Mowdenian 2023

THE 2023 mowdenian

Highlights of the year at Mowden Hall Preparatory School

Autumn Term

Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been an extremely successful term for us all at Mowden. As always, the weeks have been enriched with many additional cocurricular opportunities for the children, and it has been a joy to see how much they have achieved, and the ways in which they have developed personally since September. I have been thrilled with the positive mindset demonstrated by so many of the children, be this by representing a sports team, reading a book report or taking on a position of responsibility in a reliable and mature manner. Without exception, every visitor to the school has commented on how impressed they have been by our children; their confidence, their ability to engage in conversation with an adult, and their pride in their school. As staff, we feel so proud when we receive this feedback.

I will hand over to some of the members of the team at Mowden to reflect on this term’s events and achievements.

ACADEMIC

I do like measuring things. Which is just as well, as we enjoyed a visit from the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) team just a few weeks ago, as you are no doubt aware. They also like to measure things, so you can imagine the fascinating conversations we enjoyed. I was incredibly keen to talk them through the data picture that I have at my disposal. This data picture, a little like a drawn picture, needs to be created and designed and then executed. As we come to the end of a calendar year, I thought that it would be timely to give a broad retrospective of what I feel we have achieved since 2014, in an educational and academic sense. I am incredibly proud of the progress we have made. I am also proud that this success is bound up in systems, which means that it is repeatable and futureproofed.

The first area that we focussed upon and have continued to focus upon was the quality of teaching and learning within the classrooms. The process for improving this area was relatively straightforward: audit provision, reflect, set targets, train, reassess and then go full-circle and start the process again.

However, a core concept that I looked to build into our practice was ‘assessment for learning’. As an educational concept, this has many strands but the key elements are:

¡ a focus on the learning (clarity about and sharing of learning intentions and what counts as success);

¡ effective questioning (significance of questioning to improve learning);

¡ formative feedback (feedback that moves learning forward); and

¡ scaffolding reflection (developing selfcritical, reflective learners).

Letter from the Head

This process was highly visible when the ISI team visited, and one of the discussions I had with the team lead was surrounding the idea of educational constructivism. Constructivism is a view of learning and teaching that has at its core a concept which might seem obvious; learning is something that happens inside the heads of learners. No matter how meticulously we plan or what marvellous strategies we use during teaching, we can’t reach inside learners’ heads and put the learning there. There is a gap between learning and teaching that learners have to negotiate in order to construct new knowledge, skills and attitudes. Our pupils are far more reflective in their learning than the average student, and this is a skill that has been purposely developed over the preceding years. It’s one of the reasons why they, and we, were able to navigate lockdowns so well. Assessment for learning creates critical learning habits and this is something that we can be very proud of, as it leads, generally, to excellent progress.

This leads me on to the second major strand that I discussed with the ISI team: how do we know how much progress our pupils are making and how can we use this in our strategic planning at all levels? Mowden, in 2014, did not have a unified view of a child’s educational journey. Now, we have a comprehensive view of every single pupil in the school, and this allows us to enhance provision to meet needs.

The first area to consider when looking to track academic performance is perhaps the most obvious: what are each student’s underlying abilities and strengths? In other words, potential. To consider this point we use a range of cognitive ability tests (CATs). We assess students in Years 2, 4 and 6 using these CAT tests to help get to grips with students’ strengths, weaknesses, learning bias and likely academic aptitude and preferred mode of learning in different areas of the curriculum.

CATs give us four measures of ability that are known to impact on learning. While many tests focus on a child’s attainment in core subjects, CATs are designed to give schools a much broader, more rounded view of each child, their potential and how they learn. Results help teachers decide about the pace/style of learning that is right for a student and whether additional support or challenge is needed. CATs help us to set ambitious but realistic attainment expectations for students across the whole school. This is essential to enabling teachers to ensure that every child is achieving well within the context of holistic development.

Once a measure of potential has been taken, the focus shifts to attainment. The school sees core attainment in English and Maths as two key indicators. To this end, we use Progress in English (PiE), which tests

reading and writing ability, and Progress in Maths (PiM) which identifies and monitors individuals’ strengths and weaknesses in Maths. CAT4 scores are compared against the standardised age scores from PiE and PiM. In this way, any students who are underperforming are immediately brought to the fore.

In addition, the school is using Accelerated Reader to closely monitor reading development and attainment. There are proven strong correlations between reading and wider academic performance, even in Maths. We track the scaled score, the standardised score, and the difference between the chronological age and reading age.

To support each child in reaching their full potential, we also develop a greater insight into how students feel about themselves and school life more broadly. We do this through our Wellbeing Questionnaires and Pupil Attitudes to Self and School (PASS) assessments. Attitude can be the missing element when it comes to looking at why certain students who, while able, consistently underachieve. The Pupil Attitudes PASS attitudinal survey is an easily-administered online questionnaire, which measures nine attitudes proven to be linked to attainment, engagement and wellbeing.

The school surveys every pupil from Year 1 to Year 8 and the results are used in combination with all the other data to gather a fuller and more human picture of an individual’s profile.

The final part of assessment is integrating the analysis of results from standardised assessments with teachers’ own judgements. This then feeds into our system of providing student support. As teachers, we use this data to keep a check on students’ global performance. We see the figures as an opportunity for discussion; to help plan for the future. Regular meetings are held to discuss pupil profiles and the data contained within the Tracking Individual Pupils Sheet (TIPs). From these TIPs meetings we create strategies/ processes/ interventions to best support our pupils. This will range from subtle changes to classroom provision, to a shift in expectations, to extra reading sessions, to recommendations to seek an Educational Psychologist’s expert input. Cucially, it is the whole picture that informs our analysis and not one or two measures. Each assessment point is an isolated fact taken on a specific day, so variances can occur. It is very easy to jump to conclusions based on one or two data points. However, the total picture provided by the various data points is one that gives us critical insights into our pupils’ journey here at Mowden.

Very little of this was present in 2014 - so you can imagine my excitement when I finally had my chance to take a keen educationalist through all of this. Critically, I was able to talk the nice inspector through the educational journey of EVERY child in the school. I honestly believe that Mowden has one of the most comprehensive and well-used tracking systems in the UK prep school system. Using this system of data I was able to prove the following statements:

¡ Academically, our pupils perform significantly above national norms in terms of outright performance, all from an academically non-selective pupil base.

¡ Rates of pupil progress, via external standardised measures, are enhanced and above what might be expected. This is the case for all groups within the school.

¡ Common Entrance grades, and the academic performance of our leaving pupils in Year 8, has improved significantly. In 2014, before I arrived, 71% achieved either an A or a B grade.

¡ Every year since, this has been bettered and in 2022, straight after a national crisis, 79% achieved the top two grades. Just prior to the pandemic, in 2019, this figure was 85%.

¡ In terms of reading, a core skill and important educational indicator, our pupils make massively enhanced progress. Every year since the implementation of the Accelerated Reader scheme, we have made value-added progress with reading across all groups within the School. Typically, we see the pupils in class for around 8-9 months of the year. In these 8-9 months they make, on average, an extra 4 months of reading progress. That is stunning.

The end of a calendar year is rarely a time that I reflect in a general sense on this scale, but with the departure of the ISI team and the imminent Inspection Report due soon, I felt that this was as good a time as any, and I was keen to share my thoughts with you in a more expansive manner. I am incredibly proud of the excellence that we possess academically. This academic strength is also borne out of a setting which enriches the pupils in so many complementary ways. We are not a narrow academic day school, of which I am very glad. I am glad because I do not think that you would enjoy the same quality/ style of intellectual growth and personal development. Ultimately, that’s what makes a Mowdenian different from those pupils at other schools - Mowdenains enjoy industry leading and excellent academic growth and development, but are not allowed to forget the importance of the interpersonal space that supports this process.

Mr Hadfield

PRE-PREP

We have enjoyed a busy and productive start to the academic year and reading end of term reports highlights the significant progress many children have made since the sunny days of September.

Three months is a long time in a young persons’ life and we are so privileged to be able to lead your child on their education journey. On

top of the day-to-day lessons and activities, each class has visited various places including theatres, local landmarks, museums and galleries. It is always such a pleasure to take your children out on trips, we often have members of the public stop us to comment on the children’s impressive concentration, manners and enthusiasm.

An array of extracurricular clubs have taken place each evening giving the children a chance to taste a variety of sports, activities and crafts.

This term children took part in a Cross Country fixture, and an inaugural Reading Competition. Each class built a Fairy Tale Guy for our bonfire and enjoyed a wonderful afternoon around the fire in our woodland classroom. We enjoyed celebrating Harvest in St James’ Church, joining in a whole school Remembrance Service, our Christmas Carol Service at Hexham Abbey, and have had Assemblies celebrating both Diwali and Christingle. Performing our two nativities in the Theatre to a live audience was a fabulous Christmas celebration and a highlight of the term.

We have raised money for Children in Need by dressing up and baking cakes and collected and donated food to the Hexham Food Bank and for Autism North East.

Keeping children safe is at the heart of our aims and ethos. We continually give the children practical safety skills and the confidence to engage with the outside world. We have introduced the

children to safety initiatives called ‘Clever Never Goes’ and NSPCC ‘Speak Out Stay Safe’.

Each year group has skillfully put together a termly Class Assembly and Celebration of Work for their families and the children have enjoyed sharing their achievements with each other in our Superstar and Castle Certificate Assemblies.

Mrs Knight BOARDING

This term our boarders have enjoyed utilising the newly purchased giant inflatable for the pool - a mini assault course which becomes tricky when wet alongside the challenge chants of ‘stand and run!’. Some have made it to the large inflatable pillow at the end, only to be bounced off into the water. It’s great fun! We’ve also had trips to the beach (luckily not so cold this time!), Walby Farm where the children (and staff!) challenged themselves with the adrenaline-inducing ‘Death Slide’. We returned to the ever popular ‘La Chocolatrice’ for a chocolate making workshop and the younger years enjoyed a Disney Day dressed in fantastic outfits, treated to a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. The term ended with a neon-tastic disco and Christmas Bauble painting and of course, the magical Christmas Ball.

The boarding house welcomed 4 new fish this term. All were respectfully but ‘royally’ named following the passing of Her Majesty The Queen in September. We have since had another addition and

will continue to see the shoal grow in the next term no doubt! Sophie the hamster has also been a real treat on occasional evenings in the boarding house.

Our dorm decorations competition was extended this academic year and will now incorporate a new theme each term. This has proved extremely successful and the children have challenged themselves with some wonderful home/schoolmade scenes and props. This term the themes have been ‘Food’ and of course, ‘Christmas’. The judging has been incredibly difficult for Mr and Mrs Knight but they have thoroughly enjoyed seeing the creativity of our boarders. Visitors to the school have also commented on how impressive the dorms have looked, each taking on their own individual interpretations of the theme. The children have worked exceptionally well as teams to finalise some wonderful designs. I’m very much looking forward to the selection of next term’s theme!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the staff for their ongoing hard work and commitment. Their relentless pursuit to provide the best possible opportunities for our children is truly inspiring, and I continue to consider myself very lucky to work in such a positive and purposeful environment.

Miss Serbrock

SPORT

As the Autumn Term draws to a close, I hope the pupils can reflect upon the sporting exploits they have enjoyed since September, and take enormous pride from their performances both on and off the field. Sharing match tea (or even just juice and a biscuit!) with opposing teams is such an important part of Prep School sport, and I have been glad to see this long held tradition so well observed by our pupils this term. Mowdenians are widely known for being highly competitive on the sports field, but equally highly hospitable off it - and that reputation has certainly been enhanced by our current crop of pupils. More than once this term, I have received emails from Schools we have played matches against, commending our pupils, not only on their sporting prowess, but on their attitude and their manners - heaven for any School leader!

This term has been jampacked with sporting opportunities, with all Prep School pupils having had the chance to represent Mowden on a number of occasions. We have enjoyed rugby and hockey fixtures against our friends (and rivals) at Sedbergh, Terrington Hall, St Mary’s, Melrose, Cundall Manor and Barnard Castle, amongst others, with excellent performances across both sports. We have also attended, and hosted, numerous tournaments and festivals this term - with our own U9, U10 & U11 rugby and hockey festivals, being highlights of course. However,

we have also enjoyed success elsewhere - with our U11 girls once again progressing through to the regional round of the IN2Hockey National Cup, our U10s making great progress at the Clegg and Ewart Cups at Barnard Castle and excellent performances from our U9s at festivals hosted by Dame Allan’s.

Success in sport can take many guises, and while the scoresheet is often the first port of call for many, a team’s performance can be just as important as the outcomes it enjoys. This has been true of our U13 boys’ rugby team this season, and this team can provide a superb example to those lower down the School. Take a look at the SOCS Sports Portal and you will see a record of: played 12, won 10, drawn 1, lost 1 - a fantastic set of results, unparalleled by a senior rugby team in recent memory. However, look into the performances and you will see even further success, both for individuals and as a collective. Their tenacious attitude in defence, their positivity when things don’t go their way, their creativity in attack (the now infamous cross-field kick to score against Barney, for example) and their support of one another through it all, have made them the team they are. I commend them on what has been a season to remember.

Sports tours have once again taken our pupils further afield than even we usually travel, with senior rugby and hockey tours to Edinburgh in October, preceding the

equally successful U11 tour to Yorkshire in November. These extended periods spent with friends in a shared pursuit of sporting success will provide wonderful memories, and I am glad so many of our pupils were able to enjoy these experiences. Bowling, Laser TAG, early morning beach trips, stadium visits, shopping excursions and Mr Shaw-Kew’s Tortilla Challenge were among the many highlights across all three tours, and they even had time to play some sport! These opportunities don’t come about by chance, they take a great deal of time, effort and sacrifice from the staff at Mowden Hall, and I would like to thank those staff who have organised and staffed sports tours this term.

Once again, our Invitational Cross Country event drew in participants from across the North East, Cumbria and Yorkshire, with almost 400 runners taking part. A sunny autumnal afternoon, saw almost all of the Mowden pupils run a challenging course, showing grit and determination to get round in the best time possible. Individual success for our pupils came in the U11 boys, and both U13 girls and boys races, but everyone should be commended for their attitude and performance.

The Spring term brings new sporting challenges, and I look forward to seeing the positive attitudes of our pupils in all their endeavours next term.

Mr Shaw-Kew

ACTIVITIES

Our extracurricular activities session for the Prep School moved this term, from its long held slot on last thing on a Tuesday, to a brand new time on Friday afternoons. This move has the dual benefit of allowing less disruption to academic lessons, particularly on Exeat weekends, and also bringing in new staff to freshen up the extracurricular offer. Of the new clubs introduced this term, Mr Shaw-Kew’s Nerf Wars Club proved popular, with ‘camo’ face paint, protective goggles and 3000 nerf bullets, giving our three battlegroups (Alpha, led by Major Landale, Bravo with Major Newcombe at the helm, and Major O’Dell’s Charlie Group) the opportunity to battle it out in a range of scenarios. Miss Thompson’s Art baking group produced some wonderful creations in the kitchen, Mr Sturt led his Outdoor club on many adventures in the Mowden woods and Mrs Atkinson’s netballers made great progress on the court. Old favourite activities also returned, with Mr Lamb and Miss Dodds taking over 30 pupils cross country running each week and Messers Hadfield and Hartley took our keen golfers to work on their swing at Matfen Golf Club. Further opportunities will arise next term, with girls rugby, skateboarding, art club and cricket nets all on offer on Friday afternoons. There will also be the opportunity to take part in extracurricular tennis lessons, woodwork and pottery at different times during the week - so look out

for the sign up form, coming your way in the Christmas Holidays.

