Absolutely Education Prep & Pre-Prep Spring 23

BENEFITS Creative

HOW INSPIRED ARTS TEACHING BOOSTS CHILDREN’S CONFIDENCE AND SUCCESS

Herne Hill School wins ISA’s nationwide 2022 Award for Excellence and Innovation in Art and Design

f the three na ist s hoo s short isted ast su er hi h in turn ere hosen a ong do ens of entries fro the o er reputa e s hoo s nation ide e onging to the ndependent hoo s sso iation erne i hoo as udged at the end of ast ear to e the inner for its utting edge art and design pro ision

for Kindergarten from 2+ or call the office for chance vacancies in other year groups Register now

s hief Exe uti e er udo f E iott o hart o ented as fo o s “At Herne Hill School, art is used as a tool to inspire learning on the wider issues that young children face within their daily lives. Its vast, innovative and allround art and design curriculum offers them the freedom to express their imaginations and advance their own ideas, which is invaluable.”

The perfect setting for your child’s early schooling:

} Embedding key values and developing ‘the whole child’ through a unique, ontinuous e ear urri u u

} Focusing exclusively on cutting edge Early Childhood Education (age 2+ to 7+), the most crucial period in a child’s life

} ransitioning sea ess fro p a ased to more structured learning, preparing the children to move on at 7+ with that special Herne Hill School spark

ongratulations to the pupils and teaching sta at erne ill chool for all their creative art or and for o taining such a prestigious a ard

} Expert staff operating under the ethos of Love · Care · Excellence in which children excel and learn with fun and enthusiasm

} Extensi e rap around are fro a to p depending on the ear group

Exa p es of art or under the re ent s hoo ide topi nto he ue

Apply now for Kindergarten from 2+ and Reception Cycle from 3+

} Transitioning seamlessly from play-based to more structured learning, preparing the children to move on at 7+ with that special Herne Hill School spark

} The largest stand-alone independent school in the country focusing exclusively on Early Childhood Education (age 2+ to 7+), the most crucial period in a child’s life

} Cutting edge in every aspect, developing the ‘whole child’ and embedding key values through our innovative, bespoke curriculum

} Expert staff operating under the ethos of Love · Care · Excellence in which children excel and learn with fun and enthusiasm

} Extensive wrap-around care from 7.45am to 4.45/6pm depending on the year group

A unique setting to shape your child’s future

“Unrivalled. Soveryimpressed.” Kindergartenparent

CONTRIBUTORS

Allie Esiri

Curator of poetry events and anthologies

Allie Esiri read Modern and Medieval Languages at Cambridge and has curated and hosted live poetry events at The National Theatre, The Bridge Theatre and at major literary events. Her award-winning anthologies include A Poem for Every Day of the Year. In this issue she talks about her latest exploration of nursery rhymes – and why these old and new classics should be treasured and shared.

Jerry Craft

Children’s author and illustrator

New York Times bestselling author and illustrator Jerry Cra was born in Harlem and grew up in the Washington Heights section of New York City. His graphic novels have been translated into 13 languages and won multiple awards. In this issue he talks about his forthcoming book, his love of comics and the importance of celebrating great expectations.

Sasha Davies

Headteacher, Kew Green Preparatory School

Sasha Davies became Headteacher of Kew Green Prep last September, her arrival coinciding with the opening of its new Nursery. Prior to this role, she was Head of Sinclair House Prep. Passionate about early years learning, in this issue she talks about the importance of nurturing and celebrating ambition in our schools, ensuring every child feels inspired and motivated to succeed.

PHOTO: HOLLIS KING

PHOTO: JOSEPH SINCLAIR

Thinking of Relocating?

Wells Cathedral School is a co-educational day and boarding school based in the vibrant City of Wells surrounded by Somerset countryside. DirecttrainstoLondonfromnearbystationsofBath,BristolandCastleCary

Nursery - Pre-Prep - Prep - Senior - Sixth Form

Book a visit: https://wells.cathedral.school/relocating admissions@wells.cathedral.school

Did you know your child does not need to speak French to join our school?

For over one hundred years, we have been at the forefront of international education Nurturing skills and inspiring ideas. Fostering confidence, solidarity and ambition. Helping pupils to develop into accomplished world citizens. Together, we will explore your child’s talents and widen their horizons

South Kensington

South Kensington Primary School Nursery to Year 6

Collège-Lycée (Year 7-13) and British Section (Year 10-13)

French, Bilingual & British curricula

Ealing

André Malraux Primary School

Nursery to Year 6

Fulham

Marie d’Orliac Primary School

Nursery to Year 6

Clapham

Ecole primaire de Wix Reception to Year 6

www.lyceefrancais.org.uk

Ages 3-18 | French, Bilingual, Multilingual & British Curricula | Brevet & Baccalauréat | GCSE, IGCSE & A-level

From the EDITOR

Spring is the time to enjoy the spirit of renewal wrought by brilliant sunlight and longer days. It’s a great time of year to see inside our schools and find out the wonderful work they are doing to make the very most of every school day.

Our cover story focuses on (relatively) new St Anthony’s School for Girls – sister

superb creative education provided by independents. From music and drama to ‘living art’, there’s a huge commitment to delivering breadth, depth and the spark that can ignite lifelong engagement. It was a pleasure to chat to four wonderful writers for this issue. Allie Esiri discusses her delightful anthology of nursery rhymes (page 26) and two authors of history adventures share their inspiration (page 52). We also caught up with award-winning graphic

to the long-established Hampstead Boys’ School – and bringing warmth, laughter and learning from nursery all the way through those all-important prep school years. Read our illuminating Q&A with Headmaster Donal Brennan on page 16. In Healthy minds (page 34) we look at the partnership – now in its ninth year – between Place2Be and Knightsbridge School, showing the value of talking and sharing how we’re feeling. Arts for life (from page 42) looks at the

novelist Jerry Craft (page 68). He talks about what inspired him during his childhood in Washington Heights, New York City, and the importance of characters with ‘great expectations’. One of his fictional heroes was Dickens’ Pip – proof if ever it were needed that the arts resonate down the years, and sometimes in unexpected ways.

Libby Norman ACTING EDITOR

"FROM MUSIC AND DRAMA TO ‘LIVING ART’, THERE’S A HUGE COMMITMENT TO DELIVERING BREADTH, DEPTH AND THE SPARK THAT CAN IGNITE LIFELONG ENGAGEMENT"

SPRING 2023

CONTE

upfront

10 SCHOOL NEWS

Out and about in the world of education

focus

16 HAPPY LEARNERS

The Head of St. Anthony's School for Girls discusses its recipe for creating happy and successful learners

21 BILINGUAL BENEFITS

Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle de Londres on bilingual benefits for young children

23 SPRING WATCH

York House on adding to the school flock

pre-Prep

26 TIME TO RHYME

Allie Esiri talks about her new anthology

31 NURSERY BENEFITS

North Bridge House on giving early learners a strong foundation

34 HEALTHY MINDS

Knightsbridge School's partnership with Place2Be ensures good mental health stays front of mind

16

Prep

42 ARTS FOR LIFE

How schools are making creative subjects irresistible for young people

51 LISTEN UP

The Head of The King Alfred School Lower School on the importance of pupil agency

52 BACK STORIES

The authors of two gripping history adventures share their inspiration

57 BETTER PREPARED

The Head of Broomwood Prep, Girls on the benefits of letting some pupils stay on at prep to age 13

59 60 SECONDS WITH...

Kate Bailey, Head of Godstowe Prep, shares her educational philosophy

EDITOR

Libby Norman

GROUP ADVERTISING MANAGER

Nicola Owens 

ART DIRECTOR

Pawel Kuba

SENIOR DESIGNERS

Mike Roberts

Suzette Scoble

MIDWEIGHT DESIGNER

Carmen Graham 

JUNIOR DESIGNER

Joe Munsey

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Danica Brodie

FINANCE DIRECTOR

Jerrie Koleci

CREDIT CONTROL MANAGER

Alexandra Hvid 

DIRECTORS

Craig Davies, Leah Day, James Fuschillo

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Alexandra Hunter

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Sherif Shaltout

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FRONT COVER

ST. ANTHONY'S SCHOOL FOR GIRLS Ivy House, 94-96 North End Road, London, NW11 7SX 020 3869 3070 stanthonysgirls.co.uk

SCHOOL NEWS

Bromley’s big birthday

SCHOOL MERGER

St Dunstan’s College and Rosemead Prep have merged. St Dunstan’s Head Nick Hewlett says: “The merger will be a wonderful opportunity for our two schools, one set in the heart of Catford and the second in the heart of Dulwich, to work closer together, learning from one another and enhancing our students’ educational journeys”.

Bromley High School GDST celebrated its 140th birthday in January. Junior School pupils dressed up as notable females and other celebrations so far have included a House A ernoon Tea party and a gala concert at the Royal Academy of Music. All pupils have pledged 140 minutes of their time volunteering in the local community.

Sky fall

Hanford pupils were avid watchers of the only children’s team in this year’s national Indoor Skydiving Championships, as their Year 7 classmate Rachel was a member of the four-strong Mini Jets. The flying foursome performed brilliantly and have made it through to the International Championships in Slovakia. Rachel’s next goal is to learn to skydive upside down.

CRICKET VISION

Merchant Taylors has begun construction of its Julian Hill Cricket Centre, named in memory of an old boy. The facility will be for the school and wider community, including Middlesex CCC and Sunrisers, and will include indoor bowling lanes capable of replicating spin and seam, a fielding area, video analysis equipment and a large events space.

Suffolk arrival

James Large becomes Head of Old Buckenham Hall School, Suffolk from September. Large grew up in the county and joins OBH from Norwich School, where he has spent the past 13 years. His wife, Harriet, is also a teacher. “I am excited to begin a new chapter at Brettenham Park with my wife, Harriet, and our son, Albie,” he says.

HAPPY DANCE

The International School of London held a celebration of the Chinese New Year, marking the beginning of the Year of the Rabbit. Students watched a performance of traditional Chinese singing and dancing, culminating in a fantastic Chinese lion dance. They were handed red envelopes symbolising good wishes and happiness.

Family show

It was showtime at St Benedict’s School, with a three-night run of The Addams Family in early February. The ghoulish Beineke family and ancestors were brilliantly brought to life by the cast and backstage team. The show was produced by Head of Drama Mark Randall, and with musical direction by Assistant Director of Music Amy John.

GARDEN HEROES

The RHS has launched its school gardening competition a er a three-year break, with the charity hoping to uncover the nation’s green-fingered stars. Schools can nominate the RHS Gardening Team and Gardening Champion of the Year. Judges include George Hassall, RHS Young Ambassador and a former Young School Gardener of the Year. schoolgardening.rhs.org.uk

FARMING FOLK

Pupils at The Downs Malvern are welcoming a new cohort, thanks to Headteacher Andy Nuttall’s initiative to teach them about animals. The Worcestershire prep will soon be home to rare breed pigs and will ‘babysit’ sheep from a neighbouring farm. There are also plans to add geese and guinea fowl to the school flock – pupils already tend chickens and quails.

NEW HEAD

Maida Vale School (MVS) will have a new Head Teacher from April, when Magnus Bashaarat takes over at the Gardener Schools Group co-ed Senior. A former Head of Milton Abbey and Bedales, Magnus Bashaarat also held senior roles at Stowe and Eton. He read English at Edinburgh and worked as a journalist prior to teaching. He is a governor of Winchester University and a keen sportsman.

Chelsea additions

Cameron Vale School in Chelsea recently welcomed Alison Melrose as its new Headmistress. Its little sister, Chelsea Nursery also has a new lead, Lara Van Romburgh.  The nursery has recently added a brand new baby room for children aged from six months. This is designed as a cosy home from home, with sleep areas and a focus on learning through play.

Dolphin dragons

Dolphin School in Hurst hosted its Dragons Den competition for Year 7 students as the finale of the DPQ (Dolphin Project Qualification). Pupils had learned what it takes to be an entrepreneur – from research to design and marketing. They then pitched their ideas to three visiting ‘dragons’ from business in front of a school audience.

HOCKEY VICTORS

Cumnor House Sussex (CHS) is the first stand-alone independent prep to win the IAPS U13 Girls’ Hockey National Championship since 2016. The win was the culmination of regional rounds with up to 100 teams participating. CHS U13 hockey also had wins in both the UKSA and Worth School’s hockey tournaments as well as an unbeaten run in its season’s fixtures.

ROCKIN’ THE BOAT

Francis Holland School pupils performed two sell-out performances of Guys and Dolls at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith at the end of January. Featuring a cast of over 80 girls from Years 7-13, this fresh take on the classic Broadway musical received standing ovations and rapturous applause that lasted long a er the cast had taken their bows.

Maths fun

Kew Green Prep held its annual Maths Week recently, with Lower and Upper School Countdown Competitions at the end of the week where pupils stood in front of their peers and answered maths questions. Fun activities included 3D pyramid building and hunting for secret treasure in Smart Town. There were also problem-solving trails and times table challenges.

