East Lothian’s Belhaven Hill School answers the paradox of modern parenting.

One of the greatest conundrums to face parents today is how to balance two competing ‘necessities’. On the one hand, we hear of the importance of a protected, extended childhood in our increasingly busy 21st century lives. As Matthew Broderick’s eponymous hero states in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, ‘Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.’ Children’s mental health is in crisis, news providers tell us. On the other hand, or in the other hand, perhaps, we have the relentless demands of pervasive mobile technology, seen as a permanent fixture, something to be accepted, adopted and admired, if you are to hope to get ahead. Jonathan Haidt, in his best-selling book ‘The Anxious Generation’, talks of children being over-protected in the real world, and under-protected in the virtual one as parents and schools filter firmly held views on both sides of the debate.

At Belhaven Hill School, a small, rural boarding and day school on the outskirts of Dunbar, East Lothian, we think that we have an interesting story to tell. Here, childhood is extended, rather than over-protected. On entering the school grounds, it is almost impossible to resist the feeling that you are going back in time: children with muddy knees play games of football without a referee or collect conkers from the trees along the driveway. A sense of a busy family home is prevalent, but a family home with a difference. This is one where none of the children has a mobile phone.

But what, you cry, of our duty to prepare them for the modern world? How will be produce the entrepreneurs and problem-solvers of the future if they have no access to this technology? We have prioritised the promotion of a different approach: one where every child is encouraged to respect the academic and creative potential of technology, but simultaneously aware of the potentially negative consequences of unrestricted use. Every pupil has a school-managed iPad, used only in lessons or prep, and monitored by staff using Apple Classroom.

The creative potential of the iPad is soon to be enhanced by the opening of a brand-new facility. Courtesy of a three-year fundraising initiative, the School has recently broken ground on its first new development since 2007 – a two classroom Makerspace, where STEM and Design will be taught, side by side, in a timber clad, solar panelled multi-functional space that will also benefit the local community as an inspirational and stand-alone facility for innovation and creative thought.

The children are currently giving their views as to how the interior might look. However, the true purpose of a Makerspace is to provide a blank canvas: an opportunity to think beyond the confines of the immediately practical. The world of a child is wonderfully, enviously creative and positive and this building aims to encourage that kind of ingenuity that takes adults days, weeks or perhaps even months to which to pluck up the courage to commit. Meetings with interested parties within the local community as to how this facility might benefit local schools or businesses and then with designers to map it all out will see us able to present something genuinely different. 

The second stage of the development plan will see the installation of a roof to cover the outdoor swimming pool. This will enable the teaching of swimming all year round to Belhaven’s pupils and the children of the local communities – swimming as a life skill and an important part of the culture and tradition of Dunbar, and East Lothian generally, will be prioritised as sport continues to hold the answers to so many of the physical and mental challenges prevalent in today’s society.

The other focus of our Centenary Campaign, to coincide with the School’s 100th birthday (2023) has been the extension of our bursary provision. Our aim is to provide sufficient funding to support five non-fee-paying children in the School at any one time. In contrast to what has been written in recent months, the mutual benefits of being able to educate a broad range of pupils from diverse backgrounds is surely one of the great success stories of the sector. Belhaven may be a small school, but it has a big impact, and the life-changing opportunities that it has given to all its children, regardless of their background, will always remain a great source of strength and pride.

Going to school is one of the few common elements that creates unity amongst humanity. For those fortunate enough to live in a country in which education is prioritised, it is a point of reference and, inevitably, comparison. It is always an anxious moment as a parent as you wait to see whether your child’s school experience will be a happy one, one that is tolerable – routine but uninspiring – or, sadly, something worse. At Belhaven, we are incredibly proud of the joy and pride that our School inspires in our children and their families and, at this time of additional scrutiny as VAT is imposed on independent school fees, we are confident that this will continue to be the case.


‘My child comes home tired and smiling every single day. He can’t wait to go to school in the morning!’ We start with the premise that we will make incredible progress with a happy child. The reverse is also true – children that are less than happy find progress difficult to find and slow to make – but we go to great lengths to ensure that this is not the case.

One of the key findings of our most recent Care Inspectorate report (February 2023) was that our pastoral care is ‘sector-leading’ – that is, it is systematically sound and strategically innovative – and investing in the creation of the team to ensure the consistent delivery of this has been an exciting but essential journey. A trained Child Protection Co-ordinator (Deputy Head Pastoral) is supported by an important triad: the key pillars of Medical, Wellbeing and Academic support, with Night Matrons and Pupil support roles as key elements in their respective teams. As a boarding school, a high percentage of staff live on site, and it is important to think of this old family house as a home with classrooms, rather than a school with dormitories.

Once a child’s happiness is established and parents are assured that the environment is one of nurture and support, academic rigour and high levels of ambition can be liberally applied. Levels of attainment are consistently high. Children leaving Belhaven gain entry into the top-performing senior schools in Scotland and England, with over 60% of the leavers in the past three years winning scholarships and 100% passing into their first choice of school.

Variety is what stimulates happy children to succeed. Once settled and confident, they are constantly encouraged to ‘have a go’ and the range of opportunities on offer is extraordinary. We offer over 40 different activities each and every term, ranging from watercolours to fencing, choreography to rock-pooling and archery to engineering. On five of the six days of the school week (Saturday school is another rare feature), our children play sport, and this term, we have four major sports on offer – hockey, rugby, cross-country and football.

We also have a number of sporting activities such as indoor cricket nets and athletic development as we make good use of our indoor facilities in preparation for the Spring and Summer term sports. On Friday afternoons, we have a whole-school focus on the Performing Arts – drama, dance and music are prioritised and time is spent in rehearsal for the next major production: in this case ‘Oliver Twist, London Town’, featuring a company of 96. We focus on the mindset that it is important, and desirable, to be seen to be trying hard, regardless of success: failure in a safe environment is the best form of learning. As another parent observed in a recent survey, ‘Belhaven really does offer more than just an education.’

Boarding is at the heart of the extraordinary productivity of Belhaven. The only full boarding Prep School in Scotland, we offer families the consistent rhythm of fortnightly boarding, during which time the children know with whom they will play and learn. Families from all over Scotland and England, France and Spain have found this ‘well-kept secret’ suits their needs – for those families with two working parents, or a parent in the Armed Forces, or for whom travel is a regular feature of life, the fun and the progressive nature the boarding environment can be a life-changing one for parents desperate for the best start in life for their children. Of the c130 junior boarding pupils in Scotland, 65 are currently at Belhaven.

The pervasive impact of mobile phone technology on 21st century life has been much debated but, however you read the statistics that are starting to emerge, there seems little argument with the fact that children’s childhoods are best preserved by an absence of social media. This is a significant challenge for parents, persuaded to join the arms race so as not to leave their child ostracised by their ‘friends’. In a school with boarding for children up to 13, it is easy to protect the children from this confrontation. We have been mobile phone free for 101 years and will remain so. It is possible, when you spend time with our teenagers, to start to wonder whether in fact ‘The Anxious Generation’ referred to by Haidt might refer to our generation of parents, rather than to their offspring, and that it is our inconsistent approach, rather than the technology (or lack of it) itself that is the problem.

Belhaven is a wonderful place to live, and to learn. The type of holistic education that we provide means that going to school, that familiar rite of passage that unites so many of us, is not just drab and routine – it is inspirational, it is life-changing, it is full of laughter, friends and, above all, fun.

Open Morning – Saturday 12th October 2024

Email: admissions@belhavenhill.com