Back To School For George & Charlotte

As with millions of other families, the Cambridges will be busy this week organising their children for a return to school after the summer break.

Prince George, 5, will be starting year one at Thomas's Battersea on Thursday. Although he attended Reception last year and will keep the same friends, George will have a new teacher and classroom as well as more advanced work to adjust to.

Princess Charlotte, 3, started at Willcocks Nursery School in Kensington in January. She will return to her routine on Wednesday.

The royal youngsters have had a wonderful summer break with baby brother Louis and mum and dad Catherine and William.

The family of five first celebrated Louis's baptism on 9th July and the following day the children watched the RAF Centenary flypast from a Buckingham Palace window while the adults stood on the balcony.

Mustique in the Caribbean was the venue for a beach holiday with their grandparents Carole and Michael Middleton. It was here George celebrated his birthday.

Then the family spent a large amount of time at their country residence, Amner Hall on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk. Amner allows the children to run and play in privacy as well as enjoy the property's tennis court.

Towards the end of the holiday the Duke and Duchess and children headed to Balmoral Castle in Scotland to visit the Queen and Prince Philip. Here George took part in his first grouse shoot which is quite a milestone for a royal youngster. 

All in all a lovely holiday before school begins again.

Prince William Talks About His Children

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge has been busy these past few
weeks. As well as undertaking his own public engagements, William has filled in for his wife Catherine who is suffering extreme morning sickness- hyperemesis gravidarum.

In the same week the royal couple announced that they were expecting their third child, Prince George started school at Thomas's Battersea. Due to her debilitating condition, the Duchess was forced to miss dropping off her son for his first day at school. 

William took George alone and commented that "it went well". He did say later "We are all seeing how long that lasts before he doesn't want to go".

During a visit to Aintree University Hospital in Liverpool a week later, William mentioned that Princess Charlotte "will be trouble when she is older". He added "George rules the roost and Charlotte isn't far behind". 

Less than three week after starting school life, the Duke announced that the honeymoon period for George had ended as predicted! During a visit to Milton Keynes, William said "I just dropped George off and he didn't want to go."

With George starting school, Charlotte due to start nursery school in the coming months and a new baby on the way life is very busy in the Cambridge household. 

The Duchess is due to return to royal engagements on October 10th at a reception alongside Princes William and Harry at Buckingham Palace.

George And William

The Duke and Duchess are very pleased to share a photograph of The Duke and Prince George at Kensington Palace this morning. pic.twitter.com/MxcU0RqGvi

— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) September 7, 2017

George's First Day At School

Prince George begins formal schooling today when he joins the Reception class at Thomas's Battersea. 

Four year old George had attended Westacre Montessori preschool in Norfolk near his family's home Anmer Hall since January 2016. 

It is hoped that both parents will drop George off at school on his first day, but due to extreme morning sickness Catherine may not be able to. 

Headmaster Simon O'Malley includes the following passage in his welcome page on the school website:

"Whilst we are proud of our record of senior school entrance and scholarship successes, we place a greater emphasis on a set of core values, which include kindness, courtesy, confidence, humility and learning to be givers, not takers. We hope that our pupils will leave this school with a strong sense of social responsibility, set on a path to become net contributors to society and to flourish as conscientious and caring citizens of the world."

Term fees for the first stage of three years are 5868 pounds. Like the other 560 students, George will be dressed in the school uniform of navy and red which is available at John Lewis. 

We look forward to seeing a few photos of this very important event in anyone's life -royal or not.

George's Big Week

Prince George of Cambridge will start "big school" this week when he starts at Thomas's Battersea.

George will begin in the Reception year with about 60 other children. Thomas's is a school for boys and girls aged between 4 and 13 and one of several London day schools in this family owned chain. 

There is a big focus on music, art, drama and sport but all areas of the curriculum are covered. 

Kindness is considered just as important as academic success at Thomas's and this is a lovely reflection of the attitude of Duke and Duchess. 

Kensington Palace has said that William and Catherine will walk George through the school gates on Thursday. 

William's 1st day Wetherby January 1987

Happy Birthday George

Kensington Palace has released a gorgeous photo of Prince George to mark his 4th birthday today. The portrait was taken at the end of June by Getty's Chris Jackson at the Cambridge apartment at the palace.

