House Poetry Competition Final

A close run thing...and great entertainment was had by all in the Finals of the House Poetry Competition held on February 14th, 2013.

The senior finalists were:

Osira	Caduceus	Phoenix	Lupus
Miku	Zusi	Lynda	Antonia
Phoebe	Chloe	Fran	Morgan

with Zusi Inegbeniki winning overall first place with The Listeners by Walter de la Mare

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-listeners/





and Fran Prideaux winning runner-up with Teddy Bear by AA Milne.
http://modamuseum.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/a-milne-for-punch.html

The judges were particularly impressed with the range of material chosen, standard of performance and overall x-factor of the event.

In the Junior final, winners were Behnoush Kheradmand (Osira) Ryma Boufeniche (Phoenix) Overall winner; Chehara Dharmawardene (Lupus) Runner Up, and Charmaine Lim (Caduceus) 

Congratulations to all those who took part, and of course to Caduceus for winning the Senior Poetry Shield and to Phoenix for winning the Junior Poetry Shield.

John Lewis supports The Mount School in raising funds for Good Neighbour Scheme

PRESS RELEASE 1st Feb 2013

Community collaboration reaches out to support local elderly and disabled residents.

No matter how big or small, we can all play our part.  That is the key message behind the Mount School's local initiative to use its multi-cultural and inclusive ethos to support the charity "The Good Neighbour Scheme for Mill Hill and Burnt Oak", a scheme in Mill Hill and Burnt Oak which provides volunteers for transport, shopping trips and lunch clubs for elderly and disabled residents.

The Mount School produced last year an anthology of the girls' work, entitled

A Celebration of Food from the Four Seasons of the World.

The Mount School are keen to support local as well as national charities, and in producing the anthology, the girls felt that "The Good Neighbour Scheme" was a worthy recipient of the proceeds, not least as the topic is about food and sharing with our neighbours, our recipes from cultures, faiths and countries around the world."

The girls from all years have contributed to this work which was edited by the year 9, current year 10 girls, who are now involved in promoting it to raise funds.

The collection of recipes, poems, stories and artwork is a collaboration between the teachers and the pupils, covering a multi-disciplinary approach to put a more personal and interesting cultural spin on the traditional recipe book. The end result, edited by the girls over a number of months as an extra-curricular activity was compiled and professionally published free of charge by mardibooks,(whose co-founder is Head of English at The Mount) initially as an ebook, available on Amazon. For Christmas, due to popular demand, it was brought out as a print copy for sale via the web, via the school and via the publisher's website, www.mardibooks.com<http://www.mardibooks.com/> 

The Mount School is pleased to be able to give a box of 40 of the books to The Good Neighbour Scheme to sell directly to their volunteers, clients and supporters as well as selling the books in school and donating the additional sales proceeds to the charity during the course of the year.

"What has made this so exciting has been the industry and charity involved from various sources.  The publishers contributed editing time and the actual costs of ebook publication as well as the typesetting and layout costs of the origination for hard copy printing, whilst the school has covered the actual printing costs.  The net proceeds will all go to the Good Neighbour Scheme to support its members," the Headteacher explained.

Supporting the local school's charity project, John Lewis Brent Cross is to sell The Mount School's book in the shop's kitchenware department on Sunday 17th March 2013.  All profits from sales of the book will be donated to the Good Neighbour Scheme.

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".

"We wanted a really local charity to be helped by our anthology, so that we could work with everyone involved from its inception to its fulfilment as a project," said Catherine Cozens, Headteacher at The Mount. "There has been such a tremendous and positive feedback from the anthology that we are continuing the project this year and the whole school are involved in producing another compilation, this time on the topic of 'Gothic'."


Amber Codron and Sophie Shaban, two year 10 girls are the team leaders for the project. "We have a great team of girls and staff, making it all come together."

The Mount pride themselves on equipping girls with the abilities to lead, project manage and communicate. Great life skills that enable Mount Girls to become successful in life.

Belinda Hunt, Head of English has been working behind the scenes helping the girls bring the project to fruition.  "We would like to thank all involved in facilitating this exciting co-curricular project and for enabling it to be successful in raising funds for a good cause on our doorstep."

Open 'mike' evening March 14th 7-8.30 All Welcome

Come and celebrate the launch of Belinda Hunt's new poetry collection, 'Windows and Doors'

on March 14th 7-8.30pm

Light refreshments

Readings by staff, pupils and published authors, book signings, songs - An evening of camaraderie and words

RSVP bhunt@mountschool.com

House Poetry Competition...Some of the highlights...

