Marlborough Living Sep - Oct 2021

ADVERTISING FEATURE
Helena Harris, Head of Art & Design comments:
“Art develops focus, discipline, problem-solving and perseverance.
These are all valuable life skills that help children prepare for their
future and beyond. Specialist art teaching does not simply mean
showing children how to draw and paint; it means sharing your
passion for the subject and helping each individual child to explore
and experiment so that they discover what interests them and learn
to trust in their own creative choices.”
Hilary Gibbin, Head of Performing Arts, adds:
“Music and the performing arts are powerful tools in enabling
children to express themselves creatively throughout their lives and
to develop their personal confidence. Aural awareness, analysis and
performance skills are all transferable and carefully nurtured through
a set of activities which, as a specialist, I am constantly evolving.
My own training and experience provide me with a strong basis of
knowledge and skill to share with every pupil, according to individual
need, and extend the talented by challenging them appropriately.”
Much of my work since joining St Margaret’s has been to work with
our teachers to review our curriculum to ensure it is not only engaging
and exciting for our children, but to also ensure it inspires excellence
and motivates our pupils to be the best they can be whilst maintaining
this careful balance between depth and breadth. For example,
our redesign of the Pre-Prep curriculum means we have had the
opportunity to work collectively to design and plan many opportunities
for essential knowledge, skills and understanding to be gained in
every subject for depth and across subjects for breadth. Evidence to
date is showing that, since the children are being given opportunities
to revisit and build upon their previous learning and apply them across
a range of contexts, they are developing a deeper understanding of
the skills and processes within each subject and those connections
are happening. As we work to increase the breadth of children’s
knowledge, by default, we also increase their depth.
Our Headmaster, Luke Bromwich, places positive psychology
and pupil well-being at the forefront of our agenda and it is now
more important than ever. There has been a shift from traditional
psychology, which prioritises what can go wrong, to focusing
instead on what can go right. Children’s physical and mental wellbeing
are high priority at St Margaret’s and we understand that they
will not be successful learners unless they are emotionally secure.
A broad and balanced curriculum which allows the children to
succeed can only serve to promote this ideology. It provides us with
the opportunity to challenge our children to become independent,
well-rounded individuals who take ownership of their learning and
become deep thinkers who are also able to apply this thinking
across a broad range of topics through exploration, collaboration
and self-reflection. This approach allows our pupils to strike that
balance between both ends of these spectrums in order to fulfil their
potential, achieve maximum impact from the curriculum and help
them lead happy, successful lives.
St Margaret’s is holding an Open Morning on 14th October at
9.30am. To register please visit www.stmargaretsprep.org.uk
barnes coaches
01793 821303 | www.barnescoaches.co.uk
Eastbourne
Fri 17th Sept 2021
4 Days: From £299pp
Llandudno
Mon 27th Sept 2021
5 Days: From £399pp
Codebreakers &
Cambridge
Thu 7th Oct 2021
4 Days: From £369pp
Highland Fling
Sat 23rd Oct 2021
5 Days: From £489pp Contact our team on 01793 821303 to request a free
brochure and start planning your next adventure!
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