Senior Resident Matron

Ask any former parent, pupil or member of staff about Hanford and you’ll be bombarded by passionate praise in celebration of its glories: its quirkiness, its freedom, its sense of creativity.  Not forgetting, of course, the ponies.

Hanford was founded in 1947 by The Rev Clifford Canning and his wife, Enid. It was Enid's dream to run a girls' school and her vision was that it should feel like a family home. Together, they chose the magical Jacobean Hanford House near Blandford with its bucolic grounds bordered by the River Stour and nestling between the ancient hills of Hod and Hambledon.   Enid made some very progressive decisions all those years ago - decisions that have proven key to Hanford’s enduring success: subject specialist teachers, no uniform, no head girl, lots of ponies and a homely atmosphere.

Today's visitors would be forgiven for thinking that they have travelled back in time and arrived somewhere between Malory Towers and Hogwarts. A school tour is generally given by a pair of girls whose passion for Hanford is infectious. They will enthusiastically machine gun the ponies' names, tell you about the school's esoteric traditions - the manners system (grading girls from a Piglet to Royal Guest via a Boa Constrictor), the Guinea Pig Committee and the Hanford Hullaballo.  They will also point out all the bonkers names given to individual branches of their famous climbing tree (Bog Roll).

Hanford offers girls a magical education.  The imagination and inventiveness of the staff in terms of making the most of the school's magnificent setting is impressive. Perspective and landscape drawing is taught using the beautiful view of the Jacobean house down the drive and from the surrounding fields; while apples and pears from the orchard are used to teach still life drawing. The flowers offer endless opportunity for detailed pencil drawings and experimenting with colour. The ponies in the stable are still a firm favourite as a source of inspiration for teaching proportion and anatomy.  The creative work produced by the Hanford girls is consequently of a very high standard with over 17 art scholarships having been awarded in the past 3 years.

English classes take trips to Lulworth Cove to develop their creative writing. Here they immerse themselves in the magnificent sounds, smells and scenery of our famous coastline. In the countryside, you are never far from animals and at Hanford they are quite literally on our doorstep. Girls at Hanford love to read, reading is a time tabled lesson here and books with animals are immensely popular, especially E B White’s book 'Charlotte’s Web'. After reading it in class, Year III visited a local farm in Stourpaine to find out more about pigs and to meet some real ones.

At Hanford we are famous for our ponies; both keen riders and novices love being around them. Ponies teach the girls to consider something other than themselves - they learn to make decisions, develop confidence and appreciate the countryside.

As far as the Geography department is concerned, all Dorset needs to make it the perfect place to study their subject is a working volcano. Topics such as the water cycle, settlement and erosion are all in evidence locally. At the river Stour, girls can see first hand how a river shapes the land. The top of Hambledon Hill is an excellent place to point out how landscape dictates settlement patterns, while Barton-on-Sea is probably one of the best places to witness costal erosion in action.

Behind the hedgerows and rolling fields filled with corn and grazing sheep there is a lot on offer for the STEM subjects especially in places like Fleet Air Arm, Bovington Tank Museum and the Royal Signals Museum in Blandford. Also in those hedgerows and fields children can discover all manner of natural habitats to study.

Inspiring teaching has always been the bedrock on which the school was founded: Hanford attracts the most outstanding teachers. We are always interested in hearing from teachers who feel that they would enjoy working in an environment which offers the freedom to exploit all that the school and its surroundings has to offer. If you would like to come and visit us at our next Open Morning, we would be happy to welcome you. Please contact the school office for further details (office@hanfordschool.co.uk)