There a lot of changes for the Cambridges’ as they move back to London so the Duke and Duchess may support Her Majesty. One of those changes is Prince George heading to Thomas’ Battersea.
On Prince George’s first day of classes at the school, which is a good 30-minute drive should traffic corporate, his parents will be by his side.
Most four-year-olds are bound to be nervous on this day, and Prince George gets to do the whole thing complete with the media capturing his every move!
Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge had always expressed they want to be hands on parents, even holding off on a night nurse with Prince George but caving to the lure of extra sleep when Princess Charlotte was born.
In January 1987, Diana, Princess of Wales was left to take Prince William for his first day at Wetherby after Prince Charles was stuck in a snowstorm. By the time it was Prince Harry’s turn to head to school, both Charles and Diana were able to make it.
Thomas’ Battersea has been described as “the best English education money can buy” by The Good Schools Guide. Which also goes on to read: “Plenty of opportunities for pupils to excel but withdrawn types might find it all somewhat overwhelming.”
Thomas’s Battersea touts it’s 19 languages spoken as it celebrates and “appears to make the most of this range of different cultures.”
The school has a number of locations through out London for children ages four to 13. “In each school, we aim to offer the highest academic standards, set within a broad and rich curriculum, which inspires enjoyment, learning and achievement,” says their website.
“We expect every member of the schools’ communities to ‘Be Kind’.”
George and his fellow classmates won’t be the only fresh faces at the school, Headmaster Simon O’Malley is new, having previously been Headmaster of Wellesley House School in Kent for 11 years.
O’Malley is also rated by The Good Schools Guide as “Ambitious and enthusiastic; generated an energy and buzz about his previous school. Much-liked and respected by parents”.
I believe that there are examples of very well-rounded education for a future Monarch among some Fellows of the Royal Society. As much as FRS Gottfried Leibniz was both a great scientist on a global scale–e.g. his work with British Jesuits to study the arts, science, and religion of China (Confusius)–he sought to end the strife of religious warfare by an eumenical work that is very worthy of a future “”Defender of the Faith.” His correspondence with Queen Anne would be a wonderful study in statecraft. Another Fellow was Bernhard Riemann, who notably also very well-schooled in religion, languages–e.g. Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Sanskrit, and he asked his father, a theologian whether or not he should continue his work in religion or another passion, geometry with mathematics for great scientific discoveries for his nation and mankind. And, there are many other examples as these to raise a child with proper awe and wonder at creation and the harmony of nature, man, and universal creation. I would also recommend that classical art should be admixed with science, religion, and “the art of statecraft,” as yesterday’s Royal Central raised with regard to child protégé Mozart and famille’s visit to the King and Queen at “Buckingham Palace” And, the assistance of Christian Bach in London to hone Mozart’s art. I would therefore, and it is very important add classical music–including learning an instrument to accompany such as any great performer visiting or chamber music with friends and family–to instruction at least by age 6. I write this because King George III had an extremely well-rounded education for his day; but, ended up a tragic figure, who was manipulated by many. I believe a course in statecraft should also include such cases, in order to avoid them. Such was many of Shakespeare’s tragedies and history’s. When I finish my two “Little Einstein” books I will send them, Albert Einstein being another Fellow of the Royal Society. Otherwise I am at your service with others I know to aide in Prince George’s education.
Is “English” among the 19 languages spoken at this prestigious school ??
I can only say to bearzy123, that of course English is taught, and hopefully for advanced students speaking many languages as modeled on Dante’s invention of the vernacular Italian, perhaps best done with the earliest possible writings of Chaucer. My own early reading of such, showed that “English” as presented in Chaucer was both genteel, and yet pungent. As Prince Phillip might appreciate, all I can recall consciously from the “Canterbury Tales,” is “and, the cowes verteth.” One of the reasons I selected Bernhard Riemann in pedagogy is that he followed Plato and Socrates in his generation of non-a priori axioms and postulates in developments from “simple hypotheses” to “hypotheses of the higher hypothesis, as in his first habilitation thesis lecture (given him by Chancelor Gauss, the hypotheses that underlie geometry. This may seem a bit outlandish to some; but, once upon a time in America and elsewhere such was the case for rulers, presidents, and their courts or counselors. There is no reason in the world–save bad advice–that such a curriculum could not be even more generalized. So, I pray for the best of it, as otherwise the vectors of the world often seem toward war and further misery of also Prince Georges future “subjects.” n