We were delighted to welcome Jason Royce from The Romance Academy to speak to parents about the threat pornography is to healthy relationships.  Parents were challenged to begin conversations with their children or get involved in the conversations they are already having – the ultimate goal being to help them develop long, loving, secure relationships.  We want to equip our children to make good decisions and “live well in a world where, whether like it or not, porn is only ever a click away” (Royce, Jason & Percival, Sarah. A Parent’s Guide to: Talking About Sex with Your Teenager.)

Parents were encouraged to listen rather than lecture, and to engage in an ongoing dialogue openly and honestly.  They were advised to make time with their children, start young, teach self-assurance and boundary setting and most of all, to keep going and not give up.

Formerly Director General of the National Trust (2001-2012)

 

We were honoured to have Dame Fiona Reynolds, DBE, Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge address our Senior Assembly on the importance of beauty in the built environment as much as in the natural world.

She started her talk by asking students to re-imagine the most delightful, evocative and beautiful places they had experienced in their lives, then challenging them to try and assess how they would feel if these places were permanently destroyed. This was put in the context of the origins of the National Trust in 1895 when the vision of three pioneers – Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter, and Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley – formed the National in order to ‘promote the permanent preservation for the benefit of the Nation, of lands and tenements (including buildings) of beauty or historic interest’ to stop the spread of the Industrial Revolution.

Underlying her talk was the idea that small numbers of individuals can make huge differences for the many, for good or ill. The big challenges facing their generation will be, both how to proceed with necessary development, particularly new housing and towns, whilst also balancing the intrinsic needs of people for beauty and open spaces in which to flourish. Of interest too, was her reference to how run-down, inner-cities were being transformed by some very creative contemporary architects, conserving and enhancing the built environment.

She was excited by the ethos of Heritage and its relationship to Charlotte Mason’s emphasis on the importance of the natural world and the inclusion of beauty, art and music within the curriculum.