Mount House

[CornwallMum107]

Does anyone have any views on this school? Its been recommended to us and looks great but useful to have some input from parents. Thanks

If anyone is looking for a MH style prep ( not attached to another senior school), then they might need to look at St Peters Exmouth. It is one of the financially stable ones.

My DC do not go there. I do not work there. Thats for the record.

"I suspect much is very incorrect" still refuse to back that up or apologise?
St Peters was ok,had a look,(as have several other parents) ,not over convinced by the academics and still a bit provincial in outlook ,dont think many mh parents will rush to it,we would need to board and nothing wow enough to make a move at this stage,stand alone preps (not private primary schools) are sadly getting rarer in the south west.

She sees lots of sports halls, in....... Shock horror...... The REAL WORLD!! In fact, did you know that some towns actually have sports halls? It really is incredible. Maybe if Mount had more sense they would have saved some money in not building the sports hall, that way they may still have some pennies left!!!!
My daughter is very happy swimming in the perfectly adequate pool at Kelly, I am proud NOT to be a pushy parent, if she excels at swimming then so be it, that will be her choice to make. I don't see how the sports hall is going to make or break her later in life. What will, is the rounded experiences she is exposed to, maybe meeting you will allow me to teach her what a self opinionated, snobbish person looks like, and what she should strive not to turn in to.

Fear not,as you arent a year 7 or 8 parent youll be safe...
Ah yes,we move from the money to the snob line..thinking that a small (and getting smaller)senior school with poor facilities,so so academics,music,sport,etc is not worth going to is not snobbish,its just thinking somewhere like that isnt worth paying for and as your own accounts show a drop in fee income of 600k in one year it would seem more and more people would agree,

Mmm, according to accounts, Kelly actually had made more than 1 million in profit last year, so, still doing much better than Mount House, even without a sports hall.

You are right about the pool at kelly it is perfectly adequate but I suppose when you are best known for swimming you have to go for it especially when a local rival steals your thunder,however it would seem that the attempt to get the funding for the olympic pool has not exactly gone well,it was meant to be open by now but clearly the funding isnt in place,will it ever be? ,I think I read there were less than ten of these pools in the uk,as Plymouth already has one of them perhaps it would make sense to drop the idea..

Sorry to break this news to you but kelly accounts filed a couple of weeks ago most certainly do not show a "profit" for the year of over a million,if only...

profit last year

Get someone to explain to you how to read a set of accounts,someone that runs a business perhaps.

I too have heard that Kelly made a big profit last year.
I have looked at the Charity Commision website and they are clearly behind the times as MH looks in great shape!
The world is very small; though I am not a current Kelly parent I have read all the emails from the 3 + 1 "militant" MH parents. They have been widely circulated around the Kelly community. Hopefully they will have caused amusement but it would be so easy to take offence.

I think they have mainly caused great amusement Whoarethesepeople, we understand that it was just a very small amount of parents, but hey, it was worth a try!!
Regardless of the finances of either school as it is now, it will all change next year, who knows what will happen, but I know that Mount Kelly will be a fantastic school. My child will probably go to Kelly, as we have had experience of it before with other children, and loved it. It has the perfect Ethos for us, preparation for life, although the lack of sports hall upsets me greatly!! They may get a new pool, they may not, whatever, teaching is good, my kids did well there, much better than they would have done at a state secondary, and they left prepared for life, what more can you ask... I am sure that is not enough for some, but we were very happy. At the end of the day, every parent has a choice where to send their kids, and we will not all agree. Do think that you should not judge a book by its cover though, and slating a school you have never had experience of is idiotic! I am of the philosophy that we will make our own minds up when it happens, not judge before it has.. I am sure there will be advantages and disadvantages, as long as my child makes progress and above all is happy, that's all I ask.

Charity comm,bang up to date with kelly so no need to ""hear kelly made a big profit",you can look and see it didnt,put aside the fact if it did make a big profit/surplus it wouldnt be fulfilling its charitable function,you will see all sorts of interesting things,including as listed above serious drop in income,increase in scholarships,the trustees and those "reasonable expectations" all good stuff...Charity comm has nice graphics for those who cant understand accounts,
I think the world and his wife have seen the emails,why would kelly take offence? the english language might take offence but kelly...,you do seem very touchy about everything,why do you care what a "tiny minority" of people think,Kelly is in great shape and you can look to the future with confidence,or at the very least have those "reasonable expectations"

As you say we can all pick the school that is right for our child,could you explain one thing to me-What exactly does this preparation for life tag line actually mean ,and how does kelly prepare children for life in a way that other schools dont,genuine question...

