School transition

Find out more about Mount House School at www.mounthouse.org.uk or by calling 020 8449 6889 or emailing admissions@ mounthouse.org.uk

Transition

From Primary to Secondary School (Year 6 to Year 7)

The transition from primary to secondary school is an important milestone in the lives of children and their families. It is for this reason that Mount House staff work collaboratively with primary schools and parents and pride ourselves on providing our new students, parents and carers with a smooth and extensive transition programme.

Our programme aims to support new students as they approach this change in their lives, ensuring they arrive in September full of excitement, feeling part of the school community and with minimal nervousness.

The programme starts with the Year 7 Pastoral Team contacting all our new joiners and their parents. This is an opportunity for the Year 7 Pastoral Team to fi nd out a little about individual students and also for students and parents to ask any questions they may have. During conversations the Year 7 Pastoral Team will ask parents whether they give permission for one of our Year 12 students to call and speak to our new joiners. This is an opportunity for our new joiners to ask questions from somebody representing the student body.

Our Head of Year 7 and her Tutor Team will visit primary schools (where possible) to introduce themselves to our new joiners whilst informing them of the plans for the Induction Afternoon which will be held at the end of June. During the Induction Afternoon our new joiners will meet our Senior Leadership Team, their Form Tutors and Teacher and Student Heads of House. At the end of the afternoon parents will be invited to join us for drinks.

Year 7 2023 Assessment Day

If you are interested in your son/daughter joining Mount House School, we will be holding our Year 7 Assessment Day on Saturday 7th January 2023. If you have not yet registered your child, we encourage you to do so as soon as possible via our website. On Assessment Day, your son/daughter will have the opportunity to visit our school, set in beautiful surroundings in Hadley Wood. They will sit exams in English, Maths and non-verbal reasoning and they will also take part in some exciting group activities, enjoy lunch in our Treetops restaurant and meet me and some of our teaching staff . We hope that this will give them an idea of what it is like to be a student at Mount House School. It is important to note that we do not off er places based on the performance in the exams alone. Parents are invited in for a family interview with their child to fi nd out more about your child’s interest and hobbies. Mount House aims to provide an ‘all-round’ education where we off er not only a broad curriculum but also an extensive and impressive co-curricular programme.

Mount House off ers a small number of scholarships each year to students who demonstrate strong academic ability as well as a commitment to the wider life of the school through the co-curricular programme, particularly in sport and the creative and performing arts.

Here at Mount House, small class sizes are the norm and students are supported to take responsibility for their own development. We encourage them to become intellectually curious, resilient, independent young people with good moral character. We aim for each child to be nurtured and supported so they feel safe, valued and enabled to fulfil their potential.

Mount House is a happy and successful school, with an excellent record of GCSE and A-level results and an outstanding record of students achieving places at top universities. We are very proud of our school and if you have not yet visited us, we would be delighted to welcome you and your son/daughter for a tour of Mount House.

Mrs Sarah Richardson Head, Mount House School

Introducing ‘Th e Curious Maths Parent Subscription Service’

In this edition of Cherubs magazine, we’re introducing Sara Tilley, a primary maths consultant based in North London. During the week you’ll fi nd Sara training teachers, teaching exciting maths lessons and after school you’ll fi nd her leading her Curious Mathematician’s Club. Wherever she goes, she’s spreading her love of maths and her ‘can do’ approach is infectious.

Sara is passionate about helping parents support their children with maths at home. Finding a tutor can sometimes be costly and often tricky to fi t into the week when we’ve packed our evenings with school clubs and work. Her vision is to empower parents and support them. Sara teaches you, so you can support your child.

There’s a strong focus on conceptual learning and reasoning skills. Good teaching shouldn’t just be about quick methods and procedural learning. We teach using the CPA approach and in a multi-sensory way. We use resources (the concrete stage), maths diagrams (the pictorial stage) and number sentences (the abstract stage). Growing up, most of our learning was around the abstract stage where endless sums fi lled the pages of our maths books. Today, we have moved on and maths is so much more than sums on a page. Sara’s site will take you through a whole range of maths topics taught in primary school from addition, division, fractions, decimals, percentages and more. You can watch defi nition videos, ‘how to teach’ videos and games videos. Find out how we use Numicon, Cuisenaire rods, place value counters and other resources in the classroom. This way of teaching helps us make connections, understand big ideas and we’re more likely to remember our maths skills and concepts in the future.

The videos show you the precise maths vocabulary we use when we teach. Did you know ‘hundreds, tens and units’ are now ‘hundreds, tens and ones’? And when we do column subtraction, we no longer use the word ‘borrowing’ but ‘exchanging’ and ‘regrouping’ instead. Mathematics is a creative subject, where we work together, ask questions, spot patterns, hypothesise and problem solve. Games are a perfect way for children to use maths, talk and practise skills. There are downloadable game boards, puzzles and resources with top tips throughout. (It’s probably a good time to tell you that I’m also a Curious maths teacher. You’ll fi nd me in the games section of course!)