Mr Shaw-Kew

PASTORAL

Before joining Mowden Hall I had been told that the pastoral care provision was of a very high standard and I can confirm that this really is the case! As we say goodbye to Mrs Kay, I thought this would be a good opportunity to thank her for her hard work in supporting the children in so many ways - her guidance and care over the past number of years have meant that pupils are incredibly well-cared for, and all staff are able to work together to best support the children.

Pastoral care is at the heart of almost everything that is done at Mowden and it takes the form of both formal, organised sessions, but also the crucial informal discussions and comments between pupils and staff. I have been particularly impressed by the ethos of mutual support here at Mowden - children look after children on a very regular basis. The family-feel of this school and the structure it maintains means that whilst not always perfect, children of all ages generally look out for each other and support their peers, which is absolutely the best way to achieve outstanding pastoral care.

Formally, we have tried to guide pupils through a huge variety of topics relating to themselves and the wider world, from the rule of law, democracy and taking

responsibility for your actions, through to supporting Black History Month, Anti-Bullying Week and considering what is important to us as individuals. On the whole their responses have been mature, wellthought and if I am honest a bit worrying at times - for example, I think it is sad that children in Year 3 are aware of the ‘economic crisis’ and the pressures that this brings to parents. They are concerned and want to make a difference. These children are incredibly perceptive and far more worldly-wise than I ever was.

I look forward to 2023, I think there are exciting times ahead. I hope to further develop pastoral care for your children and also focus in on developing the leadership and resilience of our young people. I think it is important to include you as parents in this process, so will endeavour to keep you informed of local concerns around pastoral care and safeguarding.

Mr Sturt

PARENTS’ ASSOCIATION

The Parents’ Association (PA) has been incredibly busy this term, being inventive in their ideas of ways to support both the school and our wonderful children. Early on in the term, the PA organsied a very wellattended Quiz Night, with the entire Dining Room filled with teams of competitors, trying to fathom the thoughtful questions from Quiz Master Hadfield.

The Cake Sale was another incredibly successful

event, not only because of the wonderful cakes and creations provided by parents and pupils, but also due to the great support of a number of parents on the day. Their last-minute support was very much appreciated and meant that we were able to raise over £600.

Finally, the much-anticipated Reindeer Hunt took place in the final week of term. A wintery, festive hunt with activities (as well as a visit from the main man himself!) was enjoyed by the entire school community, with children completing challenges around school and the wider grounds whilst solving a variety of riddles! The event was incredibly well received by all and our thanks must go to Santa’s Helpers, who endured the cold and wet weather for a number of hours!

Mr Sturt

MUSIC

Music has returned to full strength this year, thanks to the support of our talented and enthusiastic peripatetic team. We have held a number of workshops and concerts throughout the term, giving pupils of all ages and abilities the opportunity to experience the thrill of performing live which, for those who have not yet had the opportunity to shine, should help to inspire them to get involved. The ensembles are all returning to full strength, most obviously the concert band who accompanied the congregation in the Matfen

at Mowden concert, as well as the senior choir who sang beautifully, both here and in the Glenalmond Chapel during the service which concluded their Choral Day in October. They regularly sing in church, alongside the church band who are now well established. They accompany many of the hymns in assemblies and services, including some of the more adventurous ones now their confidence is high. The orchestra has been formed and will perform in the summer term, and the new rock groups have proved very popular, performing twice this term, demonstrating their skills as well as their independent spirit. Instrumental music is thriving, as can be seen in the number of pianists who perform in each workshop, but other instruments are popular too. Ted M sets the standard for the brass players; his playing at the Remembrance Day service was majestic, whilst Abigail, Alba, Olivia, Henry C and Savansha fly the flag for woodwind. The Matfen at Mowden concert was a resounding success this year. All of the soloists, readers and ensembles performed with confidence and with obvious enjoyment. The next two terms should be equally exhilarating.

Mr Fowlds

DRAMA

Drama is an integral part of school life at Mowden Hall. Part of the school curriculum, it not only features on the timetable, but weaves its way through the corridors into Activities on a Friday afternoon and boarding on a Wednesday evening. The second half of the Autumn term is a magical time of the school year when students are naturally excited by the upcoming festivities and so, it seemed fitting, for the Year 7s to choose A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens as their year group play. Mrs Phillipson ran the rehearsal process like a professional production. The students were asked to prepare and read for an audition and Drama lessons were used to practise movement and dance. The production was put together in a little over three weeks and all students pulled together to make the programme, create artwork and props and learn their lines! The protagonist was ably played by George who delighted us with Ebenezer Scrooge’s curmudgeonly ways. His long suffering clerk was played by Eleanor and the ever cheerful nephew, Fred, was played by Sam. Suitably spooky music and sound effects were provided by Mr Fowlds and Mr Smith to accompany the terrifying spectral visitors who were played by Matilda (Marley), Abigail (Christmas Past), Rose (Christmas Present) and Olivia (the VERY scary Phantom). The whole cast performed with vigour and enthusiasm to a packed Theatre on 2nd December. The audience enjoyed the ominous atmosphere created

as well as the jelly sweets provided by Miss Goody, played by Emma. The Year 7 cast has set the standard for things to come!

Mrs Phillipson

The atmosphere in a Prep school at this time of year is particularly special. The school has been filled with warmth and joy, and I hope you have all managed to experience even a fraction of this at our end of term events. I remain ever grateful for your continuing support and loyalty, and look forward to seeing you all next term. I wish you all a wonderful Christmas and send my warmest wishes for 2023.

I sign off with a quote from a pupil in Year 3: ‘I love Prep School! This class is the BEST!!!!!!! ’

Kate Martin, Head

Spring Term

Dear Parents and Carers,

As always the Spring Term has passed quickly; School has been busy, purposeful and cheerful. We all look forward to the longer, warmer days of the Summer Term, but appreciate the opportunity to reflect on what has been a successful term for us all at Mowden.

At the start of term, I shared three hopes I had for our children:

Respect Responsibility Live fully

I would like to take the opportunity to share with you the ways I have seen these hopes implemented in our daily lives, this term.

RESPECT

I have seen small acts of kindness at Mowden every day, not just between the children, but also between our staff and parents. Thoughtful moments where someone genuinely and sincerely considers the needs of someone before their own. I have seen children tell the truth and use their voices for good, even when it would be easier to stay quiet. I have seen positive relationships grow and develop; in classrooms, on sports pitches, on the stage and in the boarding house. I have seen children make healthy choices and consider their own well being in a positive and proactive way. I have seen leaders bravely emerge throughout the course of the term, and children come to the fore and shine.

RESPONSIBILITY

Visitors have unanimously commented on the manners of the children, and the way they have engaged with them throughout their visit. Their pride in their school is so clear, and from this I know that they value the opportunities they have here. Working hard is the norm, and this is demonstrated in numerous ways throughout this letter. Children are encouraged to value their family, and value their friends. They strive to be the best versions of themselves, knowing and accepting that at times they will falter. This is ok. High standards are sought, but we do not expect perfection. For me, I value seeing the children appreciate the quiet moments throughout the day; time to read; time to think; even time to taste a snowflake (or two!).

LIVE FULLY

Schools without children are desperately dull. At the start of term I cannot wait for them to return and for the corridors to be filled with their chatter and laughter. Having fun is important, and children make having fun very easy. Play in its purest form is wonderful, and prep schools see this daily. Rules are adapted and spontaneously agreed, and equipment is found from everyday items such as jumpers and shoes. Engaging with the outdoors provides so many benefits, and a moment of silliness is good for the soul. Mowdenians do not fear mistakes and they embrace creativity, using their imaginations to turn bushes into ships, or bunkers, or even submarines; the list is endless and the fun plentiful. We have talked a lot about giving back, this term, and I have been delighted with how much the children already do. As a school we will continue to focus on this; we know how lucky we are.

I will hand over to some of the members of the team at Mowden to reflect on this term’s events and achievements.

ACADEMIC

Spring is such an evocative season - it is a symbol of renewed growth. This is very much the case here at Mowden. Springtime is witness to accelerated growth in an academic sense. The pupils have developed their roots in the Autumn Term, and upon their return, postChristmas, they bring renewed energy and a desire to beat away the dark, but soon to be light, nights. This growth is perhaps best reflected in our latest Accelerated Reader data, which is extremely strong. Over the course of the Autumn Term, we saw that, on average, our pupils accelerated their reading age by one month over and above age expectations. So, in 3 months, pupils progressed their reading age by 4 months. Reading is a core element of a Mowden education, and we are hoping to keep pushing hard with this skill for the remainder of the year. I would sincerely encourage all families to ring fence reading time at home so that we can achieve even more in this regard. Over the course of any given week, the Library is buzzing every break time and there has been a glut of Librarian Lunches and Book Club Lunches, where pupils of all ages and ability levels, can share their thoughts, beliefs and passions. We were also taken on a murder mystery tour by the Year 8 Librarians, who designed and created a murder mystery week to celebrate World Book Day. The rich, loamy soils of each classroom provide fertile sustenance to the minds

of our pupils. This term has been packed with enticing, engaging and exciting lessons.

Our youngest pupils in Year 3 have considered the story of Easter and worked their way around the 6 main religions of the world, all while calculating their change after shopping at the market! Year 4 explored sound in their Science lessons, making pan pipes and exploring the sound insulating properties of different materials. All year groups have been introduced to ‘Sentence Stealers’ in French to encourage speaking and listening accuracy. The inspirational diary of a girl called Anne Frank was explored in Year 5 History, whilst in Science they looked skywards to consider the awesome nature of our solar system. Years 6 to 8, as part of their philosophy classes, discussed the most recent proposals to alter the wording of the Roald Dahl books, so as to make them less offensive - the pupils’ responses were fascinating and they were largely in defence of the need to keep artwork original. Year 6 has delved into the microscopic world of cells and bacteria by using microscopes and pupils even made their own loaves of risen bread, with the help of yeast who kindly donated carbon dioxide gases. They (Year 6, not the yeast!) even found time to consider the tragedy of Macbeth and perform to the assembled crowds. Year 7 reflected on the magic of light and made their own periscopes and in History debated the nature of William the Conqueror’s brutal, yet effective, reign. Aristotle’s

three ‘unities’ of Drama were explored by Year 8 in Drama whilst revising hard for their Common Entrance Exams. All of this represents a mere cross-section of educational crops that have been reaped this term.

An aspect of renewal I have personally treasured has been the full resumption of face to face parents meetings. For many, this has been the first time that they have set foot into the Gym for the Spring Term consultations. You really cannot beat a face to face conversation about education, as, fundamentally, education has the development of the person at its heart. So, it seems just and fitting that people get together to discuss this phenomenon.

New shoots can also be seen via the arrival of all-new manifestations of academic life. The Inter-House Academic Challenge is now in full swing, with all Houses and all ages being represented. These academic House fixtures provide a stage for our pupils’ significant cerebral talents, and the whole school watch on as two teams battle it out on stage following a ‘University Challenge’ style format. Some of the contextual and curricular knowledge on display was truly excellent, including some incredibly niche facts from Tolkien’s, Lord of the Rings. Currently, Grey is in the lead, but there is a long way to go before the end of the Summer Term, when all of the summer scores will be added to each House’s final tally.

The Year 8’s academic growth was given a timely boost by the catalyst of Mock Exams. Our most senior pupils conducted themselves exceptionally, and one cannot underestimate the impact of this process. Only recently I was speaking to an old Mowden family at a reception at a Senior School, and they could not praise enough the meaningful impact of the Year 7-8 Common Entrance (CE) exam preparation and how it provided the foundations for what was to come, in the shape of GCSEs later on. Additionally, the Year 7s sat their Summer Exams early, in order to clear the way for the once-in-a-lifetime educational opportunity of Sauveterre. Mrs Ponchant, the Head of Sauveterre, came to Mowden recently to meet the Year 7s and their families and to enthuse about the opportunities that await them. We wish them all the very best as they depart on this adventure and I know that they will gain a huge amount in academic, emotional, spiritual and social terms. The final two years of a Mowden education are fundamental to what we are trying to achieve in our educational vision, and the impact of these final moments can be felt much further down the line.

This final point brings me to something that I have been considering a great deal this term: how do we nurture and grow character? Here at Mowden, we have an especially fertile metaphorical field for the mind and soul, thanks to the evolved community and the shared expectations we have

for our pupils. Sauveterre is one such example of an educational opportunity that builds specific elements of character. I recently attended a conference led by Dr Phil Cummins who is leading a world wide action research project focusing on how we can better develop meaningful character into our schools’ curricula. Indeed, I have already started consulting the most senior pupils about their view of what the ‘graduate profile’ of a Mowdenian would look like. They raised words such as: ‘hard working, charitable, selfless, leadership, responsibility, healthy, independent, resilient, friendship and digital citizenship’. A 21st century education, for me, goes way beyond the simple transfer of information and classroom skills. It is going to be increasingly important to develop character in a truly explicit sense, and help the children become the very best versions of themselves. It is our character that will largely define our future path. I think we develop character very well here at Mowden and, upon transfer in Year 8, other school leaders often comment upon how they can spot a Mowden pupil from a great distance due to their behaviours and character, and, above all else, this sets them apart and makes them so valued.

So, springtime academic growth is omnipresent and we now collectively look forward to unfurling our minds, ready for the summer sun . . . and whole school exams.

Mr Hadfield

PRE-PREP

This term the Nursery children have developed their sense of curiosity and inquisitiveness by exploring our extensive school grounds in order to learn all about the Springtime. They found lots of beautiful spring flowers, listened to the birds tweeting and even spotted some lambs!

A highlight for the Reception children was their trip to the Angel of the North. They were amazed at just how big it was and this inspired them to make fantastic sketches of it whilst there, before making clay and junk model versions back at school.

The author and illustrator Liz Million’s visit to the Pre-Prep was hugely memorable and her jokes, facial expressions and fun inspired all of the children to create some fabulous artwork. World Book Day was another highlight of the term, full of the joys of books and reading. We enjoyed exploring stories, characters, illustrations and text work in a variety of different activities including Drama, Cooking, Writing, Maths and Science. As always we were hugely impressed by the creativity and imagination shown through all of the children’s incredible costumes. We had great fun playing the DEAR game, (drop everything and read) throughout the day and donated many books to our charity collection. Thank you so much to everyone who helped make the day so special.

