Faber and Kerr have gone international, travelling to China to deliver the same approach that’s made the British camps so successful. This summer they will also be present at the Peligoni Club in Greece for a week, running one-to-one

‘OPPIDAN EDUCATION HAS TAKEN THE CONCEPT OF AMERICAN CAMPS AND TRANSFORMED IT INTO SOMETHING QUINTESSENTIALLY BRITISH’

tutoring for children who are preparing for exams plus a group study club, so parents who think that summer is just that little bit too long can ensure some mental stimulation directed by only the brightest of mentors.

Oppidan’s success is a testament to their team and drive, and by reworking the idea of the traditional tutor, they have come up

HOLIDAY LE ARNING

COOKING MARSHMALLOWS ON THE FIRE

with a seductive formula. One of the best things about their approach is that, in focusing learning so that it’s applicable to the everyday, they have given tutoring a fresh and modern facelift. The other big plus is that they have taken lessons back in time by basing them outside and away from screens – a real winner for any parent who worries that their child spends way too much time indoors staring at a phone or tablet.

P R I VAT E C A M P S £450 per child for a minimum of 10

• MAIN CAMP £660 per child

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Securing the best start for your child Bespoke and informed advice to navigate the complex British Education System. Janie Richardson School Search provides families with experienced insight and tailored support, ensuring the best educational choices are made at the right time for your child.

“Janie helped to demystify the British school system and gave us clear focus.

Her assessment and insights have been the single biggest influence on my daughter’s selection into our school of choice in the UK.” — MRS K AGARWAL, SINGAPORE

Consultation and Advice

Individual Assessments

School Search & Placement

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YELLOWBIRD.indd 1

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Making the most of childhood…

For further information, call 01963 442 606 Hazlegrove, Sparkford, Somerset, BA22 7JA

Co-educational boarding and day prep school, ages 2½ - 13, in beautiful Somerset 01963 442 606 | www.hazlegrove.co.uk | admissions@hazlegrove.co.uk HAZLEGROVE.indd 1

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Prep

Talking

SEN

Skill Set

Clare King, head of The Moat School, explains the importance of The Duke of Edinburgh Awards for the school’s SEN programme

T

he Duke of Edinburgh programme at The Moat School serves a multitude of purposes. As a city school, we believe it is important to give pupils the option to get out of the capital and explore the rest of the UK. The lack of a mobile service and loss of ‘Snapchat streaks’ is quickly forgotten once it is explained they’re on their own to navigate to camp for the night. With pupils from all over London attending The Moat, it is also important to have a shared experience amongst pupils, and the Duke of Edinburgh Award allows pupils from different areas to bond over a mutual love (or disdain) of the countryside.

Self-sufficiency is integral to our DofE programme and ties into The Moat’s SEN programme. As a SpLD specialist school (focusing on Dyslexia, ADD, High Functioning Autism and other associated diagnoses), our therapeutic programme is built into everything that we do. Skills that are often overshadowed in a traditional school environment, such as navigation and independent organisation, are key to our pupils' personal development plan.

Julia McIntyre, who heads our DofE programme, says: "The expeditions help facilitate personal growth way beyond the classroom. Pupils' self-confidence and belief grows when they are out of their comfort zone. Expeditions help curb a culture of instant gratification.

The hot bath and comfy bed after a trip

“The award plays a vital role in giving formal recognition to our pupils’ range of talents”

HEAD

CLARE KING Headmistress The Moat School

THE MOAT PUPILS ON EXPEDITION

are always so much more appreciated."

Adam Ford has been leading and training groups with the school’s DofE programme for a number of years. He adds: "The experience the pupils have is quite unique in terms of the level of challenge and, in turn, the successes they experience at the completion of their award. Many pupils face significant challenges with personal organisation and independence, as well as significant social and emotional difficulties when compared to pupils in a mainstream setting. It can be a daunting experience – but one our pupils have consistently risen to.

"For many, it is their first true experience of independence and pupils regularly discover skills they never knew they had – be it navigation, camp craft, physical fitness or, for some, leadership skills. It is rewarding to see pupils tackle problems for themselves – often in interesting and imaginative ways – and they return with closer bonds with their peers and new insights into themselves as individuals."

After receiving our certification as a licenced Duke Of Edinburgh Centre in February 2018, we have the flexibility as a provider to supervise, assess, and adapt where necessary, in collaboration with the DofE programme. As a SEN school, it is often necessary to adapt parts of the grading system in order to be inclusive of all of our pupils, although we keep it as challenging as possible throughout.

We now offer the Silver level award, and this continues to include the vital community service aspects of the award. At The Moat, a focus on personal and social development is integrated throughout our curriculum, and the Silver award allows for these skills to be put to use throughout the local community. Pupils' achievements also gain recognition by colleges and universities when they begin applying for post-16 education. Before joining The Moat, many of our pupils struggled in an education systems not designed to recognise the range of talents that they possess, and so the award plays a vital role in giving formal recognition to these skills and interests.

SUMMER 2018

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HOME or AWAY? Why choose boarding for the SEN child?

CHARLOT TE PHILLIPS

A

perhaps surprising number of pupils with SEN will board for at least some of their schooldays.

For those with very complex or profound difficulties who require intensive support, residential care can be the best way of providing this. For other families, it’s down to logistics. If the perfect specialist education is on one side of the country and work or other family commitments on the other, boarding is often the only realistic solution.

But boarding can also be an important, and valuable, part of the therapeutic process for children whose needs go beyond classroom support.

From making friends to changing duvet covers, planning and cooking meals to operating a washing machine, boarding can be an invaluable way for pupils to learn the social and organisational skills that will one day allow them to lead independent lives – and do so with aplomb. It’s the reason that many schools encourage pupils, even those living very close to a school, to start spending nights away. Surrounded by people who know how they tick, when to step in – and when to step back – it can be a happy, confidence-inspiring experience for both parents and children.

But what to look out for in a boarding school?

Boarding for the first time can be unsettling for any child. For those with SEN, the uncertainties and worries are often magnified.

There are key questions to consider. First, how good is the school at working with parents to prepare children for this new experience?

Are there online or visual guides that show clearly how it works and what pupils are expected to do? What personal possessions are they able to take (pictures, duvet covers, even pets) so their room becomes their own?

Secondly, does the school’s approach get the official stamp of approval? Ofsted carries out separate accommodation inspections. What is the school’s rating? (They can drop or rise rapidly.)

How is unstructured free time after school and at

“ BEI N G SU R R OU NDE D

BY PEOPL E W HO K NOW H OW T HEY TI C K CAN BE A H APPY EX PER IE NCE FOR SEN PUPILS” weekends organised? It may be the highlight of the week for most boarders but unsettling to those with social or communication difficulties – so is someone there to help pupils plan their time? Is there a quiet place they can retreat to if they need time out?

