Queen Elizabeth School

Transcription

Queen Elizabeth School - QES Main Website

newsletter
Queen Elizabeth School
Summer 2008
SCHOLARSHIP AND CARE — SINCE 1591
contents
Headlines
A message from Headteacher Chris Clarke
1
Important notices, announcements and policies
3
Reports from around the school
7
Educational trips, visits, excursions and expeditions
9
Notice Board
On site
Off site
Performing arts
Coverage of the school’s dance, drama and music activities 15
Focus on
In-depth articles about the life of the school 18
Learning matters
Sports Desk
A round up of summer sport and games 22
diarydates
what’son
Term dates 2008-2009
Autumn Term 2008
Term starts for Year 7 and Year 12
Years 7 – 12 in school
Years 7 – 13 in school
Training Day (no pupils in school)
Half term holiday
School closes for Christmas
Tue 2 Sept
Wed 3 Sept
Thur 4 Sept
Fri 24 Oct
Mon 27 – Fri 31 Oct
Fri 19 Dec
Spring Term 2009
Term starts
Half term holiday
School closes for Easter
Tue 6 Jan 2009
Mon 16 – Fri 20 Feb
Fri 3 Apr
Summer term 2009
Term starts
Bank Holiday
Half term holiday
School closes for summer
QUEEN ELIZABETH SCHOOL
A look at QES’s work as a Training School 21
Mon 20 April
Mon 4 May
Mon 25 – Fri 29 May
Thur 16 July
Find out how QES works
to support a wide range
of local community arts
activities and events.
Ask for a copy of the
Kirkby Lonsdale Arts
Scene booklet. Contact Mandy Crossley on
015242 71275 or email
m.crossley@queenelizabeth.cumbria.sch.uk
thanks to
Thanks to all contributors to this issue of the newsletter
(and apologies to anyone inadvertently left off the list!):
E Banks, Sam Batty, C Bayne, A Beck, S Bennett, A Blackburn, A
Bone, J Brown, C Burgess, David Cope, Lauren Capstick, C Clarke,
Rob Crackles, Mandy Crossley, R Davies, E Denby, Stephen Dent, C
Dobson, Jess Douglas, F Dowding, D Foster, David France, S Garne,
Paul Gibson, Nye Goodall, Gina Harrison, C Harrison, J Hartley, A
Hughes, K Kay, Lauren Kernahan, J Kershaw, J Kirpalani, Paul Lucas,
Kit Mackereth, M McNulty, J Marriott, D Martin, R Mayhew, Sally
Murray, A Rawson, Adam Robinson, G Slater, Miss Sosnowsky, J
Sparrow-Niang, Heather Thexton, Rachel Todner, Sam Warburton.
headlines
pupils weren’t involved and we
did need to respond to the issues this raised.
Dear Parents
Now that the dust has settled
on the “Wray Party” episode
following the lurid media distortions I’m sure you all picked
up on, I thought I’d write with a
final word.
I’m sure you will have been
as disappointed as we were
to have seen the reputation
of QES pupils mangled in the
interests of selling newspapers. Certainly almost all the
reports which featured in the
national press contained exaggerations, factual inaccuracies,
distortions and selective and
sensational quotations. Even
the generally more sensible
local press couldn’t resist the
latter. However, the truth is
that some appalling behaviour
did take place on that night
involving criminal damage,
inappropriate sexual conduct
and unlawful alcohol and possibly some drug consumption.
We couldn’t pretend some QES
A few people have questioned
why QES got involved at all in
an event which had “nothing
to do with school” and which
was organized by a couple of
youngsters masquerading as
adults for the purposes of hiring the Hall.
The simple answer to this is
partly because the community
involved came to us for help
but mostly because we take
seriously the health, safety and
wellbeing of our young people.
Given a national context which
these days encourages schools
to deal with issues occurring
beyond the school gates, it
would have been an unthinkable dereliction of duty for us to
have ignored the information
we received or, indeed, if we
had disregarded the students
who came to us for help with
health issues.
