A Right Royal Occasion

Year 8 went agog over the Royal Diamond display, the Queen's Art Collection and the Royal Mews on their trip to Buckingham Palace last week.

"The journey to Buckingham palace was quite long. On the way we saw many beautiful areas and statues. The rooms in the Palace were quite big and each room had a special purpose.  Some of the rooms were very calm, for example the blue drawing room. We also went to the Queen's art gallery and saw some magnificent paintings.   As we walked up the grand stairs to the first room we were greeted by paintings from the Tudor times.  We watched videos on how to make lace as in those days lace was quite popular.  Then we entered another room, with more paintings and clothes from the Stuart period.

We were fascinated to see all the jewellery and the dresses that were worn by the Queen on her Corontion.  The jewellery was solid gold and diamond. It looked quite heavy to wear!

We then visited the Mews, where a man showed us round the famous carriages; Our favourite one was the golden Coronation Carriage.  Apparently, nobody liked sitting in it because it would make them feel sick with the swaying from side to side. We saw two types of horse to pull the carriages, Bay and Greys.  The Bays pulled everyone in the Royal family except for the Queen; the Grey pull the Queen.  The tour guide told us so many interesting stories about the royal family.

This trip to Buckingham Palace was a fun and educational trip.  Thank you to Mrs Warnock." 

- Year 8

Gothic Tales - Now Available...ebook and hard copy

Another Great Anthology from the Mount School, in aid of The Good Neighbours Scheme, supported by John Lewis, Brent Cross

'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.

PRESS RELEASE aug 2013 MARDIBOOKS The Mount

This anthology was specifically made for gothic creations in its widest sense, accepting that the gothic genre can be interpreted in so many different ways. Students have created stories about man-eating plants, horror houses and hungry dinosaurs. We here define Gothic as anything that can send shivers down your spine and in reading this anthology, maybe you will become more aware of what is behind you?

Gothic Tales is available from Amazon in ebook and hard copy and from mardibooks at www.mardibooks.com

Amazon Kindle – Gothic Tales – The Mount

Proceeds go to support The Good Neighbour Scheme and John Lewis Brent Cross are again hosting a sales event for The Mount girls to coincide with Halloween.

We Read...Do You?

Yesterday, Year 8 went to UCS to participate in the annual We Read conference.

The day was an opportunity to hear current popular children's writers talk about their work; to ask questions and to purchase signed copies of their latest books.

We broke into 4 groups during the day to listen to:

Sarah Crossan  - The Weight of Water Water, Breathe and Resist

Lydia Syson - A World Between Us

Anna Perera - The Glass Collector, Guantanamo Boy

Elizabeth Wein - Code Name Verity, Rosa Under Fire

'I enjoyed listening to how the authors get published' - Saskia
'I liked being able to ask the authors questions about their research and characters' - Sarah
'It was interesting to find out about the authors' perspectives on their books' - Olivia
'Discovering the contexts of the book especially about the Spanish Civil War was fascinating' - Mayuka
'I liked the trip as I enjoyed meeting my favorite author' - Lucy

Go to We Read link for more information

Thanks to Mrs Ransley for organising.

Gothic Tales - coming soon

We are now completing the compilation of our new Anthology - and what an exciting project this has turned out to be...

With girls from all years involved and subjects from Sciences to Humanities and Arts, we have an arresting array of Tales, Art, Poetry, Graphics, Music to chill your bones on winter nights...

Proceeds will again go to support The Good Neighbour Scheme and we look forward to   working with John Lewis again next year to support our Girls' marketing and fundraising efforts.

Watch this space for further updates...

House Drama Finals - 8th May

A fantastic and highly skilled drama performance from all four houses made this year's event very difficult to judge.

Winners - Lupus House

With a scene of guilt and silent anger from The Crucible, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Zusi Inegbeniki were just pushed into second place by a fun and amusing reminiscence from Blood Brothers, convincingly portrayed  by Elif Bekler and Mariam Haddad.

Runners-Up - Caduceus House

Third Place - Osira House

In equal third place with a difficult portrayal of Mother/ Daughter love in a scene from Kinder Transport saw Amber Codron and Romina Khajoue address this issue with aplomb.