An action-packed programme for boarders can sound amazing, but does it include activities your child enjoys, and are staff on hand to encourage (and keep on encouraging) pupils to try something new? If your child has a niche interest (wind turbines and George VI

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PREP SE N A SELECTION OF SEN BOARDING SCHOOLS IN THE UK APPLEFORD SCHOOL

• 129 pupils, 76 boarders, aged 7-18 For children with dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties such as dyspraxia and dyscalculia Wiltshire SP3 4HL appleford.wilts.sch.uk

BRECKENBROUGH SCHOO

• 49 boys, 20 boarders, aged 9-19 For boys with complex learning and emotional needs including ASD and ADHD North Yorkshire YO7 4EN breckenbrough.org.uk

BREDON SCHOOL

• 249 pupils, 97 boarders, aged 7-18, For children with dyslexia, dyspraxia and other specific learning needs Gloucestershire GL20 6AH bredonschool.org

BRUERN ABBEY SCHOOL

• 150 boys, 119 boarders, aged 7-13 For bright but often very dyslexic boys, some with additional needs such as Asperger’s or ADHD Oxfordshire OX26 1UY bruernabbey.org

FREWEN COLLEGE

ALL PICTURES: PUPILS AT BREDON SCHOOL IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE

are two examples recently encountered) will the school be right behind them?

Try to find out how good the staff – from subject teachers to matrons to therapists – are at talking to each other. If a child is sleeping badly, has lost a prized possession or had a meltdown in a lesson, will there be a bit of unobtrusive extra support to get them through a bad time? Another question to consider is the boarding accommodation. Slightly scruffy isn’t necessarily an issue as long as it’s clean, tidy, secure, well supervised and organised, with instructions and visual timetables to make the routine easy to understand.

Bullying happens even in the best schools but children with SEN frequently won’t report it, so how is it spotted and dealt with, particularly if it happens in free time?

And finally, do boarding staff ‘get’ your child – understand and empathise with their quirks? Does their experience extend to pupils with similar difficulties and how have they been supported? Are they kind, empathetic and welcoming when you visit? If a boarding school makes parents feel at home, children, whatever their learning needs, are far more likely to feel the same way.

• 110 pupils, a third boarders, aged 7-18 For children with a specific learning difficulty or speech and language disorder.

East Sussex TN31 6NL frewencollege.co.uk

LIMPSFIELD GRANGE

• 71 girls, 24 boarders, aged 11-16 For girls with communication and interaction needs, most with autism Surrey RH8 0RZ www.limpsfield-grange.surrey.sch.uk

MORE HOUSE SCHOOL

• 470 boys, 120 boarders, aged 8-18 For boys with a primary diagnosis of SpLD (Farnham), Surrey GU10 3AP morehouseschool.co.uk

SWALCLIFFE PARK

• 47 boys, including boarders, aged 11-19 For boys with spectrum and conditions Oxfordshire, OX15 5EP swalcliffepark.oxon.sch/uk

THE GOOD SCHOOLS GUIDE Education Consultants provides bespoke advice on special schools. For more information and to read comprehensive reviews of the schools listed above please visit: goodschoolsguide.co.uk or tel: 0800 368 7694

SUMMER 2018 | 7 1

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N U F T N A WE W N U S E H T IN

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SUMMER CAMPS, P90

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School’s Out

PUBLIC SPE AKING

SPEAKING OUT For those who teach and examine it, speech & drama brings the skills and confidence needed for life – as well as an innate understanding of the power of the spoken word.

A self-confessed fan investigates what it can give to children L I B BY N O R M A N

L

et’s start by declaring a bias – mine. At age eight, my parents offered me a choice: solo music lessons or a speech & drama class. I chose the latter and, armed with nothing more than an eight-year-old’s enthusiasm for poetry, I turned up for my first small-group lunchtime class. Every week, five of us gathered (our wonderful teacher let us sit on desks but we could never slouch when performing). We practised poetry and prose speaking, as well as individual and group projects. We entered exams and received feedback from kind but sometimes quite stern outsiders. Ten years on, and still with the same teacher, I completed my final Adult exam, having learned more poems off by heart and competed in more festivals and debating competitions than I can recall.

Over the decade I took speech & drama, I struggled to explain or shrug off the misconceptions of peer group friends that I was ‘learning to speak prawper’, rather as if I were some modern incarnation of Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion. To the uninitiated, speech & drama is, even today, often perceived as elocution of the ‘how now brown

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ABOVE AND FACING PAGE: PUPILS FROM HAZELGROVE, WHERE SPEECH AND DRAMA IS A VITAL PART OF THE MIX

cow’ variety. There’s even the suggestion it panders to old-world snobberies – RP and all that. In fact, it’s not about changing accents or overriding regional or cultural heritage. Rather, its essence is teaching clear communication of the spoken word and learning to persuade through oracy.

Becoming a good listener – and accepting and giving feedback in a collegiate fashion – is intrinsic in this process. These days, speech & drama can earn UCAS points if you take exams in it.

There are a number of examining bodies – including New Era Academy (NEA), LAMDA, Trinity College London and my own alma mater English Speaking Board (ESB). The syllabuses vary, but typically children read poetry and prose, write and present projects and participate in individual and group impromptu work, such as debates or drama. There is a common goal of these syllabuses to not only test ability to hold attention and speak persuasively, but also test understanding of the subject matter – the meaning behind that poem, story or project.

There are obvious benefits of the process, not least of which is developing a skill for working with few or no notes and memorising passages of poetry, drama and prose, but practitioners say its benefits go way beyond this. Miranda Jacobs, examinations director of NEA, is convinced that it is an invaluable skill for life. NEA works with young people

from Early Years and up. While all children benefit from the functional skills – being able to read clearly out loud, examining poetry and prose in depth and self-awareness – she believes the biggest rewards can be for the shyer children, rather than natural performers. “Nothing is greater to see than a shy and reserved child grow and blossom through the process”.

She says that all children develop comprehension skills useful for English and other curriculum areas. They also practise and gain a clear understanding of phrasing, modulation and breath control – also how to colour words to create “word pictures”. In other words, they develop the kind of skills

“CO M M U N I CATI O N – AN D TH E A B I L I T Y TO WATC H A N D L E A R N FR OM OTH E RS – A R E I N VA LUA B L E L I F E S K I L LS”

needed in real-world situations, from school and university interviews to presentations to earn a job or business contract. They also develop their tastes – being given a choice when it comes to poetry, prose and projects you tackle is a great way to encourage children to get passionate – and whether it’s ponies, Thomas the Tank Engine or nuclear physics, an examiner or adjudicator will listen intently and then drill down to find out how much they really know.

John Lawton, head of examinations at LAMDA, says that the testing of knowledge is a vital part of the awards for all its exams – 20 per cent rests on this. “We are looking for depth and breadth,” he says. This means that a passage read from a play isn’t just about regurgitating the action, but understanding context, the roles you are portraying, why these people are here at this point in the play. Even the very youngest exam candidate – perhaps asked to talk about their favourite toy – is encouraged to verbalise feelings, explain what something means to them and why.