Potential is Our Passion

Eaton House Schools are proud to have provided an exceptional education to our pupils since 1897. Based on two large sites in Belgravia and Clapham, our single sex schools for boys and girls are non-selective* and yet achieve outstanding results. We feed into Westminster, Eton, St Paul’s, Wycombe Abbey, St Paul’s Girls’ School, Winchester and other fine schools, winning many scholarships, awards and prizes each year.

Wellbeing is at the core of this well-rounded education. Each child is supported as an individual so that they can flourish both academically and socially. Finding the potential in each child is our passion.

New open house dates available now, visit bookopen.day to book.

Speak to our Head of Admissions, Miss Sam Feilding, on 020 3917 5050, or visit www.eatonhouseschools.com for more information.

*Non-selective at 2+ and 4+ entry.

“THERE IS ALWAYS A BUSTLING ATMOSPHERE AT ST. ANTHONY’S, WITH CLUBS TAKING PLACE BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER SCHOOL”

HAPPY

LEARNING

We sit down with Donal Brennan, Headmaster of St. Anthony’s School for Girls, to find out more about its academic and pastoral approach that sets happy and confident pupils on the road to success

Can you explain more about the history of St. Anthony’s School for Girls?

We are a Catholic school – welcoming of all faiths – and were established in 2016 as a sister school to nearby St. Anthony’s School for Boys. The school has grown to 75 children in six years and, in September 2021, we opened a co-educational Nursery for both schools. We are an 11+ school and believe that the children who grow and enjoy a very happy childhood without early testing at 7+ will reach their academic potential, will become confident as young people and will have found their talent for music, drama and sports.

The launch of our Nursery has been an ideal opportunity to begin to develop a co-educational culture. At 4+, children enter the boys’ and girls’ schools, and the opportunity for the children to experience mixed learning

continues in a range of areas, such as school choirs, sports, drama, debating and clubs. Overall, I’d describe St. Anthony’s Girls as a confident school, which quickly found its niche within Golders Green and Hampstead.

Faith and family are two central tenets of the school – how do these work on a day-to-day level?

This is a family school, with values of community and care of the individual being at the core of everything we o er. We are inspired by the words of St. Anthony, ‘Actions speak louder than words’, and so the spirit and prayer life underpin all that we do. We welcome families of all denominations to our inclusive school where everyone’s story is heard, and all feel valued and equal. We are guided by the liturgical calendar of

the church but ensure that key festivals and celebrations in the main faiths are marked through assemblies and worship times. We have been acknowledged in recent diocesan inspections as having an outstanding commitment to Catholic Life.

Parents are actively involved – so this is a warm and close-knit community. I meet every parent and child on the gate at drop o and parents have an open invitation to attend all three weekly assemblies. Teachers and Parents communicate directly – and see each other regularly on the school gate at home time.

Our parents’ association, The Friends of St. Anthony’s, are instrumental in supporting us in many ways, including school uniform sales, our Christmas Fayre and summer barbecue and Macmillan co ee mornings. Turning cause into action, in line with our ethos, ensures we have a robust charitable approach when it comes to helping those who are less fortunate than us.

How would you describe your curriculum and teaching approach?

Children are welcomed into peaceful, happy learning spaces designed to inspire and motivate them. Our teaching approach is to explore and develop each of our pupils to their fullest capacity. This means that individual temperament, learning style, strengths and weaknesses are respected.

Our teachers bring a mindful, calm and caring approach, so that girls

LEFT

St. Anthony’s Girls pupils RIGHT

The school’s light and airy Ivy House premises

learn to trust the value of their own insights and opinions. We work to help them grow in confidence and courage, able to verbalise complex thoughts and feelings. This is very much aided by the fact that their perspectives are treated with respect and authentic interest.

Our vision is to help St. Anthony’s Girls pupils develop into balanced, confident, and empathic young adults who believe in their own agency and

ability to e ect change. We want them to move on from us empowered to make decisions and to think independently. We have reaped the rewards of our mindful, pupil-first approach, with our Year 6 girls consistently gaining places (including scholarships) at leading schools across London and much further afield.

You are a member of the Alpha Group, what does this bring?

This brings an expertise at governance level, with the APG Governors o ering support and a robust monitoring cycle to ensure that we maintain an excellent service across all aspects of the academic and pastoral programmes we o er.

Your school premises is in London’s most artistic quarter and is former home of both Anna Pavlova and JMW Turner – what is your approach to extra-curricular activities?

The extra-curricular programme is an integral part of the timetable, with a stimulating and highly creative termly calendar. Over the course of the

year, our girls take part in a fantastic array of artistic, dramatic, musical, and sporting pursuits – every girl can find something that she enjoys. There is always a bustling atmosphere at St. Anthony’s with clubs taking place before, during and after school. These are designed to encourage our girls to try something new, to develop existing interests and skills, build commitment and resilience – and have fun!

St. Anthony’s School for Girls

Ivy House, 94-96 North End Road, London NW11 7SX 020 3869 3070

stanthonysgirls.co.uk

“THIS IS A FAMILY SCHOOL, WITH VALUES OF COMMUNITY AND CARE OF THE INDIVIDUAL BEING AT THE CORE OF EVERYTHING WE OFFER”

LEFT Showtime, with a Year 4-6 production of The Lion King

BILINGUA L BENEFITS

Countless studies point to the benefits of bilingualism, not only to broaden one’s linguistic skills, but also to develop certain brain areas and connections, thereby strengthening cognitive abilities, creativity and productivity.

The benefit of acquiring these linguistic skills as early as possible is also generally accepted. Recreating the natural circumstances in which an infant acquires its native language’s oral skills is key to success. Bilingual families know this and will often seek to have their o spring educated at an international school. In cases where a child is born in a monolingual family, school becomes the place to experience an international context first-hand from a very young age.

With this in mind, all French schools in the global AEFE network, which is the French Ministry for European & Foreign A airs’ Agency for French Education abroad (and with 566 schools in 138 countries) apply the same system. This means they teach the French curriculum and the French language, as well as the language and culture of the host country. Beyond bilingualism, these schools’ programmes actually aim for multilingualism, where an additional foreign language becomes compulsory at secondary level. This is achieved through dedicated language classes and other subjects being taught in one language or the other – for instance, historygeography, mathematics, science, sports.

The Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle de Londres – with its four locations in South Kensington, Clapham, Ealing and Fulham –is no exception. From age 3, our pupils are immersed in both languages. This happens

in the classroom with intensive English lessons or a 50/50 programme, or even in informal learning situations such as the playground, the dining hall, extracurricular activities and other peer-to-peer interactions in our community of over 40 nationalities.

Following the Ronjat-Grammont method, where each adult is encouraged to only address pupils in their own native language, the Lycée focuses on having children acquire equal ease of oral comprehension and expression before they leave primary school. Pupils then develop written language skills and leave their school at 18 with excellent proficiency in at least two languages. This enables them to enter the most competitive higher-education courses around the world.

The educational o er at the Lycée caters for all tastes and abilities. Pupils with a strong interest in literature get to enhance their knowledge of English-language written works in the International Section. Pupils wanting to pursue an all-British education in an international environment can prepare and take their GCSEs and A levels in the British Section. Pupils considering multilingualism a priority can learn other

modern languages (Arabic, German, Italian, Russian or Spanish), or opt for ancient Greek or Latin. They can also attend the International French Baccalaureate Section and even graduate with a trilingual qualification in French, English and German. Beyond bilingualism, multi-linguistic proficiency and multicultural backgrounds are key skills for individuals to develop in a globalised world. Started at age 3, the multilingual educational journey of international school pupils leads them to become well-rounded citizens of the world, able to adapt to diverse environments and to communicate e ciently across borders.

“Pupils are immersed in French and English languages within a community welcoming over 40 nationalities”

Cerian Maraviglia of Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle de Londres explains how bilingual learning works at its four schools – and the benefits it brings

CERIAN MARAVIGLIA

Primary English Coordinator for the Lycée schools

DEPTH JOY STRUCTURE SPACE

Your child’s primary years are fundamental in shaping not just what they become, but who they become.

King Alfred School has over 120 years of experience of designing joyful learning experiences which give each child the space they need to discover and develop their passions, to embrace challenge and reflect on their achievements.

Our creative curriculum inspires children because they do it

through experience, through play, through genuine interest; we nurture an eagerness to know more and encourage greater depth of understanding. We have high expectations for our children and give them the freedom to explore and grow - all within a structure which lets them develop at the pace which is right for them. The results speak for themselves; happy, confident children who love to learn.

Find out more about the school, or book to attend an open event at www.kingalfred.org.uk

SPRING WATCH

At York House we are no strangers to wildlife. Our onsite smallholding is permanent home to more than 50 di erent animals, including donkeys, pigs, goats, deer and sheep. In 2021, we welcomed 14 lambs (nine rams and five ewes). Before we lambed, we only had 13 sheep in our smallholding. The flock looked small for the size of the paddock, and it was at this point that we had discussed lambing our ten Shetland ewes.

We were keen for our children to have the chance to experience the miracle of new life. Lambing o ers the opportunity to combine the teaching of science topics with real-life examples. Children learn where the lambs come from and are able to witness a birth. Teachers have also brought their classes out to see the lambs, some just a few hours old, and the children have been mesmerised.

Lambing highlights the importance of calmness, quietness and understanding around animals. Children are intrinsically drawn to the strong bond and nurturing instinct they see between ewe and lamb, which is helpful when discussing their own families and family values. We find children tend to think more carefully about their actions – the need to be kind and gentle. This year, we selected six of our friendly ewes to be tupped. The children have been involved in the process via our smallholding club and

have had the chance to meet ‘Mr Jigsaw’, our new pure bred Shetland ram. We discuss why he is sharing a paddock with the ewes, the di erence between an intact and a castrated ram and gestation in sheep. The children also get involved in feeding time, ensuring ewes have enough feed to help the lambs grow.

Post birth, the children can visit the lambs during every smallholding club. We follow the path of nature and allow the children only to stroke the lambs if they approach. That way the newly born lamb and its mother have time to bond and create trust. If a lamb needs a top up of milk, then we will allow the children the chance to assist with preparation of the milk bottles and feeding. There are a

multitude of skills to be learnt, patience for one. Children soon learn that you cannot force a lamb to approach and that it is just as rewarding to sit down and watch – and that lambs are more likely to be inquisitive and approach you. What children learn during lambing may even stimulate their own interest in becoming future farmers, vets or smallholders. There are obvious benefits for academic learning – and being around any animal helps to improve mental wellbeing. Each lamb has its own personality, and the children are able to build long-term relationships with them, watch them play, grow and develop, and to feel part of their life story. Children in our nursery now will recall seeing lambs being born when they leave us at the end of Year 8 – those sheep having grown and developed alongside them in their school journey. Lambing in school is truly an education in life. It is also something that will live on in our children’s memories as they continue taking their own steps towards the future.

Outdoor Learning and Smallholding Manager York House School

“Lambing in school is truly an education in life – it is also something that will live on in our children’s memories”

Tara Warren of York House discusses the positive impact of new springtime additions to the flock at the Hertfordshire prep school

TARA WARREN

family of schools that offers the BEST of all worlds. Our joyful, co-ed Pre-Prep and two single-sex, but collaborative Prep schools, are full of happy, purposeful children who move on to some of the best senior schools in the country. Broomwood #BeYourBEST.

Pre-Prep

“NURSERY RHYMES ARE THE BEGINNING OF OUR JOURNEY WITH WORDS AND OUR JOY IN WORDS”

Time for RHYME

Nursery rhymes are something that we take for granted. Most of us can recall ditties and poems sung or told to us in childhood. Sometimes we don’t even realise we remember all the words until we find ourselves passing them on to a small child. Yet many of these works date back centuries, part of a rich oral tradition, especially across the English-speaking world.

Allie Esiri never takes nursery rhymes for granted, and she’s spent around two years compiling her impressive new anthology, A Nursery Rhyme for Every Night of the Year. Beautifully designed, and with charming illustrations by Emily Faccini, it is a treasure house of rhyme. ‘Humpty Dumpty’ is in there, so too ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’, but also contributions from contemporary stars of children’s literature such as Julia Donaldson and Michael Rosen. Even that most annoying of all earworms ‘Baby Shark’ made the cut.

Esiri is no stranger to taking on big projects – her previous bestselling anthologies have included A Poem for Every Night of the Year and Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year. She has also organised major live poetry events, appeared at august literary festivals and spoken up for poetry as a force for good over many years. So where do these rhymes from the earliest

years of childhood fit in with the wider poetic tradition? “I always think a poem is just a nursery rhyme that has grown up,” she says. But this is not to lessen their import or impact. “Think of ‘Over the hills and far away’ – G.K. Chesterton said it is one of the most beautiful lines in all poetry. And Robert Graves said the best of the older nursery rhymes are nearer to poetry than the greater part of TheOxford Book of English Verse. If you’ve got them inside your head, it’s such a gift: you have got beautiful words to draw on and make you happy.”

