Highfield School featured in a major television documentary this week. As part of the acclaimed Channel 4 series “Cutting Edge” the hour long programme, ‘Leaving Home at 8' concentrated on four girls, all children from Forces families, who joined the Highfield boarding community in September 2009.
The film is about the experience of these young girls and their parents, as they settle into Highfield life. The film makers, with the co-operation and consent of the school and the parents of the children involved were given almost unlimited access to the school, its staff and pupils during the 14 weeks of the Christmas Term, during which they followed the experiences of the four girls.
Highfield was selected by Channel 4 as one of the UK's top Prep Schools. Headmaster Mr Phillip Evitt said, “It is a difficult decision to allow television cameras in to school, and we only did so with the full backing and consent of the parents. We decided to give the crew unprecedented access around the school and the programme is an honest, powerful and emotional documentary which pulls at our heart strings as it tackles the issues of separation faced by young children and their parents.”
Highfield is a boarding and day school of 225 boys and girls with a very strong boarding community of almost 100 children, of which there are a small number of 8 and 9 year olds with most choosing to become boarders when they are 11 or 12.
The programme concentrates on the families' experiences and how Highfield's staff care, support and guide children and their parents through the first weeks of separation. Boarding for the first time at any age can bring its difficulties, for both children and parents and homesickness is something that some, but not all children can experience. “This is something that needs handling with skill, care, compassion and humanity”, says Mr Evitt.
“When children are affected it is always heartbreaking to witness, so we are acutely sensitive in tackling it. I am really proud of the way the staff at Highfield look after our children and their parents. Their wealth of experience, support, sensitivity, emotional intelligence and guidance help most children to get over their homesickness quickly, ensuring they settle here and begin to really enjoy all the positive experiences that boarding brings. This is powerfully chronicled in the film”.
Mr Evitt adds “The film crew left us on the last day of the Christmas term, and I'm happy to report that all four girls are fully settled and extremely happy here. I applaud them all for the way they have taken to boarding life and for the great contribution they are already making to the whole school community.
‘Leaving Home at 8' was broadcast on Channel 4 on the 11th February at 9pm
"I was a boarder at Highfield School from the age of 10 and my brother was 8 when he started. I have never looked back and do not regret a single minute of it. Yes it is horribly painful that first few weeks when you are getting used to not having your parents around every single day but I do not feel that it has affected my childhood in any adverse way. In fact the memories from Highfield are wonderful. I also believe that boarding made my relationship with my parents even better as the times we spent together (holidays are very long when at boarding school) were even more special. I think it is unfair of people to judge boarding without having done it themselves. We were looked after wonderfully at Highfield and all the staff were great. When I went to university I was prepared and able to live on my own. If I could go back and do it all again I would. Highfield was wonderful"
Lexie Watson February 2010
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