For children with SEN – and all the boards work with children with different degrees of difficulty – adjustments can be made. Some children won’t take an exam but will earn a certificate and get encouragement and positive feedback. “We ensure the setting is tailored to them,” says Jacobs of NEA. “The goal is always to create a nurturing environment, to bring the best out of each child.”

John Lawton says that LAMDA works with children who have a range of learning difficulties and disabilities, from dyslexia and autistic spectrum conditions to sight and hearing impairment. “Our only caveat is that all exams are conducted in English – we make every adjustment we can within that”.

Emma de la Poer, who teaches speech & drama (LAMDA syllabus) at Hazelgrove Preparatory School in Yeovil, Somerset, says that she has seen particular benefits for children with dyslexia. “All children benefit from the classes, but children with dyslexia do really seem to shine. They are with the same small group of people every week so are among friends, and suddenly standing up and reading or speaking out loud doesn’t seem so hard anymore.”

At Hazelgrove, de la Poer also prepares her star pupils for drama scholarships (notable recent successes have included pupils awarded scholarships to Roedean and King’s Bruton), but like all practitioners she is anxious to stress that speech & drama is

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not only for the natural performers, the high fliers; it is of benefit to all children. She says: “Confidence, communication and presentation – and the ability to watch and learn from others – are invaluable life skills and all children can learn them”. John Lawton of LAMDA says humility is inherent. “It’s a very collaborative process, with a huge emphasis on bouncing ideas off each other, especially in ensemble work. Speech & drama also teaches people to be generous.”

Tina Doyle, who is a teacher with NEA and has worked across independent and state sectors in Peterborough – including in schools where 23 languages are spoken –

says it is a wonderful vehicle for teaching empathy. “We spend so much time in front of screens that it’s easy to forget how to judge situations, read people’s expressions. The art of communication through speech is so important, and through the process of classes, examination, competition and feedback children also learn to watch others, learn from mistakes, and gain skills to take them through life.”

Like every practitioner in the field, Doyle and Lawton believe that training in communication would benefit children in all schools, with particular payback for children in less affluent areas and those where English is not the household’s first or main language.

John Lawton of LAMDA carried out an action research piece in London, speaking to 1,000 parents to ask them their perspectives on what their children had gained from speech & drama classes. He says: “It was a small sample, but 97 per cent of the 1,000 parents polled said that their children had gained in confidence. This extended across all areas of the curriculum – in English, but also assertiveness in classroom and group situations”.

There are small but encouraging signs that oracy education is being recognised as a valuable skill for all schoolchildren. English Speaking Board participated in a recent dialogue in Parliament organised by the English Speaking Union and championed

by MP for Hull West Emma Hardy MP. As one Year 5 student who attended the event commented: “What’s the point of having great ideas if you’re not going to be heard?”.

Arguments voiced in the meeting for increasing opportunities in schools attracted

PUBLIC SPE AKING

“ FO R S EN C H I L D R EN, T H E GOA L I S A LWAYS TO TO B R IN G T H E B E ST OU T OF E AC H C H IL D”

support from, among others, the Association of School and College Leaders.

The old-school idea of a bit of ‘dramatics’ or ‘learning to speak prawper’ still clouds some people’s understanding. People also overlook how big a deal this it is for children – and what they achieve. Timothy McCarthy sits on the Board of Trustees of The British and International Federation of Festivals for Music, Dance and Speech – the international organisation that oversees the many festivals that take place each year to celebrate amateur performance. A speech & drama specialist, he also runs a festival in Cork, Ireland, Feis Maitiú Corcaigh, which this year attracted 9,000 participants.

While music and dance are important parts of the mix, he believes that speech & drama is vital and valuable – not least because children don’t need any special level of technical or athletic ability to start performing and because they really are demonstrating extraordinary levels of individual courage. “As an adjudicator, you often see that when children perform they don’t realise what they have achieved until it’s finished. And then the look of self-belief is wonderful. It’s a huge thing we are asking them to do – to express thoughts and ideas confidently on a public stage with an audience.

I recently had a group of five-year-olds at the festival and before they started I asked if there were any parents who were prepared to come up onto the stage to read out a poem first. Not one of them would because they were all too embarrassed.”

It would be good to see speech & drama promoted throughout all schools, not the lucky few. You can’t help but reflect on how history might have panned out if the Greeks, Romans, and – come to that – our own Parliamentarians – hadn’t been capable of a fair bit of oracy down the years.

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for Summer From return from a favourite author to a farewell to an old friend, our pick of books to be reading this summer

M U ST READ

ART ATTACK

CO LO R AMA : FRO M FU SCH IA TO M I DN IG HT B LU E

By Cruschiform

For all the budding artists out there, this book aims to uncover the complexities of colour and explain them to younger readers.

Th rough beautiful illustrations, discover how pink is sometimes fuchsia instead. £19.99, prestelpublishing.randomhouse.de

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Magic Bond THE WIZARDS OF ONCE

by Cressida Cowell

A true tale of friendship, this is the thrilling adventure of a young boy wizard and a young girl warrior who absolutely hate each other. But the rise of evil means they have to put their differences aside... £11.99 hachette.co.uk

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BOOKS

RAINBOW WORLD W H AT ’ S YO U R FAV O U R I T E C O L O U R ?

By Eric Carle and Friends

From the author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and a plethora of picture book-creating friends, this vibrant tome delves into the world of colours and their many evocative associations. £7.99, walker.co.uk

CO O L CO M PA R I S O N S TA L L E S T T O W E R , S M A L L E S T S TA R

By Kate Baker and Page Tsou Studio

Little Linguists

If you’ve ever wondered whether a hummingbird could outfl y a jet plane or how many atoms fit into a grain of sand, this wonderfully illustrated book will sate your curiosity. Its vintage feel and intricate drawings are sure to delight kids and adults alike. £14.99, templarco.co.uk

H O W T O S AY 1 T O 5 I N F I V E L A N G U AG E S

By Kenard Pak

Learn how to count to five in Japanese, Spanish, English, French and Mandarin with this colourful and interactive book.

The press and listen feature helps with pronunciation as kids meet and count with five children from around the world. quartoknows.com

SWAP FEAT

F I N A L FA R E W E LL

SU M M ERTI M E STORI ES

by Enid Blyton

PA D D I N G T O N AT S T PA U L’ S

By Michael Bond

Everyone is familiar with the works of Enid Blyton, but few are aware that she wrote for periodicals, too. These heart-warming short stories are perfect for reading in the sunshine, and are just as much fun and fast-paced as her better known works.

From goblins to camping to picnics, we want to read them all. £6.99, hachette.co.uk

Paddington is embarking on his fi nal adventure in celebration of his 60th anniversary. The book will be published in June – a year after the death of creator Michael Bond. It’s a wonderful keepsake to celebrate the lives of Paddington and his founder. £12.99, harpercollins.co.uk

SUMMER 2018

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W

hen prolific children’s writer Dame Jacqueline Wilson was a child, naturally, she loved to read. But she remembers her mother always telling her to 'get your head out of that book and go and do something useful'. She laughs, at the memory as we talk to her on the phone, adding: “Times have changed so much".