Third Place - Phoenix House

The adaptation of a scene from Blue Remembered Hills was presented with a great use of the stage by Cemre Gurkan and Olivia Garner.

Jon Mayhew - author visit

Author Jon Mayhew captivated year 8 today, with a lecture of fear and tension in creative writing.

...It was an ordinary day for year 8, stumbling haphazard, Fridaywise into school.

With thoughts on the weekend, they had forgotten that today was the day...

The difference between a good book and a boring book is simple.  A good book is a page turner and today's author, Jon Mayhew focuses on building tension into his novels for children, which centre on the destruction of the world and the power of good, evil and the supernatural...

The workshop enabled girls to listen to the devices used by the author and practice their own skills...

We look forward to the impact of the workshop on their impending gothic horror tales in the forthcoming Mount School Anthology.

Guardian Books Sunday 11 April 2010 

Mortlock by Jon Mayhew

Told at a breakneck pace, this horror story will appeal to young readers of 10 and over, says Geraldine Brennan...

An astonishing number of British folk songs ponder on death and decay. First-time author Jon Mayhew, who is also a folk musician, knows a lot of them and starts most chapters of his ghoul-laden mystery adventure story with a traditional verse that tells of coffins, gallows, clay-cold lips, white bones or worms that crawl in and out.

The novel itself is well laden with all these but, while many ingredients of classic horror stories are present, this is also an original tale of two brave children who take on the forces of evil while they piece together their extraordinary history.

Mayhew has woven a rich tapestry depicting a series of convincing worlds, from the Victorian vaudeville circuit with its bearded ladies, tumblers and dancers, to a house of horrors in the Essex marshes, a circus where something is very wrong in the big top and the teeming, smelly, noisy streets of London before horseless carriages. It will appeal to a wide range of readers aged 10 and above and not only those who enjoy a gore-fest.

Three explorers called Mortlock, Chrimes and Corvis travel to the Abyssinian jungle in 1820 to find the amaranth flower, the first bloom to grow in the Garden of Eden and the key to eternal life. Terrified by the living dead who guard the precious plant, they vow to leave it in place. More than three decades later, in London, where Chrimes is drawing crowds as a magician called the Great Cardamom, it becomes clear that one of the three made the vow with fingers crossed.

Cardamom/Chrimes and his young niece, Josie, whom he has trained to perform a knife-throwing act as Artemis the Huntress, are besieged by three ominous "aunts" who are really ghuls (demons who feast on the newly dead) in the form of giant crows and who are seeking the amaranth for their master, Corvis. When Cardamom dies, a kind set-builder called Gimlet delivers Josie to her long-lost brother, Alfie, who has been brought up by Mr Wiggins, a Seven Dials undertaker, and has an uncanny gift with corpses. The children flee the aunts and their army of winged spies, only to find themselves in Corvis's lair. Meanwhile, where is Mortlock?

The tale has a breathtaking pace, so encounters with the many colourful minor characters are short enough to leave us wanting more of Corvis's rebellious servant, Chrimes's lugubrious housekeeper and Jacob Carr the trusty Thames boatman. The frequent changes of location and nail-biting escape sequences soften the edges of the truly horrific scenes, such as the demon-aunts' daily death-feasts and the ghastly secret of Lorenzo's circus. Death is delivered frequently and without sentiment, but there is room for mourning.

Alfie and Josie evade their captors so often and so imaginatively that they should have top billing as escapologists, with the readers cheering them all the way. While there seems to be no scope for a sequel, these are characters we hope to meet again.

Heats Winners - House Drama

House DRAMA Competition –Final 07 & 08/05 – Whole School

Heats took place on 13th March and a good turnout from each house produced some lovely performances.  Well done to all the girls involved.

The Senior finalists are:

Caduceus - Daisy & Zusi

chosen piece from - The Crucible

Osira - Amber & Jenny

chosen piece from - KinderTransport

Lupus - Elif, Mariam & Sophie

chosen piece from - Blood Brothers

Phoenix - Olivia & Cemre

chosen piece from - Blue Remembered Hills

Good Luck!