For their Class Assembly this week, Year 4 welcomed us to the Heritage Dental Practice, where they gave an animated illustration of the value of keeping our teeth healthy.

Ella arrived with her mother at the dental practice and, as she popped on some stylish safety glasses, the dentist began the check-up, with a sign held up to let the audience know that the rest of the action would take place ‘Inside Ella’s mouth’…

The tour began with a few introductions: from the Incisors, who have sharp edges and bite and cut our food; the Canines, who are pointed and tear our food; and the Molars, whose broad ridges crush and grind. Younger pupils were reassured to find that a wobbly tooth isn’t anything to worry about, as children lose all their milk teeth before getting their adult teeth; although a fainting Incisor felt otherwise, exclaiming ‘I’m being replaced!’ as they fell to the floor.

Along the way, the audience also learned some interesting facts about teeth from the Animal Kingdom, such as that elephants have teeth that keep growing for all their lives and that sharks regularly lose their teeth and grow new ones, with some sharks replacing theirs as often as every two weeks! This helped to reinforce the importance of looking after our own teeth, as, unlike the sharks, humans only get one set of adult teeth.

Suddenly realising there was something wrong, one of the Canines called out: ‘I’m covered in something horrible!’.  Enter the truly sinister, cackling Captain Cavity, along with his infamous allies Cavity Boy and Cavity Girl, who took some plaque and some sugar and, like a foolish villain in a Bond film, revealed their evil plan for the plaque to feed on the sugar, causing the sugar to turn into acid, eating away at the enamel of the tooth and forming a small hole called a cavity. Captain Cavity explained that the cavity is a good place for bacteria to live because you cannot brush them away very easily and, as they continue to feed on sugars, making more acid, ‘the cavity gets bigger and bigger and bigger’… Luckily, Toothbrush and Toothpaste arrived at the scene just in time to spoil this evil plan, recommending cleaning your teeth properly twice a day to keep Captain Cavity at bay!

With the evil villains thwarted, the next scene returned to the dental practice, as Ella promised not to have too many sugary foods or sweet fizzy drinks and to come back in six months time for her next check up.

Thank you to Year 4 and Mrs Young for a humorous and informative reminder, for children and adults alike, to take good care of our teeth.

The actress and screen-free childhood campaigner Sophie Winkleman gave a remarkable, impassioned speech at a conference this week, arguing for the return of tech-free learning in schools and celebrating Heritage as a leading example.

Speaking at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference, Sophie calls Heritage an:

‘Oasis of screen free education… haven of focus, serenity, classical intellect, Christian heritage, nature, art and beauty… a profoundly effective learning space… It would not be effective if the classrooms were filled with screens.’

She brilliantly outlines the case for a screen-free education, questioning the adoption of EdTech and AI in British schools: 

‘Why is digitally transporting a child to the Egyptian pyramids better than that child imagining it? This kind of jazz-hands immersion as an engagement tool doesn’t work. It negates the need to imagine, rendering the pupil a passive rather than an active learner. Parents such as myself ask these questions, but we do not get answers.’

And she points out the incomparable value of real life human connection, the importance of nurturing in children the truly human skills of ‘reading about and getting to grips with the human condition, empathy, concentration, eloquent and humorous discussion, and creative expression’.

The full speech is well worth a listen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V6nucKFK88