Year 2 children enjoyed celebrating Lunar New Year with a themed Chinese day and all the school took part in a fabulous lion dance and drumming workshop. Roly the hedgehog visited to explain to us the importance of looking after our spiky friends. We have raised funds for different charities designing our own T-shirts for number fun day, we wore red for red nose day and celebrated a now forgotten football game with a themed black and white day and inspection celebration disco! Daily weird and wacky experiments were enjoyed during Science Week with walking water, dancing raisins, exploding volcanoes, bubble towers and homemade geysers!

Parent meetings have been held with each family and this has given the teachers the opportunity to share the amazing hard work and progress so many of the children are achieving, as well as identifying targets for the future.

We have held a Class Assembly for each class, bringing delight to children, parents and staff. Our families have been invited to come into the school each Friday to admire displays and work and see what the children have been taking part in.

Our Easter service in St James’ Church celebrated Spring and new life as well as the celebration of the Christian festival Easter.

Mrs Knight

BOARDING

This term seems to have flown by! Myself and a number of the boarders were away on the ski trip for the first two weekends of term. That in itself was such a great week! Some children who had never boarded before experienced time away from home and managed it so well, I was very impressed with them.

Following these weekends, the focus was back on the boarding at school and we had a great time on the inflatable in the pool. We now have a new section which provides further challenges to those who have done it before. We enjoyed multiple innovative challenges set by the ‘Taskmaster’ (NUFC themed for the all important final they were playing at Wembley later that day!) and some very interesting and theatrical games of the darkness’. We have also been to Airbox Bounce, Laser Quest and to a chocolate making workshop (always a favourite!).

Our evening activities have been very energetic for some with gappie games on the courts, dodgeball, bulldog, benchball and cricket nets in the gym. The Year 8s have continued with their outdoor swim prep sessions while others have played wide games, spotlight, football and followed flour trails (!) in our vast outdoors. There have also been school wide games of hide and seek, smugglers run, and infection as well as spontaneous creative improvisation evenings. We now have new ‘Wellness Wednesday’ sessions

involving yoga and pilates and ‘mystery activities’ which have so far included pillow case designs, marshmallow toasting and a pamper session. The traditional Pottery and Woodwork Clubs continue as usual. We’re very much looking forward to the lighter nights when we can spend even more time outside next term.

The dorm decoration competitions have encouraged our boarders to think creatively about their dorm space. This term we had a ‘Neon’ theme and it was great to see how this was interpreted. The children worked well within their dorm teams to turn their rooms into colourful explosions. Congratulations to North and South Tyne from Elm House and Cheviot from Oak House for your winning efforts. The latter part of this term focussed on a Spring / Easter theme. Again, the interpretations of this have been fantastic with many different homemade elements making their way into the Boarding House. We’ve had a nod to the religious side of the meaning of Easter as well as the highly expected chocolate, egg and bunny representations! Thank you to those of you who have helped their children with homemade decorations and designs, I hope you have enjoyed it as much as they have. I look forward to announcing next term’s theme to the children and welcome their creative responses on our return to school.

Miss Serbrock

SPORT AND ACTIVITIES

A successful Autumn term on both the rugby and hockey pitches, allowed a wave of positivity to sweep us into the ever busy Spring term and carry our sports teams to further achievements and accolades. The U13 boys continued in winning ways, as they transferred their rugby skills to the open spaces of the 7s pitches. At the Ampleforth Sevens, we were faced with the daunting prospect of playing large senior school teams, such as Durham School, Bradford Grammar and Barnard Castle - however the boys managed to go unbeaten in the group stage, only losing to an exceptional Hymers side in the final, finishing as runners up out of 16 schools. An excellent achievement. There were also medals for the U13 girls at our home tournament, where they played superbly to defeat everyone they came up against - taking the top spot and the winners trophy! Elsewhere, we made further progress with boys’ hockey. With festivals at home and away, and matches against Sedbergh and Longridge, the boys have continued to learn new skills and challenge themselves in a different environment.

The girls’ netball teams have played superbly all season, culminating in excellent matches against Sedbergh on the last weekend of term. We now begin to look ahead to the Summer term, and long afternoons of cricket, rounders and athletics in the sunshine, a far cry from the snow and ice that has beset

us recently. Preparations are well underway, with Mr Lamb and Mr Townley having offered winter net sessions during the winter months, and hopefully a successful season will follow.

Elsewhere in activities, we have seen the return of girls’ rugby to Mowden, with a cohort of girls from Years 5 to 8 taking part and making excellent progress. We hope to be in a position to play some fixtures later in the year.

Dissection Club has been a popular addition to our extracurricular offer, with participants scientifically taking apart various internal organs - Mr Sturt is keen to clarify that no students were harmed in the process! Progress is being made in the garden under the watchful eyes of Mrs Scott and Mrs Hadfield, and we all look forward to the fruits of their labours coming from the kitchen next term. In addition, pupils have enjoyed netball, golf, art, water polo and board games to name a few, and we are excited to see the return of old favourites next term, such as nerf wars, tennis and rounders. Alongside newer offerings such as climbing and foraging.

Mr Shaw-Kew

PASTORAL

Pastoral Care continues to be at the heart of many things we do at Mowden and I continue to be amazed at how well not only the teachers are able to care for the pupils, due to their knowledge and understanding of each pupil,

but also the way the children care for each other too.

Amongst the incredibly busy day-to-day life of a Mowdenian, we still manage to squeeze in some quality time for them to work together in their Form Groups during the week. Part of my role is to facilitate useful, beneficial Form Periods, where topics can be discussed and worked out by the pupils. These sessions build on the PSHEE work covered in lessons and this term have ranged from ‘Making and Keeping Resolutions’ (I wonder how many of us are still sticking to ours), to ‘Protected Characteristics’, ‘Consent’ and ‘Women’s History Month’. The content is varied and intending to focus in on topics that may not normally be discussed by children their age. Finally, a quick plug for ‘Mowden Matters’, the monthly pastoral newsletter. Mr Sturt

PARENTS’ ASSOCIATION

The Parents’ Association (PA) have been busy once again this term, not only in preparations for upcoming events, but also putting on a very enjoyable Easter Hunt for the whole school. The parents involved not only put in a significant amount of energy and creativity towards these events, but they also give up a lot of their own time too.

As well as donations towards external charities, the PA have now focussed in their efforts on further improving Tiddler’s Corner, our on-site outdoor play area, and so money

raised in recent events and future ones will be aimed at improving this for the whole school community - all the children enjoy playing on it, so all will benefit.

The end of this term saw a successful second hand uniform sale, allowing not only for parents to grab a bargain in school uniform, but most importantly for a sustainable, waste-reducing option for all our children’s clothing at school. Looking forward, we will begin to run termly sales of clothing in one-off events, but continue to accept any old uniform that you are willing to donate. My thanks go to Sandy and the team for their hard work once again and I look forward to seeing what exciting events we can organise to become a betterconnected community.

Mr Sturt

ART

In Art this term, Year 2 children completed their final pieces on the theme of feelings. They used drawings and paintings of animals to express emotions. We saw some fantastic pieces of artwork - with brave lions, happy larks and hungry horses on display.

In a similar vein as the Year 2 pupils, our Year 3 children also looked at animals. Their work was based on Henri Rousseau’s richly coloured and detailed pictures of jungles and wild animals. Again, there were some exciting paintings of elephants, zebras, parrots and tigers. The pupils also

used collage to add a jungle background to their final pieces. All in all, the children enjoyed developing an awareness of colour and texture in art.

Years 4 and 5 children worked on their final pieces with a general theme of ethnic art. Year 4 pupils focussed on Peruvian folk art with its colourful vibrant patterns and pride in culture and customs. Some Year 4 pupils drew llamas dressed in colourful saddles. Other pupils produced a final piece based on Peruvian textiles as these reflect the unique culture and energy of the people. Our Year 5 pupils produced an altogether different array of artworks. Their theme was Polynesian islands and Maori art. The pupils responded to the challenge which resulted in some stunning abstract art.

Year 6 pupils looked at popular culture artwork and in particular, blocks of vibrant colour. They were all encouraged to use bold colours and text in their final piece. Experimenting with colour was a challenge but I was thrilled that all pupils were bold and brave.

Years 7 and 8 pupils got their hands well and truly covered in plaster this term.

Year 7 pupils were working on a theme of sculpture. They used Modroc (plaster impregnated bandages) to create sculptures - which were very wet and messy at first but luckily dried to more manageable pieces. The Modroc sculptures were inspired by famous pieces of sculpture but with our own

pupils’ unique take on this. Year 8 were given quite a wide remit with their project. The whole year’s theme is one of identity. Spring term introduced observational drawings and texture. There were some lovely final pieces with a wide range of painting styles and some creative textures.

Mrs Buchanan MUSIC

True to form, we have enjoyed a quiet term, but we have squeezed in three Creative Workshops. The first workshop mostly featured musicians from Year 6, but there were a handful of performances from the other Year Groups. Isla O performed one of her Grade 1 examination pieces and Mariia made her debut improvising a ‘Blues’ piece on piano. The second workshop featured more seniors and opened with a newly formed Percussion Ensemble performing the ‘20th Century Fox’ fanfare. The Concert Band ended the concert with ‘Mission Impossible’. Just before the end of term, Years 3 and 4 combined for their own special concert. Every child took part and there were lots of exciting soloists, as well as a choir performance of ‘My Favourite Things’ to end the event.

A major part of our long term development plan is to increase the amount of ensemble playing. The Concert Band is rapidly growing in strength, whilst there are now two Rock Groups featuring Year 6 and

Year 7. There is already a lot of interest in Year 5 to set up their own band. The assembly band has been well established this year. They perform every Monday morning and for the church service on Tuesdays. Some of the juniors have been given the opportunity to perform with this group and have settled in very well. The Orchestra will rehearse for the Leavers’ Concert in July.

We held examinations in February and March this term and the results were impressive. 4 children sat their Prep Tests on piano. Of the remaining 28 candidates we achieved 4 distinctions and 15 merits.

Mr Fowlds

DRAMA

Despite the short length of the Spring Term, there has been a rich variety of performance at Mowden. Outside of lessons, LAMDA continues to be popular and all students entered for graded examinations have been successful, congratulations!

I would like to start by thanking the school librarians for their efforts in bringing World Book Day to life this year. With the assistance of Mrs Hadfield, the children produced a good oldfashioned ‘Whodunnit’. In costume, as different genres, the librarians set the scene during assembly, performed at lunchtimes and provided further clues through the use of filmed evidence. The atmosphere around school was electric with students

discussing their theories on who the murderer was at every opportunity. It was a fantastic way to raise the profile of reading within the school.

In the second half of term, Years 5 and 6 took to the stage with their own year group plays. First to perform were the Year 5s with their own version of ‘The Lambton Worm’. In preparation for this, they visited Durham and the Penshaw Monument to explore the settings of the tale. When they returned, they worked together to write their own script. In addition, they designed the set, made their own props and considered movement on stage - no mean feat. The performance was charming, interspersed with verses from the classic folk song, ‘The Ballad of the Lambton Worm.’

The second performance of the term came from Year 6 who performed an adaptation of ‘The Scottish Play’, Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Undaunted by the language, the year group spent the first half of the term learning the plot and exploring the themes of the play before treading the boards on the last day of term. In addition, a digital programme was produced detailing facts about the play and a diary of the rehearsal process. The performance was thoroughly atmospheric, aided by the use of beautiful Celtic music and new lighting on stage. Special thanks must go to the kitchen for setting the scene with their amazing Shakespearean dish, ‘Fair is Fowl and Fowl is Fair.’

Mrs Phillipson

The end of term is a time for schools to celebrate their achievements, and also reflect on what they can do better. There is always room for improvement, and there is no place for complacency at Mowden. Please do ask your child to share with you what they have been proud of this term; ask them to identify areas where they feel they have made real progress. Also ask them what they could have done better; none of us are perfect and we should always strive to be honest with ourselves about what we can do to continue to grow and develop. The Easter break is a great time for children to focus on their personal and future development.

This time last year I referenced an Assembly given remotely by the Headmaster of Merchiston which asked the children to commit to making small changes (the aggregation of marginal gains). As I did a year ago, I would like to challenge our children to commit to achieving some marginal gains over the Easter holiday. Be it their reading, their times tables, their fitness or even a specific task, I encourage them to actively engage with the process of improving themselves over the break. Do please let me know how they get on!

Thank you so much for your continued support this term; it is always appreciated and never taken for granted. I wish you all a restful and peaceful Easter break.

Kate Martin, Head

The Mowdenian 2022 / 2023

The Mowdenian 2022 / 2023

Summer Term

As we come to the end of another academic year, it is important to reflect on the School’s collective achievements. In addition, I express my gratitude and appreciation for the support Mowden has received from our parent body. It has been a big year for the School, and we were thrilled to receive an excellent ISI report. There were many impressive headlines from the report, but I was particularly thrilled with the feedback from the parent questionnaire; where over 97% of the responses were positive ones. The very best schools work in partnership with their families, and this is something we all truly appreciate at Mowden; thank you.

Congratulations to our Scholars

I would like to take the opportunity to mention our scholarship and Year 8 successes. Congratulations to our Scholars:

Amelia, Oundle School; Henry C, Oundle School; Serena, Ampleforth College; Freddie, Ampleforth College; Sophie, Sedbergh School and Uppingham School; Johnny N, Oundle School; Ella, Sedbergh School; Oscar, Barnard Castle School; Frances, Queen Margaret’s.

Amelia B Common Entrance to Oundle School (Oundle Scholarship - Art and Drama)

Henry C Common Entrance to Oundle School (Oundle Scholarship - Academics, D.T. and Drama)

Martha C 13+ Entrance to Dame Allan’s School

Leonardo de S 13+ Entrance to Queen Elizabeth High School

Evie D Common Entrance to Oundle School

George F Common Entrance to Hereford School

Thomas G Common Entrance to Eton College

Bridie H 13+ Entrance to Dame Allan’s School

Serena H Common Entrance to Ampleforth College (Sport Scholarship)

David I Common Entrance to Ampleforth College

Savansha K Common Entrance to Sedbergh School

Freddie L Common Entrance to Ampleforth College (Drama Scholarship)

Sophie L Common Entrance to Sedbergh School (Sports Scholarship. Sports Scholarship also awarded by Uppingham School)

Johnny N Common Entrance to Oundle School (Oundle ScholarshipDrama and D.T.)

Hugo O Common Entrance to Shrewsbury School

Henry O 13+ Entrance to Barnard Castle School

Ella P Common Entrance to Sedbergh School (Drama Scholarship)

Edward P Common Entrance to Oundle School

Isla SK 13+ Entrance to Barnard Castle School

Oscar U 13+ Entrance to Barnard Castle School (Sports Scholarship)

Rohaan V 13+ Entrance to Dame Allan’s School

Frances W Common Entrance to Queen Margaret’s (All Rounder Scholarship)

Oliver W Common Entrance to Oakham School

ACADEMIC

The academic life of the school is in fine fettle and we received huge praise from our recent ISI inspection. The ISI team noted the following after intense scrutiny of the education offered at Mowden:

¡ The quality of the pupils’ academic and other achievements is excellent.