A handful of parents whose
children attended the party
initially took exception to us
writing in an open and forthright manner to offer advice
and guidance about the dangers of teenage parties and
the need to find out about the
supervision arrangements for
such gatherings. I’m not sure
why. We have always made it
really clear at Information Evenings and in Newsletters and
other communications that we
believe working in partnership
with parents is genuinely a
two-way process. We will happily respond to requests from
parents, listen to concerns
and criticisms, process and act
upon information. In return
we will try to involve parents
in seeking solutions; we will
offer advice and guidance; we
will deal openly and honestly
with problems. When, as in
this case, we think there is a
general problem (alcohol consumption and lack of supervision) which might be solved
by as many parents as possible
being aware and holding a
common line in the interests
of their children’s safety, then
we will certainly raise the issue.
We believe it is our duty and it
is certainly our school policy.
It seems to us that bringing
up teenagers safely in a complex world is hard enough
when there is some measure
of agreement on standards.
For individual parents, acting
in isolation, as the Wray Party
proves, it’s a virtually impossible task.
Of course, the media implication that alcohol, drugs and
sexual irresponsibility is a particular QES problem was facile,
insulting and plainly wrong.
And it was shocking and unfair
in the extreme to see QES students demonized in grotesque
tabloid parodies of the truth.
Our belief is that the unacceptable behaviour of a few
— some QES students; some
not — on that night would
not have happened without
unlawful drinking and inadequate supervision.
I’m convinced that the majority of people both in and out
of school agree with this and
applaud the decision to tackle
the issue and involve parents.
And I know that since the party
many parents have really tightened up, insisting on knowing
who is in charge at social gatherings and determining not to
condone so readily potentially
damaging under-age drinking.
Within QES, since the story
broke, as you might imagine
we have debated the issues
long and hard, listened to pupils, staff, parents, members of
the local community, spoken
with the young people at the
party. There has been an almost universal consensus that
the School acted correctly and
as people expected it to and
hoped it would. Indeed many
have said that they chose QES
as a school initially quite simply
because the quality of its care
and concern for the health and
wellbeing of its young people
is second to none. You’ll not
be surprised to hear, therefore, that we’re determined
to continue our policy of having regard for the safety and
welfare of our young people
beyond the school gates and
the school day. And we’re also
committed to our concept
of partnership with parents
– passing and sharing information; discussing issues; and,
occasionally being open, honest and forthright when things
are not right. We believe that is
what the vast majority of you
want from us.
When the story broke over
Easter, it was pretty ghastly,
particularly the distasteful
misrepresentation of QES students. However, the reason
why the tabloid slurs became
little more than a passing embarrassment that we can laugh
about now is because the
sneers were so outweighed
by the sheer quality of our
QES students. As the pages of
this newsletter and any visit to
our website will attest, in the
main our students represent
the very best in young people.
Not only are their talents and
energies a match for any but
they also tend as a body to
have a friendliness, a tolerance,
a sense of compassion and a
basic decency which, I believe,
comes from a mixture of being
brought up well by you and going to a school which has clear
values at its heart and which
exemplifies those values on a
daily basis. The irony is that I
don’t think there is a group of
young people anywhere who
less deserve to be hailed as the
epitome of degeneracy, the offspring of some hideous decline
in moral standards. In reality
what truly suggests the sorry
state of national life is the pitiful and risible attempt by the
popular media to sell its wares
by exploiting a lurid interest in
teenage sexuality and by the
mockery of a school’s genuine
attempt to help parents keep
our young people safe.
In the end, I was able to say to
QES pupils that the great store
of credit, garnered by their
hard work, their achievements,
their basic decency and their
endless potential was never really under threat from a cheap,
crass bit of exploitation. And
for parents, I think the incident
serves to underline the fact that
the ‘Care’ bit of our ‘Scholarship
and Care’ is as robust as it has
been at any time throughout
the six separate centuries of
our existence.
noticeboard
Uniform matters
I’d like to say a huge thank
you to staff, students and parents who have got behind the
push to raise uniform and presentation standards. We have
made fantastic progress and
pupils are looking so much
smarter in the whole. As you
would expect, we are continuing our standards next year so
I thought it would be timely
to remind you of some of the
basics.
Every pupil in years 7 to 11
must wear QES badged kit
from September 2008 at all
times. All items are obtainable
from school (See Uniform Shop
details below) whilst trousers,
skirts and shirts can be purchased at Pigtails of Bentham
too. Please order your items in
plenty of time so that we can
get off to a smart start in September.
