Farewell and Thank you

We would like to thank Susan Schaeffer Macaulay for all she has done as a founding Trustee of Heritage School. Author of For the Children’s Sake (Crossway, 1984) a book about Charlotte Mason’s approach to education, Susan was inspired in the 1970’s by a small school in Sussex which was based on the philosophy of Charlotte Mason. Shortly afterwards, together with Ranald her husband, she established Child Light, (the charity which operates Heritage School), to encourage Christian education along Charlotte Mason lines. It is in large part her prayers and her vision that are responsible for Heritage opening back in 2007. Susan and Ranald (who remains a Trustee) contributed significantly to the early development of the school, with their wisdom, advice, practical support and presence. For those who might not know, Susan is Mrs Fletcher’s Mother and Grandmother to Maisie and Seth Fletcher – both alumni of the school. We cannot thank her enough for her great legacy and her inspiration as we seek to build Heritage for the next generation.

A Contemporary Romeo & Juliet

Earlier this month, Panton Hall became a graffiti-adorned urban landscape. Year 7, inspired by Baz Luhrmann’s contemporary film version, decided to perform their own reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s story of love against the odds. Verona and Mantua became London and Cambridge, the plague became the unfortunately topical Coronavirus, and swords became daggers. However, the timeless themes of love and hate easily transferred to their new backdrop, startling us, again, with their relevance down the centuries.

There were many opportunities to contribute creatively. The class created their own dramatic masks, and some contributed to the choreography of the masked ball’s dance. Tristan B was also invaluable in his work as lighting assistant.

There were some excellent performances-the fiery, pugnacious Tybalt (Emilie L), the garrulous Lord Capulet (Francesco B) and of course, the young couple Romeo (Jacob P) and Juliet (Connie M) amongst others. As every performer knows, though, every production is a team event, and each and every member of the cast played a part in the show’s success. Congratulations to all.

Mrs Dingley

Supporting Key Workers

Heritage is committed to supporting key workers at this time of the COVID 19 pandemic. We want to do everything we can to look after their children so that they can continue do their vital jobs and look after us!

The school is opening daily from 8.30am to 3.30pm for nine children, most of whom are in the Infant and Junior school. Their day starts with a song and a Bible reading from the Easter story. Working from two classrooms, the children are then supported by a small staff team as they complete their ‘Learning at Home’ curriculum. Playtimes are long and relaxed with all the age groups playing really well together. Read Aloud (currently ‘James and the Giant Peach’) takes place in both the morning and the afternoon.

After lunch, a range of activities are on offer including art or handicraft, PE, a free choice of board games, nature enjoyment and sketching by the brook. (At the end of day one, Mrs Carter and Mrs Fetcher reflected that it felt very much like the old days when the school started with just 16 children in 2007.)

We are very grateful to all the staff who are making this possible and should school closures continue, we will continue to support key worker children next term.


Highly Commended in Shakespeare Portrait Competition

Many congratulations to our Year 3, Year 4 and Year 6 artists who took part in the Shakespeare Portrait Competition in celebration of Shakespeare Week. With over 2,500 enties, the judges (Children’s illustrator Korky Paul, Marcia Williams and CBBC’s Art Ninja as well as the Chief Executive of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust) were bowled over by the quality of the children’s response.
Heritage’s overall entry was awarded a Highly Commended with special note to Ruben E (Y6) Amelie B (Y3) and Mark B (Y3) for being shortlisted through to the final stages of judging. Luke B (Y7) also deserves special congratulations for his portrait which was individually Highly Commended by the judges.
Winning entries of the competition are on display at the online exhibition:
http://collections.shakespeare.org.uk/exhibition/exhibition/shakespeare-week-portraits/page/2
Further related resources are also available at www.shakespeare.org.uk including fun Lego Shakespeare designs, Shakespeare Sketchbooks and Art & Design challenges in the Kids’ Zone.

World Book Day Celebrations

Once again, everyone had a super time celebrating World Book Day.

So many different book characters arrived for the special Infant and Junior assembly, ranging from James Herriot to a Year 6 sized World Atlas! It was great fun to see staff dressed in their characters too, including a yoghurt stealing ‘Burglar Bill’ and Sir Edmund Hillary, fresh from his famous ascent!

A highlight of the assembly was a visit from ‘The Tiger who Came to School’; a Heritage version of a much loved favourite which was adapted and beautifully illustrated by Miss Carter. All the children loved following along to the Tigerobics!

The day continued with many book related activities. Lower Prep were busy writing about their book character and making their own picture story books, as well as creating bookmarks decorated with pictures from their favourite stories. Upper Prep made amazing tiger book marks and worked collaboratively to write and illustrate group stories. Year 2 were also inspired by the visit from the tiger and in small groups wrote their own story of an animal visiting school, thinking about the funny and exciting things that would happen. They also made lovely tiger finger puppets.

In the Junior school there were book quizzes a plenty as well as our traditional book treasure hunt which this year saw the children seeking out the clues for a book read in each class during Literature or Read Aloud. Year 6 particularly enjoyed writing mystery stories. In Art, children made some beautiful illustrations of some poetry.

There were also some special moments when children from different classes joined together to share their favourite books or in some cases stories they had written. Older pupils also came and supported younger pupils with their reading books. Thank you to the parents who came into school to read some of their favourite books to the children too.

We would also like to extend our thanks to Adam Larkham who came to speak to the children in UP and Yr 2 about being a book illustrator and showed the children how he would go about drawing a knight on horseback. The children were then each given an original illustration from ‘The Story of Chocolate’, a very popular book in the Infant School.

The Senior School were also embracing the day with pupils sporting a variety of costumes from St Trinian’s naughtiest school girls to Tom from Beastquest in Year 11 and a variety of Mr Men in Year 10. The winners of the best costume competition were Toni M as Coraline in Year 7 , Emma L in Year 8 as the Demon Dentist and Catherine R in Year 9 as Cinderella. The winners of the staff Heroes and Villains matching pairs competition were Maisie E, Isabella B, Betsy C and Toni M in Year 7 and Georgia H, Emily C and Sheila S in Year 8. Who could imagine Mrs Rowland as the ruthless Miss Trunchbull from Matilda, Mr Burden as the dark Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter or Mr Fletcher as the scheming Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes?