PUPILS at one York school are getting the chance to take part in an Arctic expedition.

Pupils of The Mount Senior School in Dalton Terrace will have the opportunity to travel to the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions for an adventure with a difference.

This Friday (January 21), pupils and families of girls from Year 10 upwards are being invited to attend the launch of the all-girl Quaker school’s Borealis Academic Society in the school dining room.

They will have a presentation from Nigel Bidgood, who is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and will demonstrate the expeditions and benefits to girls of the extra-curricular programme.

Principal, David Griffiths, said: “These expeditions are intended to provide a challenging environment in which the girls can step outside their normal physical and mental comfort zones, within a distinct academic learning experience intended to widen their intellectual horizons and broaden their experiences beyond the school gates."

Some of the older pupils enjoyed a brief chat with Mr Bidgood last week about an expedition that is being offered to them so that their cohort, which had many international trips cancelled due to covid, can still enjoy a high-octane international expedition.

Upper sixth pupil Sophie said: “Mr Bidgood’s visit opened our eyes to an amazing opportunity, because we had never heard of it before.

"It sounds like a once in a lifetime opportunity. I think it’s good for the school to have this partnership. I don’t know if we’ve had anything like this in the past.

"Obviously we’ve had school trips for subjects but we’ve haven’t had anything like this before, and it does sound like it’s going to be amazing.”

Fellow pupil Lottie said: “It’s good that they have given us this option, because we will be leaving. It’s nice that they have thought about what we might like to do as a year group."

As The Press reported earlier this month, Mr Griffiths has just taken the helm and joined The Mount - which counts among its former pupils Oscar winning actress, Dame Judi Dench, from Wycombe Abbey School, Changzhou (in China) where he was head since 2015.

At Wycombe Abbey he developed and delivered an academic curriculum aligned with its UK-affiliated home school, Wycombe Abbey School, one of the most highly-ranked girls’ schools in the UK.

His initiatives at this international school offered a strong academic curriculum and holistic experience programmes to provide pupils with a range of opportunities, from building cars to studying geopolitics.

This enrichment approach enabled pupils to gain places at the most highly regarded universities in the UK, the USA and around the world. Under his tenure pupil numbers grew and the school tripled in size to over 1,300 pupils.