SCHOOLS Project

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Mr Ratatouille Presents: A series of quirky and fun educational talks for 10-13 year-olds.

(KS2-3 History / Literacy)  

Inspired by reading to my three children when they were younger, Mr Ratatouille Presents is a series of school talks designed to engage and inspire pupils with a love of literature, language, history and ideas – and, above all, to nurture a lifelong passion for books and reading.

Over twelve weeks at Sussex House School in London, for example, the 12–13‑year‑old boys were invited to sit down for a story and something a little mysterious. Out came a cavalry sabre, a battered campaign trunk or a faded letter, and suddenly they were on a medieval battlefield, in the trenches, or on a storm‑lashed deck in the age of sail. On darker afternoons the lights were lowered, faux candles were lit, and they listened to Christmas ghost stories or tales of haunted castles and restless knights – the sort of stories that might make them glance over their shoulders on the way back to form time.

For younger pupils, these sessions also offer a gentle introduction to the Knightly Virtues: courage, honesty, integrity, generosity, courtesy and all the old‑fashioned words that still have sharp edges. They are told that these are the qualities that turn schoolboys into gentlemen in the best sense – people who can be trusted, who look out for others, who keep their word when it is inconvenient.

If we want to foster certain interests and values, we should begin in the school classroom. Here, traditional virtues meet the modern world, and children can see that the two are not enemies after all, but allies.