Jacqueline’s voice is calm and soothing.

Her love of literature clearly comes across in her turns of phrase, and she uses words like “beguiling”. When speaking about children she evokes a sense of mischief, which has often been a staple personality trait of her most famous characters, including Hetty Feather and Tracy Beaker. Through her work with educational institutions around the world, Jacqueline has already made big strides in helping to foster a love of literature among children, which is why, in 2008, she was named a Dame. But she still has plenty of great ideas on how we – as parents – can help our children to enjoy reading…

JACQUELINE WILSON WRITES ABOUT CHILDREN WHO ARE THE ODD ONES OUT

The

Greatest Gift We caught up with Dame Jacqueline Wilson to talk about how parents can help share the joy of reading K AT Y G I L L E T T

Q: Why do you believe reading is so important for children today?

A: I’m not anti social media and looking at YouTube or the television at all, but I think reading is the greatest joy for anybody.

Certainly, for me, it’s the thing I like to do most.

When [I travel], I shall have several outfits, but I’ll also have at least five books with me. I’m not a Kindle person, I prefer actual, real books, and I think with children – even a child who thinks reading is boring – you can only find the right book for them. And if you bring up a child so that you read aloud to them at bedtime and they associate reading with cuddling up and having fun, you can make really keen readers for life.

I think it’s one of the greatest gifts you can give children. Reading is entertainment, it stimulates the imagination, it helps create empathy for other people. If reading isn’t something you can do fluently you are really hindered in life. There are just so many reasons why reading is the best thing ever to learn.

Q: What tips do you have for parents looking to encourage their kids to read for pleasure?

A: I think parents should treat books like a treat, as if they were giving out bags of sweets.

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Q&A

WHEN WE ASK JACQUELINE WILSON HOW MANY BOOKS SHE’S WRITTEN, SHE ADMITS SHE’S LOST COUNT. SHE GUESSES AT 108!

my books is to show that if somebody seems a bit different don’t automatically assume that they’re weird. I specialise in characters that are the odd ones out. It’s comforting for children.

Then they read on and this child who doesn’t have much going for them actually wins out at the end. I don’t have fairytale endings, but I try to make them as happy and satisfying as I can.

I think if you thrust a book onto a child and say 'here, read this, it’s good for you' [laughs] they’re going to feel a bit resistant.

Also, sometimes parents nag their children about reading and actually don’t often read themselves. If a parent is just forever on their favourite social media site, or hooked on television, and never reads, it doesn’t actually send a message to a child that reading is a lovely thing to do. Children learn by example.

Q: Did your daughter like reading?

A: Luckily for me my daughter loved being read to from when she was a baby.

She would sit on my lap and we we'd look at pictures, and read picture books.

She learned to read quite young, but even though she could read very well for herself I still read to her – bigger books she might have found too challenging at the time. When I look back, I think these are the loveliest moments from her childhood.

“PARENTS SHOUL D TREAT BOOKS AS I F THEY WERE G I VI N G OUT BAG S OF SWEETS”

Q: What advice would you offer parents of kids who are interested in writing a novel or short story?

A: I think that’s exciting and it’s great to encourage children. I want to issue a word of caution, though: I have lots of children and quite a few parents writing to me, asking: 'How can I get my child’s work published?' You can go down the route of self-publishing, and that’s fine, and I’m sure grannies and aunties are thrilled to bits to get a book at Christmas

written by a beloved child.

But I think so many parents seem to think that just because a family loves the story it’s totally publishable. We hate disappointing children, but it’s so desperately rare that any child can get a story published.

I try and impress upon children that if you get fed up with a story, it doesn’t matter if you stop writing it. If all the fun has gone out of it I think there’s no point.

If you suddenly run out of ideas for one story, close down your computer or put your notebook away, and maybe in a couple of days start another story.

The whole point is it’s meant to be enjoyable, and I’m so pleased that so many children do like writing their own stories now.

Q: What message are you ultimately trying to put across in your own stories?

A: The overwhelming message in most of

Q: How was it, being named a Dame?

A: I was absolutely delighted!

Also particularly when it was for services to literature, and I felt that it wasn’t really just an honour for me, but it was for all the children’s writers that go around schools and libraries and festivals and give lots of talks to try and pass on the joys of reading. I’m very proud to be a Dame, but I certainly don’t insist on it as a title. I’m just plain Jacqueline Wilson – that’ll do me!

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I recently finished another Victorian book called Rose Rivers, which will be out soon [published May 2018]. I’ve also started writing about a popular character of mine again, and now I’ve decided to write about her when she’s grown up.

Q: Can you tell us which character it is?

A: I’m not supposed to say! So I’ll stay quiet and keep people on tenterhooks.

Rose Rivers is published on 17th May by Penguin Books; penguin.co.uk SUMMER 2018

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FLOURISH AND FLY! As she looks forward to September’s new intake, Claire Boyd, Head of the Prep School at Sydenham High School GDST, recommends strategies that all parents can use to help prepare their child for starting school

“I T ’S A MIL ESTO N E TO STA RT SCHO O L A N D S UMMER H O LIDAYS A RE A G OLDEN TIME TO L AY FO UN DATIO N S FOR THIS EXCITIN G N EW CHA PTER”

SYDENHAM HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS

A

t this time of year, as Prep School Head, I cannot help but start to feel a sense of excited anticipation as plans are made to welcome our new girls into Reception in September. As the eager-faced pre-schoolers and their (often nervous) parents visit us for settling-in days and discover-your-school sessions, I am reminded about how exciting and important a milestone it is to start school. No matter what nursery experiences may have gone before, starting school represents the biggest educational and social step your child will make; it is an important event for the whole family.

Starting school opens up a new frontier of opportunities and a wealth of new experiences for your child. The summer holiday is a golden opportunity for parents to lay the positive foundations for this exciting new chapter. Over the weeks leading up the start of the school year, there are lots of ways to help them make a smooth and happy transition into school life.

Each child is unique and will experience the process differently; however, here are key areas I would suggest to help pave the way to success: ESTABLISH POSITIVE ROUTINES • Help your child adjust to the wake up and bed time routines they will experience when they start school. Phase out nap times and make sure they are ready for early starts. This will help make sure they have adjusted to the sleep patterns they need by the time September comes round.

GIVE THEM ESSENTIAL SKILLS • Parents often worry about making sure their children can recite the alphabet and colours of the rainbow, but the most valuable skills for any child starting school are to be able to go to the toilet, feed, dress and undress themselves independently.

BUILD SCHOOL FAMILIARITY • If possible, make the journey to and from your child’s new school a few times before they start the new term there. By building up this sense of familiarity, you will reduce any first-day nerves.

GET CONNECTED WITH PEERS • Find out if any other new school starters live locally to you and set up a summer holiday meet. You can help your child forge new friendships that will carry them into the new term and give them that extra confidence for September.

