AMDG
A New Tradition
Traditions are wonderful things - they provide a sense of connectivity with the past and the feeling of belonging.
For many years, our first XV have taken part in the Shrine Run or “Run down” before home games.
This week the first XI hockey team will begin to do the same before their home fixtures. There will be a wonderful symmetry - the girls change at the bottom end of the college, and so will come in the Chapel entrance, gather at the Shrine to kneel in a semi-circle as the boys do for the Hail Mary, and then run up Long Gallery and out to the AstroTurf for their match. They will do the same as the boys but in reverse!
This will now happen before all home fixtures for the first XI girls. They were led on this first run by our captains Niamh O’Brien and Tilly Mycroft. This will also give our younger pupils something to aspire to be a part of as they progress through the college.
Be Our Guest!
We were incredibly excited to announce earlier this half term that the musical is coming back to the Mount! After four years of not being able to stage a whole school musical, we cannot wait to get to work on this year’s production of ‘Beauty and the Beast’, which will be performed on the 9th-11th March 2023. The musical is open to all, with principle auditions taking place this week for the older year groups.
We have started workshopping some of the famous songs in our stage lights activity, and it was great to see so many pupils in attendance. After all, musicals at the Mount are a tale as old as time…
Service Award for Mrs Wallace
A huge thank you to Learning Support Teacher, Mrs Wallace for seven years of service at the Mount! Mrs Wallace was presented with her award badge last week.
Ava To Join U13 South Yorkshire Netball
Congratulations to Ava, for her accomplishments on the Netball Court!
Ava has been selected to join the U13 South Yorkshire County Programme, which she is absolutely over the moon about, as she wasn’t expecting to get in - especially being one of the youngest and smallest at the final trial. Well done Ava!
A New Prayer Book for the Mount
“Watch and Pray” is a new prayer book for Mount St Mary’s College, written by Fr Michael Beattie SJ, published by the British Province of the Society of Jesus, and designed by Andrew Mather (OM 1947). Fr Michael writes in his introduction:
“It is hoped that this collection of prayers and prayer services will meet the needs of young people today and encourage them to give ever greater glory to God and to have a sense of caring and concern for the needs of others.”
Rugby Roundup
After an impressive start to the season, the first XV ruby team enjoyed a brilliant game on Saturday, resulting in a 62-0 win over Pocklington. What a fantastic effort from the boys!
Our U15 boys had an equally strong weekend with a win away. After a good start from Pocklington, the Mount boys came back from 10-7 at half time, to finish with a respectable 21-15 final score. Well done boys!
A Busy Weekend for Boarders
Our Boarders spent a lovely weekend out in the countryside, with a walk in Rivelin Valley. Hopkins House have also enjoyed some quality time together in the evenings with crochet sessions!
Though it was a little tricky at first, the girls got the hang of it in no time, and they are now all making cosy blankets to decorate their rooms.
A Win for Ratnage in Touch Rugby
Congratulations to Mo Ratnage, who was selected to play in the English National Touch Rugby champs for 2022. He represented the Midlands and they won in a close final against the North West 9-7.
Mo also scored the opening try in the final. The next step for Ratnage is to see if he is selected onto the England U18 high performance squad. Good luck Mo, and well done!
Meet our New Nurse!
We're happy to introduce Jodie Pettinger, who is our new School Nurse, and has been settling in at the start of the new term.
The Health Centre can be found next to the refectory, and is open for the following hours:
Monday 8am - 4.30pm
Tuesday 8am - 3.30am
Wednesday 8am - 3.30am
Thursday 8am - 3.30am
Friday 8am - 2pm
Medical care will of course continue to be available outside of these hours to our Boarders.
Old Boys Meet Up at The Mount
Last week saw a group of OMs from the late sixties gather at the School for a catch up and a chance to see the College as it is today. Mr Massarella wrote to us after the visit to say what a lovely day it had been for the group:
"Just a note to thank you for your kind hospitality on Friday, the guys really appreciated the visit. I have had a lot of comments back to say how much they enjoyed having the opportunity to be taken round by the Head Boy & Deputy Head Girl, they both left a big impression on every one of us.
