Headmaster’s Notes

Dear Parents & Friends,

Prince’s Mead has excellent relationships with all the senior schools that we feed and I have enjoyed visiting some of these schools over the past few weeks, including King Edward VI School, Lord Wandsworth College and St. Swithun’s.

Last week, I popped across to meet Cliff Canning, the Head of Embley, and found myself chatting to him in the old library of the original house. You may know that Embley Park was the family home of Florence Nightingale, the founder of professional nursing, as we know it today. My family have an interesting link to ‘The Lady with the Lamp’. My Great, Great, Great Grandfather, Dr Dunn, was her doctor when she returned from the Crimean War and resided up in Derbyshire at the family’s summer residence in Crich, called Lea Hurst. We are very fortunate to have hundreds of letters written by Miss Nightingale to my relative and, over the years, I’ve always enjoyed reading them. Many of the letters focus on the ailments of her staff or pets (Mr White, her cat, appears several times!) but some do go into detail about the Crimean War and the conditions that she experienced when looking after the sick and wounded soldiers. I must say, I do feel very privileged to be able to touch these letters that were penned by this incredible historical figure over 170 years ago.

History is such an important subject and the children at Prince’s Mead enjoy a varied and exciting History curriculum that brings history to life and makes it a truly fascinating subject.  Year 5 enjoyed a visit recently by a group of historians who brought in Tudor artefacts for the children to try on. Year 1 visited Milestones Museum in Basingstoke which is a living history museum telling the story of how people used to live. Later this term, Year 3 has an Egyptian Day where the children will have a fun filled day making tiny sarcophagi for mummies and pyramids from sugar cubes.  It’s opportunities like these that create lasting memories which enthuse and encourage our children to explore the past, learn from their ancestors and discover the joy of history.

Kind regards,

Adam King
Headmaster