UK's Princess Kate to visit pioneering Italian schools funded by WW2 scrap metal

ROME: On ​her trip to northern Italy next week, Britain’s Princess of Wales Kate Middleton will see how in the years ‌after World War Two communities transformed abandoned military equipment, including a tank, into a globally influential model of early‑years education.

The visit will take Princess Kate to Reggio Emilia, where local residents — many of them women — helped finance some of Italy’s first nursery schools after the war ​by selling the scrap metal from equipment left behind by retreating German forces.

Those early efforts laid the ​foundations of the educational “Reggio Emilia approach,” now influential worldwide and aligned with Kate’s focus on ⁠children’s social and emotional wellbeing.

Kate launched ​the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood in 2021 to bring together experts and research in the field.

The trip, running ​from May 13 to May 14, will be Kate’s first official overseas visit since completing cancer treatment.

“Some time ago, British representatives visited our city and our early childhood education services, and shortly afterwards we heard of the Princess’s interest in coming to see ​us,” Marwa Mahmoud, Reggio Emilia’s councillor for education, told Reuters.

Italian officials said Kate’s interest was focused on the historical roots of Reggio’s schools, ​their public character, the role of women, the link between nature and education, and strong community involvement.

THE ‘HUNDRED LANGUAGES’ OF CHILDREN

The medium‑sized ‌city of ⁠Reggio Emilia has one of the highest levels of preschool participation in Italy, with enrolment among children aged three to six close to universal and attendance at infant‑toddler services more than twice the national average.

Here, pioneering schools for children under six took shape decades before a national law followed in 1968.

In the Reggio Emilia approach the child ​is seen as an active ​learner, with the potential ⁠to explore and understand the world through many forms of expression – often described by educators as the “hundred languages” of children.

Classes are organised around communal spaces known as piazzas, ​with in‑house kitchens and ateliers where children are encouraged to experiment with materials, colours, ​and sounds.

Today, Reggio ⁠Emilia has 89 infant‑toddler centres and preschools, most operated by the municipality or the state, with fees set according to family income.

International attention grew after U.S. magazine Newsweek cited a Reggio Emilia preschool among the world’s top ten schools in ⁠1991.

“For years, ​Britain looked to Reggio Emilia as a model, with hundreds of ​teachers visiting annually,” said Maddalena Tedeschi, president of Reggio Children, an international centre that promotes research.

“Policy changes and funding cuts in the UK later ​reduced travel, but interest remained and evolved into new forms of exchange.”