Brandon Learning Centre: British Education - process, preparation and practicalities

When did you last sit down away from the world to read a book? When life becomes too much, try this to escape: Choose a well-loved book. If you still have your childhood books knocking around, so much the better.  Find a space where you will be alone. In my house, this generally means accompanied by a dog or three. They don't count.  Close your eyes and touch your book. Feel the slightly fuzzy texture of the paper, the sharp or rounded edges, the creases on the spine. Remember all the times you have read it, the comfort it has provided.  Now lift the book up to your face and smell the paper which will have its own distinctive scent. What memories does it bring back? Of whiling away time in bookshops, finishing essays in libraries? And now, open your eyes and read. Touch the pages, feel the words taking root within you again. Reconnect with the child you were. Books made you.  Knocks a Kindle into a cocked hat doesn't it?   

  All change!  What do you do when your school, like Summerfields, announces that the Head is moving on?  The answer is going to depend on your relationship and view of the head but here are a few things to consider.  Is your child going into Year Six?  If so, you need to make sure that whoever is writing 13+ or 11+ school references in the school knows your child. Schools like Dragon have a 'Future Schools' department. Smaller prep schools might rely on the Head with input from Second Masters/Tutors.. find out!  Has the Head got an extremely close relationship with students? What will be the impact of change on your child?  Some smaller schools have Heads who really know their students, others take a more CEO approach and your child will have a stronger relationship with the Second Masters/Deputies/Heads of House. Sadly the former style style is fading as schools merge and become bigger so a change will have less of an immediate impact on your child....

  What fun it is to sit down with a jigsaw. You become completely immersed within minutes.  I was given this Dickens jigsaw for Christmas and won't pretend to have recognised all the characters but I definitely sharpened my spatial skills.  The ISEB CPT and CAT4 tests rely on quick spatial and non-verbal reasoning. What better than having to grap a jigsaw piece, identifying where it fits into a pattern and experimenting with orientation for honing these tasks?   As a family:  Choose an accessible jigsaw for the group. Have a look below before settling on an image.  Try a map, a historial event, a famous piece of artwork or learn about an author.   Find a space which won't need to be swept away. Or, if you don't have anywhere, use a big tray. I use a Mahjong table!  Choose your strategy: edges first? Centre. Your call.  As you work, ponder outloud about the image you are building. For this one, I thought about: how grim the air of Vi...

  If you ever have the opportunity to visit the Bronte Parsonage in Haworth, you will see a collection of mini-magazines and  journals created by the Bronte sisters and their brother, Branwell. The isolated house is a treasure trove of creativity. Like the Bronte sisters, your child may well go on to be an inspirational writer but even if they only dip into writing as a distraction from their day job, the writing bug is worthwhile catching! One way of inspiring your child to write is to start a holiday journal which can be gifted to an older relative when the family returns from a trip. The journal itself doesn't have to be expensive, an exercise book will do. Decorate the cover - be creative! One of my students used a cheap copy book to describe her recent trip visiting schools (as far North as Fettes College in Edinburgh, and West as Canford!) and decorated the cover with train tickets from the various journeys she took. The journal itself should be a colle...

  The quickest way to kill interest in a book for many students is to make it into a study topic! I had one teacher who managed to drag out Steinbeck's 'The Red Pony ' over two terms. No mean feat given that my copy has only 95 pages. It is a brilliant work and incredibly moving but, for years to come, most of my classmates would groan every time a pony was mentioned.   Reading a book with your child can be used to build bonds and develop topics of conversation between generations. You don't have to make this exercise into another chore, try to approach it with a sense of wonder at what decisions and thoughts your child might reveal.  Explain to your child that you will be reading the same work simultaneously and creating a family book club.  Decide who will be the book club manager and generate discussion questions. Draw lots if necessary!   Steps:     1: Your child (or any age!) choses a book for you both to read. They are in control but tr...

Why are so many Catholics attracted to the Latin mass? For me, I am drawn towards the silence and reverence of the Tridentine mass and delight in the knowledge that I am saying the same prayers in the same form as a thousand years of saints, martyrs and my own ancestors.   In Hong Kong, we are fortunate to have permission to celebrate mass in the Traditional Form at Our Lady Help of Christians which is situated inside Tang King Po , a Salesian Boys' school in Ma Tau Wai. Go inside the main gates and keep straight on. Once you go through the main school lobby, you'll come out into a courtyard and the chapel is to your right. There is parking.    On the first Sunday of every month, there is Benediction. We have a mainly local congregation so the sermon and readings may be in Cantonese only depending on who is celebrating.    There are screens showing the Mass booklet and these can be downloaded via a QR code (or you can bring your own missal!)    ...