A few messages I received:
'The MSM tour was quite something.'
'The trip around the Mount was very special and good to see how much the place has progressed.'
'The excursion to Spinkhill was most enjoyable and a real eye opener. The staff were really welcoming.'
We were all commenting on the warmth of the school environment, which was something that we didn’t witness as pupils back in the 60’s, it’s a credit to you all and we wish you all a successful academic year."
It is always lovely to see our students return!
Poetry Students Coach Classes for Ctec
Our Y12 Ctec PE students have started the process of coaching as part of their unit two assessment. As part of the course, students have to complete a minimum of six sessions coaching a small group. All have to plan each session, consider the progressions they should use to progress the skills they are focusing upon, and, where possible, continuously evaluate their delivery and modify the session as appropriate.
Alex Nickson Competes in British Cadet Championships
On Saturday Alex Nickson competed in the British Cadet (U17) Championships in the Men’s Foil. Cadet is an important category in fencing as young fencers, through their achievements in these events, aim to achieve selection to represent Britain internationally in a range of events including World and European Championships.
This was Alex’s first outing on the Cadet circuit, and so was very much looking to see how things go. Alex’s achievements on the day were certainly on the upper end of what was hoped for. He won two bouts in the first round of poules; avoiding the cut and entering into the direct elimination stage, eventually finishing 44th out of a total of 64 competitors. This gives Alex a National ranking of 56 out of a total of 118 fencers on the British Fencing Cadet Men’s Foil rankings. So...Onwards and upwards!
Entries for the Mount Art Competition
Thank you to everyone who has sent in art pieces for the competition so far. The amount of talent being displayed is incredible! Keep the entries coming; remember we’re looking for fine art, photographic and textile/mixed media entries.
Good Luck!
Junior Captancies Announced
It was a pleasure to welcome our Head Boy and Head Girl, Flinn and Charlie to lead our Upper Elements Assembly this week. It was also wonderful to be able to invite our Heads of House and Heads of College Council to announce the Junior Captaincies for Upper Elements 2022 – 23 and award them their badges.
The Junior Captains support the House Captains and the Heads of College Council, one student is chosen from each year group to be a House Junior Captain, and two from each year group become members of the College Council.
Following interviews last week with a panel of our Captains the following appointments were announced today:
Junior Captain for Loyola –Spike Whitby
Junior Captain for Xavier – Ruby Waller
Junior Captain for Campion – Cayden Nandu-Warren
Junior College Council Captain – Lena Sadowska
Junior College Council Captain – Polly Pearson
The Captains were hugely impressed by all of those students who put themselves forward and attended interviews, they found it very difficult to make the final decisions and wanted to offer their congratulations to everyone who showed their generosity and sought the Magis by applying for these leadership roles.
A Global Contemplative Prayer
Mrs O’Neill is linking with Jesuit students across the globe on a new project titled, ‘A global contemplative prayer – to pray for the World that Christ Desires’. The lovely people at Educate Magis are facilitating this for us and we will be the first UK Jesuit school to participate – leading the way! An interactive liturgy that Mrs O’Neill has designed will be prayed by Mount students and their Jesuit counterparts. We are so excited to be leading on this and, although a prayer team is already in place, all are welcome!
Here at the Mount, we integrate the Jesuit virtues to every aspect of College life. Individual virtues can be promoted by various groups across the world, but every student in a Jesuit institution is blessed to have the collective wealth of the Jesuit Pupil Profile, to help shape and nurture character. In the JPP, timeless virtues such as wisdom and gratitude, compassion, eloquence and generosity are explained in ways that make them accessible and their cultivation possible. Our thanks go to the Jesuit Institute for their work in producing the rich volume of the JPP.
A different ‘virtues pair’ is explored every half term in every Jesuit school across the UK. This half term we are focussing on the virtues of being ‘faith-filled and hopeful’. Faith, hope and love are known to the Christian tradition as the three theological virtues. They underpin our whole understanding of what it is to be human and the nature of our relationship with God.
