Newsletter #10 - Our Trip to the US

Two of our founders, Jamie and Briar, have just got back from a couple of weeks in the US visiting some Christian classical schools. And what a fortnight it’s been… Over the fourteen days they visited eight schools, spent time with pupils, leaders, staff, board members and parents and eaten the best Tex-Mex Texas can offer!

We thought we would list a few of the moments that inspired us most over the trip and then explain how they have formed our thinking of how we want St Anselm’s to look.

School Atmosphere

Between them Briar and Jamie have worked in at least (it gets hard to work out what counts) eight primary and secondary schools in England and Wales. Not once has one of these schools come close to the family feeling the Christian classical schools exhibited. The unity of the staff body, the love for their pupils and the support from parents were palpable.

We attended a “State of the School” event whilst in Fort Worth and this intangible sense became tangible. We’ve all been to parents’ evenings or information events where schools say they to want to work with the families of the children they serve to improve. This time it felt different: school leadership being accountable to, and supported by, the families of the children they educate. A true partnership with parents. This is our vision for St Anselm’s.

The Children

From watching Year 2 recite all of Psalm 23, followed swiftly by Exodus 20:1-21 (and being able to explain what Psalm 23 means to them, when asked!), to a conversation at the lunch table about logical fallacies with a 12 year old, to a group discussion between 17 year olds dealing with whether or not Pericles was right to glorify Athens. It is fair to say the way these children could speak, the way they carried themselves and they way they thought was wonderful to witness.

We got to spend some time asking some of these children what they thought about their schools. One 14 year-old boy said, “school is for being prepared and equipped to defend my faith", another 16 year old girl told us how “it all clicked” and she turned to Christ in class whilst translating John 1 from the Greek.

This is the kind of education our children should be receiving: one where they can encounter the living God.