¡ Pupils display excellent knowledge, skills and understanding across their broad curriculum.

¡ Pupils’ attitudes are excellent. Pupils actively engage in lessons and have a positive attitude towards learning. They work highly effectively in pairs, groups or individually.

¡ Pupils display excellent numeracy skills in their mathematics lessons and across the curriculum.

¡ Pupils demonstrate excellent study skills. Almost all parents who responded to the pre-inspection questionnaire agreed that the school equips their child with the team working, collaborative and research skills they will need in later life.

¡ Pupils show excellent verbal communication skills across the curriculum.

¡ Pupils are fluent and competent users of ICT.

¡ Pupils achieve good examination results and most display excellent progress. Those with EAL achieve in line with their peers and pupils with SEND frequently make rapid progress.

¡ Pupils’ progress in reading is particularly marked due to the school’s adoption of a focused reading initiative including dedicated reading time each day.

¡ Boarders achieve well by making good use of their time outside lessons and school facilities such as the ICT rooms. In the questionnaire, an overwhelming majority of parents agreed that the boarding experience has helped their child’s progress.

¡ The wider achievements of the pupils are excellent. A significant number of senior pupils earn scholarships for their chosen secondary school, across a range of disciplines.

¡ Pupils demonstrate highly developed critical analysis skills.

¡ The quality of the pupils’ personal development is excellent.

¡ Pupils exhibit excellent levels of selfconfidence.

¡ Pupils show excellent levels of spiritual understanding by readily engaging in debates on moral and ethical issues.

¡ Pupils demonstrate high moral values and excellent behaviour is the norm.

Mr Paul Buckland, retired Head, also came to see us recently from the Good Schools Guide and he was deeply impressed by what he found and noted the industry leading nature of our systems and outcomes. He noted that:

¡ Academic performance is closely monitored. The school has an impressive system for assessing potential on entry and tracking actual performance . . . Attitude is also monitored and reported.

¡ Parents say staff ‘go over and above’ to ensure that, even though ‘every child is different, yours can fit in.’ The tracking supports the school’s view that ‘there are no invisible children, nobody is forgotten.’

¡ Reading is a priority and the Accelerated Reader scheme adds three to four months’ progress to reading ages on average every nine months.

Success at Common Entrance is impressive for a non-selective school, with a 25% increase in A grades over five years.

To receive this type of unbiased praise from within the teaching community is most gratifying and it reflects the genuine and deep-seated excellence that our pupils and staff achieve and also highlights the marked progression that we have enjoyed since the last integrated report in 2014. However, we will continue to improve and we are looking to make key improvements in the

coming year. A most notable long term project will be that of creating a ‘curriculum for character’.

I recently attended ‘The Vision, Values and Character Conference’, led by Dr Phil Cummins. He purported that the explicit teaching of ‘character’ is absolutely critical in our schools and if we were better at doing this, then the global outcomes of our pupils would be significantly enhanced. I could not agree more. Loyalty, integrity, good humour, perseverance and optimism are all qualities that will go a long way in allowing an individual to meet the challenges of life in its widest possible sense. The development of an explicit, well considered and progressive curriculum of character is surely therefore something that we should place close to the centre of our educational framework.

However, more often than not, it is a well appreciated by-product of everything else we do in school: matches, drama, art, history, woodwork, rewards and sanctions, mealtimes and so on. In the post-Covid reality that schools are now facing I also believe there is a character deficit that our pupils are struggling to fill - on a wider anecdotal level, it would appear resilience and determination have taken a hit, thanks to the various lockdowns. This is certainly something we are seeing reflected in pupil attitudinal data that we track. I truly believe that it is our character that defines our destiny to a greater extent.

The choices an individual makes determines their future, and the purpose of developing good character is the ability to make good choices. Character allows us to flourish as individuals, and as a wider society. This is why we will be working with the Association for Character Education (ACE) next year and beyond and we are aiming to become a regional leader in character education.

Mr Hadfield

PRE-PREP

Our pupils have grown in number throughout the year, and we have enjoyed welcoming a number of visitors. Many have commented on the warm welcome they receive and the children’s confidence in speaking. Not only are they informative, but they are almost always positive about the activities they are involved in, and they also enjoy asking questions.

Developing curiosity in all children is an important goal for us at Mowden. Curiosity helps a child to be willing and able to continually grow, learn and question what is around them. It enables them to develop imagination and a sense of creativity that gives them the basic tools they need to be successful adults. Up to 85% of the jobs that today’s pupils will have in 11 years haven’t been invented yet. Very simply stated: a child that doesn’t develop curiosity is not going to be an adult who innovates.

Inspiring this curiosity comes from the teaching, resources and learning environment we enjoy here at Mowden. Hooking the children into their learning with wonderfully inventive ideas engages even the most reluctant. Our Woodland Classroom lessons have continued to engage all children in exploring the grounds, and nature. Alongside work in the classroom, all our activities and learning outside on our beautiful 52 acres promote self-confidence, resilience, self-esteem, teamwork and well-being. Children have built fires, enjoyed campfire cooking, made natural art, built dens, created, climbed trees, and made homes for various creatures, real and imagined.

We have taken children on a range of trips outside of school. Each class has visited various places including theatres, local landmarks, museums and galleries. It is always such a pleasure to take your children out on trips, and often members of the public stop us to comment on their impressive concentration, manners and enthusiasm. We have also enjoyed residential trips with children bravely spending time away from their homes and parents. Staying away from home is a powerful way of developing key life skills, and building confidence, self-esteem, communication and team working. Seeing the children help each other, overcome fears and challenges, develop independence and solve problems together, is incredibly rewarding.

An array of extracurricular clubs have taken place each evening, giving the children a chance to taste a variety of sports, languages and crafts. Our sensory and vegetable garden has been developed and is now a hive of scientific and natural exploration.

Many children have participated in invitational cross-country fixtures at Mowden and at other schools. These have given them an excellent opportunity to visit other schools and take part in competitive sports. Sports Day and Swimming Galas have taken place with wonderfully enthusiastic support from all families!

At Mowden, we teach children to respect other cultures and to celebrate and understand diversity. This gives children a better insight into some of the traditions and customs their friends and teachers practise. Many Mowden families represent a mixture of different ethnicities and backgrounds. We enjoy learning with the children about their culture, identity, and traditions and exploring ways others might be different. We enjoyed celebrating Harvest in St James’ Church, joining in a whole school Remembrance Service, our Christmas Carol Service at Hexham Abbey and have had Assemblies celebrating the Lunar New Year, Diwali and Eid. Performing our two Nativities in the Theatre to a live audience was extremely emotional.

Keeping children safe is at the heart of our aims and ethos. We continually give

the children practical safety skills and the confidence to engage with the outside world. We have explored the safety initiatives called ‘Clever Never Goes’ and an NSPCC resource called Talking PANTS.

Each year group has skillfully put together a termly Class Assembly and Celebration of Work and the children have enjoyed sharing their achievements in our Superstar and Castle Certificate Assemblies.

The end of term saw another fantastic whole school production of ‘There’s a sunflower in my supper’ which saw all 82 Pre-Prep children on the stage singing together. Not only having a wonderful time themselves but giving their families enormous pride and joy! The School Council organised an extremely popular academic challenge and a fun-filled water afternoon.

Next academic year we will be celebrating our 30th Anniversary. We hope to have a wonderful year of lots of different events for our children and their families.

My thanks to all of the team for ensuring every day is a fun day in Pre-Prep and for facilitating the learning of our youngest pupils. The children are always inspired by their teachers and want to know more, demonstrating their inquisitive and enquiring minds. The teachers work tirelessly to ensure the children have the very best start here at Mowden Hall School and I must also thank you for supporting your child’s education so enthusiastically. Mrs Knight

BOARDING

The boarding house, as well as being busy, has been colourful and full of creativity this year with various ‘dorm decs’ competitions which have stretched the imaginations of our boarders. Themes have included ‘food’, ‘Christmas’, ‘neon’, Easter, ‘the ocean’ and ‘Summer’. It is wonderful to see so many different interpretations of the themes and I congratulate the children on their keen participation.

We introduced an option for children to change into home clothes on their evenings in school to further emulate the ‘home from home’ ethos we strive for in the boarding house.

Weekends have seen a range of options for boarders both in and out of school. This year activities have included bubble football, silent discos, pottery workshops, laser quest, neon disco’s, disney fancy dress parties, chocolate making afternoons, pizza making parties, pool parties and beach trips.

This term, our boarders completed their ‘House Shout’’ questionnaire. This questionnaire allows them to anonymously answer questions about their boarding experience, giving them the opportunity to openly and freely tell us about their experiences as Mowden boarders. The overall results were extremely positive.

Miss Serbrock

SPORT

Summing a year of sport in a busy prep school is no easy feat, where do you start? A brief look at SOCS (our sports platform) will tell that Mowden pupils have contested some 360 fixtures this school year - including 105 hockey matches, 83 rugby games, 56 netball matches and almost 50 games of cricket (when you take out the matches cancelled by rain). There have also been swimming galas, cross country and athletics meets, football matches, rounders games and even equestrian events! According to Mr Shaw-Kew’s Transport Doc (our sporting logistics bible!) in the summer term alone our kitchen staff have produced match teas for over 500 visitors, and made 466 packed lunches for pupils to eat en route to our fixturesmost often at Tebay services!!

These figures demonstrate, beyond doubt, that the sporting lives of our pupils are central to their experience at Mowden. What they don’t tell you is of the successes, both individual and collective, that our pupils have enjoyed this year. Nor do they contain the anecdotal evidence that each one of our committed games staff could recount about the progress made in sport by all of our pupils across the past three terms.

Perhaps next year I could count; the number of times our pupils celebrate tries or goals together, the occasions that Mowden pupils demonstrate the fair play and sporting integrity for which they are famed, the amount of

staff from other schools who tell me that they love playing matches against Mowden (it happens a lot!), the number of smiles on faces at the many tournaments and festivals we organise, or the number of happy conversations our pupils have over match teas with their opposition!

However I try to quantify or summarise our sporting year, it will never come close to what you experience every week on our sports pitches. So I will leave it up to you to decide on your best sporting memory of this school year - perhaps a perfect pass, a textbook tackle, a wonderful win or a glorious goal.

Mr Shaw-Kew

ACTIVITIES AND OUTDOOR EDUCATION

It has been a bumper year for extracurricular activities, and next year has the potential to be even better as we begin to offer an expanded range of activities during our traditional after school prep slot. Popular new activities have joined the lineup this year, with Nerf wars, girls’ rugby, Dissection Club and clip ‘n’ climb, among the most sought after slots, alongside traditional favourites such as cross country, gymnastics and tennis.

As a school we are committed to outdoor education, and all of our pupils have the opportunity to take part in adventure sessions recently; Year 7 & 8 took to the water on a range of paddle boards at Chester-Le-Street Rowing club, Years 3 to 5 undertook

problem solving, bush craft and archery activities at school and Year 6 took on a host of challenges at their Ford Castle residential.

Our Year 8 Leavers went to Hartsop in the Lake District to spend five nights after their Common Entrance Exams. The group stayed in a bunkhouse style centre (Langton) and they were lucky to take part in a number of outdoor activities in the areas around Ullswater and Langdale. The activities included gorge scrambling, hillwalking, rock climbing, abseiling, navigation and orienteering. The group tackled Stickle Ghyll for their gorge experience. There was a steep and tough walk up to the Knot above Martindale Common. On arrival to the area, the group visited and walked around Aira Force. The week was tiring but fulfilling for the Leavers’ and hopefully will have given them lasting memories of the area and the Leavers’ Programme.

For next year, we are currently creating a Duke of Edinburgh style award, that is bespoke to Mowden. We hope it will give our pupils the opportunity to bring together a number of the activities they enjoy and receive an award for demonstrating the core values of the school. We are excited by this development and look forward to sharing it with you next term.

Mr Shaw-Kew and Mr Hill

PASTORAL

Pastoral care really is central to everything we do, indeed it can be said that it provides the foundations on which all aspects of school life are built on. A strong, supportive pastoral system ensures that pupils are in a position to flourish safe in the knowledge that they will be supported and cared for, even if it goes wrong.

Here at Mowden however this system does not rely on just the staff to provide support, rather we look to the children themselves to provide the care for each other, lending each other a hand, shoulder, or leg up to achieve their goal.

Allowing children to be children is central to our ethos as a school, building dens, spending time planting and tending a veggie patch, or lying in the sun reading a book are all important pastimes that we have the time to be able to offer. Though from the outside this place can appear at times somewhat hectic, these pastimes are vital to shaping our children into kind, caring, responsible young people; which is why we put such emphasis on them.

This year we have celebrated many different aspects of life outside of school - it is important that we do not just focus on ourselves. Children have enjoyed learning about events such as Black History Month throughout October, Womens’ History month in March and recently Mental Health Awareness Week. We must not forget the passing of Queen Elizabeth II early in the academic year - the children

learnt so much during this time not only from our own services of remembrance, but also in their recording of memories in the Book of Condolence. Taking time to celebrate or mark these events and consider others is an important part of learning, and it has been a joy to see how they have handled these topics.

Wellbeing continues to be an important part of life in school and we have been fortunate enough to run a great variety of events in school. The pupil wellbeing surveys continue to provide us with an insight into how the children are feeling over an extended period of time, and it is lovely to read their comments of friendship, love of boarding and appreciation of what they have at Mowden. Our whole school Wellbeing Day was also a great success once again this year - the children really made the most of the opportunity to make fruity faces, create a clay oak leaf for the tree and even have a go at Zumba, thanks to Miss Serbrock and Nurse Laura! Our focus on wellbeing will only continue to grow over the coming year as we enter into the Wellbeing Award for Schools and there will be more of this to come in September as we launch the award in school.

Finally, my thanks must go to the staff at Mowden Hall and by that I do not simply mean the teaching staff - pastoral care really is central to their thoughts and their in-depth knowledge of your children, as well as their focus on what is best for them is what

Letter from the Head Letter

makes this system work so well. Whether that be the estates staff ensuring that the grounds allow the children to make the most of their time here, Nurse Laura conducting 1:1 sessions with children to better support them or help, the safeguarding team making sure that our children are safe, or even the wonderful kitchen staff recognising when a child maybe needs something specific to make their day better - they all work together to really put your child at the centre of everything we do and give them the strongest foundations from which to flourish.

Mr Sturt

PARENTS’ ASSOCIATION

The Parents’ Association (PA) has been a great success this year, due to its dedication, willingness to get involved and selfless commitment to the cause. Early on in the year we enjoyed a challenging quiz night, arranged by the PA, but adjudicated by Quizmaster Hadfield and this kicked off fundraising for the year. A coffee morning, a cake sale, multiple second hand uniform sales and an Easter Egg Hunt have been well supported and greatly appreciated by all and I am delighted that the PA has agreed to focus on improvements to Tiddler’s Corner for their events.