Some of the earliest language children hear and repeat comes from rhythm, rhyme and repetition – and Esiri says this is important, both for their enjoyment and their formative development. “Poems add language and literacy skills – and with nursery rhymes you can add numeracy, as there are some wonderful ones about counting. There are

Allie Esiri’s new anthology of nursery rhymes o ers a rich variety of poems, songs and ditties ancient and modern to delight children and adults alike

LEFT

Allie Esiri is a champion of the spoken word

Anthology illustrations are by Emily Faccini

PHOTO: JOSEPH SINCLAIR

social, physical and emotional skills that are being o ered. Some are purely didactic –ABC rhymes – and others are about manners or behaviour. Then there are games, skipping rhymes for instance.” Of course, there are also the cautionary tales (the baby rocking out of the cradle, the old man bumping his head, the bed bugs biting) but Esiri sees no need to worry. “The meaning reveals itself in later life,” she says. “They also might help children deal imaginatively with violence and danger – rather like fairytales.”

The research phase of this anthology also meant finding the version to include – oral traditions inevitably mean some

fascinating variations in words and phrases, especially as nursery rhymes travelled across the world and were adapted to fit time and place. The origins of many nursery rhymes are lost, but myths and folklore about their meaning proliferate and many have a fascinating back story or current relevance.

This is something Allie Esiri deals with, and her informative introductions to every rhyme are a delight. ‘There Once Was A Man Named Michael Finnegan’, an Irish poem first noted down in 1921, even makes an appearance in James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, for instance. Or there’s ‘Humpty Dumpty’, sometimes believed to be about Richard III’s death at the Battle of Bosworth Field. But Esiri helpfully points out that equivalents can be found across Europe (in Germany he’s ‘Hümpelken-Pümpelken’) and the famous egg is even referenced in Taylor Swift’s ‘The Archer’. Who knew that ‘Jack Be Nimble’ is based on the popular childhood game of candle-leaping, from those far-o days before health and safety was even a thing? Or indeed that ‘Thirty Days Hath September’ is found in various forms across Europe – and with a French version dating from the 1200s.

A Nursery Rhyme for Every Night of theYear is organised by theme. March is spring and International Women’s Day,

while April is, of course, April Fool’s Day and Easter, but also Passover and Ramadan. September is back to school, with educational nursery rhymes; November explores history and remembrance, and December has a festival flavour.

Creating an anthology that works is both an art and a science. “It’s like a giant puzzle,” says Esiri. “You look for the variety in di erent places, classic and modern, male and female, some funny and some moving. It’s also how they sit next to each other.” This brings some nice touches. ‘Roses are Red’ sits opposite Smriti Halls’ ‘Chilis are Red’, while ‘Los Politos Dicen’ (a classic from Ecuador) and ‘Little Boy Blue’ make a suitably rustic pairing.

This is a rich bedtime read for young children, and Allie Esiri hopes it will also be a resource that early years and primary teachers tap into. One of the great beauties of nursery rhymes is that they deliver whole stories and complex pictures in few words. But they also introduce children to the sounds of language and the power of repetition and rhythm. “If you are knowing and loving a nursery rhyme, then I do think it demystifies poetry,” says Allie Esiri. “Nursery rhymes are the beginning of our journey with words and our joy in words.”

“ROBERT GRAVES SAID THE BEST OF THE OLDER NURSERY RHYMES ARE NEARER TO POETRY THAN THE GREATER PART OF THE OXFORD BOOK OF ENGLISH VERSE”

LEFT Allie Esiri’s anthology took two years to curate

BELOW The classics are here – and with wonderful introductions

Allie Esiri’s A Nursery Rhyme for Every Night of the Year is published by Macmillan Children’s (£20, hardback).

PHOTO: JOSEPH SINCLAIR

Nursery BENEFITS

North Bridge House Nursery & Pre-Prep discusses its approach of widening children’s experience while providing a strong learning foundation

Department of Work & Pensions records show that 76% of mothers now return to work within 18 months of having a child, with day nurseries remaining the most popular childcare for under threes While cutting the umbilical cord and enrolling your little one can still be a tough decision, the benefits are clear. Aside from the daily routine, spending time in a play and learning environment helps academic readiness. “A nursery or pre-school setting provides structure and routine for young children, while building the social, pre-academic, and general life skills that prepare them for ‘big school’,” says Eilish Sleator, Head of School at North Bridge House Nursery & Pre-Prep in West Hampstead.

So how do you choose the best nursery for your child? The di erence between settings often lies in how the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is delivered. EYFS providers are not bound by the same sta -to-child ratios. For children aged 3+ years in a private nursery or pre-school, the typical sta to child ratio is 1:8. At North Bridge House, the ratio at Nursery (age 2+) is 1:4 and in the

pre-Reception (3+) class, it is 1:6. The team say this enables individualised teaching and helps children thrive. NBH has also adopted a ‘mastery’ approach. Pupils master key concepts before moving on to the next topic. Individualised support gives children time to grasp an idea and gain deeper understanding.

It’s important to consider the whole nursery experience, as non-cognitive learning is just as essential. Nursery is your child’s opportunity to discover life outside the family unit – also developing key social and communication skills and self-confidence.

“Again, this comes down to what the pre-school or nursery o ers above and beyond the EYFS,” says Eilish Sleator.

“While this framework is designed to ensure a child’s personal development as well as academic progress, we look to provide as much opportunity as possible to spark curiosity outside of the formal curriculum.”

Specialist subjects are o ered from the outset, with Italian, drama, music and dance, delivered on a weekly basis in the Nursery. In the 3+ class, children also benefit from twice weekly French lessons and bi-weekly Forest School.

“At this age, we do not o er specialist subjects with the aim of developing the next Mozart or Ginger Rogers,” says Eilish Sleator. “Our primary aim is to provide breadth and depth to the earliest years of education, to inspire that lifelong love of learning, and to equip our little ones with the confidence and resilience to thrive.

“While factors such as location and ease of access will play a significant part in the decision-making process, when choosing a nursery for your little one I would always recommend finding out about how they will be supported and developed as an individual, and what the nursery or pre-school can o er to provide an even wider learning experience than the EYFS framework.”

ABOVE A pupil at North Bridge House Nursery

“WE PROVIDE BREADTH AND DEPTH – AND EQUIP CHILDREN WITH THE CONFIDENCE TO THRIVE”

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Boys’ MOTIVATION

David Wingfield, Headmaster of Eaton House

The Manor Pre-Prep School for boys aged 4-8, discusses how to build self-motivated learners

It’s not that I can’t do it, it’s that I can’t do it yet!’ is an oft-repeated phrase at Eaton House The Manor Pre-Prep. We believe in encouraging boys to have a go, even if the path forward is not immediately illuminated. With the average number of jobs per lifetime increasing with each generation, it is more important than ever that those first few years of school build a deep-rooted love of learning. As educators, it is our duty to foster an environment in which children are not only stretched but wish to stretch themselves. We want them to relish each new challenge, rather than run from it. With this in mind, I have broken down the strategies that we use to motivate the boys in our charge to want to expand their own potential.

CHAMPION CREATIVITY

We know that one of the surest ways to build resilient motivation is to support boys’ individuality and freedom of expression, while challenging ‘permission culture’ and anxious perfectionism in relation to schoolwork. It boils down to encouraging children’s natural

ability to want to push boundaries, do things their way, take risks and have a go, and it applies equally to English and mathematics.

SMALL STEPS TO SUCCESS

We support every child, by breaking each task down into small, achievable steps that form part of a challenging trajectory. Teachers make hundreds of micro-assessments in every lesson to gauge how each pupil is progressing through a task, and how that task may be adapted ‘on the fly’ in order to enable them to make progress during the lesson. Whether a boy has taken his first steps in forming a letter or a number, remembered – at long last! – to include capital letters and full stops, or written a self-motivated description of their favourite food, well-judged praised for e ort reinforces self-esteem and builds motivation.

MOTIVATION CAN EBB

We do not expect our pupils to be robots, with equal levels of motivation every hour of every day. We treat them with empathy and understanding when things just will not flow. Our aim is to help them to

view dips and slips as part of the process of deep and e ective learning, rather than a cause for disappointment and despondency.

FOSTER A MASTERY APPROACH

We use a multi-sensory and graduated teaching style that prioritises depth of conceptual understanding as the foundation of pace and fluency of procedure – from developing a deep understanding of composition of the number six, to considering how commas may be used in clauses. We run welcoming and inclusive classrooms, with a culture of high expectations. Activities and lessons are designed so that boys across the attainment spectrum may commence a task – often choosing it themselves – that is pitched at a level ‘just right’ for them, before moving on to progressively more challenging activities.

DAVID WINGFIELD Headmaster Eaton House The Manor Pre-Prep

Our aim is to educate pupils to be adventurous, curious, and brave. This starts in our classrooms, and it quickly spreads beyond the walls of the school because the insights above, I believe, are as valuable for progress in life as they are for academia.

“Our aim is to educate pupils to be adventurous, curious, and brave”

HEALTHY MINDS

Knightsbridge School’s pioneering Place2Be partnership prioritises good mental health across the whole community. Absolutely Education finds out more

Child mental health has risen up the agenda over the past decade. This is thanks, in part, to landmark work by the charity Place2Be.

High-profile support – notably from HRH The Princess of Wales – has helped to spread the message about the value of early support to build children’s wellbeing and their ability to talk through emotions and problems. It’s so obviously a good idea that it’s easy to forget we weren’t always so attuned to the challenges young people face.

Knightsbridge School stands out for spotting the need early. KS Principal and Founder Magoo Giles brought Place2Be into the school back in 2014 as a partnership. It was the first independent day school to take this step. The partnership is supported enthusiastically by pupils, parents and sta

– all benefit from Place2Be’s independent counselling support and advice service.

Paula Losch is the School Project Manager for Place2Be and is based at KS for three days a week. While she is employed by the charity, she considers herself part of the school team and is very much involved with day-to-day life. “Anyone can talk to me – we o er a service to the parents, the students and the sta ,” she says, adding: “As Mr Magoo always says, ‘It’s a compassion service’”. Compassion is an important word here –o ering a service that anyone can use freely helps to embed a mindset of self-care, also, as one sta member put it: ‘a level playing field’. Visibility is key to this school culture. Take, for instance, the location of the Place2Be o ce, a few steps from the school’s dining hall – a place children pass every day. This reinforces the idea that it’s as normal to tend to your mind as to refuel your body. There’s an open-door approach – so any child or young person can knock on the

door for a ‘Place2Talk’ session and get counselling for whatever is bothering them. It might be worries about work, friends, or something that makes them sad – perhaps the absence of a family member or loss of a pet. There are other ways to approach Place2Be. Children can leave a slip in a box, ask their teacher to book them in or their parents can email at any time.

“When a child comes to us, what we do, depends on the child,” says Paula Losch. “Children communicate in so many ways and are eager to express themselves. We o er them a safe space to share their feelings and thoughts verbally, but also through art and play.” Alongside one-to-one chats, there are in-class circle times where children are encouraged to discuss issues together. This feeds back into the knowledge KS and Place2Be have of wider potential problems –think of it as an early warning system for the issues that might be coming down the track.

Parents can and do access support, too. This is a vital part of the service, and what KS calls the Parent Partnership. Family therapy is o ered, along with one-to-one support if parents request it. “It’s not an easy job parenting,” says Paula Losch. “It’s di cult for everyone. We’re not there to humiliate or shame any parent. We o er this to parents to empower them and say, ‘you know, it’s really not easy, what can we do to support you in this?’.”

Knightsbridge School has a very international cohort, wonderful for the life and spirit of the community, but it can bring its own di culties. Families may be a long way from home and their own support networks, and they may be adjusting to life in a busy city environment. And, like every

“THE PLACE2BE OFFICE IS NEAR THE SCHOOL’S DINING HALL – REINFORCING THE IDEA THAT IT’S AS NORMAL TO TEND TO YOUR MIND AS TO REFUEL YOUR BODY”

ABOVE Knightsbridge School Wellbeing Ambassador with younger KS pupils

school, KS feels the impact of geopolitics – for instance, there are families from Ukraine and Russia here. While there can be worries specific to families, Paula Losch says parents around the world share a lot of common ground when it comes to concerns about their children. “Parents all deal with the same sorts of issues – children struggling with friendships, with anxiety related to friendships, to social media.”

With this in mind, Place2Be hosts a forum for parents every term on a key issue. This is ‘ear to the ground’ stu gathered via in-class circle times or the things that individual students are mentioning. “Without divulging who brought the issues, we talk about the things we are hearing, the things our pupils are struggling with.” Parents can also flag

up issues they are worried about – there’s a vibrant parent group called Knowledge Society, which co-ordinates many elements of the wider Parent Partnership.

All KS parents also have access to Place2Be’s Parenting Smart website and online courses – a series of online modules that talk about situations every parent deals with, such as setting boundaries, giving praise and reward and managing temper tantrums. It’s designed for parents of 4 to 11-year-olds and free to access.

