Private school The Mount School

The Mount School York #WeKnowGirlsCan

The Mount School - boarding school for girls. Located in the beautiful historic city of York, just 10 minutes by train from the city centre. The school was founded in 1785. It occupies its current location since 1857. York is a cosmopolitan city with a large number of cultural events. London is only 2 hours away by train.

The school was founded by Quakers and to this day adheres to the traditional values of Quakers. Namely: the respect and value of each person, the freedom to develop in a calm and caring atmosphere, the desire for personal improvement, activity and the desire to contribute to the modern changing world.

The Mount School is convinced that each girl is unique, and the purpose of education is to reveal the inner potential and talents of students. For this, the school creates all conditions. Girls are taught to think independently, to develop at their own pace and in an individual manner, to grow free from stereotypes.

About 290 girls’ study in the school, 80 of them live in the boarding school.

DIRECTOR (stand 2026)

David Griffiths, education - University College Chichester (UCC), BA (Hons), PGCE, Accounting and Business/Management.

FAMOUS SCHOOL GRADUATES

• Judy Dench, actress (films "Chocolate", "James Bond", awarded the Order of the British Empire)
• Rose Neal, BBC Presenter
• Jocelyn Barnell, astrophysicist (awarded the Order of the British Empire)
• Laura Sayers, radio producer
• Antonia Susan Duffy, writer (awarded the Order of the British Empire)
• Margaret Drabble, writer (awarded the Order of the British Empire)
• Kate Bellingham, host of the BBC
• Annie Walker, BBC Host
• Katie Click, BBC Presenter
• Mary Yur, actress (film "Where the Eagles Nest")
• Hillary Wainwright, journalist and writer
• Ellein Kelet-Bowman, politician (awarded the Order of the British Empire)
• Isobel Barnet, TV presenter
• Elfrida Vepon, children's writer
• Joan Henderson, politician
• Rachel Howard, artist
• Cheryl Taylor, managing director of BBC Children's Television

KEY FACTORS

• An extensive educational program pays attention to all subjects and promotes versatile and deep education.
• Small classes guarantee an individual approach to each student, which contributes to academic success.
• A very strong community at school teaches girls solidarity, tolerance, conflict resolution and compromise.
• In high school, girls are assigned a group of mentors who maintain close contact with teachers and parents and closely monitor both academic successes and extracurricular activities of each student.
• We are personally acquainted with the administration of this school.

EQUIPMENT

Modern classrooms for each subject with all the necessary equipment. There is a theatre studio, rehearsal room, music department. The school has a separate building for art, very bright, with modern rooms where girls can engage in painting, sculpture, ceramics, technical design. The school has a medical centre with qualified staff. There is a laundry room.

The school has gorgeous sports equipment located on 16 acres of school grounds. Large sports centre, 25-meter indoor pool, fitness studio, tennis courts, netball, volleyball, hockey, and athletics courts.

PROGRAM

GCSE

To obtain a certificate of general secondary education, girls’ study 10 or 11 subjects, of which 6 are compulsory, the rest are optional.
What is the difference between IGCSE and GCSE programmes?

A-level

A two-year program focused on admission to the selected university. Of the 21 academic subjects offered by the school, girls usually choose to study 4 subjects in the first year of study and 3 subjects in the second year of study. Subjects are selected profile based on the selected university and admission requirements.
Find out more about A-level program

ACCOMMODATION

Accommodation in one of two houses on the school grounds. Girls live according to age, in rooms of a maximum of 4 people. The younger schoolgirls live on the first floor, the older ones on the second. Housemistress, the hostel manager, lives here. Each room has a sink. The rooms have high ceilings and large windows, there is always a lot of light and space.

Each house has a large living room, which is the heart of the house, where girls can get together, chat. There is a kitchen where you can prepare food, a games room with table tennis, cards, various board games. The girls have a TV room and a small library at their disposal, which the girls themselves regularly replenish. There is a separate room for classes, where they try to keep silence and where you can study or work in a relaxed atmosphere.

SPORT

At school, they play hockey and netball at the highest level. Girls regularly represent York in competitions in sports such as netball, cross-country, biathlon and hockey. You can go swimming, tennis and athletics. There are sections of fencing, judo, dance, gymnastics, badminton, cricket and football.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES

In addition to studying, girls are actively engaged in creativity: music, theatre, art are very popular. Three times a year, musical concerts are held at the school with the participation of students. You can learn to play one or more musical instruments, sing in a choir, or take part in an orchestra or group.

