From the Headmistress - Mrs Katharine Colquhoun
The decision over where to send your child to school
is one of the most important you will take on his or her behalf. The
early years of a child's development are a crucial formative period
during which its attitudes, values and work habits are established for
life. A child's first school is therefore something that should be
chosen with great care.
Broomwood Hall is well established now.
The school I founded in 1984 has changed in so many ways, and yet -
were any of those first twelve children, or their parents, to walk
through the door today they would feel instantly at home, as though
nothing had changed at all.
How does the school differ? Well, it
is a good deal larger, although still small enough for me to know all
the children and to take a personal interest in their achievements. It
occupies four marvellous buildings, each with its own quite different
character. The uniform, although still immediately recognisable, has
changed in subtle ways. The staff, which to begin with consisted of me,
an assistant, a part-time secretary (and a dog), has grown to seventy
or more. The curriculum has been expanded and altered to stay in line
with the National Curriculum and with the differing requirements of the
schools our children go on to.
Yet in other ways - those that
matter - nothing has changed. The philosophy and attitudes that shaped
the school still hold good: a belief in self-discipline and
responsibility; in tolerance and a sense of duty; in firmness and
fairness and, above all, in good manners. I believe in hard work too,
and the satisfaction and sense of achievement that it brings; but never
to the exclusion of happiness and of fun, or of a child's right to be a
child.
I recognise that some of these words are no longer
fashionable; nevertheless these are the things I aim to pass on to the
children in my care.
One thing I need to emphasise: Broomwood
Hall is not going to suit everyone, nor is it intended that it should.
The purpose of the information on our website therefore is not in any
sense to 'sell" the school but rather to enable you to make up your
mind as to whether we are the right school for your child. I hope that
it succeeds in that aim, and in answering your questions.