Sorry Sorry Sorry - by James Carter

Chosen by Elli Taylor Jukes - Year 9

Sorry, I wasn't listening
to a single word you said
I drifted off into the mist
that grew inside my head

Sorry, I wasn't listening
I didn't hear a sound:
I went where dreams of dreams have dreams
and sky and ground swap round

Sorry, I wasn't listening
aliens were at the door
asking for directions
to the planet XR4

Sorry, I wasn't listening
some pirates came for me
first I had to walk the plank
and then I made them tea

Sorry - I wasn't listening
I don't know what went on
could you say it one more time -
hang on - where've you gone ?


Five Ways to Kill a Man - by Edwin Brock

Chosen by Mayuka Saegusa - Year 8

There are many cumbersome ways to kill a man.
You can make him carry a plank of wood
to the top of a hill and nail him to it.
To do this properly you require a crowd of people
wearing sandals, a cock that crows, a cloak
to dissect, a sponge, some vinegar and one
man to hammer the nails home.

Or you can take a length of steel,
shaped and chased in a traditional way,
and attempt to pierce the metal cage he wears.
But for this you need white horses,
English trees, men with bows and arrows,
at least two flags, a prince, and a
castle to hold your banquet in.

Dispensing with nobility, you may, if the wind
allows, blow gas at him. But then you need
a mile of mud sliced through with ditches,
not to mention black boots, bomb craters,
more mud, a plague of rats, a dozen songs
and some round hats made of steel.

In an age of aeroplanes, you may fly
miles above your victim and dispose of him by
pressing one small switch. All you then
require is an ocean to separate you, two
systems of government, a nation's scientists,
several factories, a psychopath and
land that no-one needs for several years.

These are, as I began, cumbersome ways to kill a man.
Simpler, direct, and much more neat is to see
that he is living somewhere in the middle
of the twentieth century, and leave him there.

Winter by Ramesh Anand

 Chosen by Muobo Moses-Taiga - Year 7

Winter dawn
A patch of clouds
Blossom a bare tree.

Holding on
With what she left behind
Winter moon.

Winter rain
The urge to feel
The newborn.

Full moon
Winter's stillness
In a soap bubble.

Uphill walking
She takes me into
Winter clouds.

Winter deepens...
Lungi shivering on
The beggar's face.

On the rock...
The descent of water ends
Winter's loneliness.

Winter twilight
Homing mynahs
Over my backstroke.

To be, or not to be...

House Poetry Competition 

– Heats 07/02; Final 14/02

Aim

• for all girls to participate and enjoy and develop skills in reading and recitation
• for Houses to develop and recognise skills in their cohorts
• to win House points

Process – yrs 5-11

• All Girls to learn a poem of their choice off by heart and recite to their class in English lessons. Two girls from each Key Stage from each House to go forward to the Heats. To be completed by 06/02
• Heats to take place on 07/02 in House Assemblies where Houses to vote on finalists one Junior and one Senior
• Finals to take place on 14/02; venue Gym 1.30-2.30.

One junior and one Senior winner.

Early Years – Yr 4 Finals to take place on 14/02; venue Gym 8.45-9.45.

Prizes

• All participants to receive 2HP
• All KS winners to receive 5HP
• Finalists to receive 10HP

Exciting New Poetry Anthology...

Windows & Doors - Belinda Hunt 
A Collection of Poetry

_________________________________________

Paperback    ISBN: 978-1-909227-27-9   Price:£8   Order direct from     www.mardibooks.com

ebook ISBN: 978-1-909227-02-6 Price: £3 Order from www.amazon.co.uk

  

‘My poetry is about observation and story-telling. The poems in this collection have been selected from a daily output written over the last year. The seasons unfold against a backdrop of local and international events. Scandal, debacle, the Jubilee and the London Olympics are juxtaposed with more personal histories. The words of participants and of detached observers, find the tramp in Hyde Park valuing the broadsheet for its thermal quality and the young boy experiencing his first football match just after the publication of the Hillsborough Report. The collection provides poems that are structurally diverse, but common to all is a truth seen from the perspective of the persona, both public and private.’  BH, 2013.

Belinda Hunt’s first collection of poems is about the power of the ordinary day to change our lives. These stories take us into significant hours in people’s lives through the kaleidoscopic world of the 21st century. The ubiquitous Mrs Jones has her entrances and exits, but rarely steps onto the same stage. When she reaches her destination, she may even find that her audience has left. There are no easy answers to be found in this collection.

Gothic Tales - Our New Anthology for 2013

The edit team is setting up its stall for collecting spells, entrails, stories, poems, music, maps, art - in fact - all things Gothic...

On the left under 'Projects' is a guide for possible content...
But all contributions welcome as pdf, word doc.  








Clearly labelled with your name and year group or your link to the school - staff, alumnus, parent, carer, supplier - all welcome...

Black and white only please!

Anthology Club meets Fridays - 1.15 in Room M106.

Deadlines: - Contributiions 31st March

Edit: - 31st May

EBOOK Launch:- 1st Sept

Hard Copy Launch: - 1st Dec