We have faith in those who are closest to us – our family and friends. This faith grows and deepens over time and as our relationships are tested, sometimes knocked and rebuilt with forgiveness, so they become stronger and more resilient.
We need to have faith in ourselves – that appropriate self-confidence and modest self-esteem which reflect a realistic self-knowledge of the good and not-so-good in us. Faith in ourselves is about integrity.
To be faith-filled is crucial to human wellbeing – faith in myself, my emotions and judgements; faith in others and their faith in me; faith in my family and the communities to which I belong; and, ultimately, faith in God. Hope is perhaps the most elusive of virtues. It grows out of faith and love – the stronger faith and love are, the stronger our hope will be. When we have strong faith and love today, we have hope for tomorrow.
Under the careful guidance of their Homeroom tutors, students in Upper Elements are currently unpacking what it means to be faith-filled and hopeful, and are celebrating their findings at daily Mass with Fr Michael. Our older students are holding tutorial conversations this week about what these important virtues mean to them.
Our thanks go to all of our teachers for promoting the treasure that is the JPP.
The Power of Music
Reflecting on the Queen’s funeral which took place earlier this week, many have commented on the incredible power of the music, both during the service itself and during the military processions.
We are therefore extremely proud that OM and former Mount Music Scholar Emily Jowle, who was Deputy Head Girl in 2018-19, was performing in the post-service procession. Emily was accepted into the Royal Marines after completing her A levels, and is currently playing french horn with the Royal Marines Band Plymouth.
Emily was part of a podcast about the band service which is available on Spotify on the link here , and also featured in a fascinating film about the audition process to become a musician with the Royal Marines, which is available on youtube.
We very much look forward to following the progression of Emily’s career.
Headmaster's Reflection
This week, our boarding recruitment has taken me on the first trip of the year to Fényi Gyula Jesuit School in Miskolc, Hungary. I am writing to you on Thursday afternoon, having spent the day meeting staff and students, giving presentations and holding Q and A sessions about all things Mount. I have been staying in the Jesuit house - a real privilege. It is home to 6 Jesuit priests in total, one of whom is the Headmaster of the school. I was also introduced yesterday evening to Jesuit wine for the first time!
One of the most frustrating things as a linguist is when you visit a country and you have absolutely no chance of being able to read or understand what is going on. Hungarian is part of the Finno-Ugric family of languages, meaning that it only has Finnish and Estonian in common - my French, German and indeed now patchy Latin skills have left me bereft of the ability to read or understand anything that is going on! Thankfully, due to the fact that all Hungarian students have to study English to the age of 18, I have been well looked after by the friendly students and staff of Fényi Gyula.
My knowledge of all things Jesuit continues to be expanded - I came across a variation on AMDG “Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam” which is shown in the photo below, “Ad Maiora Natus Sum” or “I was born for greater things”, that use of the comparative once again - “greater” - linked to striving for the magis. I may not be able to read Hungarian, but it is strange how quickly you feel at home in a Jesuit school even when transplanted to Central Europe because of common value statements.
A tour of the school this morning saw me take in the traditional lessons that we would expect to see, combined with Hungarian Folk Dancing that is on the curriculum! I was informed that many of the traditions that were lost under communist Hungary are now fiercely protected in schools as some of lost history and tradition is regained.
I was delighted to meet the Senior Leadership Team and then give a presentation to students, followed by lunch and then a choral performance - seven short pieces that were impeccably well performed by their chamber choir, including “Regina Caeli”, before a Q and A session for an hour with their teaching staff.
With a day to go, I am thrilled to have met our Jesuit sister school and we hope to welcome some Hungarian students to our boarding community before too long; they would be a welcome addition both physically and linguistically to the melting pot that is the Mount.
Yours in Christ
Dan Wright, Headmaster
LDS
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Created with an image by Gorodenkoff - "School Chemistry Classroom: Engrossed Children Watch How Enthusiastic Teacher Shows Science Experiment by Setting Powder on Fire Creating Beautiful Fireworks. Kids Getting Fun Modern Education"