And now we should talk about the Christmas event, brought to life by Mrs. Chattree, which truly set the PA aside from other similar groups: a reindeer hunt; in December, in -10oC. We had Santa and

his elves, we had a treasure hunt, we even had an actual horse on the front step. Mrs. Chattree’s willingness to throw her all at these such events and the willingness of all the other parents to support the cause have meant that everyone has really enjoyed the opportunities provided by the PA, and for this we are so very grateful.

Mr Sturt

ART

The Art Department continues to be an area of inspiration, and offers a wealth of immeasurable benefits to our pupils. Apart from the obvious development of creativity and self-expression, it improves confidence and well being. Our school Art Exhibition this year showcased the amazing talents of our pupils; from Year 2 through to Year 8. Some of the standout pieces from the younger children were the observational paintings by Year 4, and the Georgia O’Keeffe inspired art by Year 2. Seeing their work displayed around the school was great for our pupils’ self-esteem and sense of ownership of the art work.

Our pupils also enjoyed trips to galleries, and visits from local artists this year. This has extended their understanding of different genres of art as well as being valuable sources of inspiration. We continue to be an ambitious department with high expectations for our pupils. They are given a breadth and depth of knowledge that will enable them to be successful beyond

Mowden. Above all, we want our pupils to unlock their talent; and have fun at the same time.

Mrs Buchanan MUSIC

The Music department has been busy this year, continuing to rebuild following the restrictions imposed during the pandemic. Much more emphasis has been placed on ensemble performing, developed by a growing number of committed peripatetic music teachers. Regular congregational practices have brought the whole school together and the sound has, occasionally, been magnificent. The House Singing competition in October showed a range of musical styles, as well as the high standards we expect of the children.

The Concert Band has worked hard, performing ‘Mack the Knife’ and ‘Hawaii Five-0’, whilst the Orchestra has progressed more steadily in preparation for Speech Day. The Assembly and Church Bands have definitely improved in quality over the course of the year, resulting from confidence in reading and from close teamwork under extreme pressure. There has been increased interest in forming Rock Groups. Years 6 and 7 have both well established bands; Year 5 are desperate to get started, and they will, in September.

Creative Workshops have been popular throughout the year, featuring performances

from across the age and ability range. While we strive for quality, we never forget that beginners need the opportunity to experience the thrill of performing live. This, we hope, motivates all our pupils to study an instrument, an opportunity that we are uniquely in a position to offer.

We returned to church this year for our Remembrance Service, and our service at Hexham Abbey was calm and reflective. The Choirs sang well and Mr Lord provided the exciting trumpet descants.

As we reach the end of another year it is sad that we will be losing some excellent musicians, however, there are a growing number of young instrumentalists coming through the ranks and they will drive music forward over the coming years.

Mr Fowlds

DRAMA

Here at Mowden, we value the opportunity to imagine, engage and explore. Treading the boards in their own year group plays gives students the chance to do just that and really instils the idea that ‘the show must go on’, with each student fulfilling a role. In addition, students can participate in the Drama activity which runs on Friday afternoons, honing their acting skills through teamwork, scripts and devised scenes.

Since September, five shows have been performed by the Prep School in the theatre: no mean feat in a busy school

like ours. However, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Drama at Mowden was limited to the stage. In fact, our first performance came from the Librarians in September. In order to celebrate Roald Dahl Day, they dressed up as famous characters from his novels and delighted both PrePrep and Prep students during lunch by interacting in role, bringing the characters to life.

The second half of the Autumn term is a magical time of the school year when students are naturally excited by the upcoming festivities and so, it seemed fitting, for the Year 7s to choose A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens as their year group play. The production was put together in a little over three weeks and all students pulled together to make the programme, create artwork and props and learn their lines! Suitably spooky music and sound effects were provided by Mr Fowlds and Mr Smith to accompany the terrifying spectral visitors.

In the Spring Term, it has now become a tradition for Year 5 to write their own play. This year, they travelled to County Durham to learn about the origins of the folktale, ‘The Lambton Worm’. Working collaboratively in English class, they devised the script and went about rehearsing for a performance in March. The cast delighted the audience with their storytelling abilities, interspersed with the song ‘The Ballad of the Lambton Worm’ sung in North East dialect.

As part of our school celebrations of World Book

Day, the Librarians once again went above and beyond, devising a brilliantly thought out murder mystery. Each student represented a genre of book and each day a new piece of the puzzle was revealed to the school body. This took the form of live performance and recorded performances which could be watched on screen in the main foyer. This truly engaged the school community and had everyone talking about which genre the murderer could actually be! In the end, it was Johnny!

The final performance of the Spring Term was delivered by Year 6 who performed their own abridged version of ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare. For the final time, the Librarians helped to create an interest in the play by performing as Elizabethan town criers. This was accompanied by a special Shakespearean banquet in the dining hall. In preparation for their performance, Year 6 studied the themes and plot of the play in class and even held their own stagefighting workshops based on those delivered by the RSC. The performance was certainly atmospheric with the stage mainly bathed in green or red lighting. Much of the movement was choreographed, producing a stylised piece. With the arrival of summer and the bright nights, came the opportunity to have a little fun. In May, Years 3 and 4 delighted their audience with an upbeat version of ‘The Jungle Book’.

The students relished the opportunity to dress in full animal costumes and even created their own jungle soundscape to accompany their performance. It was a joy to see the children truly enjoying themselves on stage and singing the classic songs from the much loved Disney film.

Finally, it was time to write, rehearse and deliver the highly-anticipated Leavers’ Play, an annual tradition at Mowden which sees our oldest pupils take to the stage for the final time before moving on to their senior schools. The students wanted to write a reunion play with a

difference, and so, inspired by the Murder Mystery week earlier in the year, decided to write their own entitled ‘Murder on the Tynedale Express’. The script was adventurous and of course, the performance was,tongue in cheek and thoroughly enjoyed by all.

As this report proves, the staff and the children have worked together to bring the page to life and my heartfelt thanks go out to everyone involved in making this happen. From Miss Thompson and Mrs Buchanan (props) to Mr Hartley (technical support) to Miss Serbrock and Miss Hunter who together ensure

the make up is spot on. The English Department willingly devotes time to the delivery and development of skills and, of course, wherever possible, most plays are accompanied by a musical score written by Mr Fowlds and performed by the children themselves, with support from Mrs Barnes and Mr Smith who also assists with sound effects. Teamwork is a given at Mowden. We are a community in every sense of the word.

Mrs Phillipson

I hope you all have a restful and peaceful Summer break.

Kate Martin, Head

Speech Day Prizes

ACADEMIC PROGRESS PRIZE (Trophy)

David I INTERHOUSE ACADEMIC CHALLENGE (Trophy)

Bewick House

ENGLISH PROGRESS PRIZE (Trophy)

Johnny N

BAINBRIDGE

DRAMA CUP (Trophy)

Johnny N

CARPENTER LATIN CUP (Trophy)

Henry O

ENGLISH CREATIVE WRITING PRIZE (Trophy)

HAMPTON ENGLISH CUP for excellence (Trophy)

Isla SK

Ted P THE GOODENOUGH MATHS CUP (Trophy)

DRAMA PROGRESS CUP (Trophy)

Freddie L

CLASSICAL CIVILISATION (Trophy)

Johnny N

George F

The PARKER LAMDA PROGRESS CUP (Trophy)

Henry C

MACGILVRAY HISTORY CUP (Trophy)

Ted P

THE DUFF FAMILY PROGRESS IN READING CUP (Trophy)

Bridie H

THE WOOD CUP FOR PROGRESS IN MATHEMATICS (Trophy)

Sophie L

PARKER FRENCH CUP (Trophy)

Thomas G

THE HOY READING CUP (Trophy)

Evie D

DRAMA PRIZE (book token)

Ella P

MARGARET GRAHAM MEMORIAL FRENCH CUP (Trophy)

George F

THE CHURTON SCIENCE CUP (Trophy)

Henry C

MORLEY ART CUP (Trophy)

Serena H

PE PRIZE (book token)

Molly F

THE SMITH COLTS PROGRESS CRICKET QUAICH (Trophy)

Findley M

MOFFITT SENIOR SWIMMING CUP (Trophy)

Oscar U

TACKLING CUP (Trophy)

Ted M

BROWN HOCKEY SHIELD (Trophy) Junior Alice G

ATHLETICS CUP (Trophy)

Senior boys

Leonardo dS

CONYNGHAMGREENE MUSIC CUP (Trophy) (Best brass player)

Ted M

PERCUSSION PRIZE (book token)

Henry O

THE FAIRFAX PHYSICS TROPHY (Trophy)

Thomas G

JUNIOR ART PRIZE (book token)

Martha W

NETBALL CUP (Trophy)

Frances W

BARRAT HOCKEY CUP (Trophy)

Sophie L

STRAKER JUNIOR (Swimming) CUP (Trophy)

Hugo P

FARROW COLTS RUGBY CUP (Trophy)

Ronald L

PERCY HOCKEY AND TENNIS PLATE (Trophy) Olly W

BAILEY ALL ROUNDER CUP FOR BOYS (Sport) (Trophy)

Oscar U

JUNIOR BRASS TROPHY (Brass Prize) (Trophy)

Arthur R

ACADEMIC MUSIC PRIZE (book token)

Amelia B

THE WOOD BIOLOGY CUP (Trophy)

Evie D

MCCRAKEN GARDENING CUP (Trophy)

James E

MCKAY JUNIOR NETBALL CUP (Trophy)

India J

MURRAY-ALSTON SWIMMING (Trophy) (Best in School)

Ella P

OUTDOOR ED CUP

Martha C

KICKING CUP FOR RUGBY (Trophy)

Olly W

HERD ATHLETICS CUP (Trophy)

Junior

Annie Rose L

BLYTH ALL ROUNDER CUP FOR GIRLS (Sport) (Trophy)

THE PERCY CHEMISTRY CUP (Trophy)

Isla SK

GAMES PROGRESS PRIZE (Girls) (Trophy)

Martha C

MOWDEN HALL FOOTBALL CUP (Trophy)

Leonardo dS

STRAKER INTERMEDIATE (Swimming) CUP (Trophy)

Sadie M

EQUESTRIAN CUP

Martha C

HARRIS BATTING CUP (Trophy)

Hugo O

INTERMEDIATE GIRLS ATHLETICS (Trophy)

Martha W

Sophie L THE STOREY WOODWIND SHIELD (Best Woodwind) (Trophy)

MOWDEN MUSIC CUP (Trophy) (Contribution to Music)

Abigail B

PROGRESS IN CHOIR PRIZE (book token)

Ted P

Savansha K

STRINGS PRIZE (book token)

Bridie H

COMPUTING CUP (Trophy)

Johnny N

GAMES PROGRESS PRIZE (Boys) (Trophy)

Thomas G

LISTER BOWLING CUP (Trophy)

Rohaan V

SWIMMING PROGRESS CUP (Trophy)

Isla O

SAVAGE CUP (Rugby) (Trophy)

Oscar U

ROUNDERS CUP (Trophy)

Senior Amelia B

ANDERSON ATHLETICS CUP (Trophy)

Senior girls

Frances W

CHORISTER SHIELD (Best Vocalist) (Trophy)

Hettie F

PIANO PRIZE (book token)

Hugo O

MUSIC THEORY PRIZE (book token)

Amelia B WOODWIND PRIZE (book token)

Henry C

THE DUNCAN GEOGRAPHY CUP (Trophy)

Savansha K

THE RPE CUP (Trophy)

Freddie L

SINGING PRIZE (book token)

Alba L WRAITH MUSIC CUP (Best string player) (Trophy)

Amelia B

MINNS MUSIC CUP (Best Piano/ Percussion) (Trophy)

Matilda F

HOUSE CAPTAIN’S CUP (Trophy)

Henry O

The Royds Award for Voluntary, Charitable and Community Service.

Louis G

The Blackett Ord Festing Trophy - A strong contributor to many areas of School life

James E

STEPHEN EASTEN CUP - A child who is viewed as particularly loyal, shows integrity and is helpful and welcoming to others

Johnny N

HARDY QUAICH Trophy - A strong contributor to many areas of School life

Serena H

BELL CHARACTER CUP - A child who is a superb role model to younger children

Savansha K

BELL IRVING ALL ROUNDER CUP - A child who has shone through in many areas. A child that, through their generosity of spirit, their willingness, their loyalty and their personality is an example to all

Thomas G

MOWDEN HALL TENNIS FINALS

U9 Singles - Annie Rose L

U9 Doubles - Oscar D & Reuben MT

U11 Boys Singles - Ronald L

U11 Girls Singles - Alice G

U11 Boys Doubles - Ben S & Bertie D

U11 Girls Doubles - Sadie M & India J

U13 Boys Singles - Henry O

U13 Girls Singles - Edie M

U13 Boys Doubles - Olly Windham & Leo de S

U13 Girls Doubles - Edie M & Emma J

Staff Leavers

Mrs. Anjum-Flynn, Pre-Prep Teaching Assistant Miss Flynn, now Mrs Anjum-Flynn is moving on to a new career as a Child Psychotherapist. We wish her all the very best for the future, and thank her for all she has done for the children in her care.

Mrs Knight

Rebecca Woods, Year 1 Teacher

I am very sad to be giving a farewell speech to Becca, after only one year. But my, what an impression she has made!

I remember her interview online from Hong Kong and her excellent interview lesson where she had learnt how to use Google overnight, had to wake up at a very unsocial hour, had to cope when the video was not working and remained a calm, serene smiling face on the screen.

We now know this is how she is all the time, nothing fazes her, she never flaps and always looks completely happy and in control of all that is going on around her like a regal swan, even if her legs are flapping out of control beneath her!

Becca has been an inspirational teacher to the Year 1 children and a great member of the Pre Prep team. She can turn her hand to anything and has a very caring approach to staff, families and children.

She is a great colleague and quickly has become a friend to many, with a cracking sense of fun and a brilliant sense of humour.

We won’t forget you and wish you lots of luck with your new position at St Peter’s in Gateshead, please stay in touch and continue to be our brilliant social events organiser!

Mrs Knight

Denise Condren, SEN Lead

Denise has been an energetic and adaptable supply teacher, working in every classroom in the Pre Prep and even spending time transforming the pavilion into a classroom during Covid. Never has she said she won’t change her plans to fit in with Mowden and her flexibility and positivity in providing solutions to problems has been of great support and professionalism to us all.

We have all been fortunate to benefit from her years of experience, working in a variety of schools and settings, and appreciate her fantastically positive impact on the lives of many children, their families as well as colleagues in ways they will remember for the rest of their lives.

She has always shown tireless enthusiasm for supporting and directing the children’s learning, hooking even the most reluctant child to wonder and dream. Her mantra, ‘If it is worth doing, it is worth doing well.’ is one all of us can learn from.

Her ability to see each child as a unique person and to encourage their talents and strengths is superb. The empathy and compassion she shows in seeing the best in each unique character and her determination to support their learning are superb.

We tease her for her fussiness with writing copious notes, her continuous use of long words associated with pedagogy, which I always need translating and her inexhaustible suggestions to help each child access the curriculum fairly. Try this…

She teaches the entire child, building confidence and self-esteem and works with an endlessly caring heart, with respect for all children, families and colleagues. Her kindness, compassion and sound advice have lit up our school.