The theatre studio regularly holds performances in which girls take an active part. This is not necessarily a game on the stage, it is the creation of scenery, the design of the scene, and the production of light.

The school has 58 interest clubs - in addition to studying in her free time, every girl will find something to do with herself! Club on art, ceramics, choir, modern dances, culinary, theatre, fencing, club of history buffs, music theory, photography, club of the Spanish language, Zumba and much more. On Saturdays, when there are no classes at school, girls can go to the city, go shopping, bake cakes or read a book quietly. The hostel constantly hosts film screenings, various games and competitions.

COST, 2026-2027

£13,020 - £15,939 per semester (depending on age).
There are 3 semesters in the school year.

Included in cost

• Teaching
• Accommodation and meals
• Educational materials
• Laundry
• Health care
• Additional classes in basic language training (for high school students)

Extra paid

• Registration fee - £100
• Deposit - 1 term’s fee
• Flights
• Transfers to / from the airport
• Visa
• Services of the company "Paradise"
• Guardianship (as required by British law)

Our services and fees

Impressions of our experts from a visit to the school

Situated right in the city, the Separate School does not have a very impressive size of grounds at first glance. However, if you look at the courtyard from the French floor-to-ceiling windows, the school has everything you need. There is a sports hall, a swimming pool, a science block, laboratories and sports fields, which in summer time turn into three tennis courts.

The school definitely impresses with its atmosphere, where the girls feel at home, surrounded by caring teachers. And the size of the school allows this to be achieved to the full. There are only 80 girls in the boarding house (and in total there are 300 people in the school), 65 of which are international students from the USA, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Mexico, Russia (4 girls to date).

Yes, exactly smart girls, or, as their teachers called them, ‘stars’. Anastasia from Russia proudly told us that she works for Siemens, doing computer programming for them. And this is in the first year of her A-levels programme.

Headmistress Julie Lodrick, a young woman with such a strong energy and passion for education, said there is no such thing as a typical The Mount girl pupil. ‘We don't have stereotypes. Our girls are all so different, but they are all academically strong and have a huge desire to develop not only academically but also in other areas of life. They try their hand at everything - in sport, in the arts, in charity work. We do not aim to shield them from the real world, hiding them in a cosy and caring community. On the contrary - we prepare them for real life, in which it is necessary to be firm, determined, conscious and at the same time not lacking in kindness and compassion for other people.’

When asked about the main benefit of separate schooling, Julie Lodrick doesn't hesitate to answer: ‘We want to extend our girls' childhoods so that they can enjoy them without having to think about how well their hair is styled or whether they have a winning pose for a photo. At the same time, we try to instil in them a sense of independence and self-confidence, to form a core for the moment of their ‘entry’ into the adult community. Then, when they come to university, they, along with the stronger sex, will be able to assert their position in all aspects of life.

The school is located in the city of York, in an old building. Inside, the atmosphere is purely English: high ceilings, old oak furniture, elephant figures and gilded candelabras, table clocks and painted vases. There are paintings on the walls and the staircases are carved and airy. The combination of antiquity and bright colours in classrooms, living rooms, recreation rooms gives a great effect. For example, modern avant-garde lamp and lampshade in the recreation room, an aquarium in the kitchen, and... a harp in the living room.

Lots of paintings on the walls. Those paintings (works of the students) that I saw stand out with juicy, rich, bright, colourful colours and images. It feels like being in an old English traditional family. Perhaps this is because the school was founded by Quakers and still follows their values.

It's aristocratic and noble, and there's a nice floral scent everywhere. It also brings us back to the atmosphere of an English family. None of the schools I've seen smelled so pleasant.

And at the same time the school is surprisingly modern. The facilities are excellent: excellent art and music facilities, sports facilities, modern classrooms.

The excursion was conducted by 3 girls. One of them is our compatriot. She is a prodigy. At the age of 15 she entered the Higher School of Economics, studied 2 courses, dropped out as it became uninteresting. She learnt 3 languages on her own, now she is interested in nuclear physics, and works 10 hours a week at IBM in Leeds. Very independent, critical thinker, yet no rose coloured glasses.

The other 2 girls are very cute, ‘blood and milk’, well mannered, open, sweet. But each one is a personality with her own opinion, confident and calm, far from templates and stereotypes.

This school is for independent girls, with an inner core, who know what they want from life, active and, to a certain extent, passional. As a consequence, high academic performance and bright personalities: the school occupies high positions in the ranking table.