It’s Headfort, not Hogwarts
Unique free-thinking classroom style
THE last primary-age boarding school in Ireland has opened its doors to cameras for a new documentary that offers a glimpse of the children whose daily lives have more than a hint of a Harry Potter movie to them.
Headfort School in Kells, Co. Meath – which comes across as a mix of Hogwarts and Malory Towers with a dollop of the Famous Five thrown in – prepares students for schools such as Belvedere, Eton and Harrow.
The magnificent Georgian mansion, complete with courtyard and stables, houses homely, oldfashioned dorms with mismatched furniture for the children who come from all over the world.
The documentary opens with its international and Irish contingent of students returning to the grounds of the imposing 18thcentury building surrounded by acres of parkland and woods.
The film follows a year in the lives of endearing teaching couple, John and Amanda Leyden, who have become much-loved institutions at Headfort over the past 46 years with their unique free-thinking classroom style.
Amanda forges a love of words in her English classes held in a centuries-old classroom crammed with book shelves.
In one winter wonderland scene, she is seen walking on the ground in the dark and looking up excitedly saying: ‘It’s snowing. Little ones, it’s snowing.’
For her husband John, rock music is just another subject alongside maths, English, scripture and Latin, all of which are taught in a collaborative and often hilarious fashion.
The ancient buildings, secret doors and magical woodlands have been home to the English couple, and their extraordinary careers, for nearly 50 years.
The children seem to thrive in the school where they run free, playing make-believe games in the forest and audition for the school’s rock band in the building’s arched graffiticovered basement.
But there are also poignant scenes of tearfully homesick little ones. In one scene, a teacher called Mrs Ryan tells a pupil she will be like a ‘second mum’ as she says goodbye to her mother. In another clip, she is seen telling a young boy it will be ‘11 sleeps’ until he sees his mum. But he tearfully replies: ‘Miss, I’m not seeing my Mum until half-term.’ Subject choices include Latin and the vast and sprawling grounds are used for horse riding, hockey, golf and cricket. Tuition fees range from €4,380 to €5,425 per term. The headmaster advises his pupils: ‘In a very meaningful way you have control over a lot of what you do… You’re all already in charge of your own lives.’
He encourages them to think for themselves and discusses gay marriage and religion.
‘Is marriage natural?’ he asks his class, before going on to tell them: ‘We don’t know God exists.
‘We’ve no proof there is such a thing as God.’