THE TEAM HERE ARE EXPERTS IN GIRLS

At Sydenham High School GDST we consider ourselves to be experts in girls, and this is never truer than in our care for our youngest learners.

We have a long history of providing a first-class education to girls aged four through to 18. To see what makes us special, come along to one of our open events or weekly tours and find out more about what we could offer your four year old this September.

SY D E N H A M H I G H S C H O O L G D S T Next Whole School Open Day: Saturday 15 September, 9am-1pm admissions@syd.gdst.net 020 8557 7004 sydenhamhighschool.gdst.net

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Nursery 2.0 A new and creative breed of Early Years provider is pioneering a radical rethink of childcare in London HELEN BARON

E

arly Years childcare is always a hot topic. Almost from the moment your first baby is born, it’s there at the back of your mind, niggling away. For many parents, the question is: what do I do when it’s time to go back to work, or when I want to get baby socialised and stimulated in a way that’s hard to do every day, alone, at home?

There are home-based options, of course – nannies and childminders – but the most popular choice remains an “early years setting”, a preschool or nursery where your offspring can mix with other children and learn about the world in a safe, structured environment. They’re usually cheaper than nannies and they encourage the building of those important first friendships.

Sound good? The snag – because there’s always a catch – is provision. The good Early Years providers are often heavily oversubscribed. They’re also often very expensive; many women returning to work after maternity leave report spending a sum equivalent to all or almost all of their salary on their child’s new daycare arrangements.

In such a climate, it’s easy to forget that parents and their little ones are the consumers in this transaction; parties (and profits) that Early Years providers should be hellbent on winning, impressing, serving and satisfying. It’s this notion – too often forgotten

HUCKLETREE, WEST LONDON

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NEW CHILDCARE

N FAMILY CLUB, NORTH LONDON

– that underpins the pioneering approaches of several new London-based providers, who are setting out to diversify and deepen what an Early Years setting can offer to its customers.

“ T HE REAL LY G OOD EARLY YEARS PROVI DERS ARE OF T EN HEAVI LY OVERSUB SC RI BED”

N Family Club ne such provider is Stoke Newington’s N Family Club, a new nursery that’s also a private member’s club and with a clean-cut family focus.

The nursery is, well, a nursery – albeit an extraordinarily tasteful, high-end one. Think beautiful wooden toys in a design-led space you’d be happy to call your home. But head down at weekends or on weekday evenings and you’ll find something altogether more surprising: an on-site café abuzz with parents enjoying perfect flat whites as their kids reunite with playmates; fitness and wellbeing classes for the whole family; and expert advice sessions for parents. The additional services breathe new life into the setting and add real value for families.

O

In their own words, N Family Club: “set out to transform family life in the city by housing everything young families need under one roof”. That also includes a kids’ activity programme, film club and all-weekend crèche (AKA, heaven on Earth).

Maggie & Rose ver in West London is the institution that, arguably, started the movement – Maggie & Rose is a nursery (in Chiswick and also now Kensington) with fully functioning family members’ club attached.

O

Members have access to facilities best described as “Soho House with kids”, including soft play, a rooftop pizza and prosecco café, a beautiful brasserie and extracurricular classes for little ones. It’s the ideal spot for parents to meet, where kids can enjoy themselves in familiar, safe surroundings while grown-ups lounge on stylish designer furniture. And one membership covers the entire family – even Granny.

New crèches rendy new workspace providers such as Huckletree and Second Home are also getting in on the act, albeit from a different angle, building top-end crèche facilities into their newest openings. Huckletree’s 'Google-like' outpost in the former BBC development at White City offers crèche places to its 450 members, while the forthcoming London Fields branch of Second Home is selling itself as a “workspace and crèche” – giving childcare co-headline status. This, surely, is proof that something is changing in the way we understand and manage childcare. The balancing of parental and professional responsibilities – once a problem that hard-pushed parents had to work around – is now a business objective that some of London’s most exciting and progressive Early Years providers are trying to solve.

T

nfamilyclub.com • maggieandrose.com huckletree.com • secondhome.io SUMMER 2018 | 85

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Time to

B R EAK FREE Feeling guilty does you – and your family – more harm than good, explains the founder of Happy Working Mum. Here’s how you can stop it from becoming part of your daily routine...

E M I LY T H O R P E

I

feel so guilty” is a phrase I often hear from other mums and something I frequently used to say to myself. In fact, it is so common that a recent search on Mumsnet, using these very words, brought back a shocking 72,000 separate posts on the subject. Is it surprising, then, that we now accept feeling blameworthy as another part of the package when children arrive, along with teething troubles and choosing the right school?

The uninitiated might think that the guilt would dissipate once children are a little older.

Not so! In a recent interview, American actor and mum-of-two Michelle Pfeiffer claimed she no longer felt it. While my heart leapt with joy when I read the headline, thinking that perhaps the tide had turned, it transpired that the reason she no longer felt guilt-ridden was because her children are now in their 20s.

So 'mummy guilt' extends across the decades and it’s caused by countless and diverse areas of life. Typical areas for guilt are: not being able to breast feed; going back to work, or simply wanting to go back to work; letting our babies cry, or always picking them up; not having enough quality time with our child(ren); missing their first word or step, or having to skip school events; shouting, or being too lenient; allowing the kids too much screen time, or – at the end of a long and tiring day – being glued to a screen too much ourselves.

“ T HI S SENSE O F G U I LT I S CAU SED

BY D I V ERSE A REA S O F LI F E ” THE LIST IS TRULY ENDLESS…

or me, guilt came crashing into my life when I first dropped my son Fin – then aged five-and-a-half months – off at nursery in order to return to work as an air traffic controller. Up until that point he had been breast-fed, so I took my expressed milk and a bottle to nursery, only to find when I picked him up that he had refused to take it all day. Luckily, he had started weaning, and so was able to have some baby rice and water, but that didn’t stop the heartbreaking pain I felt, knowing that he didn’t get any milk all day.

It was as though I had opened the floodgates on guilt that day. I went on to feel bad when I bought jars of baby food. Surely I should be puréeing organic carrots and freezing them in ice-cube trays? Then I felt uncomfortable

F

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I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y P H I L C O U Z E N S

SUMMER 2018 | 87

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WE OFFER A WIDE RANGE OF ACADEMIC & CREATIVE SUBJECTS FOR BOYS & GIRLS FROM THE AGE OF 13

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“GUI LT WAS GE TTI NG I N T HE WAY OF ME E N JOY I NG BEI NG T HE PARENT I WAN TED TO BE ” about using disposable nappies and inflicting the planet with 300 years of landfill. (I had tried using cotton nappies but – guess what – I felt terrible about the horrendous nappy rash they caused my son!). It is a vicious cycle.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I’ve always absolutely loved being a mother, but this guilt thing was definitely getting in the way of me enjoying being the parent I wanted to be.

And it wasn’t just because I felt bad – it was also because of all the other consequences.

