Comment Pupil Viewpoint
for Hanford! W
Hands up
hen I visited Hanford, I thought it was the perfect school for me because I like riding a lot and I liked the idea of being free of my three brothers and being with girls, so I could have girl friends, not “boy” friends.
Isabella Butler, 9, explains why she is looking forward to boarding at a girls’ prep school in Dorset
Mummy told me she read a story about it in the news- paper when she was nursing my baby brother. I was 18 months old, but she never forgot about the school, which she said sounded “dreamy”, so, last summer, me and Mummy and Daddy went to visit it. I loved the idea of boarding. My twin brother, Mungo,
9, who is at Bruern Abbey says it is great fun, although I wouldn’t sleep much the first night. When I dropped Mungo back to school, I saw all the boys were having great fun rid- ing their bikes. When we left, they were all sitting on the floor together watching TV. That was when I felt I really wanted to go. I was very shy when we went on the open day be- cause I did not know any of the other girls but the teachers gave me confidence. One of them sat me next to a very nice girl, who smiled at me, but this smile was not like a smile you see every day: it was a trustworthy and confident smile. They showed us around the school. The dining hall was in
a covered-up courtyard with old-fashioned polished wooden trestle tables decorated with vases filled with wild flowers. The bedrooms were very cosy and warm. I chatted with the headmaster and his wife who were very friendly and I liked the lunch, which was roast chicken, potatoes and carrots. I heard that we will not always be going home at the weekends but as we are not doing lessons we will be doing fun things like camping and grooming the ponies. There is so much to do. We played games like Duck
Duck Goose and group games in the gardens. We could climb trees, but I am not a very good tree climber and then there were the stables where I got to pet all the ponies. Homework is boring. I know you have to do it at every
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school but instead of doing it at home you do something called prep, which is supervised. The good thing is, that once it’s done, I can do other things. Mummy is always complaining about manners at the table so I think it is clever that they have a list of the “where you are on table manners” chart. The worst place to be is Piglet – they must sit by themselves. Then there is Cave Lady, Boa Constrictor, followed by Hyena and Squirrel. Those who have reached the Cat category can go to the tuck shop on Sunday. This is the one I want to be. After some lessons, I watched the girls doing a display of gymnastics and ballroom dancing, which was amazing and then we watched some girls jumping. I liked the idea that girls, who are not so fortunate to have ponies, get to borrow other people’s ponies. After lunch it was
time for us to go but first of all I had to find the headmaster. I refused to leave until he promised me that I had a place at Hanford. At the moment
I am at school in London and I hate walking through the streets to the swimming pool. Everything is always
rushed, especially the mornings. Mummy gets a bit shouty if I am cross or tired and don’t get dressed quickly enough, because she doesn’t like us being late. We are normally late anyway because we live so far away from school. At Hanford there won’t be this kind of stress in the mornings so I can enjoy my breakfast instead. A few weeks ago I did get worried about boarding. I felt
sad about leaving my pug Rosie behind and a little bit sad about leaving Mummy and Daddy. But then I thought that it was just like going on a long sleepover and the matron looked nice so I felt that if I was homesick she would make me feel better. I think that some parents are emotional about their chil-
dren going away but I think a child should have an opinion about this. Personally, I think these two schools are best; my brother’s prep school Bruern Abbey and Hanford.
Summer 2012 FirstEleven 17
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