Please remember that uniform
must be in good condition and
worn properly. We do not allow damaged fleeces with split
seams or picked ties and we
insist on fastened top buttons
and properly tied ties. Skirts
should be worn just above the
knee and not rolled up at the
waist band- there are various
lengths available for each waist
size so it should be possible to
get the right fit. Socks need to
be plain black or white. Shoes
need to be black and sturdy
school styles, not thin ballet
pumps, certainly not boots or
Rockport-style . Trousers need
to be worn on the waist ( particularly an issue for boys- we
don’t want to see the drop
waist baggy “prison uniform”
style in school please) with
the plain black belt supplied
and no other in the case of the
boys. Girls don’t wear belts at
all with their badged kit.
BAGS have been a thorny issue this year. Pupils have been
told to make sure that they
have a suitable school bag for
September that will hold their
books and equipment properly and that will distribute the
weight properly as it is carried
in order to protect backs and
joints. Unfortunately some of
the girls have started bringing
handbags, beach bags, fashion bags and shopping bags.
Unsuitable bags will be confiscated next year and pupils
given temporary carriers for
their books in school.
We will refine our uniform
strikes and sanctions system
for September:
3 strikes — a 1 hour lunchtime
detention
6 strikes — a 1 hour after
school detention
9 strikes — a 2 hour after
school detention
12 strikes — isolation
15 strikes — a 1 day fixed term
exclusion for repeated lack of
cooperation with staff.
The best way to avoid this
fiendish set of sanctions is to
wear the uniform with pride
and respect and stick to the
rules.
Finally, new year 7 pupils will be
buying the new PE kit from us
in school. We will sell off our remaining stock of current items
at a reduced price to older pupils who just need odd items to
see them through the year but
when this stock has gone anyone needing to replace kit will
need to order the new kit. It is
a lovely design in really good
fabric and it looks great. Pupils
will much prefer it to the rather
dowdy kit we have at the moment. We would ideally like to
see all our years 7-10 in it by
September 2009.
Alison Hughes
Deputy Headteacher
Uniform Shop
Opening Times
Monday 8.10am -11.10am
Tuesday 8.10am -11.10am
Thursday 1.00pm - 3.00pm
throughout the year
Summer special opening
Saturdays
9.30-1.30pm
28 June, 5 July, 12 July, 19
July and 30 August
Wednesdays
9.30-1.30pm
23 July, 30 July, 6 August,
13 August and 27 August
Also
Monday 1 September
9.00am - 1.30pm
Community matters
Family Learning @ Sedbergh
Ideas Festival
Philosophy for Children family workshop
suitable for children 7-13 years
Saturday 19th July, 4.00pm -5.30pm
People’s Hall, Sedbergh
Where Did Mr Shakespeare
Get His Ideas?
Shakespeare4Kidz present four 30minute workshops for families
suitable for children 8-13 years,
Saturday 19th July
6.00pm, 6.30pm, 7.00pm, 7.30pm
People’s Hall, Sedbergh.
Tickets for both the above from Sedbergh Tourist Information Centre Tel:
015396 20125
Guide to Services in Kirkby Lonsdale,
Sedbergh & Dent
A guide to local services for children,
young people and families is being
developed. Your suggestions are most
welcome for this guide. Please send to:
j.sparrowniang@queenelizabeth.cumbria.sch.uk before 31 August. Thank you.
Summer Holiday Activities
Lots of holiday activities are on offer in
Cumbria this summer including a summer drama school from 28th July to1st
August for young people up to 17 years
run by Helen O’Grady Drama Academy,
at Queen Elizabeth School, Kirkby Lonsdale. Call Joanne Tomlin (Principal) on
01524 273265 for more details.
Further information about holiday activities is available from the Children’s Information Service on 0845 7125 737 or at
www.help4me.info and www.wotson4u.
com (website for young people 13+).
Jane Sparrow-Niang
Extended Services Cluster Co-ordinator
(Dent-Kirkby Lonsdale-Sedbergh)
07515 327588
j.sparrowniang@queenelizabeth.cumbria.sch.uk
Saying goodbye
We’re lucky at QES to have the
lowest of staff turnovers and
given that, very unusually, we
said ‘goodbye’ to three key figures at Christmas, I’m pleased
to say that only a handful are
leaving us this summer.