The little prince will start formal school in September at Thomas's Battersea. 

A birthday party will be held on Sunday.

Happy Birthday!

George's New School

Kensington Palace has announced plans for Prince George's first "big school".

George, who is currently at Westacre Montessori School in Norfolk, will commence his formal schooling at Thomas's Battersea day school in September. 

Thomas's Battersea is part of a group of Thomas's day schools in London. The school is co-educational and has three, three year stages. There are approximately 540 boys and girls at the school currently. 

The young prince will be four years of age when he starts school.

According to the express.co.uk
"Mr Ben Thomas has been headmaster of Thomas’s Battersea since 1999 but will step down this summer to focus on his wider role as principal of the whole group of schools.
His successor, appointed last May, is Simon O’Malley, currently headmaster of Wellesley House School in Broadstairs, Kent."

The tweet from Kensington Palace:

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have announced that Prince George will attend Thomas's Battersea School in London from September 2017.

— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) March 24, 2017

Thomas's Battersea

George To Start At Nursery School

Prince George will start his schooling in late January at Westacre Montessori School in East Walton, Norfolk.

The little prince who will be two and a half at the time is expected to start off attending several mornings a week. The Nursery is in a converted church building and is close to the Cambridges home, Anmer Hall. 

Westacre charges GBP 33- per day and is further evidence that Catherine and William intend to give George and his sister Charlotte a relaxed country upbringing for as long as possible.

The Montessori system is very familiar to Prince William as he himself attended a Montessori nursery school from the age of three. Mrs Mynors Nursery School was only a short drive from Kensington Palace and William's brother Harry followed him there a couple of years later. 

I discussed William's nursery education in a blog eleven months ago.  
Here is a quick link:

http://williamandharryschildren.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/mrs-mynors-nursery-school.html

The princes' mother Diana, Princess of Wales was a teaching assistant at the Young England Kindergarten in Pimlico when she started dating Prince Charles in 1980. This was also a Montessori school.

William's First Day at Mrs Mynors

Wetherby School

Monday 10th August, 2015

William's First Day January 1987

In exploring future options for the education of Prince George and Princess Charlotte, I had written last January about Mrs Mynors Nursery School where Princes William and Harry started their schooling. 

Now we will look at Wetherby School in Notting Hill Gate, West London which William joined on 15th of January, 1987 at the age of 5. The Prince left the school on 5th July 1990. 

According to wetherbyschool.co.uk
Wetherby School will be celebrating its 60th Anniversary in 2011. Founded in 1951, by Mr and Mrs Gerald Russell, the school was originally in Wetherby Place SW7. It remained there for the first twenty years of its life before moving to Pembridge Square in 1971 when it became part of the Family Educational Group Davies, Laing and Dick. In 2002 the family sold to the Alpha Plus Group (www.alphaplusgroup.co.uk) and the school expanded to three form entry to meet the increasing demands on the waiting lists in the area.

In 1984 Miss Frederika Blair-Turner was appointed headmistress upon the retirement of Mr and Mrs Russell and was in post for the next fourteen years. In 1998 Mrs Jenny Aviss succeeded her as head and in 2008 Mr Mark Snell becomes the first headmaster in the history of Wetherby School.
 

Harry's First Day September 1989

Wetherby is a boys pre-prep school so this would not be an option for Charlotte but George may well find himself pulling on the grey and red trimmed uniform and cap in another two years. 

Boys can start in the Reception class in the September after their 4th birthday. For George that would be in 2017. This first year is very much a preschool foundation year and teachers formulate the curriculum according to the needs of that particular cohort. 

From there the children progress to the formal school curriculum where they stay until the end of years 2 or 3. The form teacher teaches the core lessons whilst specialist teachers instruct the boys in such things as music, French, art, drama, sport, ICT, etc.

At the end of their time at Wetherby School, the headmaster will advise parents on which schools will best suit their child. Approximately 10-15 percent of Wetherby School children will go onto a boarding school.

The Reception and Little Wetherby is located at 19 Pembridge Villas, whilst the main Wetherby School is at 11 Pembridge Square. Pembridge Square Gardens across the road provides a place for the boys to run and play during breaks.