I love this quote from British author Zadie Smith, who sums up exactly how I feel about the importance of reading:
“You are never alone when you’re reading a book. It’s a bridge, not only to another world, but to other human beings, across time, across cultures, across languages. It’s the closest thing we have to magic.”
It was wonderful to see so many parents in the James Hall on Tuesday for Miss Allott’s most recent Reading Café, which continues to grow in popularity. Miss Allott’s passion for literature is infectious, and we are fortunate to have such an inspiring subject specialist on our team. Her belief in the symbiotic relationship between reading and writing lies at the heart of how everyone here teaches English: encouraging pupils to draw upon their reading to enrich their creative writing. We want to make sure the books being read are informing and inspiring the boys’ own imaginative narratives, so they develop both as readers and as writers.
At Hampton Pre-Prep & Prep, we place great value on nurturing everyone’s imagination. It is a complex and ongoing process I reckon, and one that extends far beyond the bounds of childhood. Imagination is not confined to a specific stage of life; it evolves continually, enriching I hope how we pass through life on a daily basis and thereby ultimately shaping our understanding of the world. Even as adults, our imaginations allow us to engage with the sublime, the absurd, the amusing, and even the tragic, helping us to feel deeply and think expansively. I make sure I still deliberately and intentionally attend to the development of my imagination for those very reasons!
For children, this capacity for imaginative exploration is boundless, or at least it should be. Their young minds are able to visit unexplored places, conjure extraordinary ideas, and create fantastical worlds. Our role as educators therefore (which also extends in my view to you as parents) is to guide this journey, ensuring that the imaginations of the pupils at our school are both nurtured and challenged. Life and work here is all about providing opportunities for everyone to express themselves intellectually, creatively, and emotionally, knowing that an active imagination is the foundation for innovative thinking and empathetic understanding.