QES as teachers but they have
all made significant contributions to the community life of
the school and I’m sure parents
will want to join in thanking
them and wishing them well in
their various futures.
Carole Bayne has decided to
retire and given that strong female physicists are a rare species, after her 11 years at QES,
we wish her well with some
reluctance.
I’d also like to mention two of
our Support Staff who are going on to different careers having been supported in their
training while at QES. Sue
Konczyinski, who has worked
here as a Science Technician
for nine years is joining the Fire
Service in Kendal and Laura
Ward, who has been training
as a counsellor while working
as a Learning Support Assistant and is going to work at Dallam. I’ve mentioned before the
strength and versatility of our
Support Staff team and these
two colleagues have certainly
demonstrated those qualities.
Kirsti Ashworth has been
tempted by the lure of
academia and is set to embark on a PhD at Lancaster
University. Kirsti has been an
advanced skills Maths teacher
but as well as being a superb
teacher as that title would imply, has made many key contributions over her six years
here including some excellent
work with gifted and talented
youngsters.
Chris McGregor came to
QES the year before Kirsti and
has been a gem, establishing
Health and Social Care as one
of the most successful of subjects and working tirelessly to
develop our Careers and Workrelated learning programme.
Jill Capstick and Ruth Keeler
are leaving our English department, both having been at QES
since they started teaching
and Jane Vicary finds competing commitments mean we
are having to do without a
specialist voice coach as she
leaves our Theatre Arts department. Not only have these colleagues racked up a substantial number of years’ service at
Finally, I’d like to commend
and thank the two colleagues
whom we were lucky enough
to have step into the breach in
January when we were faced
with the nightmare of midyear departures. John Stanley
and Luci Martin joined the
history and modern language
departments respectively and
have been brilliant. It’s fair to
say that the progress and futures of several young people
have been secured through
their hard work and cheerful
professionalism. It’s rare for
things to work out so well in
such circumstances but I know
that students and parents have
been delighted at what John
and Luci have achieved.
Chris Clarke
Exam results service
AS and A2 results will be
available on Thursday 14th
August, A2 results available
from 10:00 a.m. and AS results
from 11:00 a.m. Some post-results services are only available
on results day, so you need
to be prepared to act! If your
university or college place depends on your results, you can
apply for a priority re-mark on
results day. This will cost about
£46 for each unit, so if you had
two exams in a subject and
you want a re-mark of both
exams, it will be about £92.
If your grade (not your mark)
changes, the fee is refunded.
With re-marks your mark and
grade may go up, down, or stay
the same, so we will ask you to
sign a consent form indicating
that you understand the risk.
Priority re-marks take about
20 days. For an extra £12 you
can apply for a copy of the remarked script. You must do this
on the Re-mark form and not
on the Copy of Script form.
You can also apply for a photocopy of your AS or A2 script on
results day. This is useful if you
are uncertain about whether
to apply for a re-mark or a
clerical check. The photocopy
should arrive by the middle
of September, and they cost
about £12 per unit. Teachers
sometimes request copies of
scripts as well.
You will be able to collect forms
to apply for priority re-marks or
copies of scripts on results day.
You will need advice about
how to fill them in, so please
make sure that you see one of
the Exams Team on results day.
Subject teachers will not neces-
Ski trip 2009
sarily know
the correct
codes
for
the application forms, and the
forms will not be accepted if
they are not fully completed.
The deadline for paying for the
priority re-marks or photocopies of scripts is Mon. 18th August. Forms should be handed
in to the school office, with
cash or a cheque made payable
to Queen Elizabeth School.
AS exams for Year 12 pupils are
not being certificated this summer. That means that you will
get your results for each unit,
but not an overall grade. This
gives more flexibility with your
UCAS applications and any resits you may do in Year 13.
GCSE results will be available
from 10:00 a.m. on Thursday
21st August. On Holiday? If
you can’t collect your results
in the summer, please give the
school office a stamped addressed envelope before the
end of term.