There are, as we are all coming to realise, specific issues since the pandemic. Paula Losch shares that teenagers have been particularly badly a ected. “We see more and more teenagers having issues with depression and thinking they’re not capable,

and that it is all too much.” Pre and post pandemic, boys are harder to reach – more reluctant to get help when they are down – something the whole team at Place2Be are working hard to address. “Whereas girls come, they talk, and they are used to having support – and then they can work through their emotions,” says Paula Losch.

“That’s something therapy gives you – you become much more resourceful.”

In other words, it builds tools and inner resources to help with current problems and problems you might face down the line. “Counselling is not about giving advice, but asking the right questions so that the child can find the best solution,” she adds.

And that’s the thing about Knightsbridge School’s work with Place2Be. It is embedding the kind of child-centred support that builds a toolkit, giving young people strength and resourcefulness for today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. It’s a mark of how e ective – and wellloved – the partnership has become that parents have made Place2Be a cornerstone charity, alongside Royal Chelsea Hospital and The Knightsbridge School Education Foundation (which provides generous full bursaries). This means Place2Be fundraising takes place all year round and KS has also helped to pass it forward by supporting its services in local partner state schools.

Speaking about the partnership, Head, Shona Colaço has said: “Place2Be has opened our young people’s eyes to the importance of good mental health and helped to nurture empathy and selfawareness in our school community. We owe it to our children to care for their mental and physical wellbeing as the springboard to success in school”.

“PARENTS ALL DEAL WITH THE SAME SORTS OF ISSUES – CHILDREN STRUGGLING WITH FRIENDSHIPS, WITH ANXIETY RELATED TO FRIENDSHIPS, TO SOCIAL MEDIA”

LEFT & RIGHT

KS pupils know it’s good to share how they feel

Founder Magoo Giles at a parents’ association fundraising gala

We need ambition

As the new Headteacher of Kew Green Preparatory School, I believe it is essential for ambition to be embedded in all areas and aspects of school life, learning and culture. When asked to state my educational philosophy, I often speak about collaboration, innovation, creativity and high self-esteem, alongside the core values of compassion, respect and resilience. This is reflective of my view that all children are unique and that the environment in which they grow must be inspiring. I might also add that I often stop short of mentioning a further value that I hold – ambition.

Why is my first instinct to act with caution when admitting that I am ambitious, both for myself and in what I seek to achieve as Headteacher for my school? Perhaps it is time to stop cautiously

admitting that we are ambitious. Instead, we should start embracing and promoting this as a proud quality and an essential part of any educational philosophy.

Being ambitious in a competitive environment provides a motivating context to achieve, and in a school context it ensures that my pupils are happy in wanting to be successful. It is through having ambition that the highest quality of education, established within an outstanding school community, can be achieved. Indeed, it is through the process of achieving our goals that, as educators and school leaders, we provide the very best education and thereby enable all our pupils to succeed.

Ambition is integral to all that we do here at Kew Green, both at Kew Green Nursery and the Preparatory School. It is the fabric and the make-up of our ethos and is underpinned by four key aspects: aspiration,

motivation, e ort and achievement. This ethos should be visible in pupil progress and learning outcomes, a product of ambitious teaching and a dynamic curriculum. It should also be evident in the high self-esteem and aspiration of pupils. Ambition should be felt as soon as you step through the school gates. One of the main purposes of any school is to ensure that the educational provision in place provides appropriate building blocks to allow opportunity and achievement for all pupils. In London, most preparatory schools are regulated by the rigorous expectations and demands set by the 11+. While this can give rise to fierce competition, the pressure it places on Year 6 pupils underpins the aspirations we have for all our pupils, and I would argue that ambition must be at the core of the whole process.

SASHA DAVIES Headteacher, Kew Green Preparatory School

The adage that ‘good can always be better’ underpins my philosophy of ambition. It is through a culture of ambition and a truly rounded experience that an independent school such as Kew Green enables successful pupil outcomes, both academically and in children’s personal development. I would urge us all to embrace ambition, finding a place for it in our own personal development, and to proudly seek out and celebrate its presence in our schools. After all, as Salvador Dali said: “Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings”.

The new Headteacher of Kew Green Preparatory School, Sasha Davies, argues that it’s vital to celebrate ambition

“I would urge us all to embrace ambition and to proudly seek out and celebrate its presence in our schools”

ABOVE

Kew Green Prep pupils

JOINING THE DOTS

ARTS

for life

SARUM HALL SCHOOL

Hampstead prep Sarum Hall is an Artsmark School, committed to embedding arts and creativity across the whole curriculum. Alongside traditional art lessons –covering areas such as ceramics, print making, painting and drawing – the team takes a crosscurricular approach. This means, for instance, that when Year 3 studied the Anglo-Saxons in history, they had a go at dyeing yarn with vegetables and then weaving their own cloth. Student Art Ambassadors have a formal role, ensuring the student voice in how the arts are taught across the school. There is also a distinctly immersive approach, with challenges such as recreating particular paintings. When the children tackled Yayoi Kusama’s ‘Obliteration Room’, for instance, it involved plenty of fun with spots and a wild transformation of the playground shed. Alongside art lessons, dance, music and performing arts are all popular parts of the school day and a core part of the curriculum. After school clubs cover a wide range of areas – from choir and music to

The arts develop creativity, social skills, persistence and sometimes luminous talent. Absolutely Education speaks to schools that make the arts journey one of mind-broadening possibilities

‘ambitious artists’. Specific events have been held to mark important events such as World Arts Day, with children dressing up as characters from their favourite paintings and then taking photographs.

For those pupils who are more engaged in science subjects, Design Technology is, say the sta , a great crossover activity where they can build kites, create marble runs or design 3D posters. Technology is used wherever possible (and appropriate). For the same Anglo-Saxon project where pupils were dyeing and weaving, they then conducted a fashion show and filmed post-show interviews.

Sarum Hall has no doubts that the arts are invaluable for igniting children’s enthusiasm and helping them develop skills for life. “Children who understand and have an appreciation of the arts tend to be those who are willing to listen and understand the views of others. We believe that creative thinking is a life skill, useful for any subject or future career,” says Headmistress Karen Coles. “The arts can unlock the potential of children and young people, develop their characters, talent and confidence and increase their knowledge and understanding of so many di erent areas of life.”

QUEEN ETHELBURGA’S COLLEGIATE

At Queen Ethelburga’s (QE), the creative arts are supported and celebrated across all four schools. In Chapter House, there are specialist lessons in music, performing arts and dance alongside a full arts curriculum. At QE’s Kings Magna Middle school, creative arts curriculum lessons include art, 3D design and technology, music and drama. QE students get extra opportunities through the enrichment and super curricular o ering, giving Years 6-9 tasters of musical theatre, dance, ‘Class Brass’ (a brass ensemble), music composition and a whole range of extra arts options, such as photography, animation, anime art and 3D design.

When students move on to either College or Faculty, this breadth continues. In College, there’s a full selection of creative GCSE options. In Faculty, students can choose BTEC or GCSE options.

Once they move up to Sixth Form, students have a wide range of A-level and

BTEC options across the arts. There are opportunities to specialise in areas such as fashion, illustration, print or interactive media. Similarly, with performing arts, students may specialise in areas such as directing or musical theatre.

Vocational Curriculum Manager and Head of Creative Arts at QE Helen Stephenson says the extra-curricular o er is “huge” across performance and visual arts areas. “We o er a Saturday school, Queen’s Academy. Here students can take part in a wide range of activities from self-directed study and workshop time to practitioner-led workshops – recent examples have included shadow puppetry, collage, portfolio building for university applications, and visiting speakers with an emphasis on creative careers.” She points to recent examples where students have focused on fashion marketing and film and documentary making.

QE also runs Saturday arts academies, and the King’s Academy theatre school is open both to students at the school and young people in the area for dance, singing, drama and musical theatre. There’s a Saturday music workshop where students get involved in band, jazz band, rock and pop choirs, wind group or music theory for the ABRSM exams. “All these weekend

“AT A VERY BASIC LEVEL, EXPOSING CHILDREN TO CREATIVE PURSUITS MIGHT WELL UNCOVER A LATENT TALENT OR UNDEVELOPED SKILL THAT CAN BE NURTURED”

activities are in addition to our whole school collaborations,” adds Helen Stephenson.

“We have a whole school musical each year in the Autumn term, most recently this was High School Musical. We o er drama performances, dance competitions, house music and musical recitals as part of assemblies throughout the year.” There’s also a creative collaboration between the Creative Arts and Sports departments for the annual Gym and Dance Display, always including a workshop with a professional dance company.

QE o ers an Arts Award, giving its students the chance to achieve in a creative or performance area. The school is keen to o er the whole range of possibilities. For instance, interactive media and techniques and concepts of game design are being introduced this year. Helen Stephenson believes this is important in ensuring enthusiasm is built among all students – and they gain the soft skills required by employers. “New statistics reveal the Creative Industries sector is growing more than five times faster than the national economy,” says Helen Stephenson. “We open up our students from the very earliest ages to the 6th form to a breadth of creative opportunities.”

CRANLEIGH PREP SCHOOL

At Cranleigh Prep, there is a strong focus on the arts, with art, drama and music lessons every week. There are also dance lessons in Years 3-5, and with DT and food technology also in the mix up to age 11. “We also celebrate the arts in whole-school events, such as the House Singing Competition, which involves all pupils,” says Deputy Head (Operational) and Music Teacher Catherine Beddison.

Of course, o timetable is where many children discover their passions, and the school’s rich mix of co-curricular activities range from Music Production Club and Awesome Book Awards Club to activities such as rehearsals for school plays and an

after-school Media Club – where children get hands on with cameras and editing equipment. There are also invitation-only activities, such as Da Vinci Club for prospective art scholarship students. The team manage things carefully to ensure that there are no clashes between, say, Chapel Choir and Street Dance. “Children and sta have developed a sense of mutual respect between disciplines,” adds Catherine Beddison.

Whatever a child’s natural interests, curricular and extra-curricular activities are designed to cultivate engagement. Drama is a classic example, says the Head of Drama, Philip Waller. “It is important to show the relevance of Drama for each pupil. I am not looking at merely working in a cross curricular way through script work and improvisational games, which of course is a fundamental part of it, but more importantly using Drama as a training ground to permeate confidence

“CHILDREN WHO HAVE AN APPRECIATION OF THE ARTS TEND TO BE THOSE WHO ARE WILLING TO LISTEN AND UNDERSTAND THE VIEWS OF OTHERS”

The arts are central to life at Cranleigh Prep School

across all learning.” Philip Waller ensures students have access to film making as part of these activities, showcasing modern and technical aspects of the craft.

Similarly, with art, children are introduced to newer mediums alongside the traditional forms. “Digital art becomes far more serious, and therefore interesting to children, if the link between digital art and concept art for movies and video games is explained and investigated,” says Director of Art Rob Perry. “It is the enjoyment and confidence, gained through a greater sense of achievement and selfworth, that the children take most from their artistic experiences,” he adds.

Music at Cranleigh Prep is all about inclusivity, with open-access choirs at all stages. Pupils can sing or take part in percussion groups, even if they don’t formally learn an instrument. “As a whole school community, pupils sing together in weekly Chapel services as well as congregational hymn practices,” says Head of Music Ruth Williams. “We have pupils who take part in County and National ensembles and choirs, as well as individuals with casting agents for West End shows.”

The school broadens music perspectives, embracing areas beyond Western classical music – which pupils love. Music technology

is also hugely popular and o ered all the way through to A level at Cranleigh. “We are always looking at di erent ways to ignite creativity, and we take a bespoke approach to musical ensembles,” adds Ruth Williams.

The school has opted for an approach that sees some compulsory subjects – so everyone tries them out – before o ering electives as they get older. “Compulsory arts subjects for younger children certainly benefit them at school and beyond,” says Cranleigh Prep School Headmaster Neil Brooks. “At a very basic level, exposing children to creative

pursuits might well uncover a latent talent or undeveloped skill that can be nurtured.”

He adds that arts build confidence and teamwork, as well as providing a balance with other subjects. “The need for children to recognise that they are a part of something bigger and have a responsibility to others has increased post pandemic and the arts, along with sports, provide a wonderful vehicle for meeting it.”

ST SWITHUN’S SCHOOL

Winchester school St Swithun’s o ers the full range of mainstream arts subjects, including History of Art, Textiles and Design and Technology. The school has an approach it calls ‘appropriately academic’, with plenty of opportunities to get creative outside the classroom. Indeed, the whole approach here is to encourage girls to try new things and learn from them. Along the way they develop the broad range of skills that arts teaching and learning can bring – from perseverance to teamwork.

The school says that while some girls naturally gravitate towards participating in lots of activities, others need a bit more persuasion to spread their wings. Boarders here are expected to sign up to a certain number of after-school co-curricular activities

ABOVE Stage craft at Cranleigh Prep

RIGHT

Fine art exploration at St Swithun’s School

BELOW A drama performance at St Swithun’s

and day students are also welcome to join. Tutors ensure a good balance of activities – and also make sure pupils honour their co-curricular commitments made at the start of each term.

