Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something
Nothing was collected or created yet.
The Mount School, York
View on Wikipedia
The Mount School is a private Quaker day and boarding school for girls ages 3–18, and a co-ed Junior School, located in York, England. The school was founded in 1785, and the current Head is Anna Wilby. The Mount School is one of seven Quaker schools in England. In 2020, it was the first girls' school in the North of England to become an All-Steinway School.[2] The school is also a member of the Girls' Schools Association and the Independent Schools Council.[3]
Key Information
History
[edit]The school, under the name Trinity Lane (or York) Quaker Girls' School, was founded in 1785 by Yorkshire Quaker, Esther Tuke, wife of William Tuke.[4][5]
In 1831, Esther and William's grandson Samuel Tuke, along with William Alexander, Thomas Backhouse and Joseph Rowntree, moved the school to Castlegate House with Hannah Brady registered as the superintendent (1831–42).[4] She was followed by Elizabeth Brady (1842–47), Eliza Stringer (1847–1853), and Rachel Tregelles (1853–1862),[6] who oversaw the move of the school to its current premises, The Mount, in 1856.[7]
In 1866, Lydia Rous returned from her work with the Underground Railroad during the American Civil War to become the new superintendent, eventually retiring in 1879.[8]
From 1890 to 1902, Lucy Harrison was identified as the headmistress of The Mount; Harrison endeavoured to bring many of the conventions of the school in line with contemporary norms at the time, particularly those surrounding health and wellbeing.[9]
From 1946 to 1966, Margery Willoughby was the head teacher.[10]
Traditions
[edit]The Mount School has many long-standing traditions, including a game event called Games in the Dark which takes place on Bonfire Night. Year 11 students arrange a treasure hunt challenge for the younger students to take part in and it often involves many pranks. College-aged pupils traditionally present two events to the school, one at the end of each term, respectively, the College I Pantomime and the Leavers' Play, at which previous head girls are presented with gifts by their successors.[11][12]
Curriculum
[edit]In 2012, the school introduced the PeaceJam Ambassadors programme into the school curriculum.[13] The school has "pillars of excellence" in the subject areas of sciences, maths, history, music, sports, art, drama and foreign languages.[14]
Sports
[edit]The Mount has yearly activities in orienteering and fencing, netball, hockey and swimming in the winter, rounders, tennis and athletics in the summer. College girls are able to choose the sports, lacrosse and whether or not to use a fitness suite.[15]
Creative arts
[edit]The Mount is an All Steinway School[16] Extracurricular creative art groups include both Senior and Junior Orchestra, Senior and Junior Choir, a Wind group and a Swing Band for woodwind and brass instruments. The school follows the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) syllabus and there is usually a school and college play performed every year.[17]
Accolades
[edit]In The Times League Table, the school is ranked 2nd by A-level results in the York area. In the Yorkshire Post, the school was ranked in the A-level results table for Yorkshire in 2012.[18]
Notable alumnae
[edit]- Isobel Barnett, Scottish radio and television personality[19]
- Virginia Beardshaw CBE, Founder Fellow of the King's Fund Institute[20]
- Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, astrophysicist[21]
- Kate Bellingham, BBC technology presenter and engineer[22]
- Laura Busson, BBC Radio 2 Commissioning Executive[23]
- Dame A. S. Byatt, author[24]
- Ruth Cadbury, politician[25]
- Margaret Crosfield, palaeontologist, one of the first 13 female fellows of the Geological Society of London in 1919.[26]
- Dame Judi Dench, actress[27]
- Dame Margaret Drabble, author[24]
- Audrey Evans, paediatric oncologist, co-founder of the Ronald McDonald House Charities[28]
- Professor Ruth Finnegan, social anthropologist[29]
- Mary Sturge Gretton, historian and magistrate[30]
- Jean Henderson, lawyer and Liberal Party politician[31]
- Rachel Howard, artist[32]
- Noni Jabavu, South African writer and journalist[33]
- Dame Elaine Kellett-Bowman, former Conservative MP[34]
- Rose Neill, BBC Broadcaster[35]
- Nuzo Onoh, British-Nigerian writer[36]
- Helen Osborne, journalist and critic[37]
- Tessa Rowntree, aid worker in Czechoslovakia[38]
- Winifred Sargent, mathematician[39]
- Anna Southall, director of the National Museums and Galleries of Wales[40]
- Nicola Spence, biologist[41]
- Cheryl Taylor, controller of CBBC[42]
- Kathleen Mary Tillotson, literary scholar[43]
- Mary Ure, actress[44]
- Elfrida Vipont, children's author[45]
- Hilary Wainwright, feminist and Guardian writer[46]
- Anna Walker, BBC Tomorrow's World and Sky presenter[47]
- Frances Wilson, English author, academic and critic[48]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "The Mount School: A Day in the Life of the Mount School Headgirl's Team". Living North Magazine, Late Winter / Early Spring 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
- ^ "The Mount in York becomes North Yorkshire's first all-Steinway school". York Press. Newsquest International. 4 March 2020. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
- ^ "Girls' Schools Association". Girls' Schools Association. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
- ^ a b "History & Heritage". The Mount School. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
- ^ "Tuke, William". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/27810. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Biographical Catalogue: Being an Account of the Lives of Friends and Others Whose Portraits are in the London Friends' Institute. Friends Institute. 1888. pp. 827–829. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
- ^ "Records of The Mount School, York". Archives Hub. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ "Rous, Lydia (1819–1896), headmistress". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/48673. Retrieved 8 October 2020. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Greener, Amy (1916). A lover of books : the life and literary papers of Lucy Harrison. J. M. Dent and Dutton. p. 54. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "Headmistress held in great respect". York Press. 14 June 2001. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
- ^ Living North, Spring 2013
- ^ "A Day in the Life of The Mount Headgirls". Living North (Spring 2013).
