independent girls' schools

[morfamawddach]

Advice and opinions needed, please, on The Mount School and Queen Margaret's School. DD offered places at both. Can't decide between the two. [ confused]

I really like the Quaker ethos. (Can't afford it alas)

Where are you located though? If in York I would go for the Mount. If you're on the outskirts Oqueen Margaret's would be easier. They are both good schools.

Which does dd like?

Thanks Northernlurker. Am located in the sticks so dd would board. She likes The Mount best because they do weekly boarding.

I would go with her gut instinct then.

Hi, I was a pupil at the Mount so I have a good insight. I feel both schools are quite different. I sometimes wished I was at Queen Margarets and 5 girls in my year had moved to QM's by year 8.
I think you get a good sense of what the schools are about from going on show rounds and open days.
I weekly boarded and really enjoyed it, it's a big advantage that the Mount offers this.
Let me know if you have any other queries, I'm happy to help

Thanks so much EmmaRory. Why did you sometimes wish you'd gone to Queen Margaret's? And were your old Mount friends happy there? Have been combing old threads for comment on both schools. All very positive for the Mount but not much noise about QM. Suspect QM parents may not be natural MNers?

Both my girls will go to QM. It has really forged ahead in recent years and in my personal opinion completely eclipses The Mount. I had the impression boarding number for The Mount are incredibly low, and the vast majority are day girls?

Which have you gone for in the end?

Boarding numbers at The Mount are actually rising quite a lot at the moment, and new staff have made a massive difference to quality of boarding provision - it's brilliant now. It's generally an excellent school - all girls are individuals, quaker ethos is taken seriously and there's a large emphasis on the whole person, so volunteering, charity work, etc are v important. QMs is also good and gets good results too, but is a very different kind of school - girls are more the pony club type. Nothing wrong with that of course (at all) but just v different - not nearly as much focus on individuals or taking responsibility for the community/world/social issues. I would definitely choose The Mount.

I am sorry but QM is absolutely not a 'Pony Club' type of school, at all, in the way I think that implies? Have you ever been to see it? Or seen it recently? Feel free to PM me if you'd like.

Would be very happy to chat more...

I don't mean to imply anything negative, just that it's quite posh! (As am I ) I know a few people who teach there. The Mount seems to attract people from a wider cross section of society and is also v international. I just prefer it for having that mix of people.

I guess good people are always intensely loyal to where they work, and that's a great thing. But it's a shame that old, tired misconceptions can sway people's opinions... the Headmaster at QM grew up the son of a butcher - nothing 'posh' about that!!

Definitely - the staff I know both at QMs and TMS both love their schools. I agree about stereotypes - I wasn't meaning to do that! (I once worked at a school renowned for its lack of discipline, which was honestly a stereotype left over from the 70s, but IMPOSSIBLE to lose. It was so frustrating.)