For students who are more focused on, say, science subjects, the school designs options that will appeal. For instance, creating science-themed videos or animations and fashion theatre productions can help to bring girls’ interests into play. A recent example of the cross-disciplinary approach was a drama production Welcome to Terezin, about life in a wartime concentration camp. It was an ambitious production, warmly received, and with appeal to historians as well as pupils who enjoy acting and behind-the-scenes roles.

St Swithun’s sees a chief benefit of arts activities as developing critical thinking, alongside communication and creative skills. It adds that promoting cultural awareness and emotional intelligence are vital parts of what the arts bring to young people’s lives within and beyond school.

DOWNE HOUSE

Downe House o ers a full curriculum across creative subjects, including History of Art, Ceramics, Textiles and 3D Design. Art and Design is on the curriculum for the first two years “This enables pupils to develop the ability to appreciate the visual world and to respond in a personal and creative way,” says Downe House Director of Admissions Tara Reeve. “They have the opportunity to work using a variety of subject matter and media and develop skills to interpret and convey ideas and feelings.” Just as important are the

analytical, experimental and documenting skills developed and honed by these subjects.

Co-curriculum activities are broad, and an important part of life at the Berkshire school. “Our department and pastoral sta support the girls to find the right balance and diversity of activities, which can include joining a formal group or creating their own group,” says Tara Reeve. These may be sta or pupil led, but the focus is on encouraging girls to try new things. “We also find opportunities for our pupils to visit exhibitions and galleries, enjoy stage productions and

films, as well as providing performing and creative arts workshops,” adds Tara Reeve.

The emphasis at the full-boarding school is on ensuring a rounded education – and some fun. “There is no better way of getting pupils involved than introducing a little healthy competition – and our inter-House competitions (House Drama, Dance, Art and Music), led by our Sixth Form House captains, are a great way of encouraging participation.” Cross-department initiatives, such as a recent groundbreaking Art/Music collaboration called ‘Soundscapes’, add depth and innovation to the creative o er.

Tara Reeve says school facilities such as 3D printers are well used for creative endeavours, and weekend workshops in areas such as jewellery making are a huge hit. All media and mediums are explored, and one popular annual event is a Year 9 project with a film company where teams spend a day creating a film around campus. “The pupils fully embrace this opportunity, and the project is rounded o with an Oscars-themed evening of fine dining, where all the videos are shown, and everyone dresses up for the occasion.”

Tara Reeve says the arts have a vital role in developing young people’s confidence and self-belief. “Finding and nurturing a pupil’s strengths and talents is our mission and in the case of the creative arts and performing arts, there are so many opportunities for our pupils to explore their artistic and creative potential.”

“PROMOTING CULTURAL AWARENESS AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE ARE VITAL PARTS OF WHAT THE ARTS BRING TO YOUNG PEOPLE’S LIVES”

ABOVE & BELOW

The arts in all their forms are celebrated at Downe House

MUSIC MATTERS

Try turning o the radio, remove soundtracks from film and jingles from advertisements. We would be lost without music. Yet, music is taken for granted, with funding cuts in the arts and less and less support for it in our schools.

We are extremely lucky at Wells Cathedral School. We are one of very few specialists music schools in the country; we have incredibly talented pupils and sta and we enjoy amazing facilities, including a

beautiful modern concert Hall (Cedars Hall), a medieval hall (Quilter Hall), and the awe inspiring Wells Cathedral. We know we are lucky and we know that we want to share.

Now that we are through the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, we have been able to throw our doors open again. We have been able to reinstate our large concert diary and resume and expand our community music programme – including our instrument days, which are free to attend. What an experience it was recently to hear over 50 French horn players from Grade 1 to post Diploma – and from near and far afield – all performing together in a specially composed work. In recent months we have held similar days for clarinet, violin and trombone.

Days like these enable us to share much more than facilities and expertise. They nurture amazing team spirit. The youngest musicians are encouraged to share their reactions to music heard or performed for the first time, while the more senior players act as mentors or ‘elder siblings’. They begin to appreciate the process of teaching for themselves and how this helps them reflect on their own practice. It is also a fantastic chance to involve parents.

At our recent violin day, while pupils were rehearsing with one teaching team, another team was involved in a seminar with parents discussing openly, honestly and supportively the trials of and strategies for helping young musicians to practice better and more joyfully. We all agreed that marks in exams are not as important as being creative, having fun and telling a story through our music.

Practice can be shared too. It is always a joy for me to discover musicians working together. This can happen surprisingly easily if a culture can be created of openness and generosity and of questioning. It is remarkable how one’s own practice improves by really listening and reacting to another musician. No reaction to music is ever wrong. I am frequently amazed by drawings, by models, by computer animations of children’s reactions to music. Equally, by how much more they are able to say with the music when they perform it. Their own musical voice has been hugely strengthened and their commitment to performance is stronger than the desire merely to play right or wrong notes.

Music teachers need to stick together. None of us has all the answers. We can all get stuck with what we think we know works best and, however well it goes, there is a chance that it might lose its freshness. We can succeed in making sure future generations take up and enjoy music by forging partnerships, collaborating, and sharing everything. Please do not hesitate to be in touch should you wish to discuss and share any ideas or hear more about our Instrument or A-level Music days.

“We can succeed in making sure future generations take up and enjoy music by sticking together, forging partnerships”

Wells Cathedral School’s Director of Music says the future of music education rests on courage, generosity and sharing

ALEX LAING Director of Music Wells

Cathedral School

ABOVE Wells Cathedral School musicians

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BOYS AND GIRLS, BOARDING AND DAY, FOR AGES 2-13

LISTEN UP

School Lower

Schools have for decades taught business studies and economics. For longer still they have taught numeracy and financial literacy and have instilled in generations of students the kind of dynamism and chutzpah that traditionally have seemed essential to business, particularly the world of the entrepreneur.

Like many schools, we tell students that ‘the door is always open’ if they want to talk. We want them to know that we are receptive to their ideas and that what they have to say is important. But we’ve learnt that just leaving the door open isn’t enough.

As the Head of the Lower School, with children from Reception to Year 6, it is my job to ensure there are clear structures which allow them to have their voices heard. In traditional parent-teacher meetings, the grown-ups talk about a child’s progress – vital conversations take place without the most important person being present. We do things di erently.

Each term the students invite their parents into the classroom where, along with their teacher, they show their work, talk about their progress and measure it against goals they themselves have set. They are asked to reflect on their learning behaviours, celebrate successes and talk about how they can improve going forward. The children are expected to have an opinion about their own learning, to take responsibility for it and work as part of a team with their teacher and their significant adults to improve it. Every time, we see how this simple change of protocol positively impacts their learning.

As the children move up the school, each class nominates two people to be part of our Pupil Council, tasked with reporting the concerns of their peers and helping to look for solutions.

Giving students a route to e ect real change means they feel empowered and valued. They don’t just come to school, they are the school. Recently our Pupil Council expressed concern about the lack of mixing across genders and year groups, especially at breaktime. One Pupil Council member summed it up saying: “People were playing the same games with

Head

the same people”. Another added: “It didn’t feel very nice because we’re a whole school together and it would be nice if we played together”.

Working with class teachers Pupil Council came up with a plan for ‘Big Playtime Playdates’ twice a week, which are designed to allow space for new friendships to grow and to encourage children to try new games and activities. Boxes of board games, craft materials and sports equipment are made available – all organised and distributed by Pupil Council, who get their clipboards out to supervise the signing out of materials!

Next term they have been asked to evaluate the success of their plan and decide whether or not it should continue. Their baseline data will be reviewed before decisions are made. So far, the response has been really positive. A class teacher told me that students who were reluctant to begin with now look forward to Big Playtime Playdates.

Allowing the Pupil Council to make a fairly big change to school life, then asking them to organise it and reflect on how it has worked out, is a very practical way to make sure students not only know that our door is always open but also how to walk through it.

KAREN THOMAS

of Lower School The King Alfred School, London

“The children are expected to have an opinion about their own learning, to take responsibility for it and work as part of a team”

ABOVE Pupils at The King Alfred School

The Head of The King Alfred

School on why giving students agency within school creates a positive atmosphere for learning

back

STORIES

By LIBBY NORMAN

History can be stranger than the wildest imagined kingdom. And for children who don’t do dragon slayers or aliens, historical novels o er a direct path into believable fictional worlds. These ‘lookableuppable’ places and events add depth and interesting tangents that encourage further reading.

For Rhian Tracey, author of I, Spy, Bletchley Park was the starting point. Tracey had the most compelling of all reasons to set her new novel there: her Great Aunt Audrey. She was one of the women of Bletchley Park – clever, stoical and extremely brave. Indeed, her story is so amazing it deserves a summary.

Audrey was making her own way in the world after she was orphaned. When WWII started, she joined the Wrens – and there she was spotted and put on a train to London (her first time out of Wales). “As far as we can tell she was driven into Bletchley in a blacked-out bus and then made to sign the O cial Secrets Act, in a quite threatening way,” says Tracey. Audrey was just 17 when she arrived and she worked as a code stripper (she was taught both Japanese and Italian). Yet she never told her

husband or children a thing. Years later, and mostly after the o cial medal came, she let a few snapshots slip, although she ‘kept mum’ on a whole lot more. “And we tried!” says Tracey. “Many women like her will have taken those secrets, in the magic phrase, ‘to the grave’.”

For young readers, some of that thrillingly secretive world is uncovered through I, Spy Of course, it’s a fictional account, but in a place children learn about at school and can visit. The novel’s protagonist, 12-year-old Robyn, has grown up in Bletchley Park, and when war begins, she’s assigned a job looking after the carrier pigeons (signing the O cial Secrets Act first). But then she becomes convinced of sinister goings on – an enemy in the heart of this most secret of wartime operations.

There’s much about the era that is so dark it can’t be told, but Rhian Tracey says when that’s carefully handled children love it. “If you think about the original fairytales, the Brothers Grimm, there is a lot of darkness in there and that is appealing to children, as long as it’s balanced with light. So I was hoping to strike that balance,” she says.

Tracey is a seasoned writer (this is her eighth novel) and a schoolteacher, and has also taught children’s literature courses for Open University, so she already knows

I,Spy (Piccadilly Press) is set in wartime Bletchley Park

History o ers us settings grounded in reality, perfect starting point for compelling fiction. The authors of two new adventures set in the past share their back stories

what lures them in. One hook is that you have to give protagonists agency (in this case important jobs to do), and another is that big things have to happen (finding the enemy). “They are looking for excitement, peril, an element of danger and probably more than one character. The historical, particularly in the case of I, Spy, is a bonus.”

This does not, of course, mean skimping on historical research. “You end up not using so much, but at the same time it gives you the confidence to write knowingly and with authenticity, even if you’re not using 80% of the research.” Great Aunt Audrey has a namecheck – brave heroine Robyn’s middle name is Audrey – and Rhian Tracey has been assured by family that she would have given her blessing to this gripping fictional account, first inspired by her incredible wartime contribution.

Like Rhian Tracey, Barbara Henderson is a teacher (she still teaches primary-age

children part time), and she too is convinced of the power of the past to create great fiction for young readers. Rivet Boy is set during the construction of the Forth Bridge – that great Victorian feat of engineering.

Henderson moved to Edinburgh in her teens and now lives in the Highlands, but retains a deep a nity with both the city and the landmark bridge – it was always on her radar as a possible location. While doing some research she found a newspaper account from the time of its construction.

A 12-year-old boy called John Nicol had fallen from the bridge, dropping around 80 feet. He was fished out and examined by a doctor. “It said that he sustained nothing worse than ‘a wetting’. As soon as I read that newspaper article, I thought: ‘he’s my guy’!”

Barbara Henderson – like Rhian Tracey – does enormous amounts of research, although much of it doesn’t make it into print. “A sprinkling is enough,” she says.

“FOR CHILDREN WHO DON’T DO DRAGON SLAYERS OR ALIENS, HISTORICAL NOVELS OFFER A DIRECT PATH INTO BELIEVABLE FICTIONAL WORLDS”

ABOVE

Rhian Tracey

“You put in as much history as you need to build a believable world that your reader can visualise and then get on with the story and focus on the things that are universal – the universal concerns of a child – love, defending those we care about, seeing justice done, coming through tricky situations.”

John Nicol has been immortalised as hero of Rivet Boy, but Barbara Henderson found out a lot more about his back story. A birth certificate, a parents’ marriage certificate and also the discovery that his father had moved to Australia – probably with a view to sending for his wife – but died within a week of arrival in an unlucky accident. There’s even a record of a widow’s fund being set up in Australia for the mother of the boy who would – 12 years later – have a remarkably lucky escape after another accident.