- ^ Hayward, Jo (28 August 2012). "Teaching peace in the classroom". The Guardian.
- ^ [1]"Quality Mark Case Study" Historical Association
- ^ "Mount School York". Sports Facilities UK. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
- ^ "The Mount is North Yorkshire's First All Steinway School". Attain. Pressburst. 4 March 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
- ^ "Mount School pupils achieve drama distinctions". UK Bioarding Schools. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ Roberts, John (25 August 2012). "Praise as private school tops table on A-levels". Yorkshire Post.
- ^ "'Aunty' and The Mount: the BBC Centenary". The Mount School. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ "Virginia Beardshaw Is Bride of Andrew Cahn". The New York Times. 27 November 1976. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ Lewis, Haydn (24 August 2021). "York Mount School's Jocelyn Bell Burnell gets Copley Medal". York Press. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- ^ "Kate Bellingham visits The Mount School". The York Press. 24 September 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ "Laura Busson". Unofficial Scott Mills. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ a b Kastan, David Scott, ed. (2006). The Oxford encyclopedia of British literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 351. ISBN 978-0195169218.
When she [Byatt] was thirteen, she and her younger sister—the novelist Margaret Drabble—were sent to Mount School, a Quaker boarding school in York.
- ^ "Ruth Cadbury MP". Bridge India. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ O'Donnell, Megan (18 June 2019). "100 years of female Fellows: Margaret Crosfield". Geological Society of London blog. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
- ^ Billington, Michael (23 March 1998). "Judi Dench: Nothing like the Dame". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 16 February 2009.
- ^ "Audrey 90th Birthday Event Video". YouTube. 5 June 2015. Archived from the original on 19 December 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
- ^ "Professor Ruth Finnegan, FBA, Social and Cultural Anthropology, other branches, Elected 1996". Retrieved 7 January 2022.
- ^ Reid, Ellie (2020). "Gretton [née Sturge; first married name Henderson], Mary Gertrude Sturge (1871–1961), historian and magistrate". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.59036. ISBN 9780198614128. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
- ^ "Henderson; Jean (1899–1997); barrister and Liberal candidate, 1916–1993". London School of Economics. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ "International Women's Day Artists: Rachel Howard". The Mount School. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ "Noni Jabavu was a pioneering South African writer - a new book shows how relevant she still is". The Conversation. 22 March 2023. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ "Kellett-Bowman, Dame Mary Elaine (nee Kay), DBE". A Dictionary of Methodism. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ "Rose Neill". BBCi: Newsline. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ "Interview with Nuzo Onoh, author of Unhallowed Graves". Sumiko Saulson. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ Coveney, Michael (9 January 2004). "Helen Osborne". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
- ^ "Tessa Rowntree, 1909–1999, Caring Humanitarian and 'Tough Girl'". Rowntree Society. 16 November 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
- ^ "Winifred L. C. Sargent". Newsletter of the Association for Women in Mathematics (v. 11-15). Association for Women in Mathematics (U.S.): 7. 1981. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
- ^ "Anna SOUTHALL". Debrett's People of Today. Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
- ^ "Professor Nicola Spence appointed as Science City York's new chief executive". Ron Godfrey. The Press. 15 September 2009. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ Conlan, Tara (9 December 2012). "Cheryl Taylor interview: CBBC 'is where we want the BBC journey to begin". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
- ^ "The Papers of Professors Geoffrey and Kathleen Tillotson". Royal Holloway Archives and Special Collections, University of London. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
she attended Ackworth School, Pontefract, and The Mount, York
- ^ "Eye on Millig: The Helensburgh link to tragic actress Mary Ure". Helensburgh Advertiser. 19 July 2017. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ "Elfrida Vipont". The Wee Web: authors and illustrators archive. Archived from the original on 12 February 2006.
- ^ "History and Heritage". The Mount School. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ "Olympians join the team at The Mount School". York Press. 18 October 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ "Frances Wilson". The Booker Prizes. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
Further reading
[edit]- Sturge, H. W. & Clark, T. The Mount School. York, 1785 to 1931. (Pub. 1931).
- Smith, M. F. & Waller, E. A. The Mount School. York, 1857 to 1957. (Pub. 1957).
- The Mount OSA. A register of old scholars, 1931-1932. (Pub. 1932).
- The Mount School Annual reports (annual lists of pupils 1919–1940).
- Old York Scholars Association Annual reports, 1887-1901. OSA Annual reports. (Pub. 1890).
- Sheils, S. (2007) Among Friends, The Story of The Mount School, York. London: James & James.
