We speak to Julia Harrington, Headmistress of Queen Anne’s School, to find out more about the school’s history and how they prepare children for the next stage in their school career.
How long have you been at the school"
I have been Headmistress of Queen Anne?s School for 13 years. I studied History and Politics at Exeter University and after I?d had my three children, I decided to train as a History teacher. Although I am not a scientist, I have always been interested in neuroscience (along the way, I also trained as a psychodynamic counsellor) and throughout my teaching career I became convinced that neuroscience had a place in education. So in 2013 I established BrainCanDo (BCD), an educational neuroscience and cognitive psychology research programme which has since become an established research centre based at Queen Anne?s.
Can you tell us a little bit about the history of the school"
Queen Anne, the first sovereign of Great Britain (following the Act of Union in 1707), granted the Grey Coat Hospital Foundation a Royal Charter. The Grey Coat Hospital was a school in Westminster, funded by eight local merchants whose admirable aim was to give an education to the poor of the parish. In 1894 the Foundation bought a site in Caversham to build a girls? school and named it after Queen Anne. We remember her every other year at a special service in Westminster Abbey (when our students wear red cloaks ? as they do for all our special occasions) and we ha...