Henderson says one good ‘in’ for any historical novel is moral compass. “Children nowadays have got very well-developed sense of justice – what is fair and what isn’t. They really respond to the fact that Victorian children were so often put into very dangerous

positions because they have a sense of outrage. And that, in itself, catapults them towards the story.”

Another is to make the characters feel believable. Our hero who falls from the Forth Bridge has a a terrible fear of heights – a fabulous tension builder and also entirely likely. He has a female friend, Cora, who is desperate to be an engineer and doesn’t fit stereotypes of the time. “Someone who is a rebel in their own time is far easier to relate to in our time,” says Henderson.

Alongside John, there’s another real character in there – Margaret Moir – who later went on to co-found the Women’s Engineering Society. There’s even a red squirrel John Nicol has befriended. “It’s a shortcut to making your character likeable. If you make an animal dependent on this main character and he’s kind to the animal then that’s an instant cue to your reader,” says Henderson.

For both Barbara Henderson and Rhian Tracey, setting a novel in the past does not mean setting it in aspic. Henderson says you have to keep the central characters relatable. “You really want modern young readers to identify with whatever historical character you’ve created.” The rewards, when this works, are wonderfully rich landscapes and the promise that a work of fiction grounded in time and place inspires children to keep on learning more about our past.

“CHILDREN ARE LOOKING FOR EXCITEMENT, PERIL, AN ELEMENT OF DANGER AND PROBABLY MORE THAN ONE CHARACTER”

ABOVE Barbara Henderson has set Rivet Boy (Cranachan Publishing), during construction of the Forth Bridge

I found my character at The Leys

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Better PREPARED

Louisa McCa erty, Head of Broomwood Prep, Girls, argues that there are huge benefits for some girls in staying on at prep school for longer

Childhood is all too short –and seems to be getting shorter by the day –particularly for girls. The pressure to ‘grow up’ can be overwhelming and leads to anxiety and falling selfconfidence. The accepted wisdom seems to be that because girls mature faster than boys, they won’t benefit from two more years at a prep school. As Head of a prep school that o ers both 11+ and 13+ exits, I challenge this view. I think that the starting point should be: what is the best exit for this individual child?

Moving at 11 to become a small fish in a very big pond is daunting for even the most confident pupil – but overwhelming for some – particularly with potentially long commutes, a high-pressured assessment process in Year 6 and (in the world of boarding) an earlier start away from home. While some girls are more than ready for this, there are others who might benefit greatly from an additional two years in a prep-school environment. This is not least because coping with senior school at a younger age may have a longer impact on their overall wellbeing.

If you have the option of a school that has both an 11+ and a 13 entry, my plea is to ask whether a child (regardless of gender) is ready for the transition. And by that, I mean in all senses, not just academic. Are they ready socially? Have they developed confidence in themselves, and do they have the skills needed to navigate what is often a bigger and busier setting? Also ask yourself if they might benefit from more time to hone their skills in a known environment

and develop a greater sense of themselves as a learner, as a friend – and as a school leader.

For some children, those additional two years can be incredibly valuable in terms of attitudes to learning, confidence and maturity. From an academic perspective, this extra two years enables us to o er a curriculum that’s less about exam preparation and technique and more about laying the foundation for future success – at senior school and beyond.

However, it’s the impact on wellbeing and self-confidence that really stands out. By remaining in a known environment, acting as role models to the younger years and holding

more demanding leadership positions and responsibilities, we can support girls to reach their potential. We see a noticeable impact on their self-belief, so that when they move on at the end of Year 8, they are more than ready to tackle senior-school life with gusto.

Many of the parents that I speak to are questioning the pressure of the 11+ on their children, the environment it creates among both pupils and parents and the increasingly selective nature of London day schools. For some, there is also a feeling that this is not what they had envisaged or necessarily wanted for their daughter. However, they often feel there are no other options than to jump on board and hope for the best.

So, my best advice is to pause, take a breath and think about what is best for your own child. For some, two more years of ‘childhood’ in order to develop the maturity and selfbelief to tackle the next stage brimming with confidence may be transformational – that is surely something worth thinking about?

“For some girls, two more years of ‘childhood’ in order to develop maturity and self-belief may be transformational”

LOUISA MCCAFFERTY Head, Broomwood Prep, Girls

ABOVE Louisa McCa erty and Broomwood Prep, Girls pupils

North Bridge House

North Bridge House is on a constant journey of getting to know every child as an individual, realising their unique potential through a rich and diverse academic and co-curricular programme at every school stage.

‘Personal challenge with tailored teaching in a nurturing setting’ Good Schools Guide

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60

Kate Bailey

What is your background?

On leaving Edinburgh University after four happy years studying for an English and History MA, I moved to London and gained my PGCE from the Institute of Education, University of London. I worked at Garden House Boys and Broomwood Hall in the early days. I have been lucky to work across the 3-13 age range in co-ed and single sex independent schools. I worked as Head of the Junior School at Westminster Under and as Deputy Head at Wetherby Prep at Bryanston Square. I was then asked to be the Founding Head of WetherbyPembridge in New York and moved to Manhattan for six years. I moved back to take up headship at Godstowe in July 2022.

What excites you most about your role?

Godstowe is an exciting place to work. The girls are fresh and ever enthusiastic, and I love being immersed in the day and boarding aspects of school life. We have around 430 girls from 3-13 and we are a diverse community where the students just want to learn and engage. They are given so much opportunity to explore and grow. My team are incredible, and I count myself lucky to work alongside talented educators. Waving a group of Years 6-8 girls o to Canada for their annual ski trip was the icing on the cake for me recently!

What is your educational philosophy?

Education is precious and for life and schools should inspire and instil a deep love of learning. It is our young people’s time to learn integrity, meet the people and friends who will shape and change their outlook forever and embrace kindness and compassion for the road ahead. At Godstowe, we focus on character, leadership skills and self- awareness. Above all, we want them to be happy, to communicate well and collaborate, having a lot of fun in the process.

Can you tell us about one pivotal moment in your career?

Moving to New York in 2016 as Founding Head of Wetherby-Pembridge was the moment everything changed for me. I had

been lucky, as my previous experience in London had equipped me with a fundamental love for our curriculum and well-rounded o ering. Nothing prepared me, though, for the sheer graft of the school set-up, in a new city and country. I gained a good dose of resilience and tenacity but certainly fell in love with what we created. The people I met made the experience a treasured one. The school and project attracted the very best people, children, and families, and that is what made it so special.

What is Godstowe’s approach and what sets it apart?

Academic success is balanced with character education, wellbeing, and enrichment. We take time to work with every individual girl in our care, and they leave us ready to embrace

life and reach the goals that resonate with their own path. There is a sense of adventure here. I like that...

What makes a great student?

For me, it is a sense of curiosity, fun and humility. Working together, we can achieve great things with respect, good manners, kindness, and honesty.

What makes a great school?

Great schools are about the people that work in them. It is hard to find the same sense of community, friendship and camaraderie in other environments. The greatest schools I’ve worked in value talent and potential, look for individual strengths and encourage development and personal growth – and that is as much for the adults as for the children in our care.

“It is our young people’s time to learn integrity, meet the people and friends who will shape and change their outlook forever and embrace kindness”

The new Headmistress at Godstowe Prep School on her background and educational approach

seconds with

ABOVE Kate Bailey

H PPINESS GETS RESU LTS .

We all want our children to succeed, but it’s how that success is defined that can make a school stand out.

At Portland Place School teachers see your child’s potential and set it free. The personalised and nurturing educational environment allows children to become inquisitive, creative and open-minded and to achieve a real-life education beyond just exams.

The result? Our students achieve personally, socially and academically.

ENTRY YEARS 6 - 11

Find out more about how happiness gets results. www.portland-place.co.uk or admissions@portland-place.co.uk Portland Place School, Regents Park.

School’s Out

YOUNG

And Everything Will Be Glad to See You

Subtitled 'Poems by Women and Girls', Ella Risbridger's well-chosen anthology is a wonderful introduction to female poets down the ages. Many are short, making this accessible for young readers, but it's definitely a book to grow into. There's a wonderful mix of classic and contemporary names here, from Nikita Gill, Amanda Gorman and Carol Ann Duffy to Christina Rossetti, Katherine Mansfield and Emily Dickinson. Anna Shepeta's dreamy colour illustrations are perfectly pitched and help to bring the words on the page to life.

From a global culinary tour for young gourmets to philosophy, architecture and backstage guides to the ballet theatre and concert hall, our pick of creative spring reads

The Very Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra

Published in association with Classic FM, this interactive book follows the musical adventures of Ava and Jayden as they discover the orchestra. Ten instruments (including voice) can be heard – from "The Lark Ascending" for violin and "Rhapsody in Blue" for clarinet to "Le Cygne" for cello. It's an inspiring orchestral tour and the click to play buttons throughout the book help children clearly identify the individual sounds. Young musicians will also find plenty of interesting background details about instruments, composers and the structure of a concert-hall orchestra.

selected by Ella Risbridger illustrated by Anna Shepeta NOSY CROW £20

by Tim Lihoreau & Philip Noyce illustrated by Olga Baumert DK PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE, £20

THE MUMMY'S CURSE

by M.A. Bennett WELBECK FLAME, £7.99

The second in the Butterfly Club series, The Mummy's Curse takes us on another journey with intrepid time travellers who steal artefacts in order to influence progress in a positive way. This time around, young adventurers Luna, Konstantin and Aidan are tasked with going back to the Valley of the Kings to uncover the mummy of Tutankhamun before Howard Carter can get to it. First there's the problems of landing in 1922 and uncovering archaeological treasure, and then there's that deadly curse to contend with. A rip-roaring read for history and adventure lovers alike.

SNOW WHITE AND OTHER GRIMMS' FAIRYTALES

by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

illustrated by

MinaLima

Another title in the sumptuous series illustrated by MinaLima, this treasury of Grimms' fables is one to be devoured, then eventually handed down. All the familiar stories are here, with two versions of Snow White, plus Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel. But less celebrated tales are in the mix, such as The Twelve Huntsmen and Mother Holle. Magical illustrations include 3D extras, including a pop-up tower for Rapunzel and a wall of thorns for Sleeping Beauty.

7+

AN INVITATION TO THE BALLET THEATRE

by

Supported by English National Ballet and Ballet Futures, this VIP backstage tour of a ballet company starts in the auditorium. Then young readers are taken through the costume department, a morning rehearsal and also set building, lighting, make-up and wig departments. They drop by the dancers' canteen and find out about the orchestra. There's lots of detail – from the number of shoes a dancer gets through a week to the atmosphere in the wings. Readers also find out about the plots of some of our most famous ballets.

Little Book, Big Idea: What is Philosophy?

by Sarah Walden

There's nothing like starting them young, and this clever picture book does just that. Beginning with how to pronounce fi-LOSS-uh-FEE, it then asks big questions (what is life/truth/ beauty?). Using simple text and engaging illustrations it provides age-appropriate answers. There's a useful section covering how our words and actions have meaning and impact on other people. You'll also find a glossary of more complex words used in the book. Noodle Juice has also published a companion called What is Money, with titles on art and music also coming soon.

HARPER DESIGN, £25

illustrated by Katie Rewse NOODLE JUICE, £9.99

Charlotte Guillain illustrated by Helen Shoesmith WELBECK, £16.99

Now Open

The Circles in the Sky

by Karl James Mountford WALKER BOOKS, £12.99

Karl James Mountford has created this thoughtful book for very young readers to explore grief, loss and the spirit of hope in nature and memory. Disturbed by the unusual sounds made by the birds – not their usual chorus, not happy and not sad, Fox follows them. It's a long journey, but eventually he comes across a broken bird, lying still in a clearing. He can't wake the bird up however hard he tries and then a moth explains what has happened. Spare and gentle text and rich illustrations make this a lovely readaloud choice with a comforting message.

THE POWER

OF ARCHITECTURE

by Annette Roeder

illustrated by Pamela Baron PRESTEL, £17.99

Perfect for budding designers and engineers, this guide is written by an architect. Annette Roeder has selected buildings of distinction that are not all on the tourist trail. From Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation 'beehive' flats in Marseille and the recently repurposed Battersea Power Station to Micro Yuan'er, a diminutive children's library in Beijing and David Adjaye's 'Dirty House' in Shoreditch. A timely inclusion is Shigeru Ban's Shelter of Cardboard, easy-toassemble houses to create a more humane shelter for refugees. There is a timeline and biographical notes at the back.

WILDSMITH: INTO THE DARK FOREST

by Liz Flanagan

HOW TO MAKE A PICTURE BOOK

by Elys Dolan WALKER BOOKS, £12.99

illustrated

by

Joe Todd-Stanton UCLAN PUBLISHING, £7.99

The author of the Dragon Daughter books has created the first of a new fantasy series. Rowan and her mother flee their city because of the threat of war. Forced into the Dark Forest, and meeting her Grandpa and his wolf Arto for the first time, Rowan also rescues a baby dragon – and then a whole clutch of them. Over the summer she discovers that she is a Wildsmith, which means she can talk to animals and also heal them. When danger threatens for the second time, it is her new friends she calls on for help.