You see, when we feel guilty, we can start to compensate. For example, when I went to work I’d buy my son a little something to make him feel better (and thus ease my guilt). Or when he played up I would be more lenient of his behaviour (after all, I thought, he was probably playing up because I wasn’t always there).

Thankfully, I soon realised how futile all of this was, and how much it was standing in my – and my family’s – way of being happy. So, using a few simple steps, I managed to break free.

THE FIRST STEP TO BREAKING FREE... ecome aware of how far-reaching and detrimental the effects of guilt are on you and your family, and make the decision to decide: enough is enough! Next, it's helpful to identify your triggers: Is it when you drop your kids off on the way to work? Is it when you shout at them? Or is it when you pass them an iPad, just to keep them quiet?

Then, look at what your belief or 'rule' is around this situation. Usually you will be going

B

against your idea of what a “good mum” would do. For example, you may feel guilty if you miss the bedtime routine and don’t read to your child every night. So obviously you have a belief that a 'good mum' would read a bedtime story every night – and when you don’t live up to that expectation you feel bad about it.

After you’ve done that, think about how you can redefine your rules and beliefs to feel good for more of the time. Here is a mantra I find useful: I feed, clothe and love my children, I am a brilliant mum. By saying this to myself I have made it very easy to feel a lot better.

Finally, if things go wrong and you’re tempted to feel guilty for what you have or

haven't done for your child, be kind to yourself instead of beating yourself up. My top tip is to ask yourself: 'What would I say to my best friend in this situation?' If someone you care for confessed to you that they had shouted at their kids in the morning, what would your advice be to them?

A happy mum is a win-win for all the family, so I hope you will join me in breaking away from the mould and taking those first few steps to guilt-free parenting!

Emily Thorpe is an author, coach, speaker, and the founder of Happy Working Mum; happyworkingmum.com SUMMER 2018 | 89

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Summer CAMP FUN From day-time fun to an adventure week in the beautiful British countryside, summer camps offer kids (and parents) time off.

Here’s our pick of providers R AC H E L W E B B

W

hile summer camp is a North American institution, here in the UK we’ve been somewhat slower on the uptake. But camp offers fun and adventure for children as young as three – manna for busy working parents and those who want their children to get more out of their summer or Easter break. The best camps offer structure and experienced leaders who guide children but also let them have fun.

While high-adrenalin fun and games are usually the order of the day, we’ve included a couple of specialist providers for children who want to get creative.

Activate Camps

T

he emphasis at Activate Camps is on high-energy sports and activities that get children trying new things and the team here have lots of expertise, having delivered camps for over a decade. Camps take place across England, and with excellent locations across the south-east in well equipped locations such as Berkhamsted School, Dulwich College, Merchant Taylors’ School, Sevenoaks and St George’s College, Weybridge. Not all activities are available at all schools, so check by location and activity programme.

What’s special? For younger children (aged 5 plus), the Multi-Activity Camps offer themed activities, including sport and nature, and with ‘pick and mix’ options from T-shirt designing to treasure hunts and crazy Olympics. Sports-mad kids will love the sports-themed camps, including Andrew Flintoff Cricket Academy, Pro:Direct Soccer Academy, Ultimate Lacrosse Experience and Louis Smith Gymnastics Experience. The new

Netball Fever course is custom-designed by Tamsin Greenway. Sports stars are all part of the experience and, for instance, every Cricket Academy includes a visit from a current or past pro cricketer.

Age range: 5-16 Good to know: Camps typically run from three to five days and are non residential, with discounts for multiple weeks or siblings. Early drop-off and late collection is available at some camps. Children take their own packed lunches, with careful supervision to ensure they stay fed and watered. activatecamps.co.uk

Camp Beaumont

T

his London and Home Counties specialist has been running school holiday camps for over 35 years and its flexibility is one of the big draws for busy working parents, with daycare and fun built in. Locations are conveniently spread, and include Mill Hill School, Godolphin & Latymer in Hammersmith, Ursuline Prep School in

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KIDS GO WILD AT XUK

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of all-weather activities, including arts and crafts, plus 1,000 acres to explore with guided adventures.

Age range: 8-17 Good to know: Kingswood has been offering outdoor adventures to schools and groups for over 30 years and offers lots of support for younger residents. Alongside week-long stays you can book from four to six nights’ duration.

Three-night taster trips have been introduced this year exclusively for camp first timers. camps.kingswood.co.uk

Sparks

Wimbledon and Halstead Prep in Woking.

Croydon High School has been added to the camp locations for this year.

What’s special? Playtime Camp (3-4 years) is a paced blend of lively and focused activities, from cheerleading and adventure playground to mask making, biscuit decorating and collage. You’ll also find crowd-pleasing karaoke, drama, dance and bouncy castle.

Move on up to Mania (8-11) and kids can try their hand at archery, climbing, badminton, tag rugby and water polo. Not all activities are available at all camps, but enough variety is built in to appeal to their passions and widen horizons. All camps offer age-appropriate extra options – from immersive crafts workshops to horse riding and motorsports.

Age range: 3-16 Good to know: Camps are very flexible, with everything from one-day to week-long or multiple week passes. Extended days can be booked at most camps. You can pre-book a lunch or send your child in with a packed lunch. All children have at least six activities a day, all logged in their personal timetable.

While it’s dressed up as fun, they do sneak in mind-expanding options such as 3D modelling. And, a real child pleaser, you have the option of an escorted day trip to Go Ape in some camps in 2018. campbeaumont.co.uk 92

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‘PLAY T I ME I S BU I LT I N AT CAM P BEAU MO NT, W I T H LOTS O F ACT I V I T I ES TO APP EA L TO T HEI R PA SSI O NS’

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parks summer shoot camps are a week-long movie-making spectacular designed to let children as young as four get behind the camera and create a blockbuster. The workshops are held in six London locations, from Highgate to Balham, with an additional film centre in Weybridge. Not every age group is catered for in each location.

What’s special? Varying levels of experience are welcomed and children get a chance to try out different creative and technical roles and responsibilities. There is a high staff-to-student ratio and each summer a new theme for the film. Sparks operates a ‘studio system’ to challenge more

Kingswood Camps

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his residential camp specialist offers spectacular settings geared towards children’s interests, with locations ranging from Kent and the Isle of Wight to North Norfolk and North Wales. It’s all about fun in the great outdoors, with camps split to ensure children of similar ages stick together and everyone enjoys a home from home.

What’s special? The North Norfolk Young Adventurers Camp (8-14) is housed in a former girls’ boarding school near Cromer and offers access to a gloriously unspoilt stretch of East Anglian coastline. On-site activities include archery, caving, swimming, bushcraft and zipwire. There’s also a cinema and diner and surfing lessons as an optional extra. The Isle of Wight camp is in a stunning clifftop location and with multiple watersports including kayaking and raft building. There are plenty

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experienced filmmakers and encourage their talent. At the end of the week there’s a Cast & Crew preview screening before the final red-carpet premiere in September. Films are distributed to proud parents for home viewing and sharing afterwards.