As a mum and a maths coordinator, I have learned so much from Curious Maths. I cannot recommend enough the excellent ideas, games and advice that this website is brimming with.

If you’d like a taster, you can access the site free for a week. Alternatively, do a quick google search on Curious Maths and you’ll fi nd free videos and puzzles. Maybe you’ll have some quiet time over the Christmas holidays, you might want to start the year with a new take on home learning. Subscribers also become part of the Curious maths Facebook group where you can have direct support with live workshops and competition give-aways.

Supporting maths at home is important to us, particularly after the last few years where parents have had to juggle work, home and online teaching.

Find time to explore maths in the world around us. Discover the patterns of snowfl akes, count downs on advent calendars, festive bakes and boardgames with the family. And as you know, parents and children having positive maths experiences is pretty amazing. Nurture your young mathematicians from young and be curious about maths together.

As a parent, I found the videos incredibly useful for my child. The videos are clear, they are easy to understand and are extremely helpful. My subject knowledge in maths is quite weak and these videos have been a huge help. It has not just benefi ted my son but also me. Can’t thank you enough Sara, you are amazing!

Are You Ready to Play?

By Hari Neocleous @the_maths_nuts

Introducing LogiqBoard & 8x8 Strategic Games

As a primary maths and chess teacher it brings me great joy to share the wonderful LogiqBoard and its amazing co-creator, Rita Atkins.

Rita Atkins is a Women’s International Chess Master, maths and physics teacher and chess coach. I fi rst met Rita when I joined one of her Maths & Logic courses. I was blown away by how many wonderful logic puzzles and strategic games could take place on an 8x8 chess board. I also remember being put in a break-out room with Rita as we battled it out in the ‘Slime Trail’ game.

Rita, along with a small Hungarian team, created the new interactive and shareable LogiqBoard during the online chess boom and when courses needed active participation. I now use the LogiqBoard as a whole class demo board, and with the iPads in class. My students love it! Today I want to share some of the 8x8 strategic games and how easy it is to use the LogiqBoard at home. If you’re curious about chess for you or your child then I highly recommend the games as an intro to strategic thinking. You will be hooked.

What is a strategic game?

A strategic game is where players play against each other and use decision making skills to win. Success is determined by every decision you make. Planning long-term, skill-full thinking and game analysis come into play.

What’s special about 8x8 Strategic games?

The minigames you’ll fi nd on the LogiqBoard are what we call ‘low fl oor, high ceiling’. They’re accessible to all my students as a fun game to play but if we want to, we can develop our reasoning skills and explore maths concepts at a deeper level through carefully planned tasks. All the games have simple rules and starting is easy. At home, you can play for enjoyment or dig deeper and begin to think about the winning strategy. Once your child fi gures out the ‘secret’ they’re on the path to becoming unbeatable! Some games involve reaching the other side, controlling territory or making the most captures.

Game-based learning has many benefi ts. I love how games imitate life. Solving problems, being analytical and learning from mistakes. Planning ahead, adapting, coping with failure and rules. Awareness of these skills is part of metacognition, (thinking about thinking). Recognising that you have or don’t have a game plan is also part of metacognition and both are fi ne. Keep it fun.

Can my child play with a friend or family member online?

The answer is yes! When you visit the site, create a board and click on ‘menu’, ‘games’, then ‘strategic games’. You choose the game you want, go to the top right corner and click ‘copy link’, send the link to the opponent of your choice and the game begins! It’s a wonderful way to connect with friends and family and check-in on each other. I’m looking forward to my two playing with their grandparents. That will be fun.

I have been fl ying my little chess fl ag trying to reach more primary school teachers. Rita inspires me to keep going. Making chess inclusive and exploring the many benefi ts it brings is a shared passion. A huge force in chess education, she recently spoke at The Chess Connects Us Global Summit, a global chess festival put together by the world’s greatest female chess player of all time, Judit Polgar. Rita’s captivating lectures include STEM education and gender diff erences, maths and chess, and the LogiqBoard.

I asked Rita about her vision for the future, “My vision is to bring chess into every school as a tool for education. The goal is to enhance ‘the four Cs’: critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity through game-based learning.”

Parents, do check out LogiqBoard. It’s fun, free and the future platform for chess education. Whether you see it as brain training, a stepping stone before you begin your chess journey or because you love the social connection of 8x8 games, I say go for it. I sometimes send my other half a code for a game and the loser has to make a cup of tea! I’ve been dying to write a piece about chess for children and it’s nearly time, but in the meantime, Cherubs readers, your homework is the LogiqBoard (logiqboard.com).

Playing 8x8 Strategic games is the fi rst step into the wonderful world of chess!

Rita’s favourite quote by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

“If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain as he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought and could be.”