Tilda Swinton: Harry Potter paints romantic picture of 'cruel' boarding schools

Tilda Swinton has taken a pop at the Harry Potter movies and books for painting a ‘romantic’ picture of boarding schools.

Swinton attended West Heath Girls’ School in Kent, now called The New School at West Heath, but said that she did not think children ‘benefit’ from the system.

“I think they are a very cruel setting in which to grow up and I don’t feel children benefit from that type of education,” she told The Scots magazine.

“Children need their parents. That’s why I dislike films like Harry Potter, which tend to romanticise such places.”

West Heath also boasted the likes of Princess Diana, then Diana Spencer, among its alumni, as well as singer Issy Van Randwyck.

Swinton established her own independent school, Drumduan Upper School, close to her home in Nairn, Scotland, in 2013, which focuses on giving pupils an outdoor education.

There are no exams, and students embark on ‘art-based practical learning’, like building boats, construction, film-making, surveying, as well as subjects like English, Spanish and Maths, with the curriculum based on the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner’s work.

She went on: “I grew up under privileged circumstances and was expected to marry a duke.

“I spent a lot of time and energy making certain that I would not find myself living a life that had been preordained for me.”

Both Swinton’s children, Honor and Xavier, who are now 19, studied at the school.

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