Over the 20 years I have known her, she has been an absolute tower of strength and support on a daily basis and she will be sorely missed by us all at Mowden. We wish you all the very best for the next part of your life’s adventure.

Mrs Knight

Ailish Campbell, Residential Teaching Assistant

Ailish, or to the children Miss Campbell, Miss C, Miss Cannonbolt, Miss Campbellllllll, I want to thank you for all your hard work and dedication over the last 9 months. I have really enjoyed working with you and appreciate all of your help in lessons with Year 4. You have built up lovely relationships with all the children, not just in Year 4. You have also been involved in so many areas of school life; choir, concert band, boarding weekends and many school trips. Nicki and I wanted to say a special thank you with regards to the Years 3 and 4 Jungle Book Play. Your support with the script writing, costumes and stage direction was a huge help, and we could not have done it without you.

I asked the children in Year 4 to write thank you notes to you for today, here are a few.

Thank you for helping me with my tricky Maths questions.

Thank you for helping me with my spellings in English. Thank you for playing Rugby with Oscar and I at break.

Thank you for helping me with all my work in lessons. Thank you for guiding me on my way through my school year.

Thank you for helping me with everything and making learning FUN.

Thank you for giving us amazing singing and piano work in Music.

Thank you for helping me when I get stuck. Thank you for helping me learn my lines for the Play. Thank you for the amazing face paint for the Play. Thank you for reminding me of those things that I always forget - Rory!

Thank you for playing tennis with me at break times and during Prep.

We are going to miss you and wish you all the success at your new school, Cobham Hall. Please keep in touch and come back and visit us soon.

Mrs Whittle

Mrs Penny Kay

We say goodbye to Mrs Penny Kay, who retires after some twenty years at Mowden. Penny arrived at Mowden as Head of Pre-Prep, after a successful career in South Africa. Since then she has also been a teacher in the Prep School and most recently served as Assistant Head Pastoral. Her care for, and dedication to the children is integral to everything Penny does. Their needs are placed at the forefront of every decision she makes, and she provides the wisest of counsel to all. For her, teaching has undoubtedly been a vocation, and I know so many of us will consider ourselves lucky to have worked alongside her. She is compassionate, empathetic and caring, but also wholly sensible and not one to involve herself in either drama or nonsense. When I first became Head, I sent every weekly update to her before sharing with anyone else. I knew the advice she gave me would be the right advice, given with honesty and integrity. Penny is one of those special teachers, who really ‘gets’ children, and I am so pleased she finished her career in the pastoral role she was clearly born to do. I know I speak for all when I wish Penny the very best for her retirement, but I know she will stay in touch with her Mowden family. Penny has shared a few words of her own: I have loved my time at Mowden, and will be forever grateful to everyone who has played a part in it. I feel I have come full circle, as my first term here saw me turning 40 and having a full school inspection within weeks, my last term sees me turning 60 and ending with a full school inspection!

Along the way I have been lucky enough to meet extraordinary people, and have made so many friends while doing a job that I love. If asked the question, would you do it all over again?

My answer would be a resounding, Yes!

I leave Mowden with a happy heart knowing it is thriving, and in safe hands. Thank you for the love, loyalty, support and fun, I have truly been blessed. Mrs Kate Martin

Nursery

We have had so much fun in Nursery this year! Beginning with the Autumn Term, our first topic was ‘All About Me’ where the children developed the confidence to talk about their home lives and share their experiences. We had a few new additions to our class during the Autumn Term, as well as Mrs Victoria Bulman joining us as a teaching assistant.

We then moved on to our next topic, ‘Traditional Tales’, where the children engaged with lots of stories to develop their language and vocabulary. We retold some of the stories and the children loved getting into character. ‘The Little Red Hen’ was the focus of our first class assembly and the story was told brilliantly. We really enjoyed sharing our work with parents.

During the Spring term, we welcomed another set of new children into Nursery and we began learning all about

farms. We were very excited about this as it meant it was time for our first school trip of the year! We visited Hall Hill Farm and saw a range of different farm animals, as well as petting small animals such as rabbits and guinea pigs. The children learned lots of interesting things about the animals including the environment they like to live in and what they like to eat. We enjoyed reading lots of stories about farm animals such as ‘What The Ladybird Heard’ by Julia Donaldson.

During the second half term, we moved on to learning all about the four seasons. We began with a ‘spring hunt’ to find signs of spring, such as blossom, seedlings, lambs and nests. We learned that some countries are cold all year round, and we really enjoyed exploring the frozen playground when the temperature dropped. World Book Day 2023 also

took place during the Spring Term, and we had lots of fun dressing up as our favourite book characters.

The Summer Term came around very quickly! Our first topic was ‘Growing’ where we began learning all about life cycles, including the frog and the butterfly. The children were fascinated to see these changes happening first hand, as we kept some frogspawn and caterpillars in the classroom. Once the frogs and butterflies had emerged, we said farewell and set them free. It was amazing to see the process. We then moved on to learning all about what seeds need to grow, and the children demonstrated their knowledge of this in our Summer Term Celebration of Work Assembly. They also enjoyed planting their own seeds and looking after them.

As this is my final half term teaching the Nursery children, I wanted to make it a special one, ensuring we made some more great memories together. We discovered ‘The World Around Us’ by doing lots of exploring. We started by studying minibeasts - the children had a lot of fun hunting for bugs and putting them in our ‘Bug Hotel’. We then moved on to learning about sea creatures, where the children spent their free time doing more research and asking purposeful questions. They showed great interest and curiosity which was lovely to see.

We have had a super year in Nursery. The progress they have made both socially and academically has been wonderful to see. The Nursery children are now ready to begin their journey into Reception.

Miss Pemberton

Reception

We have had a wonderful year in Reception, growing in confidence and developing our inquisitive nature through asking questions about the world around us.

September saw twenty children starting in Reception and enjoying using all the facilities we have at school. Our first topic was ‘In the Woods’ which allowed for lots of outdoor exploration. We took part in a nature week where we had a calming gong session in the woods and went on a number scavenger hunt. As part of our topic we visited The Seven Stories, where the children learned about the seasons and wrote acrostic poems in groups.

Our next topic was ‘Once Upon a Time.’ This encouraged lots of retelling of stories, using puppets and masks. We learnt about nocturnal animals and built houses like the Three Little Pigs. As part of our R.P.E. Mrs Chattree visited

and gave a very interesting talk about Diwali.

The topic for Spring term was ‘Our Wonderful World.’

We began by thinking about cold places and learned all about the Poles. We used the story ‘Lost and Found’ as a stimulus for our Literacy work. We compared Africa to England and retold the story of Handa’s Surprise in our Spring Term class assembly. We then moved on to look at volcanoes, which the children were fascinated by. The volcano experiment was a favourite activity, which I believe has been repeated in many kitchens since!

In Art we learnt about sculpture. As part of this we visited the Angel of the North and sketched it, before making clay and junk model angels.

The summer term began with a focus on the book ‘Bee and Me’ and we discovered how important bees are to

our world. We then moved on to learn about dinosaurs and visited the Great North Museum, where we took part in a fantastic workshop all about dinosaurs. We became astronauts and explored space.

We then moved onto the topic ‘Not All Superheroes Wear Capes.’ We were lucky enough to have visits from a number of parents who told us about being doctors and police. Our last trip of the year saw us visit Cullercoats Lifeboat Station and learn how they keep us safe in the sea and along our coastline.

As the end of the school year approaches it is wonderful to reflect on the progress the children have made. They are confident, happy and inquisitive and ready to take the next steps on their learning journey. We wish them all the best in Year One.

Miss Sophie Milburn & Mrs Tessa Fairclough

Year One

We commenced the Autumn term by focusing on the uniqueness of each child and getting to know each other as a class. We found out our likes and dislikes and made strong bonds that have lasted the year. Together, we created our ‘Class Promise’ that embodied our values and established the guiding principles for the upcoming year. During our English lessons, we thoroughly immersed ourselves in the enchanting tale of Little Red Riding Hood. Our focus centred on the story’s characters, and we immensely enjoyed engaging in role play to generate dialogues and sentences. We even had a surprise visit from Little Red herself.

Our learning in history delved into Victorian life and looked at the concept of past and present. From this, we took part in our first trip as a class to Beamish Museum.

The children took part in a Victorian classroom workshop where they impressed everyone with their willingness to participate and their exemplary behaviour.

In the realm of Science, we actively sought signs of Autumn and ventured into our picturesque school grounds to explore the ever-changing season.

One of the highlights of this term was our visit to St James’ Church to celebrate the Harvest Festival. The words to our rap, Cauliflowers Fluffy, are still well remembered today. We concluded the term with an enthusiastic performance of the Nativity, ‘A Little Bird Told Me’ leaving everybody in the festive spirit. We started the Spring term with a topic on famous journeys. The children were incredibly inquisitive when learning about Sheckleton’s

Endurance expedition and the sinking of the Titanic. We explored many sources which encouraged the children’s curiosity. Towards the end of term we learned all about castles. Part of the topic required the children to build their own 3D castles from paper and they were careful to include the main features of a castle in their structures.

In English, we explored poetry and created some incredibly creative number poems. We enjoyed learning about addition and subtraction in Maths and began to develop our mental maths skills as well as using resources to support our calculations. Another highlight was ‘World Book Day’ when we dressed as our favourite book character. It is always a fun, colourful, book-rich day!

We began the Summer term with a trip to Alnwick Castle. We learned how to be a knight, speak politely to a Duchess and created our own decorative tiles, a lovely keepsake of the day. During the term, we turned our attention to a local hero, Grace Darling. Inspired by our newfound fascination with the coast, the children unleashed their creativity by painting watercolour depictions of lighthouses. This learning inspired our trip to the Grace Darling museum and Bamburgh Beach. The experience proved to be a highlight of the year, where the children impressed everyone they met with their historical knowledge and cheerful

we delved into the world of British seas, coastlines, and beaches. During our memorable trip to Bamburgh Beach, we not only enjoyed the scenic beauty but also discerned the distinguishing human and physical features of the area.

Among the many cherished moments, one particular trip stood out - the muchanticipated Weardale Adventure Centre. Immersed in the tranquillity of nature, we spent two days exploring the local area, taking part in team building activities and facing new challenges. Not even torrential rain could dampen our spirits. The collaboration and bond of the children was clear through the

entire trip and I know it will be remembered for a long time. As we reflect upon our journey, we are filled with a profound sense of accomplishment and happiness. This actionpacked year has been an extraordinary fusion of diligent work, continued learning, and countless moments of pure enjoyment.

Miss Woods

The Mowdenian 2022

Year Two

We started the year with a wonderful Woodland Week with all areas of the curriculum taking place outside. In History, we spent time investigating Guy Fawkes and The Gunpowder Plot, cementing our understanding by dressing up and re-enacting the story.

In Science, we explored our surroundings, looking closely at and comparing various habitats and microhabitats.

In RPE we looked at Jesus’ parables and the messages these convey. In Geography, the children studied Kenya and the Maasai tribe in detail. Learning about their traditions and cultures helped us with our understanding of diversity.

The Christmas entertainment was great fun to be part of, with a fabulous show finishing off the term.

China was our Geography focus in the Spring term, with a wonderful celebration of traditions and culture taking place on the Lunar

New Year, with a fabulous Chinese banquet. We listened, wrote and acted out poems, celebrated World Book Day and embraced our readingfor-pleasure ethos fully.

Researching famous explorers culminated in the children giving fabulous presentations about a vast range of different explorers through history.

Learning about growth and shared characteristics between humans and animals was a fascinating Science topic.

We have had a super Summer Term! The children have grown various plants in Science and studied calculating different measurements in Maths.

As budding historians, we were excited to learn about The Great Fire of London. In Geography we learnt all about continents and oceans. We celebrated the Coronation and wrote letters to HRH.

A residential trip to the Weardale Activity Centre was

a brilliant opportunity for us to learn independence, how to work as a team and develop our perseverance and use of initiative.

Another highlight of this term was our overnight camp at school. The children strengthened their friendships, worked on their teamwork skills, and celebrated their time together at the end of a fantastic journey in Pre Prep.

A full range of extracurricular clubs enhanced our busy day and parents have enjoyed taking part in their children’s celebration of work each term.

Year Two has stepped up to the challenge of being the oldest children in the Pre Prep. They have been fantastic role models for the younger children, taken responsibility maturely and been a fabulous class to teach! I wish them all well for the next stage of their adventure!

Mrs Knight

The Mowdenian 2022 / 2023

The Mowdenian 2022 / 2023

Inter-House Tug of War

Bewick

It was a real honour and pleasure to be Head of Bewick this year. We were all sad to see Mrs Wood leave, and I definitely felt the pressure of following the excellent job that she had done as Head of our house. Especially as we ended last academic year as overall champions of the House Cup. I would like to thank her for leaving Bewick in such good shape.

I could not have managed without the support of the rest of the staff members of Bewick, and I would like to thank Mrs Hadfield, Mrs Henry, Mrs Johnson, Mrs Buchanan and Mr Wainwright for all their help and guidance over the course of the School year.

Our House Captains this year were Thomas G and Serena H and they did a brilliant job of

leading their fellow members of Bewick. They were friendly and welcoming to the new children and always very well organised when there were things to arrange. Both of them helped make being Head of House just that little bit easier.

In terms of House competitions, it was a mixed year for Bewick. The Autumn Term was not our best, as we were unable to win any of the competitions. However things improved over the Spring and Summer Terms, as we won the Accelerated Reader challenge for both terms, the most Merit Points in the Spring Term, and both the most House Points and the Academic Challenge in the Summer Terms. The latter of these was particularly pleasing, as it was the inaugural competition and had taken some considerable

Stephenson

time to compile all of the questions.

As usual, the year finished with the House Barbecues and a chance for all of the members of Bewick to spend some time together having fun and reflecting on the year. This is, I think, when Bewick really comes to its own. Winning competitions and awarding House Colours is very pleasing, but Bewick House is all about the friendship and support that each member of the House shows each other, whether that be during sporting and academic competitions or on a daily basis at lunch. To me, this is what really matters and I know that those bonds will continue for years to come.

Mr Townley

This year Bridie and Henry C were the joint house Captains for Stephenson. These two showed their helpfulness from the start and helped to encourage the children in the House to get involved in the House competitions. They typed up the House waiting lists at the start of the year. The Autumn Term saw seven competitions up for grabs for the Houses, including the merits and house points. Stephenson won the House Singing two years in a row with a rendition of ‘Something Just Like This’. We also won the Merits and Maths competitions. It’s not just about how many first places but how we finished in the lower placings which affects our overall result. Stephenson finished joint first overall this term.

The Spring Term saw ten House events to go for and Stephenson won the Senior Netball, the Maths and the Murder Mystery. Our lower placings were good in the other events and we came out first overall for the term which placed us well to win overall for the year.

