Mr Fletcher was interviewed about our screen free approach for an article published by The Daily Express. He is quoted explaining:

‘”A calmer environment where children can actually engage with words patiently and have normal interaction with teachers is cognitively vastly superior to the deluge of information that the digital makes possible.”‘

The article goes on to say:
‘[Heritage’s] strong values are borne out by impeccable results: last year, Heritage achieved the second-best GCSE results in Cambridge, a city overrun with high-performing schools. They also set the school apart from most, if not all, other schools in the UK, as well as from the general thrust of national educational policy, through which children are fed a staple diet of tech.’

‘As I glimpse into a classroom at Heritage full of engaged, focused pupils, not a screen in sight, I think back to Fletcher’s words: “What we actually want as educators is direct access to the thoughts of the child. I want to know it’s not being manipulated by AI or ChatGBT or cut and paste. So just write it in an exercise book. It’s so clean. It’s so pure. Why would we not want that?”’

You can read the full article here.

The Year 5 class’ light-hearted, comedy musical took us back to the year 400 BC to tell the story of Ancient Greece, with the potter Peta as our guide. As Peta welcomes us to his shop at the beginning, he explains how ‘each pot is a living story book’ through which we can be introduced to ancient legends and historical figures, such as Socrates, Plato, Hippocrates and Aristophanes. We were transported to Athens, where the Athenians have been defeated by the Spartans and Persians and find themselves having to live alongside each other, which proves difficult when the Spartans ‘have no time for culture and philosophy’ and the Athenians ‘prefer reading to fighting’ (sounds like they’d have made excellent Heritage pupils!).

We were in safe hands from the start with the composed Narrator who delivered all of his lines clearly and without stumbling, as he lead us through each element of the story. Peta Potter brimmed with a warm enthusiasm that immediately drew you in to the ancient setting. All of the children impressed with their confident singing and dance routines – it was clear that they had been practising very hard and knew their parts well, with seamless costume changes as many of them played more than one part. A particularly impressive musical number was the tongue-twisting ‘Peta Potter picked the perfect spot upon the top of the Acropolis…’, which progressively sped up as the class kept pace with the music! Another highlight was the retelling of an ancient legend: a commanding Theseus enters the labyrinth and confronts and defeats the fierce and towering Minotaur (Mr Burden in a role he was surely born to play).

Bravo Year 5 – your first major class production brought lots of laughs and joy! Well done to Mr Dalton for his encouraging direction and, of course, to Mr Burden for his memorable cameo appearance. Thank you also to Mrs Lowe for her musical accompaniment, Mr Campbell for setting up the staging, lighting and sound, and Miss Monk on the lighting desk. Last, but not least, huge thanks go to Joshua’s grandmother and father, who very kindly dedicated their time to, respectively, making many of the brilliant costumes and accompanying on guitar.

 

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