A NEW and pioneering form of education could be on the cards in the Tavistock area, following a successful public meeting in the town last week.

Allisun McDermott arranged the meeting with the idea of creating a holistic school in the area.

She said her telephone was 'hot' all last week after she advertised the meeting in the Times recently — and she is delighted with the success of the initial meeting.

'We all have one thing in common — that is we intend creating a school that facilitates stimulating learning projects, that nurtures life skills and talents within each unique child,' said Allisun.

'We have a great variety of skills between us. The quality of those skills was just what we needed.'

Allisun said she has been thinking about a holistic school for her three and six-year-old children for some time, but the nearest one to Tavistock is in Totnes.

'It would have meant moving, but we love this area so much and I have met that many like-minded people, it seems now is the right moment.

'I home educate at the moment, but I would far prefer a group setting for my children,' she said.

She has visited other holistic schools started by like-minded parents and said they were 'fantastic'.

Allisun said the embryonic new school would be based in the Tavistock area, being fairly central to West Devon and East Cornwall.

She said it would aim to foster qualities like courage, endeavour, imagination, healthy team dynamics, decisiveness and compassion for others.

Learning will come through experience, play, creative expression, experiment, the local and world community and mistakes.

Allisun said: 'The word holistic literally means the whole — body, mind and spirit. Our school will acknowledge the needs of each child with this as our fundamental premise.'

She hopes the school, which will cater for children from four to 16 years of age, could be up and running within the next 12 to 18 months.

The next meeting of the holistic school group will be held at Allisun's house on Saturday December 15 at 2.30pm.

For more details, call 01822 614249.