From the Principal
Thank you Arlington…
It’s hard to believe this is my final article for the Arlington newsletter – perhaps a very good reason to keep it short, on the grounds that I have had plenty of opportunity to have said my piece!
Arlington, as the heart of Preshil, has had an enormous impact on my thinking, as an educator and as a person, and I can only hope it has a similar impact on both adults and children for many years to come.
I have had the opportunity to come under the influence of both Margaret Lyttles, to come to understand the breathtakingly radical nature of their educational ideas, so far ahead of their times, and still challenging conventional notions of schooling today; ideas that stemmed from a deep reverence for childhood, and for the ‘element of the Divine’ in each child. While this may seem at odds with the staunch insistence on Preshil as a secular school, it is actually at one with the understanding that the Divine is not the business of a school to pronounce on, or to limit.
I hope that every adult involved at Arlington carries this same reverence for childhood and is committed to ensuring it remains at the centre of all the plans, decisions and programs that underpin the School.
I have had the opportunity to comprehend the crucial role that play has in children’s development; the astonishing creativity and understanding they display, given a respectful, rich world in which to test their ideas and solve complex problems; to see first hand the impact on children’s learning when they are encouraged and free to be creative, make choices and take responsibility. Arlington children can be themselves, and decide how they dress, what suits them and makes them feel themselves. How proud it makes me to know that Arlington is recognised for leading current pedagogical research and practice in this area of innovation.
I have loved being part of a community where adults don’t have to tell children to pull up their socks, take off their hat, do up their tie or wear a dress or trousers because of their gender.
On a daily basis at Arlington we get to see a small world relieved of the pressure of constant competition and comparisons. Arlington is not a place where adults decide who is the best or who is a winner. The children have the time to experience the real point, and joy, of learning, without the fear that they will be exposed as not good enough or too slow – labels most of us have had to wear since our own days in school. For those of us who ‘are no good at Maths’, ‘can’t sing’, 'can’t draw’ – Arlington has the courage and the confidence to resist these crippling, facile assessments and anyone who has seen the light fade in a child’s eyes when they see themselves as failures will realise how precious Arlington is.
Arlington is a world created around the size and the needs of children. It’s all a little untidy. The classrooms are homely and comfortable and the grounds deliberately invite building and experiment. The spaces and gardens are not designed to support adult hierarchies of authority. It is the peace and beauty of Arlington that immediately strikes a visitor.
Over the almost eleven years I have been at Preshil it has been a privilege to encourage our wonderful teachers, teachers who love being at Arlington, to focus on learning as the core of our work. Learning and wellbeing travel hand in hand and modelling the excitement of trying out new ideas, getting it wrong and trying again, and triumphing as a team of learners, is the day-to-day experience for anyone walking around our brilliant little School.
Thank you to all those who have engaged with me, have stopped to teach me something new and who have allowed me to be a part of this extraordinary place. May many generations of children continue to flourish as Greta Lyttle first imagined.
Marilyn Smith
Principal