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An Education at The Mount School York, does more than just prepare girls for academic achievement. It prepares them for life. As well as developing their intellectual potential, pupils are encouraged to develop themselves socially, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Mount girls go out into society as people who combine responsibility and independence with an open-minded, questioning attitude. Girls grow into to remarkable women who want to help to make the world a better place.

The Mount School are leaders in educating girls and understanding their needs, empowering girls to be confident young women, enabling them to believe nothing is beyond their reach.

Academic Life

Academically, The Mount School is consistently one of the top performing schools in the North of England. It supports a thriving community of teachers and students who all make the most of the fantastic facilities available to them on The Mount’s 16 acre campus. With a Forest School, sports facilities (including 25m pool), and an enriching learning environment, it’s a great place to live and learn.

Pre-school

The Pre-School at The Mount allows children to develop determination and intellectual curiosity through free play. They explore the outdoors and enjoy structured teaching activities. They offer a calm and caring community that’s perfect for inspiring children. The Mount pre-school offers a great start to a lifetime of learning.

Their classrooms, both indoor and in their specialist Forest School are designed with young children in mind. The way a space is organised has a big impact on the type of learning that will take place. Children at The Mount have their own on-site playground,. It has safe play flooring, sand and water play, musical equipment and more. High quality toys and activities designed to stimulate learning. Combined with a high ratio of adults to pupils, The Mount makes for a great learning environment.

About pre-school at The Mount

Junior

The Mount’s all girl setting, Quaker ethos and bespoke teaching creates an environment which fosters self-belief, independence and kindness. Girls thrive as they develop confidence, curiosity, creativity and a genuine love of learning.

Days at The Mount are full of fun challenges and interesting activities for the students. Inside the classroom, foundations for maths, English, and communication skills are developed. Science lessons are brought to life by allowing children to safely experiment.

Skills based curriculum takes students out of the classroom and into the natural world. The Forest School with specialist teachers deliver sessions outdoors to help students take risks safely, learn new skills, develop confidence and independence, and of course, have fun.

The ‘Creative Curriculum’, known as ‘Explore, Discover, Create’ encourages the children to think outside the box. It gives them opportunities to develop and express themselves, and their ideas, in new ways. In fact, The Mount don’t just encourage girls to think outside the box, they encourage them to destroy the box! 

More about the junior school

Senior

The senior school at The Mount teaches girls in a way they naturally learn. This bespoke education helps them to become compassionate, confident and articulate young women. Each student is able to explore her full potential in a range of different subjects. She can flourish in a creative and calm learning environment.

Small class sizes allow teachers to get to know their pupils and to tailor their lessons to the needs of the individuals in their class. Not only do they teach the national curriculum and allow their girls to gain incredibly high qualifications, they learn lots of soft skills that are invaluable to success in the world outside of school.

More about the senior school

Sixth Form

The Mount School helps students become mature, confident, independent, adventurous, critically conscious young women with the skills they need to make a difference in the world. Teaching only girls allows the staff to tailor their styles to the needs of young women, who typically mature faster than their male counterparts.

There is no gender stereotyping when it comes to subject selection, all subjects are offered to their students with some excellent results. As well as 3 or 4 A-Levels, students can undertake the extended project qualification to help strengthen their independent research ability and to boost their UCAS applications if university is their planned next step. The school offers lots of additional opportunities for girls to develop their leadership skills to support their career aspirations.

More about sixth form education

Learning at The Mount School

Listen to what a former student has to say about her education in The Mount School and what she enjoyed most about her time there.

“You really get a sense of [teachers] caring about you, knowing your name, everyone knowing how you were doing, where you were needing support.”

“I played the saxophone in the school band and was able to do great stuff doing drama and I was able to go off on hockey tours and really expand all areas of my interests.”

“I felt like a fully rounded young woman.”

“The teachers here were incredibly supportive and caring.”

“I can see that the spirit of support and helping people reach their potential has really continued.”

Watch more Mount School videos

Extra-curricular activities

Students are expected to take part in at least 3 extra-curricular activities each week, whether they’re day or boarding students. After school sessions take place between 4pm and 6pm and the school offers a wide variety of different activities. These include things like: ballet, running, languages, choir, cooking, gym, robotics, fencing, and much more.

The school listens to its students. If there’s something that a student is interested in pursuing, the school will do what it can to bring that activity to them.

students in a music concert at The Mount School

Music

Students are inspired to test out their own musical talents and to try a variety of different instruments during their time at The Mount School. Specialist teachers offer tuition in: violin, piano, flute, clarinet, singing, brass, cello, and drums.

girl on stage in costume in her performance at The Mount School

Dance & Drama

The school has dedicated performance spaces for creativity and movement. The space can be used for all kinds of artistic performances and to help them develop skills in speech making and debating. Students are able to take LAMDA (London Academy of Music, Drama and Art) exams through The Mount School.

child in an art lesson at The Mount School

Art

Art allows students to develop themselves creatively. The corridors of the school are always alive with student works. They can try out a wide range of artistic mediums, including batik, pottery, and textiles in addition to the more traditional forms.

netball game at The Mount School

Sports

The school seeks to inspire a love of sport in all their students and encourages them to try a wide range of different activities. Competitive matches can be arranged with other schools for those who want to put their skills to the test. Sports on offer include things like: netball, hockey, tennis, rounders, swimming, tag rugby, and athletics.

girls map reading as part of a course at The Mount School

The Duke of Edinburgh Award

Girls are encouraged to take part in the Duke of Edinburgh Awards and many have achieved gold, silver and bronze awards for their efforts. The sections included in the award help students to develop invaluable life skills and it looks great on applications for jobs and higher study.

girl swimming in The Mount School's private pool

Junior Award Scheme for Schools

Year 5 and up are invited to take part in the Junior Award Scheme for Schools. It recognises achievement in 4 key areas: Get Active, Stay Active, My Interests, and Me and My World and Adventure.

