We believe that working closely with the local community is a vital part of being an independent school. Our students benefit from interactions with pupils at local primary schools and we’ve initiated several exciting projects in sport, music, literacy and classics.
Music
A musical bond between Mount House School and Monken Hadley C of E Primary School was established in 2018, with Mr Whitehouse holding weekly workshops for pupils from years 4, 5 & 6. These fun packed, inclusive music rehearsals led to a great assembly performance at the end of the year. Since then, Monken Hadley pupils have been periodically invited to listen to whole-class musical performances at Mount House. These include Q & A time and a chance for Monken Hadley pupils to talk about their musical experiences.
World Book Day: Year 8 Librarians
On Wednesday 1st March 2023, librarians Fleur, Kasim, Florence, Thomas and Leo visited our neighbouring school, Monken Hadley Primary. The purpose of the visit was to talk about their duties as librarians and read to the children from their favourite childhood stories.
Leo reports: “As we arrived, we were greeted by the Head of school Mrs Eyres, who assigned us each a class to read to. I was fortunate to be chosen to read to the Year 1-2 class, Chestnuts. I read: ‘What the Ladybird Heard’ by Julia Donaldson which was a huge hit – thoroughly enjoyed by all.
“The children were very interactive, making noises for the different animals in the book, and asked many questions about being a librarian and what we do. It was fun to revisit a childhood favourite story and to share it with such an enthusiastic audience. As I left my class one little boy called out, “Hope to see you soon!” A sentiment shared by me and my fellow librarians.”
Students teach Classics at Hadley Wood Primary School
In October 2022, Deni, Katherine, Philip, Thibaut, George and I went to Hadley Wood Primary School to teach a Year 5 class about the Olympian Greek gods, our first module in the Classical Civilisation GCSE course. We each created a slide on 2-3 of the gods, describing their features and responsibilities. After our PowerPoint we played three different games: bingo, creating top trump cards and a matching game.
It was so much fun (for us at least but I think the children enjoyed themselves!) – the children were particularly excited to receive house points when they won bingo! It was a good opportunity for us to consolidate our knowledge on the topic and develop our confidence to talk in front of people. I am thankful for this experience. Written by Athena
Sport
We have hosted several ‘Cricket Festivals’ with local primary schools on Monken Hadley Common, the most recent being in June 2023. It was led by Owais Shah, the ex-England cricketer, our PE department and some of our Mount House students. There was a carousel of drills and activities, followed by a tournament in the afternoon. The weather stayed fine and all the children had a great time. At the end, they had a picture taken with Owais in their teams and individually. The day was a great success and will become a regular feature every year.
More news about our school outreach programme will be posted here soon.
