Eve Jardine Young is the Principal of Cheltenham Ladies’ College, an independent boarding school in Gloucestershire named South West Independent Secondary School of the Decade by the Sunday Times Schools Guide in November 2020. Eve grew up in Malawi and won a scholarship to attend CLC in the sixth form. She previously worked at various […]

A Cambridge graduate, Richard’s teaching career has seen him work in both co-ed and single sex schools. He has been Head of Queen’s College in Marylebone since September 2017 and took up the position of overall Head of Queen’s College Prep School and Queen’s College in September 2020. What attracted you to the headship at […]

  This holiday season why not choose gifts that can be kept for years and will foster the creativity and open-ended play that is the work of childhood? Our parenting experts and associate teachers have selected a few toys they believe are both beautiful and inspiring. Remember that, especially for toys, less is more, and […]

10 Things to Ask when Looking at Daycare Nurseries Finding a good daycare nursery makes for a much smoother return to work for parents. While painstakingly visiting nurseries may not be top of everyone’s maternity/paternity bucket list, doing your homework to find a gem where your child will flourish is priceless. You wouldn’t want that […]

Competitive independent schools in London are so oversubscribed these days (up to 10 applications for every place) that the vast majority have now moved to assessment for entry at 3+ or 4+. Although such early assessments are far from conclusive and mostly assess the “teachability” of a child at that particular age, the shift, inevitably, […]

We all know that confident readers make stronger learners in the early years. Later on, reading is one of the best ways for a child to expand their general knowledge and improve their creative writing. But how exactly do you encourage a love of reading in children? It all starts at home. Here are seven tips […]

Fretting about what to do this summer to ensure little Rosie sets off confidently in the autumn? It’s not what you may think. Leave the workbooks and phonics flashcards to gather dust while you focus instead on the essential social and physical skills a child must conquer to make the most of Reception Foster independence […]

Many bilingual and trilingual families get increasingly nervous as the 4+ assessments approach. The prospect of their multilingual child being grilled in English by a native speaker — and the richness of their budding vocabulary being evaluated on the basis of their answer to questions such as what is the colour of your mom’s hair*–is […]

As far back as I can remember, I have always sung. As a child, I sang because I simply couldn’t help it. It nourished me, elated me and grounded me. I sang as others speak, dance, run or write. As a teenager and then an adult, I kept on singing, eventually becoming a professional opera […]

One of the greatest gifts a parent can give a child is to help them become ‘emotionally articulate,’ i.e. able to recognise, express and manage their own feelings. This is a skill developed over time, as the terrible twos –when tantrums are often caused by a child’s frustration at not being understood or listened to—give […]