Dr Elys Dolan is not only an award-winning illustrator, she also teaches an MA in Children's Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art – so who better to inspire young author-illustrators? She approaches the 'how to' format with humour and the help of her chosen sidekick Bert, a worm of many questions. From choosing ideas and developing your characters to the 'storymaths' of plot and the fine art of colour, it covers a lot of ground in an inspiring way. The stepby-step format zooms in on place, story arc and resolution – even how to make your own book to put your story in.

7+

TAKE A BITE

by Aleksandra and Daniel Mizielinski BIG PICTURE PRESS, £25

This large-format book is a feast for eyes and stomach, as readers work their way around the globe on a 26-country culinary tour. Fabulously detailed maps, timelines, text and illustrations answer burning questions, such as where corn and wheat came from, how to make Vietnamese pancakes, what happens at a Moroccan feast and the fine art of fermenting fish. There are lots of recipes – everything from injera flatbread to pierogi, salsa and chocotorta – and the author-illustrators have delivered a bellyful of fascinating facts to inspire young gourmets and food scientists alike.

UP!

by Rebecca Burgess HARPER COLLINS, £9.99

Part of the Harper360 programme, this debut graphic novel by Rebecca Burgess centres on Mia, trying to make her way through a world that doesn't understand her autistic self. While she wishes she could speak up, singing and songwriting is where she finds her true voice as Elle-Q! Assisted by her best friend Charlie, she has become a viral sensation, but no one knows Elle-Q!'s real identity, so should Mia blow her cover and enter the local talent show? Rebecca Burgess is herself autistic and her brilliantly drawn story with a heroine you can get behind also explodes a few stereotypes.

by Berlie Doherty

illustrated by Tamsin Rosewell UCLAN PUBLISHING, £7.99

THE HAUNTED HILLS SPEAK

When Carl heads to the Derbyshire Peak District with his parents to recover from the fallout of a dreadful accident and the loss of his best friend Jack, he becomes caught up in a mystery centred on the tale of the Lost Lad. Carl can't decide if the hills around them are haunted, or if these happenings are figments of his imagination and he's being chased by his own demons. Carnegie-Medal winner Berlie Doherty has included a Derbyshire myth rooted in real events within a deeply moving story about the process of coming to terms with grief.

Big Sky Mountain: The Beach Otters

7+ by Alex Milway PICCADILLY PRESS, £6.99

The third story in Alex Milway's Big Sky Mountain series sees Rosa and her Grandma Nan head o to ToeDipper Bay to find out who has sent up a distress flare. They arrive to find the beach covered in plastic rubbish and a family of beach otters doing their best to clean up. Someone needs to head out to sea and investigate, but it's going to take the animals' assistance. With industrious otters, savvy hermit crabs and hungry pu ns, this is an adventure for younger readers with a great cast and a satisfying resolution.

Comic CRAFT

Graphic novelist Jerry Craft talks about the importance of great expectations and giving children characters and stories they can believe in

By LIBBY NORMAN

Author and illustrator Jerry Craft creates the books he wanted to read as a child growing up. It is as simple as that. His graphic novels have attracted legions of fans, been translated into 13 languages and won multiple awards, including (for New Kid) the John Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Author Award (both 2020), as well as the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature (2019).

Craft is justifiably proud of the fact that New Kid is the only book in history to have carried o all three gongs, and justifiably mystified that – briefly – his work was ‘banned’ by some US school districts for supposedly promoting critical race theory. This was swiftly revoked; in a TV interview around that time, Craft ruefully explained how he had to look up critical race theory on Google to find out what he was accused of.

School Trip, Craft’s third book in the series, comes out this April. It revolves around many of the same cast, including Jordan, Drew and Liam, only this time they’re whisked away from Riverdale Academy – their private school in New York – to Paris. A prank by a couple of pupils means their teachers get switched and mishap, comedy and happy resolution follow. It’s a great read for the 8-12 age group, with many funny moments and an ensemble cast of diverse characters with very human strengths and weaknesses. “I intentionally don’t make a character all good or all bad,” says Craft.

The standout hero of the hour in Paris is the wealthiest boy, Maury. He’s smart, humble, super-accomplished in French, generous to the poorest pupil – oh, and he’s black. Craft says Maury’s character development was partly to do with criticism of earlier books in the series. “I always read reviews. I know a lot of people say, ‘don’t read reviews, they will drive you completely mad’. I read my harshest criticism.” Some critics have, he believes, a desire to find something. “They say, ‘well all the white kids are rich, and they’re privileged’.

So, I thought, ‘well OK, I’m going to take a black character – Maury – and make him the most privileged’.” The fact that Maury turns out to be privileged and likeable is part of Craft’s approach. He does nuance really well – also playing with narrative conventions. Thoughtprovoking stu , especially for this age group. He’s open about the biographical elements. Jordan, lynchpin character of the series, is intent on becoming an artist. So too Craft, who was born in Harlem, grew up in New York’s Washington Heights, attended a private school and – just like Jordan – had parents who weren’t convinced art was: “an actual job”. He says that, for him, drawing was everything. “If I wasn’t an artist, I was kind of stuck.”

As a child, Craft didn’t like reading novels, but he did love comics. He devoured Marvel and learned from the stories – even though comics were not ‘proper’ reading

matter. “When I was growing up my teachers would take comics from us. But we got our vocabulary from Marvel comics – Macabre, I had to look up macabre; Valkyrie, so what’s a Valkyrie? Armageddon, what’s Armageddon?

All these characters from Greek mythology...”

Marvel gave him heroes he could root for, whereas novels mostly fell short. “I never saw specifically black characters that I thought were leading lives that I wanted – or that I was proud of. It was all slavery and civil rights trouble and gangs and police and prison. I mean, I was 12 years old.” The first novel he devoured was by Charles Dickens. “The first book of any substance that I read, finished and enjoyed – and I tell you, it was like a 400-page book. and I was astonished I could read a 400-page book – was Great Expectations,” says Craft. “So how does a little boy from Harlem grow up and the first character that he identifies with is a kid from England called Pip?

“That goes to show that a good character’s a good character. Pip had something that no black character I’d ever read about had, and that was great expectations. He got to the point where people expected stu from him, and he expected stu from him. And most black characters didn’t even expect to make it to the end of the book!”

Despite his parents’ doubts, Craft attended the School of Visual Arts New York City and then embarked on a successful first career in advertising. His comic strips were always on the go. and got picked up by some newspapers. Later he worked for Barbara

LEFT & BELOW School Trip is the third in the series about Riverdale Academy

“A GOOD CHARACTER’S A GOOD CHARACTER. PIP HAD SOMETHING THAT NO BLACK CHARACTER I’D EVER READ ABOUT HAD, AND THAT WAS GREAT EXPECTATIONS”

Slate (who worked with Marvel) and then at King Features. While his first graphic novel (Mama’s Boyz) was published in 1997 and other self-published books followed, the freelance life was hard. Seeking out a publisher came about because he wanted more certainty in his life – especially as he was now father of two boys.

Still, getting New Kid from concept to fruition was hard. It was first pitched around 2014. A couple of publishers really liked it, but the deals fell through. HarperCollins picked it up in 2017 and, from there, it took 13 gruelling months of 15-hour days to create. When it was finally published in February 2019, and to five-star reviews, it was, says Craft, “amazing”.

Craft is delighted that School Trip is, like the earlier books, garnering great reader reviews. But, ever vigilant, he’s been checking out the negatives. “One of the earliest criticisms from parents said, ‘well, I don’t think my kids will be able to relate to these kids spending a week in Paris’. But OK, these same kids can relate to a young wizard flying on a broom with a magic wand. They can go and see Avatar, they can watch Shrek and relate to a green ogre, but they can’t relate to kids of colour spending a week in Paris?”

Craft remains philosophical about the mindset that imposes such a low bar. “As Americans, sometimes we grow up thinking this is everything. We forget that there’s a huge world outside of America with di erent cultures and food and things that you might just like.” One rather poignant scene in School Trip happens when Jordan’s grandpa gives him a hero’s send o and lists earlier talents – including Josephine Baker, Richard Wright and James Baldwin – who headed to Paris. Another happens at the

end of the book when Jordan gives Kirk, a best friend in his home neighbourhood, a Euro on the strict condition Kirk will one day make his own trip to Paris to spend it.

This is where Jerry Craft’s real-life scenarios become really magical. Rather like the first novel he loved, he imbues his characters with great expectations. As well as satisfying outcomes you can believe in, there are delicious comic asides in School Trip, such as when readers are given a short, o -plot skit on how not to go through life as a miserable “thumbs downer”.

Craft already had a global fan base, and there has been a great big thumbs up from overseas this time too – the first takers for School Trip translations were Albania and Lithuania (to Craft’s delighted surprise). He’s especially excited to see reactions from France. “I can’t wait to see the French version – I hope that I have done them justice and they will read School Trip and embrace it.”

School Trip, by Jerry Craft (HarperCollins, £10.99) is published on 27 April.

“KIDS CAN GO AND SEE AVATAR, THEY CAN WATCH SHREK AND RELATE TO A GREEN OGRE, BUT THEY CAN’T RELATE TO KIDS OF COLOUR SPENDING A WEEK IN PARIS?”

ABOVE School Trip centres on an adventure in Paris

LEFT Jerry Craft (photo: Hollis King)

Family FUN

Family memberships let you explore at your own pace, time and again, and often with extra benefits that make them a brilliant year-round investment

By RACHEL HOGG

With the right family membership, your family will never be short of a weekend activity. These passes promise unlimited days spent learning and exploring, whether that be roaming through open fields, visiting castles or getting to know some of the UK’s most interesting museums. They can be a smart buy if you live close to a particular museum or stately home,

encouraging repeat visits, but are also a good way to inspire family days out much further afield. Many memberships also come with benefits – from priority entry and members' events to access to spaces where you can escape the crowds. And, good to know, when you buy a family membership, you help to support work to preserve our heritage for generations to come. We've shortlisted some favourites, from London museums large and small to memberships that open the door to exploration right across the country.

LEFT There's space to let o steam with an English Heritage membership

Big science at the Natural History Museum

Natural History Museum

NHM.AC.UK

The Natural History Museum in South Kensington has billions of years of history tucked away in every corner of its vast temple-like spaces, and an annual pass promises endless opportunities to explore its collection of over 80 million objects. Not only will you get guaranteed entry without the need to queue or book in advance, but there's free unlimited entry to all ticketed exhibitions, as well as access to exclusive members-only events and spaces (including its Anning members' dining and lounging areas). Membership for a one-adult family costs £68, and £87 for a two-adult family. Each membership includes up to four children under the age of 17 and unnamed guests can be added for an additional fee.

EXTRA BENEFITS: There's a members' magazine, plus one for children with a family membership. You'll also find discounts at museum shops, cafés and

cloakrooms. Access to the museum's digital hub, The Hive, could be useful for school projects.

National Art Pass

ARTFUND.ORG

You can get your fill of culture with the National Art Pass, an annual membership o ering free and reduced-priced entry to museums, galleries and fascinating places around the country. This includes big names in London – HMS Belfast, Imperial War Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, Jewish Museum London, Chiswick House & Gardens, Old Royal Naval College, Cutty Sark and the National Gallery. While these discounts are welcome, it's also valid for brilliant museums and attractions across the capital and the whole UK. A National Art Pass also means 50% o major exhibitions, plus discounts in shops and cafés. An adult membership costs £73 a year for individuals over 30, and

£110 for two adults. For an extra £10 ‘Plus Kids’ allows you to take along children under 16 in your family.

EXTRA BENEFITS: The guidebook o ers away-day inspiration, with 800+ places where you can use the pass. There's a glossy quarterly members' magazine and you'll get regular updates about exciting happenings and special o ers at museums across the UK

English Heritage

ENGLISH-HERITAGE.ORG.UK

Your children will be able to take role play to the next level with an English Heritage Membership. They could be a princess trapped in a turret, a dragon on the rampage or a knight jousting in a tournament. For a single annual fee, you can enjoy as many visits to the charity’s 400+ historic sites as you’d like, plus free or reduced entry to the many events that take place at its properties across the

“BUY A NATIONAL ART PASS AND YOU GET FREE OR DISCOUNTED ENTRY TO SOME OF OUR FINEST MUSEUMS, AS WELL AS INSPIRATION TO INSPIRE YOUR NEXT BIG AWAY DAY”

National Art Pass can take you to top spots across the UK

ABOVE English Heritage has some 400 sites to explore

ABOVE LEFT

All life on earth is at the Natural History Museum

year. You are spoiled for choice when it comes to landmarks to visit, from Eltham Palace and Gardens and Kenwood in London to Dover Castle, Hadrian's Wall, Stonehenge and Chester Roman Fort & Museum. Membership costs £66 for one adult, or £115 for two adults – each member can take up to six children under the age of 18 into a site for free.

