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