Age range: 4-18 Good to know: Sparks runs age-tiered termtime Saturday courses and after-school clubs too, so the summer camp is a great way to ignite children’s interest and see if they want to take things further. The experienced team argue that filmmaking builds a wide range of skills – from teamwork and problem solving to storytelling and visual literacy. They have been running movie-making courses since 2010 and have published a book with Quarto to inspire young filmmakers. sparks-ignite.com

Stagecoach

C

elebrating its 30th birthday this year, Stagecoach is well known for its weekly music, dance and drama classes and its motto of building ‘creative courage for life’ is going strong. Holiday workshops give children as young as four the opportunity to take to the stage. This is high-energy stuff of a different order, as children have a week to put on a show – making friends along the way – and with no previous experience required. You’ll find workshops across London and the south east, and in some lovely locations such as Alleyn’s School, Dulwich and King’s College School, Wimbledon.

What’s special? For children already plotting their conquest of the West End or Hollywood, this is heaven. But even if your child is not a thespian or dancer in the making, this is a highly active and productive workshop.

Don’t expect Ibsen – Legally Blonde The Musical and Trolls are among the summer productions promised in 2018 – so child pleasing. This year’s birthday will be marked by lots of events, including a Guinness World Record attempt in July when Stagecoachers around the world will stage a simultaneous performance of Beauty and the Beast Junior.

Age range: 4-18 Good to know: Stagecoach operates a franchise system, and each school is led by a professional principal and team, with experience in both performing and teaching performance. Holiday workshops can be a good taster for children who may want to take things further and join the regular school.

‘XU K ATTRACTS C HIL DREN FRO M AC ROS S THE U K A ND EU RO P E FO R A S MO RGAS BO RD O F FU N ACTIVITIES’

Some summer workshops offer two shows suitable for younger and older age groups.

Sibling discounts may be available. stagecoach.co.uk

XUK

F

amily-owned XUK attracts children from across the UK to its residential summer camps. Its dedicated English Summer School means you also find a great mix of young people from across Europe and even further afield. Special attention is paid to splitting camps by age, so that young, tweenie and teenager have the right environment and activities. Its London day camps are perfect for younger children and offer plenty to keep older ones amused.

What’s special? Mini Minors day camp is a split-age activity camp (3-4 years or 5-6 years) with lots of fun, a resident clown and special activities such as fencing. From age 7, children move on to XUK day camp, giving them the option to choose activities that most interest them.

Both camps are located in Brookland School in leafy Hampstead Garden Suburb. The Activity week-long residential camp is located in idyllic surroundings at Abberley Hall School, Worcestershire and includes trips out to cultural hotspots such as Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon, plus a smorgasbord of activities, from zorbing to quad biking.

Age range: Day camps 3-13; residential camps 6-17 Good to know: Lots of children here are repeat bookings and the day camp (rated Ofsted Outstanding) gives them the opportunity to move on up in familiar surroundings before, perhaps, trying out a residential camp. Half days are available here and summer afternoon swimming courses offered at day camp are a treat that also give kids valuable skills. xukcamps.com SUMMER 2018 | 93

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A Trident’s

TALE

Discover what it truly means to be stress-free amid the unspoilt beauty of Halkidiki H E L E N B R OW N

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ell anyone of your holiday to Greece and they’ll immediately picture the pretty island harbours and tavernas of the south, where sun is aplenty and the vista one of gleaming white against sparkling azure. Make your way north, however, and the picture-perfect views bloom with verdant greenery and this is where Greece’s best kept secret lies, unhassled by summer holidaymakers. Halkidiki is fabled for its heart-stopping beauty and boundless hospitality, and forms the trident of Greece; three unspoilt, forested fingers stretching out into the Aegean Sea. Our Greek odyssey brings us to Sithonia, the central peninsula with a backbone of mountains and pine forests.

More rugged and less populated than left prong, Kassandra, Sithonia has long been a favourite vacation destination for Greek people. Along the coast, sweeping beaches are interspersed by secret coves, and the east side offers commanding views of Mount Athos, the third peninsula.

On Sithonia, you’ll find gorgeous, sleepy towns, a wealth of charming hidden treasures to unearth and our home-fromhome for the week – Danai Beach Resort.

This luxurious hideaway can be easily reached from Thessaloniki, and it’s a haven of lush Mediterranean gardens and expansive sandy beach. A family-run establishment, Danai offers a broad range of suites and villas, each unique in style and with impressive views over the gardens or the

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THE NORTH REGION OF HALKIDIKI IS PERFECT FOR FAMILIES

“ LOOK OUT F RO M TH E F REN C H DOORS AND S E E SUN , SEA AN D PRI VATE PO O L BL EN D SEAM L ESSLY INTO A POSTCARD I M AG E O F UTTE R PERF ECT I ON” Aegean Sea. Our two-bedroom suite is of the latter; here you can look out from the French doors to where sun, sea and private pool blend seamlessly into a postcard image of utter perfection. Fresh flowers, local wall art, a Bose music system, walk-in wardrobe and Bulgari bathroom products complete the scene.

With all sense of the nine-to-five forgotten, we head to the Sea Horse Grill. On offer here is authentic Greek flavour and the freshest of fish and seafood. Hungry from the morning travels, we gorge from a table laden with sharing plates until we can eat no more, only to find it relaid with a second wave of larger dishes. A true Greek feast.

Once our bellies are full, the sound of lapping waves tempts us towards the 314-metre-long beach, blissfully empty.

This is where London life is truly left behind. Loungers and daybeds are available to hire for all guests, but to really get into holiday-mode a beach cabana works wonders. With this comes a private section of beach, a sitting area and comfortable double bed. Hotel staff are never far from hand to serve fresh fruit platters and pop the corks of Perrier-Jouët.

Our beach-lounging is interspersed with turns on the resort’s paddle boards, dips in the pool and a fantastically SUMMER 2018 | 95

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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

C A M E RO N H O U S E S C H O O L

Hawkesdown House School

4 T H E VA L E , L O N D O N S W 3 6 A H

For Boys & Girls aged 3 to 11 years

T: 020 7 W: www.camero

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

OPEN MORNING Thursday 20th September 2018 9.15 am or 10.15 am.

• ESTABLISHED EXCELLENCE

Please telephone the School to register for a place.

• ISI REPORT “EXCELLENT” IN ALL CATEGORIES

A SPRINGBOARD FOR LIFE

27 Edge Street, Kensington, London W8 7PN Telephone: 0207 727 9090 Email: admin@hawkesdown.co.uk www.hawkesdown.co.uk

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• SOARING START • CHALLENGING CURRICULUM • ESTABLISHED EXCELLENCE ISI REPORT “EXCELLENT” IN ALL CATEGORIES

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ENJOY A TRAIN RIDE WITH THOMAS, MEET THE FAT CONTROLLER & MUCH MORE!