EXTRA BENEFITS: The handbook and magazine are packed with ideas for trip and event planning. The Members' Rewards scheme has deals and o ers –everything from travel to wine – from over 60 partner organisations.

London Transport Museum

LTMUSEUM.CO.UK

One of the capital's treasures and located in Covent Garden, London Transport Museum's annual membership is sure to please all members of your family – even the ones that aren't obsessed with trains and buses. There are historic vehicles for parents to admire and, while older kids can try their hands at driving a bus or tube (simulator), younger children will love the All Aboard play zone. All this comes at an a ordable price, with an adult annual membership costing £21, or £18 if you choose o -peak membership. Membership is valid for 12 months and you can visit unlimited times. Kids get in for free, so don’t need an annual pass, but you need to

remember to book free timed-entry tickets.

EXTRA BENEFITS: Trade up to the Annual Pass Plus (£60) and you get unlimited visits plus free entry for you and two children to the legendary Depot Open Days in Acton. These sell-out festival-style meets held three times a year open a store of over 320,000 objects, including posters and ephemera alongside trains, buses and trams.

Science Museum Wonderlab

SCIENCEMUSEUM.ORG.UK

If your child isn’t already interested in science, annual membership to the Science

Museum's popular Wonderlab should change that. The immersive interactive gallery has been a family favourite since it opened in 2016 and is home to more than 50 unique exhibits across seven zones. Young people can explore fascinating topics as diverse as sound, forces, light, electricity, maths, matter and space. Annual passes cost £16 for adults (17+) or £14 for children (4–16 years). Family annual pass for 3–5 visitors with no more than two adults are also available for a small discount.

EXTRA BENEFITS: The live science shows and demos are the crowd puller,

ABOVE

Exploring at the Science Museum Wonderlab

BELOW

Buses, trams and more at London Transport Museum

o ering brilliant and informative entertainment, so keep an eye on the museum calendar so you can book your Wonderlab admission tickets, along with museum entry, well in advance.

Historic Royal Palaces

HRP.ORG.UK

This collection of incredible Royal properties o ers truly regal days out – and with extras such as magnificent grounds and family-friendly themed days. Highlights are centred around London, with unlimited entry to the iconic Tower of London, Kensington Palace and Hampton Court Palace. Mighty Hillsborough Castle and Gardens in Northern Ireland is well worth a visit, as is Banqueting House in Whitehall, with its jaw-dropping painted ceiling by Rubens. A family membership costs £82 for one adult, and £122 for two adults

with up to six named children (aged 5-15).

EXTRA BENEFITS: Expect early booking for special exhibitions, access to membersonly events and discounts in shops, cafés and restaurants. There's also a members' magazine, plus partner discounts. You get reduced-price entry to Kew Gardens, where HRP's Kew Palace is located.

National Trust

NATIONALTRUST.ORG.UK

Perfect for discovering the great outdoors, National Trust membership gives you unlimited entry to over 500 places. These span the length and breadth of the country – from Lundy Island in Devon and Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland to Pin Mill in Su olk and Winkworth Arboretum in Surrey. When the weather turns, there are plenty of historic buildings o ering spectacular architecture and artworks. A family pass costs £83.40 a year for

one adult, and £133.80 for two adults at the same address, and their children or grandchildren. Under 5s go free.

EXTRA BENEFITS: There's a useful handbook, a members' magazine and an online area with behind-the-scenes and 'first look' information across properties. Sign up by direct debit to receive a gift card valid in National Trust shops and cafés.

The Postal Museum

POSTALMUSEUM.ORG

Tucked away in Phoenix Place, W1, this fascinating museum delves into Britain’s postal heritage. There are hands-on exhibitions, interactive and learning activities. You can design your own postage stamp, try your hand at sorting mail or take a ride through the tunnels underneath London on the Mail Rail –an unmissable piece of hidden history. Family membership costs £70 a year and gives unlimited entry for up to two adults and three children. Join online or via the booking o ce before your visit.

EXTRA BENEFITS: You get priority booking for events and exhibitions, and one free ride for each member on Mail Rail. You also receive ten tickets to Sorted! the play space for younger visitors, plus discounts at the shops and café and on birthday parties booked at the museum.

“HISTORIC ROYAL PALACES' MEMBERSHIP OFFERS TRULY REGAL DAYS OUT, WITH THEMED AND MEMBERS' ONLY EVENTS”

National Trust membership gives access to 500 amazing places

RIGHT Role play to remember at Historic Royal Palaces BELOW RIGHT The Postal Museum is a treasure children love

OCEAN HEAVEN

From the awe-inspiring sea-and-sky surroundings to the sumptuous food and service, InterContinental Maldives Maamunagau is a destination like no other

Words LIBBY NORMAN

The Maldives is the most recognisable (and Instagramable) island nation. A sea-and-sky setting of perfect sand and swaying palm trees. As first timers, we are prepared for that, just not for the wistful responses when we say that's where we're heading. A friend sighs and says: "it's my place". Another, a rugby lover not known for poetic outpourings, talks about his four dream holidays there and looks longingly into the middle distance.

If that intrigues us, then the prospect of a week on its most celebrated recent opening – InterContinental Maldives Maamunagau – becomes even more intriguing. Here we have a small-scale resort on Raa Atoll,

lovingly conceived and designed as a nextlevel Maldives experience. The team who crafted it were dropped o – Robinson Crusoe style – to develop it sustainably, and that took two years. We have the feeling we are going next level when we are asked to fill in a pillow preference form. The adventure gets o to a fine start with the journey. Air travel has largely been stripped of romance, but seaplanes are di erent. Having worked out we have a 45-minute seaplane ride to Maamunagau, I am beyond excited. Seaplanes have been on my bucket list since I was seven and read about these magnificent flying boats in The Famous Five And it is magical when we are ushered away from the crowds of Velana Airport by our Manta Air rep to a cool and elegant

terminal containing the largest fleet of seaplanes in the world. The ride to our island destination gives an extraordinary bird's eye perspective as you see some of the 26 atolls (made up of over 1,100 coral islands) unfolding below like a yellow ribbon. Landing in the Indian Ocean, we watch with admiration as the barefoot seaplane stewardess leaps from the plane and, with steady seafarer's hands, moors us on the pontoon. Whisked by speedboat to shore, we arrive to the most gracious of Maldivian welcomes, and within minutes we are in our overwater villa. This is where the next-level luxury

of Maamunagau reveals itself. We are in a totally private detached pad, a dreamtime space between earth and ocean. There's a giant bed with a multitude of flu y pillows (pillow request had been actioned) and this overlooks a view that stretches to infinity. Private plunge pool, ocean all around and steps down to the beautiful briny – even a deliciously deep bathtub overlooking the deck.

The pace of life slows to a blissful calm in Maamunagau almost instantly. Usually on a holiday, it takes a day or so to unwind, but not here. Our villa is on the long boardwalk that runs like a ribbon down the island.

Our wonderful concierge tells us that shoes are optional – and to call him anytime we need anything at all. Every day we try to think of something, anything, we need, but most days we fail. It's all here. Many guests use the handsome black bikes that are parked outside every villa. Being pragmatic, I decide that if anyone is going to wobble slowly and emphatically into the ocean it will be me. The views are just too distracting.

Travel on foot is a pleasure but takes longer than it should because fish spotting becomes our thing. One day we stop to watch a tiny baby shark foraging on the rich marine life. We delight at the bored (and extremely well fed) heron in residence on the water at The Retreat, the super-calm lagoon where swimming, sunbathing and live lounge music make for a chilled and adults-only alternative to the beach (there is a fabulous kids' club here to give parents down time).

We love the lagoon swimming, but the beach is our usual spot – white sand, gentle waves and a delightful swim-up bar where we discuss cricket in some depth with an extremely well-informed barman from India. The team of sta are very international, just like the guests, and all delightful.

The bar sits close to the all-day and evening dining spot Café Umi, where breakfast starts the day right. All great hotels know you have to give everyone their

ABOVE

A perfect lagoon idyll at The Retreat LEFT

Our overwater villa is next-level luxury

perfect breakfast. Here, the incredible team of chefs have done that – with everything from sushi to eggs benedict to dosa to fabulous breads and pastries to exotic fruits. It becomes even more di cult to choose what to have at lunch – fish, grills and salads are all divine, but we've invariably eaten rather too well at breakfast.

The food is exceptional wherever you choose to dine. We eat at The Fish Market a couple of times and love the Maldivian and East Asian flavours. Located right on the water at the end of a dock, it's a romantic spot for dinner – especially with the Sunset Bar upstairs for sundowners and nightcaps. The Lighthouse o ers truly standout Spanish and Mediterranean-inspired food. We are seated at the base of the tower and are mesmerised by the intricate tiled ceiling reproducing an ancient seafarers' map.

BELOW

A manta ray reserve is close by

There is a lot of swimming – at the beach or the lagoon, and with a morning and evening dip o our deck. My companion's new GoPro is tested underwater when we snorkel o our deck and house reefs. Every day he tries, but fails, to capture the lightning-fast schools of fish that churn the water and leap past our villa twice a day, on the clock. The fish are so prolific here you barely need a snorkel. With so much sea life around – including a protected manta ray reserve – there's a strong ecological focus. That means no plastic, anywhere – water is freely available but in reusable glass bottles – and we like that. One evening we join a dolphin spotting boat ride led by the British marine biologist in residence Emily, and it turns out to be a highlight. We have been on enough of these trips on past holidays not to expect too much. This one feels a bit di erent when the team tell us we're going out quite far to a channel that's favoured hunting ground for spinner dolphins. It's

a beautiful sunset ride, and then suddenly we spot them. There are scores of them all around us, spinning and leaping, babies and adults together. They are so synchronised, so balletic, that it feels – bizarrely –like we've landed in some maritime homage to a Busby Berkeley musical.

On one of our last nights, I mention to a member of the team what people had told me about the Maldives, and that was before we'd experienced Maamunagau for ourselves. She tells me how all the sta love watching this kick in – shoes are shrugged o , shorts thrown on and people forget the stresses of busy lives and lean in to the elemental sea and sky environment. As the seaplane carries us back along the ribbonlike atoll, I realise that Maamunagau – after one utterly dreamlike week – has achieved a miracle. It already feels like 'our place'.

For more information about InterContinental Maldives Maamunagau, visit maldives.intercontinental.com

ABOVE

Villa living on the ocean – with views to infinity

RIGHT

The Fish Market is a favourite restaurant

“THE DOLPHINS ARE SO SYNCHRONISED THAT IT FEELS LIKE WE'VE LANDED IN A MARITIME HOMAGE TO A BUSBY BERKELEY MUSICAL”

PET Blackmail

By RACHEL WEBB

Get a pet, they beg. Yet you’ll be the one in the driving rain hanging on for dear life to a wildly overexcited puppy while they sit glued to their screens. The emotional blackmail, with tearful turning of the screws, is all too real. But before you cave and sign up for one more doe-eyed creature to train, feed and care for, here’s what you need to consider.

ARE THEY READY?

Expert opinion varies on what age children can help look after a pet, but as a general rule, don’t expect anything much from a child under ten. Also prioritise the animal’s safety because under the age of six, children may not be able to distinguish between vulnerable living creature and toy. Of course, a lot depends on the pet you choose – a goldfish or gerbil requires less day-to-day time than a cat or dog and might be a good

introduction. Even so, adult supervision is essential, whether it’s feeding the goldfish or handling a slippery rodent.

A SUITABLE PET?

Some animals have had it hard – none more so than rabbits and guinea pigs, which used to be considered perfect small-child companions. In fact, they don’t appreciate hard cuddles and loud noises and do need space (not a cramped hutch), stimulation and a furry companion of the same species. Rabbits may live for ten plus years and guinea pigs six. That’s one reason why they often end up in animal rescues.

Cats and dogs can be brilliant companions, but close watch is essential to ensure children are clear about boundaries and respect. Many animal charities are understandably wary of rehoming dogs to homes where children are under a certain age. If that means a puppy, choose your pooch with care. Breed temperament and health, exercise requirements and allergy issues should all be checked out thoroughly – as should the place the puppy comes from.

POSITIVE BENEFITS

With all the caveats, there is nothing better than a pet for helping children to develop empathy and learn how to care for and consider others. There are also the huge benefits of that special relationship you so often see develop between children and animals. It requires a whole-family commitment, but a pet is a wonderful childhood companion, bringing love and company through formative years.

The emotional blackmail is hard, but you know that pet will end up being one more pair of melting eyes for you to worry about

“SOME ANIMALS HAVE HAD IT HARD –NONE MORE SO THAN RABBITS AND GUINEA PIGS, WHICH USED TO BE CONSIDERED PERFECT SMALL-CHILD COMPANIONS”

Queen Ethelburga’s Collegiate Chapter House School

Girls enjoying success

“The quality of the pupils’ academic and other achievements is excellent... The school successfully meets its ambition to empower pupils to become independent thinkers and fearless learners.”

ISI Inspection Report 2022 Visit

INDEPENDENT DAY SCHOOL FOR GIRLS AGED 4-18