Weekends & Trips

Weekends and trips are some of the students’ favourite time at school. Recent activities have included theatre performances, zorbing, indoor snowboarding, theme parks, swimming, shopping in Manchester and Leeds, visits to London, and the Harry Potter studios tour. Girls from year 9 upwards are allowed to go into York town in pairs, and younger boarders can go into the town with staff, or in a group with a senior boarder.

Boarding

Students are able to board at The Mount School once they’ve reached the senior school. Friendships made in the boarding school often last a lifetime and the supportive, nurturing school environment gives every girl the opportunity to grow into an intelligent, confident young woman.

The Mount School offer full, weekly or flexi boarding depending on the needs of the student and her family. Full boarders live at the school 7 nights a week. Weekly boarders sleep 5 nights. Flexible boarding ranges from 1 to 3 nights per week.

 

Younger boarders usually share their rooms with 2 or 3 other girls, whereas sixth form students are typically in rooms of 2. They can personalise their spaces with bedding, pictures and posters. Younger students live closer to the resident staff, and sixth form students have their own floor and social spaces to allow them more independence.

Girls have plenty of opportunity to cook and relax with each other in communal spaces. There are no desks or work spaces in bedrooms to give girls a well-earned rest from their studies. The school believes in a clear separation between work and relaxation spaces. Plenty of study spaces are provided that can be used during the evenings and weekends, all with ICT facilities.

This is what a typical day as a boarder in The Mount School looks like:

  • Wakeup call from the House Staff before breakfast is served in the dining hall
  • The school day takes place – students don’t return to their boarding houses until the evening
  • After school activities take place between 4pm and 6pm, girls commit to at least 3 a week
  • A nutritious three course meal is served for tea
  • Prep time, where students conduct homework or revision and can get help from supervising staff
  • Free time and more activities are run for those who want to attend, but simply relaxing and spending time with their friends is often just as fun
  • Bedtime takes place between 9:15pm and 10:45pm depending on the age of the student
More about boarding

Learning Support

At The Mount School, they monitor the progress of all their students closely. If problems arise or specialist needs are required they can quickly intervene and provide support.

There are a range of different options available for support within the classroom and in one to one sessions outside of normal study. The Mount School have a dedicated Special Educational Needs department. They work with students on their personal development plan, offer learning strategies, counselling, and individual study sessions.

Parents are encouraged to get in touch with the school if they have any concerns about their child. The school will work with them to get the student the support they need.

Entry criteria

To join the school, a registration form, a copy of the student’s birth certificate and registration fee need to be returned to the admissions department.

The Mount School do require students to site an entrance assessment appropriate to their age in addition to a report from their previous school/current school. Children aged 2 to 4 will be informally assessed at a taster session. During this session, they can familiarise themselves with the teachers, other students and learning environment.

For entry into the junior school (reception to year 6), the student will have an informal assessment. This is conducted as they interact with their classes and other students. It will consider the personal and social development of the student as well as their academic potential.

The senior school (years 7 to 10) require an entry exam to be taken during a taster day at the school. Prospective students will also be interviewed by the Head or a senior member of staff. For sixth form, an interview with the head of college will be conducted. They will need to have achieved at least 6 GCSEs (or equivalent) at grade B or higher.

The Mount School Fees, Scholarships & Bursaries

There are fees for education at The Mount School, but these are made as affordable as possible. Governors were aware that independent school fees were becoming increasingly less affordable. This was not in line with the Quaker ethos that runs throughout their school. From September 2018, they have substantially reduced their day fees. This allows students from less affluent backgrounds to benefit from their education.

Fees

Registration and acceptance fees are mandatory for any application. Registration fees range from £25 (if an older sibling is already at the school) to £75. Acceptance fees range from £100 to £350 depending on the year of study. Boarding pupils will need to pay an additional deposit to secure their space.

About school fees

Scholarships

The Mount senior school offer scholarships for academic excellent, art, drama, music, performing arts, and sports. Each scholarship holder receives a remission of fees. Provided the student continues to perform well, the scholarship can last the duration of their time at the school.

About Scholarships at The Mount School

Bursaries

Bursaries are available to support students who otherwise might not be able to attend The Mount School out of familial financial hardship. The bursary can cover up to 50% of the school fees and can be applied for senior and college level students.

About Bursaries at The Mount School

Arrange a visit

If you’d like to find out more about The Mount School, get in touch. Head over to one of their open days or arrange an independent viewing. Before making the big decision about education, take the time to wander around the school. You can get a feel for its community and discover whether it’s the right place for your family.

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