In the Summer Term, there were nine events and this included theTug of War and Sports Day. We won the Swimming Gala and the History competition, Overall, the House finished a close second this term behind Grey. However, we won overall for the year from Grey second which was an outstanding result for the House. .

Many thanks this year to the staff who were there to support the House. We bid a farewell to our Year 8 Leavers - Bridie and Henry of course, plus Freddie, Ella, Frances and George F. They have been a good group and I wish them every success for the future in their new schools. We hope to compete as well as we can next academic year in all of the House competitions and try to maintain our winning position.

Mr Hill

Collingwood

What a year it has been for Collingwood House. House Captains Johnny and Evie, worked hard to support each other in leading Collingwood. Once again, we had a range of activities across the year. Something for all members of the house to enjoy. Johnny was particularly good at helping to get the younger children energised and enthusiastic for all our endeavours, even the tough ones! Edie was a good manager, organising the children at lunches and making sure everyone was where they needed to be at the right times.

We started out strong out of the blocks in the Autumn Term, facing academic and sporting challenges alike. We smashed the competition within the academic elements, winning House History, Music Millionnaire and Accelerated Reader, as well as coming out top in house points collected. Unfortunately, despite displaying great solos and harmonious ensembles during our rendition of ‘The Circle of Life’ from The Lion King, we came third and this cost us some vital points. All in all, we had started the first term well and as the House totals were read out during final assembly, the children waited with baited breath! As two other houses were both named already, we thought that perhaps we may win outright for the Autumn Term, but alas that was not to be, instead sharing the plaudits with Stephenson.

As the Spring Term began, we had work to do to separate ourselves at the top of the pack. We took part in 10 competitions, all within a very short term. We, once again, performed to a high standard in House Maths and Accelerated Reader, but clearly the other houses had rallied hard, and weren’t able to win these this time around. We still topped the Music Millionaire and House Point totals, and retained our title as Egg dropping ‘eggsperts’, but other events that we didn’t score as highly in certainly had an adverse effect on our totals, as we finished last in the Spring Term.

As the Summer Term began, we definitely had work to do. We were keen to compete, but our athletic prowess was found wanting when taking part in the Swimming and Tug of War competitions. We had some great results on Sports Day, coming away with a slew of medals, but it just wasn’t to be our year as we missed out

Grey

As we reflect on the conclusion of yet another academic year, it is with great pride and fond memories that we share the achievements and highlights from the past months at Grey House.

on some vital results in the higher scoring competitions that ended up with us finishing the Summer Term in last place. This didn’t dampen our spirits as we made sure to make the most of our House BBQ, playing some great games and setting the tone as the best dancing house as usual!

In a contest that saw us peak a little too soon, our final result was fourth overall. Some great performances by all members of Collingwood House, but still room for improvement next year. We look forward to welcoming our new captains, and working hard to strive for better results in the high scoring competitions.

Many thanks to the Collingwood members of staff- Mrs Ball, Mr Fowlds, Mrs Condren, Mrs Weir and Miss Canter, as they have been a great support when planning events and encouraging our pupils.

Mr Hartley

Commencing the academic year, we welcomed our new Year 3 students, including Henry W and M, followed by Rafe B and Mary D later in the year. The stewardship of our House Captains, Henry O and Savansha K, was commendable. They adeptly organized their respective groups, extending warm welcomes to our new additions.

During the Autumn Term, we participated in the House Singing Competition, presenting ABBA’s “SOS” with remarkable skill, earning us a

well-deserved second place. Additionally, our notable achievements included securing second place in the Accelerated Reader word count and house points. This placed us in third position for the term, setting the stage for improvement.

Moving into the Spring Term, we celebrated victories in various events, such as the Senior Mixed Hockey competition, the whole school Maths Day, and the History competition. Our notable accomplishments in the Murder Mystery competition and Accelerated Reader word count led to a secondplace finish for the term—a significant improvement from the previous term.

In the final term, we reveled in the success of Sports Day,

House Swimming Tug o’ War, and House BBQs. Emerging victorious in Sports Day and Tug o’ War for the second consecutive year, along with a close second in the House Swimming Competition, contributed to a triumphant term. As the term concluded, our House secured first place, capping off a highly successful season. When combining the results from each term, we achieved a commendable second place overall, with Stephenson taking the top spot.

To our departing Year 8 students, we bid you a heartfelt farewell and wish you the best of luck in your new schools. A special appreciation goes to our outstanding House Captains, Henry and Savansha, with a notable mention to Henry for winning the House Captains Cup at Speech Day. Looking ahead, we eagerly anticipate the leadership of our new House Captains, Ted M and Lotte S, in the coming year. Our gratitude extends to Mrs. Phillipson, Mr. Lamb, Mrs. Scott, Mr. Smith, and Mrs. Atkinson for their invaluable contributions throughout the year. Your support has been instrumental in our collective success.

Here at Mowden, we value the opportunity to imagine, engage and explore. Treading the boards in their own year group plays gives students the chance to do just that and really instils the idea that ‘the show must go on’, with each student fulfilling a role. In addition, students can participate in the Drama Activity which runs on Friday afternoons, honing their acting skills through teamwork,

like ours. However, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Drama at Mowden was limited to the stage. In fact, our first performance came from the Librarians in September.

In order to celebrate Roald Dahl Day, they dressed up as famous characters from his novels and delighted both PrePrep and Prep students during lunch by interacting in role, bringing the characters to life.

The second half of the Autumn term is a magical time of the school year when students are naturally excited

by the upcoming festivities and so, it seemed fitting, for the Year 7’s to choose A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens as their year group play. The production was put together in a little over three weeks and all students pulled together to make the programme, create artwork and props and learn their lines! The protagonist was ably played by George Rodger who delighted us

Drama Drama

with Ebenezer Scrooge’s curmudgeonly ways. Suitably spooky music and sound effects were provided by Mr Fowlds and Mr Smith to accompany the terrifying spectral visitors.

In the Spring Term, it has now become a tradition for Year 5 to write their own play. This year, they travelled to County Durham to learn about the origins of the folktale, ‘The Lambton Worm’. Working collaboratively in English class, they devised the script and went about rehearsing for a performance in March. The part of John Lambton, the protagonist, was shared between Louis Gabriel and Arthur Rodger. The cast delighted the audience with their storytelling abilities, interspersed with the song ‘The Ballad of the Lambton Worm’ sung in North East dialect.

As part of our school celebrations of World Book Day, the Librarians once

again went above and beyond, devising a brilliantly thought out murder mystery. Each student represented a genre of book and each day a new piece of the puzzle was revealed to the school body. This took the form of live performance and recorded performances which could be watched on screen in the main foyer. This truly engaged the school community and had everyone talking about which genre the murderer could actually be! In the end, it was Johnny Newcombe!

The final performance of the Spring Term was delivered by Year 6 who performed their own abridged version of ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare. For the final time, the Librarians helped to create an interest in the play by performing as Elizabethan town criers. This was accompanied by a special Shakespearean banquet in the dining hall. In preparation for their performance, Year 6 studied the themes and plot of the play in class and even held their own stage-fighting workshops based on those delivered by the RSC. The performance was certainly atmospheric with the stage mainly bathed in green or red lighting. Much of the movement was choreographed, producing a stylised piece. Our three resident Scots: Findley McGeachy, Bertie Duncan and Ben Sugden played the parts of Macbeth, Banquo and MacDuff, whilst the evil mastermind, Lady Macbeth, was left to the capable hands of Selena French.

With the arrival of summer and the bright nights, came the opportunity to have a little fun. In May, Years 3 and 4 delighted their audience with an upbeat version of ‘The Jungle Book’ and the lead role, Mowgli, was played by Hazell Harrison. The students relished the opportunity to dress in full animal costumes and even

Drama

created their own jungle soundscape to accompany their performance. It was a joy to see the children truly enjoying themselves on stage and singing the classic songs from the much loved Disney film.

Finally, it was time to write, rehearse and deliver the highly-anticipated Leavers’ Play, an annual tradition at Mowden which sees our oldest pupils take to the stage for the final time before moving on to their senior schools. The students wanted to write a reunion play with a difference, and so, inspired by the Murder Mystery week earlier in the year, decided to write their own entitled ‘Murder on the Tynedale Express’. The script was adventurous and of course, the performance was tongue in cheek and thoroughly enjoyed by all.

As this report proves, the staff and the children have worked together to bring the page to life and my heartfelt thanks go out to everyone involved in making this happen. From Miss Thompson and Mrs Buchanan (props) to Mr Hartley (technical support) to Miss Serbrock and Miss Hunter who together ensure the make up is spot on. The English Department willingly devotes time to the delivery and development of skills and, of course, wherever possible, most plays are accompanied by a musical score written by Mr Fowlds and performed by the children themselves, with support from Mrs Barnes and Mr Smith who also assists with sound effects. Teamwork is a given at Mowden. We are a community in every sense of the word.

Mrs Phillipson

I have thoroughly enjoyed being Head of Maths at Mowden Hall and 2022-2023 was a great year. I have high expectations, as do all the Maths teachers within the team. As a team we have worked well together, shared ideas and adapted how we deliver various topics based on the pupils in front of us.

I have loved visiting the PrePrep and seeing how they bring maths to life for our youngest learners through a play, a variety of handson activities and practical activities. A recent visit from Reception pupils to my classroom was full of wonder as they looked for numbers; as you can imagine there were many in my room as a space used solely for Maths teaching.

It is essential in Key Stage 1 that pupils develop curiosity and confidence when exploring numbers. This assists with their mental fluency and willingness to ‘have a go’ which has been a key part of my agenda since starting my role at Mowden. We must have the courage to have a go - we all learn from our mistakes no matter our age!

Within Prep School the pupils have frequently impressed me although I feel the effects of the Covid Years are still apparent. As a result, during 2023-2024 I have made the decision to pull away from our normal teaching curriculum to focus on arithmetic skills and numerical fluency and agility. Without these skills, moving forward becomes increasingly difficult for learners. It is essential, as teachers, that we address the needs of the pupils before us.

Number Day was great fun, never before have I seen so many t-shirts with algebra on them; a maths teacher’s dream! I love the fact that many of the pupils still wear them as part of their pyjamas to bed within the Boarding House. We will definitely be taking part again next year.

Some Year 5 and Year 6 pupils had a lovely visit to Newcastle School for Boys for an afternoon of mathematical problem solving. It was interesting to witness how different personalities responded to some really quite tricky maths problems and their ability to work as a team.

I was keen for Year 8 to work alongside our younger pupils and they spent some time over in Pre-Prep playing number games with some of our youngest learners. It is essential that we all experience fun with numbers.

We also held a great times table competition in a knockout style competition. I have to say some of our younger pupils certainly kept the older pupils on their toes.

Key takeaways for next year are an increased focus on times tables, arithmetic and number facts, more school trips and an even bigger and better NSPCC Number Day. I have also taken feedback from one pupil who has suggested that linking maths to food as much as possible would help their learning, I am working on it!

I look forward to continuing to work with you and your children next year.

Mrs Henry

Mowdenian

Mowdenian 2022 / 2023

The Mowdenian 2022 / 2023

A captivating journey through Earth's landscapes, people, places, and environments, forms the very foundation of our understanding of the world. It unravels the intricate tapestry of our planet and broadens our horizons, providing us with a profound sense of place in the grand scheme of existence. As the Royal Geographical Society eloquently puts it, ‘Geography is not just a subject; it's an education for life and for living’.

Within the Geography Department, we are passionate about helping children discover how the world works and how change, including our own actions, affects its fragile existence. We firmly believe in the importance of developing enquiring minds in children from an early age and through varied methods of teaching, children are encouraged to ask questions such as: Where is it? What is it like? How did it get like that? Who lives there? and How is it changing? Coupled with this, the children draw on their own personal experiences to bring more insight, interest and relevance to their studies. Children

are encouraged to think for themselves and to formulate opinions, building a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.

For our pupils, the study of Geography commences with globes and atlases, instilling in them a deep appreciation for their immediate surroundings and their connection to their nation, continent, and the vast world beyond. Geography is the compass guiding us in deciphering why settlements flourish where they do, how the world's resources are harnessed and transported, and the natural processes that shape our environment. At Mowden Hall, our Geography Department proudly emphasises both human and physical geography, fostering a holistic understanding of our world.

‘Learning through Geography’ is a cherished philosophy among our pupils. It empowers them to explore numerous captivating topics that illuminate the intricate dance between humanity and the environment. Many of our learners find the practical aspect of the subject particularly enriching. Moreover, Geography plays a pivotal role in nurturing the overall development of our students, with fieldwork being an essential 20% component of the Year 8 Common Entrance examinations.

In the spirit of ever-evolving knowledge and discovery, this year's Fieldwork Enquiry at Mowden Hall School looked at infiltration around our school grounds. Our Year 8 students embarked on an investigative journey to measure the rate at which water infiltrates into the soil at six locations, charting and analysing their findings. What made this challenging was deciphering the underlying factors that contributed to infiltration rates at each site.

In recognition of her contributions to the subject, this year's Geography prize was awarded to Savansha. Her determination, consistent commitment to excellence in both lessons and preps, and her unceasing curiosity in the field of Geography made her a shining star among her peers.

Indeed, Geography continues to be an integral part of our educational journey at Mowden Hall School. It opens the door to academic excellence and nurtures our understanding of the world we inhabit. With Mr. Paul Hill at the helm of our Geography Department, we embark on a journey of exploration and learning that knows no bounds.

As we delve into the everexpanding universe of geographical knowledge, we invite every child to seize the opportunities that Geography offers. Here at Mowden Hall School, we celebrate not only the pursuit of academic excellence but also the quest to unravel the mysteries of our world.

Mr Hill

The Mowdenian 2022 / 2023

The Mowdenian 2022 / 2023

I always enjoy writing about the boarding highlights of the year. I am able to reflect upon the fun we’ve had, the events we’ve experienced in our busy terms and the places we’ve been to share opportunities and build memories with our boarding community.

The Autumn term started off with a pool party and a trip to the beach - some very different air and water temperatures from both! We basked in the heat of the indoor pool on giant inflatable flamingos, rings, sharks and crocodiles whilst having races on them and playing water polo. Swimming costumes and trunks were washed and dried in time for the following day at the beach in much cooler temperatures. Does this ever put off a Mowdenian? Of course not! We were in that North Sea quicker than you could imagine! Hot chocolates and ice cream continued the weekend’s contrasting theme of hot and cold.

Boarding events are an opportunity for children to challenge themselves while also having fun. Learning new skills and developing confidence can often happen when children engage in different boarding activities. This is perhaps most prevalent when we visit Walby Farm. Walby Farm has one

of the most thrilling slides I have ever come across (even as an adult and believe me, I’m not the only adult to say this!) I’ve heard it called ‘The Death Slide’ as it is a sheer and steep drop from top to bottom. Watching the children inch their way closer and closer to the edge and pushing themselves to let go fills me with pride each time. Some master it, some don’t, but even sitting up there and looking down to consider it can be a huge step and a challenge of which I can be proud of them for facing. Of the group that went there this year mostly all of them found the determination and guts to have a go - well done to them all!