30TH JUNE & 1ST JULY 2018 BUCKINGHAMSHIRE RAILWAY CENTRE, QUAINTON, NR AYLESBURY HP22 4BY

FOR TICKETS: DAYOUTWITHTHOMAS.CO.UK Day Out With Thomas™ © 2018 Gullane (Thomas) Limited. Thomas & Friends™ Based on The Railway Series by The Reverend W. Awdry. © 2018 Gullane (Thomas) Limited. Thomas the Tank Engine, Thomas & Friends and Day Out With Thomas are trademarks of Gullane (Thomas) Limited. ©2018 Mattel. All rights reserved. ® and ™ designate U.S. trademarks of Mattel, except as noted.

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indulgent facial. Danai’s prestigious spa is a real haven for tranquillity, comprising multiple massage STUNNING VIEWS FROM rooms, a nail spa and trilogy room DANAI BEACH RESORT complete with reflexology bed and 'Cleopatra’s Bath'.

THE SENSE OF THE NINE-TO-FIVE Dinner at Danai Beach Resort IMMEDIATELY DISAPPEARS HERE is another exciting affair, as our trip is timed with the traditional Bachtses Night. This is a spectacular evening Halkidiki is the trident of Greece, steeped in Greek tradition and put on once then Poseidon is certainly smiling a week in an intimate outcrop of garden on those who manage to get a overlooking the sea. Live cooking, traditional table here. Or perhaps Dionysus dishes, locally produced drinks, music and of wine, parties and fruitfulness. dancing make this a night to remember.

The elaborate degustation menu Meanwhile, our second evening is spent at offers a daring variety of French the open-air Andromeda Restaurant, where and Mediterranean plates that modern Mediterranean fare is the order of the are expertly paired with wine day. Sitting on the restaurant’s terrace, we from Danai’s on-site wine cellar. tuck into strawberries with seafood, elegantly This is built deep into the side cooked lamb and a lemon meringue pie like no of the mountain in the heart of other, against a backdrop of splashing waves. the resort, and boasts a lauded premium cocktail list attracts hotel guests For a swankier meal, The Squirrel has a collection of around 1,700 wines, carefully and locals alike. well-earned reputation for being one of the selected over decades. The wine cellar is If you can drag yourself away from this principal culinary addresses in the country. If kitted out with antique furnishings and hedonistic paradise, a number of excursions maintains an old-world ambience, as it plays from Danai are available to fully explore host to an incredibly awe-inspiring tasting the peninsula of Halkidiki. By yacht or by session. Within this mystic and medieval, speedboat is the ideal way to combine leisure candle-lit cave, Danai’s sommelier talks us with sightseeing, and to fully get an idea of through the selections, many of which hail the area. One of the resort’s most popular from Greece and show that the region’s routes will take you to the old city of Neos reputation as a producer is on the rise.

Marmaras. The tour departs from the hotel’s Back outside, the Philosophy Seaside Bar private beach and follows the coastline of prides itself on its creative drinks menu Nikiti, Ai Giannis, Kastro, Kalogria, Elia and lovely setting. Located, essentially, and Paradeisos beach, finally reaching Neos on the beach, an evening here is certainly Marmaras. This is a must-see village with appealing if it’s an aperitif you’re after. The wild entertainment and romantic walks. bar staff demonstrate impressive flair and the The route then passes by the impressive complex of Porto Carras – cocooned with vineyards and its picturesque harbour – before passing by the tortoise-shaped, deserted island of Kelyfos, and the sandy beaches of Diaporos.

Another must for culture vultures is a visit to Nikiti, where a quaint church marks the highest point of the village and the seafront is a bustling jumble of authentic beach eateries.

The village epitomises Halkidiki’s compelling blend of beach holiday with authentic Greek buzz, and proves there is more to the area than fly and flop. Top up your tan, feast on local cuisine and luxuriate in a lifestyle where schedules are few and far between; Halkidiki truly is the hidden gem to have on your family holiday radar.

“ THE CELLAR B OA STS A LAU DED CO LLECTION OF ARO UND 1,700 WINES, SE L ECTED OVER DECAD ES”

Danai Beach Resort & Villas offers junior suites from £375 on a B&B basis, based on two people sharing CHILL TIME ON HALKIDIKI’S GORGEOUS BEACH

+30 2375 020400

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Bedtime As regularly as the sun goes down, bedtime rows come up. Warm words about the land of nod won’t cut it.

Here's what you need to know L I B BY N O R M A N

Tired children may become hyperactive rather than showing the heavy-eyed symptoms adults exhibit. This means that lunatic tot bouncing on the sofa could be showing clinical signs of sleep deprivation.

COUNTING SLEEP

Y

ou are struggling to stay awake through Channel 4 News, but the mini me who should have been tucked up ten minutes’ ago is resisting all reasoned entreaties and – finally – orders to get up that wooden hill to Bedfordshire.

Even though they don’t look remotely sleepy, that doesn’t mean they should get a pass.

TICK TOCK Even 30 to 60 minutes less sleep can have a big impact on children, says The Sleep Foundation, but parents don't always spot the signs.

At age two your child should still be getting between 11 and 14 hours’ sleep a night, while by age five the recommendation is 10 to 13 hours. While variations are quite wide to allow for individual make-up, less than nine hours for a two-year-old and eight hours for a five-year-old is likely to leave them sleep deprived.

Even a 13-year-old will ideally be getting a minimum of nine hours rest a night. And, yes, teenagers absolutely do need more time in bed – although not in the form of a lie in. The Sleep Council says that research shows early bedtime is best right through their schooldays.

AND SO TO BED All the experts agree that a regular bedtime routine is essential, and you can’t start the ritual young enough. While a bedtime story is the timehonoured way to help young

children snuggle up and feel drowsy, teenagers should also be encouraged to find restful habits. Screen time is bad, so encourage them to switch off an hour before bed in favour of books or magazines. It goes without saying that parents need to lead the way on screen time. Current thinking is that TVs should be banned from bedrooms.

LIGHTS OUT We all need a calm and dark sleep environment (although soft nightlights might be essential for younger children), so consider blackout blinds or heavy curtains to achieve this.

Pay attention to temperature –16-18 degrees Celsius is optimal, says The Sleep Council, while anything over 24 degrees is likely to cause a restless night.

T H AT H Y PERACT I V E TOT CO U L D BE SLEEP D EPR I V E D SPOTTING PROBLEMS Millpond Sleep Clinic says that signs of irritability in the day may be one indication your child has a sleep problem. Waking up in the night or very early in the morning may also be indicators.

Millpond offers sleep therapy when children (or, more usually, parents) are at the end of their tether – also training other health professionals. Some kids do need to be trained to sleep and usually the process of finding and addressing the issue begins with the simple step of keeping a diary of their sleep patterns. * millpondsleepclinic.com and sleepcouncil.org.uk

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Redcliffe School dedicated to growing excellence

Discover why Redcliffe always makes us smile‌ Visit redcliffeschool.com

Redcliffe School - educating boys and girls from rising 3 to 11 To arrange your tour contact Henrietta Corbett on 020 7352 9247 or email registrar@redcliffeschool.com

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