Bedales Pre-Prep Celebrates 60th Anniversary

PETERSFIELD, U.K. - Oct. 22, 2013 - PRLog -- Bedales Pre-Prep Celebrates 60^th Anniversary

Pupils, staff and parents of Bedales Pre-Prep, Dunannie, celebrated the School’s 60^th Anniversary through a variety of activities associated with School Founder, John Badley’s vision, to educate head, hand and heart.

The key event of the day was the creation of a new addition to the orchard garden and quiet area for the children to sit and cogitate. The whole Dunannie community helped to fence the garden and plant a hedge followed by the ceremonial planting of a 60^th anniversary purple beech tree. The children enjoyed special activities including designing bunting and creating designs for a commemorative mug to mark the occasion as well as a nature themed scavenger hunt.

Head of Dunannie, Jo Webbern, then rounded off the day with the cutting of the 60^th cake made by Caroline Baker. Commenting on the event, Jo Webbern said, “It was a wonderful opportunity for us all to come together to create a legacy that will be enjoyed by generations of Dunannie children for another 60 years. It was a fitting way to mark the anniversary in keeping with the School’s motto ‘Work of Each for Weal of All’.”

It was a term of anniversaries at Bedales as The Hive, a day nursery based on the Bedales estate for the children of Steep, turned 30. Old Bedalian Talia Pick, who graduated from Bedales last year after starting at The Hive when she was very young said, “My time at Dunannie and the Hive was the happiest start a little person could have had. It was such a special introduction to life, and one which was entirely reflective of the Bedalian ethos; learning all the time, even if we weren't immediately conscious of it in the conventional sense. If we weren't growing vegetables to take home, we were cooking the food of different cultures, learning the Didgeridoo, moulding our surroundings in clay, writing 'Whole Class Poetry'. It was such a well-rounded way to begin our education, and one that had us up on our feet, all the time nurturing the growth of what later manifests itself -in typical Bedalian style -  as the ability to take an interest in anything and everything.”

-Ends-

Notes to the Editor

To arrange interviews or for more information please call Mindy Daubeny on (01730) 711694 or email mdaubeny@bedales.org.uk

Pictured: 1) Jo Webbern cuts the 60^th cake

About Bedales
Bedales comprises three schools situated in Steep, Hampshire (UK): Dunannie (http://www.bedales.org.uk/dunannie.html) (ages 3–8), Dunhurst (http://www.bedales.org.uk/dunhurst.html) (ages 8–13) and Bedales (http://www.bedales.org.uk/bedales.html) itself (ages 13–18). The vision of Bedales' founder, John Badley, was to create a school which would be profoundly different from the public schools of his day. From 1893, when Bedales began, there was a determination to shape the school around what was considered best for the individual child's educational welfare and happiness. Two strands predominated: breadth ("Head, Hand and Heart") and the cultivation of the individual's intellectual and personal qualities ("Intelligence, Initiative and Individuality"). Many of Badley's early innovations are now mainstream: co-educational boarding (at Bedales since 1898); the emphasis put on the Arts, Sciences and voluntary service; the importance of pastoral care; and listening to students' views (the Bedales School Council was established in 1916). Even so, the contrast between Bedales and other schools remains strong. We believe that our informality engenders a genuine sense of partnership between teacher and student - a shared excitement about ideas and educational discovery. Educational innovation continues today with our Bedales Assessed courses. www.bedales.org.uk.