Our youngest boarders loved the Disney day we held for them. They came dressed as Princesses, Marvel characters, Winnie the Pooh, a Pilot, characters from ‘A Sharks Tale’ and so on! The staff all got involved too of course and Elsa, Snow White, The Mad Hatter, Dorothy, Jesse, Hannah Montana and Minnie Mouse all made an appearance. Snow White tragically ate one of the apples laid out at the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party (the apples had been freshly pressed to make apple juice) and she fell, dramatically, into a loooooong sleep! The children of course

Events & Activities

found this very amusing and laughed when she woke to the smell of the beautifully baked cupcakes with sugar mountain toppings - who could resist that?!

Our boarders also enjoyed a Neon Disco in brightly coloured clothing and face paint the following weekend. Painting was also the theme the following day at a Pottery decorating workshop where each of the boarders designed their own ceramic baubles for Christmas Trees.

Christmas at Mowden is always magical and the boarders finished the term by joining all their friends at the Mowden Christmas ball. A truly ‘Oscar worthy’ themed event.

Our Spring term boarding activities were less in number as so many of the children attended the amazing ski trip to Alpe D’Huez which incorporated two snowy, cold and exhilarating weekends in France. On return, the boarders were able to look forward to the rest of the terms activities.

We had pool parties with the giant inflatable where the children were challenged to run the distance on them to jump onto the final pillow before falling or getting bounced off! The jumping and leaping continued at ‘Airbox Bounce’ while other weekends saw the children battling it out in Laser Quest warehouses.

Our last two weekends of the Spring term included two of our favourite activities. For our more senior boarders,

The Mowdenian 2022 / 2023

The Mowdenian 2022 / 2023

The Mowdenian 2022 / 2023

Events & Activities

we ‘vamped up’ our game of ‘The Darkness’ and added extra scary music and costumes. This was such great fun, so much so, that we recreated it, by request, the following week. Both of these weekends also involved the very delicious visits to La Chocolatrice where the children designed and made their own chocolate bars while also learning how ‘flakes’ are made. After making them in a competition, they were added (in heaped piles!) to molten hot chocolate. Such a treat to end the term!

The Summer term began with a fun trip to the Metrocentre where, as we approached the Coronation of King Charles, our boarders were challenged to complete a ‘Royal’ themed scavenger style shop huntfinding shops which began with certain letters, which when rearranged, spelled out ‘King Charles’. They were then able to enjoy some free time shopping in small groups.

On separate weekends, different aged boarders had the opportunity to play ‘Bubble Football’ and ‘Goggle Football’. This was so much fun and hilarious to watch! The children were ‘wrapped’ in giant inflatable bubbles with just their legs free in order to try and kick the ball. If they collided with another player, they were both sent bouncing along the ground, sometimes up in the air

and back down (no injuries sustained of course with very soft and bouncy landings!)

‘Goggle Football’ involved wearing goggles which distorted the players vision making it very hard to find and kick the ball into the goal. There were many penalties missed in this game! As if all of this bouncing wasn’t enough, our children were also treated to a visit to Inflatespace, an inflatable park too.

Back in school, our very talented and wonderful catering team ran a pizza making workshop for us all. We were able to toss and shape our own dough (some into the shapes of kittens and Pikachu!) We chose as many of the delicious toppings we wanted that they had to offer to create our ultimate pizza. Again, there were some very creative ideas including some stuffed crusts, some face designs and an impromptu Calzone! We all had such a feast!

Our remaining weekends in school were spent in the amazing grounds we have. We had a summer style festival with braiding, face painting, tattoos, music and dancing as well as our traditional Mowden BBQ. We also played on the slippy slide, which we

well! Summer terms spent outdoors in our grounds are a perfect way to appreciate how fortunate we all are to have such a wonderful school with such amazing opportunities for fun, learning and making memories.

Evening activities this year have included silent discos, arts, crafts and make and do. We introduced ‘Mystery Thursdays’ where children sign up for an activity without knowing what it will be (pillow case designs, marshmallow toasting, bingo, spa sessions and pingpong pandemonium have been a few). We have also introduced an evening supper club where children get to prepare and cook their own meal, the Mexican meal has been one of the favourites.

There has been a growth of interest in Warhammer with some of the children developing their own evening activity and of course the popular wide game choices and ‘Gappie Games’ have also been well attended. We have a number of swimming clubs, one of which has included life saving techniques. The water fun continued with the slippy slide and the usual swimming fitness preparation sessions for Year 8 who complete the Great North Swim in the Summer term. The usual sports have also been on offer - dodgeball, benchball, basketball, cricket, football, rugby to name a few. These of course all just provide a snapshot of the activities and choices our children have

while boarding.

It’s been a fantastic year full of great opportunities for our boarders. Much recognition goes to those who support our fun, eventful weekends and evenings. Without the dedication and enthusiasm of the staff supporting our boarders, highlights such as these would not be the great success that they are. I would therefore like to thank wholeheartedly, our boarding duty staff, our Gap students, the fantastic catering team, the domestic staff, the maintenance and grounds staff and all others who ‘work behind the scene’ to look after us all so well.

Miss Serbrock

The Leavers’ Programme is a chance for our Year 8 pupils to look back on their time at Mowden, and to create lifelong memories with the friends that have shared their journey. It began, as always, with House BBQs and the opportunity to celebrate the end of their exams and let their hair down with the rest of the School.

Glorious sunshine, and a perfect lakeland day provided the backdrop to the first major event of the programme - the much anticipated; Great North Swim. The group had put in lots of hard work in the build up to the event, and that clearly paid off - judging by the time some of them got round the course in!

Mr Hill and Mrs Ball accompanied the group on a trip to Hartsop in the Lake District where they stayed in bunk barn type accommodation at the far end of Ullswater with beautiful views of the surrounding hills. Once the group was settled into the centre they

visited Aira Force for a walk around the waterfall areas. In the days that followed, the children experienced some super activities including, ghyll scrambling, hill walking and navigation, climbing and abseiling, team tasks and swimming in nearby Brothers’ Water. The pupils were put into 3 groups of 8 for the activities and they moved around the activities. The ghyll scrambling groups went with Mr Hill to two rivers - one in Langdale leading up to Stickle Tarn and one leading off from just above Coniston.

A busy day awaited them upon their return, as they carried on the water themed week, with a trip to the beach for a surf lesson at Longsands, Tynemouth. Despite being sandy and windswept, they then reported to Mrs Martin on the front lawn for the all important results! After celebrating one another's success, it was off to the Metrocentre for shopping and Pizza to toast their superb results!

The Leavers’ play, performed for the first time under directorial supervision of Mrs Philipson, was a highlight of the following week - as we saw a glimpse of the future, where our current crop of Year 8s will be in the coming years. A pretty frightening prospect for some!

The final week of term was a whirlwind of activities - roller coasters at Flamingoland, Paddleboarding and rock climbing with Alexander Adventures, learning to row with on the River Wear and finally two jam packed days at PGL to create memories to last a lifetime.

Special memories were created on the final weekend of term, at the black tie Leavers’ Dinner and speech day - a superb way to end their time at Mowden. We wish the class of 2023 the best of luck at their Senior Schools.

Mr Shaw-Kew

Chateau de Sauveterre

An unforgettable experience for the children who had the privilege of spending their time at Le Chateau de Sauveterre. The trip was far from ordinary, as it was filled with market trips, captivating extracurricular activities, and an immersive French language experience. The Chateau, nestled in the heart of picturesque surroundings, became the playground for our children along with the children from Kitebrook. Under the guidance of Madame Lauren Ponchant and her team, our children were not just looked after but were nurtured to become confident and independent,

ready to conquer every challenge and seize every opportunity that came their way.

One of the highlights was the chance to immerse themselves in the vibrant local culture. The children had the privilege of mingling with locals at bustling markets, where they not only discovered the richness of the region but the marketplaces came alive with colours, aromas, and the cheerful voices of both our children and the welcoming locals, creating an atmosphere of cultural exchange. The children sampled spicy cod balls to chocolate eclairs, along with traditional French cheese.

The children enjoyed refreshing swims in the on-site pool. The Chateau, with its splendid facilities, offered a haven of fun, where the children formed bonds, laughed, and created memories that will remain with them.

The children confirmed one of their favourite trips was an adrenaline-pumping experience of witnessing a thrilling rugby world 7’s tournament. The children’s spirits soared as they cheered for their favourite teams. It was a day filled with excitement and camaraderie, where the love for sports and the thrill of competition united them all.

As we reflect on this incredible journey, we would like to express our gratitude for the exceptional Downe House team who made it all possible.

Mr Lamb

We teach resilience.

By putting sporting challenges in front of our pupils and asking them to overcome those challenges we encourage them to face what is difficult rather than hide from it. In our lessons we provide opportunities for all pupils to make and identify mistakes on the pitch and then, through questioning and reflection, learn from them.

We teach creativity.

‘How could you do it differently? What would happen if…? How does that relate to the game? What were you trying to do?’ We ask questions to provoke questions in our pupils and to make them look for answers on the field. By playing games where the rules are flexible and endeavour is rewarded, players are encouraged to try things out that in a match they might not attempt. By doing this they are able to find their own ways to succeed, rather than be told.

We teach respect.

At Mowden we value personal attributes as well as sporting ones. Therefore we ensure that, win or lose, we always cheer our opposition off the pitch and whatever the score line we thank our match officials. We aim to leave changing rooms cleaner than we found them and, when visiting other schools, we treat their facilities as if they were our own. Pupils are praised more readily for listening attentively to advice from our coaches and teammates than they are for winning.

We teach self-organisation.

We expect pupils to have high expectations of themselves and those around them. Initiative is highly prized; that might be to lead their own warm-up, to get themselves into teams or to organise their own positions for a game – taking responsibility, for yourself and others, is always rewarded at Mowden.

WE DO NOT TEACH SPORT AT MOWDEN HALL...

We teach leadership.

A captain on the field of play cannot hope to lead if those around them do not understand what that job entails. Therefore we encourage all our players to embrace the challenge of leadership. By creating an atmosphere of trust, where a sensible suggestion is never wrong and where every pupil’s opinion is respected, we teach everybody to have the confidence to speak up and challenge their peers.

We teach problem solving.

If we say to players 'You can’t do that!' or 'This is how you do it' and we never allow them to just try things out, we stifle them. Instead we aim to promote curiosity in our pupils and to nurture their decision making ability by removing constraints and letting them do what they do best; play.

We teach communication.

Contrary to the norm in school, we love noise in our Games lessons. We want to hear talking throughout; be that organising each other in attack or defence, providing information to the ball carrier so they can make a good decision or simply celebrating each other’s success. We, as coaches, want to be questioned and challenged – players are free to ask us 'How will this game help me get better?', 'Can I change the game?' or 'What would you do in that situation?'. We want to hear players giving each other advice and criticism; by helping each other understand how to get better, everyone will make better progress.

SPORT TOURS

U11 RUGBY U13 RUGBY

The Captaincy this year went to Ronnie L and Henry S jointly. This was a good way to keep two good players engaged in the team. They are both strong players but have a different skill set which complement each other. We started the season with a small but good group of players, meaning that all had to play all of the time.

Year 6 players: Ronnie and Henry plus James, Bertie, Findlay, Huey, Toby, Robert and Reuben

This team developed very well over the two terms and became a real force to be reckoned with, especially in the 7s term. There was a tour to Scarborough and we managed to be unbeaten in those matches. This was to Boggle Hole Youth Hostel which is near the beach just outside of Scarborough. All of the boys played at various points throughout the season and hopefully gained lasting memories. We look forward to next season with a new group of boys coming up to the team and some additions to the ranks at Mowden.

Mr Paul Hill

The boys left School in great spirits on Wednesday 12th October, bedecked in personalised tour tops and woolly hats to protect us from the Scottish weather! They came in very handy as we disembarked the buses at the border for the obligatory ‘Welcome to Scotland’ photo! We were delighted to see the sun shining upon our arrival at Belhaven Hill and many parents to cheer us on! The A team match was a fantastic advert for Prep School rugby, with both teams playing with intent to move the ball into space, and defending with remarkable determination. Unfortunately the result did not go our way on this occasion - but the performance set us in good stead for what was to come! The B team produced a superb performance, with numerous tries scored in a convincing win.

We set off for our billet in central Edinburgh (with a quick sweet shop stop en route!), in high spirits and enjoyed a good evening together in the hostel playing games. We attempted to eat crackers in the quickest time possible, slide chocolate mints down our faces and slap each other with tortilla wraps (don’t ask!).

Another bright day dawned on Thursday, and we took the opportunity to explore our surroundings, before heading off to do battle - not on the rugby field, but in laser quest! Mr Wainwright proved a deadly shot, leading his team to victory! A satisfying meal at the local carvery followed, before we hot-footed it across town to take on Stewart’s Melville College ‘B’ & ‘C’ Teams. The boys loved playing under floodlights, and took to the Scottish laws brilliantly, creating many opportunities to score. We came away with two resounding victories, and some delicious pies and sausage rolls for match tea! We spent the evening in the bowling alley, and despite Mr Shaw-Kew’s trying to knock the building down with the minibus, we had a great evening of ten pin bowling and pizza!

Our final foray onto the rugby field came at Merchiston Castle where we enjoyed two further victories. Some excellent rugby was played and everyone was involved, which made for a pleasing end to the tour.

The boys behaved themselves very well, and should be very proud of their playing recordwell done!

Mr Shaw-Kew

SPORT TOURS

U13 HOCKEY

On Wednesday 12th October, the Y8 girls with Mrs Whittle and Mrs Atkinson, departed on their Hockey tour to Edinburgh. Our first fixture was against Belhaven School. We arrived in Belhaven in good time, and had a good warm up before starting the fixture. The girls played well. Belhaven provided us with a lovely, warm hot match tea after the match before we headed into Edinburgh to our hotel. Once we were settled into our rooms, we walked over to the shopping centre across the road from the hotel, and treated ourselves to a Zizzi’s for tea.

On Thursday morning, the sun was shining so we decided to have a leisurely walk up Arthur’s Seat, after the girls were treated to an hour of shopping. We then headed to Mary Erksine to play our second fixture. This was a very tight fought match and the girls played very well as a team. We then headed back to our hotel, had a warm shower, and headed out to Wagamamas for tea.

On Friday morning, we booked to go bowling before heading to Fettes College for our final fixture. Mrs Atkinson showed off her bowling skills and beat everyone! Fettes kindly offered us a warm lunch, before we headed down to their astro and played. The girls final match of the tour was a great game, and they were victorious. Once we had dried off and changed, we started our journey back to school.

Mrs Whittle

sports DAY

COUNTRY CROSS

Mowdenian 2022 / 2023

“Mowden taught me to get involved in all sorts of different activities. This has helped me embrace everything Oundle has to offer, especially in my boarding House.”

Henry, Old Mowdenian and Oundle Scholar

“Mowden encouraged my love of music, allowing me to make the most of all the concerts and music-making opportunities offered at Oundle.”

Nancy, Old Mowdenian and Oundle Scholar

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