Year 10 visit The Bard

Year 10 with Mistress Quickley from Merry Wives

On a wet October morn we sojourned north to pay homage to the man most responsible for British schoolchildren's appreciation of theatre. Or in his words, for the 'schoolboy creeping unwillingly to school...'

We were regaled with songs and enactments from Shakespeare's plays and enjoyed a superb workshop lecture on Romeo and Juliet. 

The trip was designed to bring to life Shakespeare as a poet, man and playwright and for the girls to contextualise the myth in preparation for a GSCE Controlled Assessment task they will undertake after half term. 

A busy Elizabethan market street

'It is always really useful to have ideas about texts confirmed, as the girls meet members of the RSC and SBT, actors, librarians, PhD students, all of whom have specialist knowledge. They add to the girls arsenal of developing appreciation and support the girls in feeling their way for personal evaluations of the texts.  It is vital that the texts leap from the page for the girls to enjoy and understand these complex works.'

In time with our visit to Shakespeare's birthplace, the sun dried up the grey clouds and we were able to amble merrily without being showered.

A big thank you to Mrs Warnock for organising.

National Poetry Day - Mount School Laureates crowned...

In honour of National Poetry Day, the Mount held its own poet laureate competiton - seeking to unleash the latent talent throughout the school.

As with the National competition, the theme was water and this flowed through the verses presented in torrential floods.

The event was run by Lupus House and the winners and their fine poems can be found on the house blogs.

Each house crowned a winner for junior and Senior House Poet Laureate, in what we hope will become an annual tradition.

Gothic Tales for Children at John Lewis, Brent Cross Sunday 13th October – 1pm to 4pm

Press Release 14.10.13

A joint event by John Lewis, Brent Cross, Mardibooks and The Mount School, Mill Hill took place on Sunday 13^th October to raise funds for local charity, The Good Neighbour Scheme for Mill Hill and Burnt Oak.

The event publicised the latest book published by The Mount School entitled,

Gothic Tales - A Cornucopia of Creepy Stories, Music Art & Poetry.

Staff and pupils dressed up in Gothic attire to entertain the young customers with readings from the book in the Toy Department amongst Halloween displays.

Richard Dearden, managing director at John Lewis Brent Cross said: "We are delighted to support this entrepreneurial activity; it is inspiring to see young people working so hard to make a success of this fantastic charitable initiative".

Catherine Cozens, Head teacher at The Mount said: "There was such a tremendous and positive feedback from last year’s anthology that we continued the project this year. The whole school have been involved in producing our ‘Gothic’ compilation."

The event on Sunday was a huge success with sales of books on the day and to our school community raising £358. With anticipated donations The Mount School will be presenting The Good Neighbour Scheme with over £500 once again this year. In addition the school will be donating its harvest festival provisions to GNS to be distributed amongst needy old people in the Mill Hill and Burnt Oak area.

Gothic Tales

When we think of the Gothic of course many traditional images from literature spring to mind - not least vampires and castles, cobbles and wind-swept moors.

But the Gothic embraces so much more than the Romantic and Victorian period. To younger generations it conjures a modern cult in music and dress, and film; to Historians the ancient Goths were a whole sub-culture inhabiting the Crimea and Germanic regions; whilst Medieval Europe fashioned Art and Architecture in its designation of the Gothic style.

The universality of Gothic has meant that it has seen revivals and re-birth across time and space and has again been interpreted here in its widest form to cover the supernatural, mythical, historical and factual and resonates with qualities of hidden perspectives, of secrecy and dark, moody depths.

'Gothic Tales' has become a feast of extraordinary creativity demonstrating some wonderful research, craftsmanship, individuality and energy in the stories, poems art and design contained in its pages. The essence of 'The Mount' is yet again demonstrated in the unique qualities that our girls bring to this community and the nurturing of their skills and celebration of their achievements under our roof is a matter of great pride to us.

Gothic Tales is available on Amazon as an ebook for £7 and on the day, from the school or on www.mardibooks.com in hard copy for £11 (+£2 P&P).

For more information please see visit the following websites:

The Mount School www.mountschool.com

Mardibooks www.mardibooks.com

Good Neighbours Scheme www.thegoodneighbourschememhbo.com/index.htm

John Lewis Brent Cross www.johnlewis.com/our-shops/brent-cross