How bespoke creative curriculum is empowering girls

The Mount School at York is passionate about girls and their education, right from the early years. It teaches girls in a way that they naturally learn.

Its bespoke creative curriculum, entitled ‘Explore, Discover, Create’ (EDC), encourages the girls’ natural enthusiasm for learning and channels their curiosity to delve more deeply into their topic of interest.

The EDC lessons include a focus on open-ended activities, giving girls the chance to consolidate their learning with confidence.

The EDC lessons cover the traditional subjects of history, geography, science, art, design technology and music, but teaches them in a thematic way.

Rachel Capper, Head of The Mount Junior School, explains: “The creative curriculum is all about creative thinking, exploring, discovering and creating with your mind.

“It is about encouraging the girls to think outside the box, giving them opportunities to develop and express themselves, and their ideas, in new ways. In fact, The Mount Junior School doesn’t just encourage girls to think outside the box, it encourages them to destroy the box!”

During their EDC lessons this term, the junior school girls are being taken on a journey through medical history. The topic launched with an exciting Prehistoric Day and during a creative learning activity, the children were asked to ‘Imagine you are prehistoric witch doctors or shamans. Create a dance and chant to cure an ailment and heal your patient’.

Within their houses, the girls worked together to share ideas as to what they thought might scare away any evil spirits which were harming the poorly patient. Using exaggerated movements and lots of loud scary voices, the girls performed their chants.

The young girls are confident and excited to share their learnings. The said:

“I really liked doing the cartwheels and the gymnastics in our dance” – Faye, Year 4

“I liked that our dance had different bits in it that the spirits might not have seen before so they would have been scared and taken by surprise” – Clemmie, Year 6

“I think our scary faces would have scared the evil spirits away” – Brooke, Year 1

As part of this topic, pupils will enjoy a range of exciting opportunities and visits, including an upcoming trip to the Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds, and welcome guest speakers from medical professionals.

Register for open afternoon

To find out more about The Mount Junior School’s bespoke creative curriculum and its approach to learning, visit during the open afternoon on Thursday 20th October, from 1.30-3.30pm. Register here.