"Preparation for life", as in, life is not all about grades. Yes, they are important, but also important are good manners, ability to hold an intellectual conversation with adults, CCF training, Ten Tors, Devizes to Westminster, extra curricular activities, ect, ect,, ect. We did not choose Kelly purely for the grades, we chose Kelly because we felt it would make our children well rounded, and it has.
I understand that other schools offer these things, and I am sure they are just as good, some maybe even better, but we liked the feel of Kelly.

www.mumsnet.com/info/search?query=propatria

enough said!

Thats the sort of thing I thought youd say,fair enough,(although Id love to meet a school that said it wasnt in favour of good manners,ability to hold a conversation etc)can this be reconciled with the kelly (,is it five year) strategy of trying to bump up the academic side,complete with new head,what sort of parent/child are you going to attract with this new strategy,and where are they going to school now?
Kelly as you might have gathered isnt for us,but I wonder who this new strategy will attract and if the academics are bumped up will it risk some children going elsewhere.

This chat about the sports hall/lack of is getting silly. The pool at Kelly was built while Dennis Ball was HM.
He also part funded the MH sports hall presumably on a shared basis as is the case with the athletics track at Tavy Coll. (KC paid a third of this) No doubt use fell by the wayside as is the case with the track. (But lovely grass track at KC ) Look at the MH website. First attempt at a merger was 1940! (History of MH should Propatria wish to check. I would love to meet her; I think she's priceless!)

Back to the CC website to check my facts. KC show a profit of £100K for y/e 31/08/13. MH A/C's are for period ended 31/08/12 so they are a year behind. For a charity £100K is a big deal especially when the media, politicians et al continually reference biggest economic downturn ever etc. etc.
And if Propatria wonders why there are so many new posters - it's because she is getting quite a following! Those circulating emails again.

The sports hall is example of the lack of facilities that Kelly has,your governors recognise this,a chronic lack of investment in facilities over the years,concentrated on swimming to it would seem the detriment of other facilities,the olympic pool fantasy is a good example of this.I do wonder how much some kelly parents know about the facilities and activities available at other private and indeed non private schools,the way some of them/you go on youd think kelly had invented the Ten Tors and Westminster race,I can see the attraction of kelly for a swimmer on a freebie,but to pay for it,no thanks..
Might be fun to revisit this thread in say 2018 and see how the new strategy has worked out(or not)

Dear Propatria, we choose/ chose KC because it is a good LOCAL school. Not everyone wants to send their DC's off to Boarding School! Posters keep complaining that KC is a small school. Have they never heard " Big Fish, Small Pond." Your child will get so many chances to shine! Yes our DC's are the best but so are all the other pupils. I repeat MK will be a fantastic school.

You carry on the cheerleading, the accounts are available as you say for all to read,hopefully people that read them will be able to interpret them correctly ,perhaps basic business accounts could be put on the new curriculum..Your main trading activity ie the school actually shows a loss,only a few thousand but not the million profit claimed up the page or the big profit or indeed any sort of profit/surplus,the surplus comes from donations,investment income and trading surplus,the total liabilities of the school-well they are there for all to see,
Delighted so many people are reading this,and to think people said the kelly marketing needed to up its game..

Genuine question,if your child could pass the 11+ would kelly still be your choice?,perfectly understand the local school,not wanting to board etc,parental choice etc but just dont see what you get for your money at the senior school that would make the fees worthwhile,others clearly do and thats fine.

In answer to your question, yes, my DC did pass the 11+ and went to Kelly, like I said, it's not all about academic achievements to us, and like I also said, I am not claiming that kelly "invented" ten tors or devises to Westminster, but they do encourage it, along with compulsory CCF training, which I fully support.
Off subject a little, what are peoples thoughts on the boarding at the current Mount site? May be an option later on for us?

Whoarethesepeople I am intrigued to see these emails now!!

Propatria does not represent any of the parents at Mount House she does not have that right. Today I happily watched a beautiful afternoons cricket as the two teams from both schools mixed together happily and the parents calmly chatted and welcomed each other as did the two Headmasters and staff. This is the reality Propatria.

I am looking forward to meeting you all over the coming months and our two schools creating one great one. As a current Mount House Mum I highly recommend if you aren't happy (Propatria) that you find a someone else to educate your child.