Post-Results Services in
September
When school re-opens in September you can apply for ordinary (not priority) re-marks,
clerical checks and original
scripts for GCSEs, ASs and A2s.
You can also apply for a January re-sit of AS units.
You may want to apply for a
re-sit if you apply for a re-mark,
but you can do that when you
return in September.
If you are in Year 13 you need
to come into school in the first
week of term in September if
you want any of these services.
S Bennett
Just when we thought everything was going so well with
our trip to Flaine in France the
French workers decide to
work to rule
and only give
us five days
skiing
and
not the six we
had booked.
Fo r t u n ate l y
the company
we booked
through have
come
up
trumps with
the 2006 Olympic resort of
Sansicario. This means we now
get an upgrade on accommodation, a bigger ski area, an
extra hour a day skiing all in a
modern resort.
I will be sending out more information later in the year about
parents evening, the nights we
will be taking out students to
the dry slope in Kendal, plus
information on travel times.
The most important at the moment is that each pupil will
need there own passport and
E111medical card for when
we go on the trip. If you have
any questions please do not
hesitate to contact me at the
school.
A Beck
Are you in part-time work and still at school?
Cumbria’s two
Employment
and Entertainment officers
have been working for 4 years now to improve
outcomes for young people
who work or take part in entertainment and performance.
These experiences have many
positive benefits for young
people and are to be encouraged where appropriate but of
course as with anything in life,
there are regulations and restrictions. It is imperative that
young people, their parents
and employers know the rules
which are there to ensure that
taking part in these activities is
both enjoyable and safe.
The officers work closely with
employers in the county and
also with other agencies such
as Health & Safety to try to minimise any risks facing young
people. This multi-layered approach is vital as research has
proved the need to offer information in different ways and to
all interested parties, e.g. employers, performance groups
parents, schools and last but
not least, the young people
themselves.
The officers are currently trying out a new resource to help
get the message across to the
young people they meet in
secondary schools across the
county. This is in the shape of a
DVD produced by the National
Network of Child Employment
and Entertainment Officers in
conjunction with ITV. Because
the DVD features some well
known faces from TV shows
speaking of their work experiences as young people, the officers hope that young people
will identify that the risks being
discussed apply to everyone,
including themselves.
For more information go to the
County’s website or contact
one of the County’s Employment Officers - details are given in the box below.
http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/childrensservices/welfare/studentinfo.asp
http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/childrensservices/welfare/performanceandentertainment.asp
Janet Poultney - 019465 95346 janet.poultney@cumbriacc.gov.uk
Mary Johnson – 017682 42073 mary.johnson@cumbriacc.gov.uk
Invigilators needed for external examinations
We need to continue to expand
our team of invigilators this
year and would like to recruit
more people who are reliable,
flexible, punctual and patient.
The work requires an ability to
concentrate and occasionally
the need to remain calm under
pressure or during unexpected
circumstances.
Invigilation
takes place in pleasant surroundings and is very worthwhile, supporting young people at a very important time in
their lives. As invigilators become more confident we invite
some to progress to be Lead
Invigilators, with additional
responsibilities for the smooth
running of the exams.
There is scope for flexibility in
the number of hours or days
worked but we need people
who can work hours tailored
to meet the exam timetable
rather than the general school
timetable. Exams in the morning can range from 1 hour to
over 3 hours if you are invigilating sixth form exams with
special arrangements. The afternoon follows the same pattern, often over-running the
end of school, although if you
are limited to working school
hours only (for instance if you
need to pick up children), we
can often arrange your hours
to suit finish times of shorter
exams.
Because of the requirements
for police checks and the related costs that we incur, we have
to ask invigilators to commit to
a minimum of 20 hours invigilation over a year. It is helpful
for us to manage the intricacies of booking invigilators if
they are easily contactable by
phone during the day, or able
to respond to emails.
We are interested in hearing
from parents and friends of
the school, former staff, former
students. The rate of pay is
currently £7.50 per hour for a
standard Invigilator and £9.00
per hour for a Lead Invigilator.
If you know of anyone who
would be interested please
pass on these details and
ask them to contact Mr
David Martin at school on
015242 71275, or via email on
d.mar tin@queenelizabeth.
cumbria.sch.uk.
onsite
Student leadership team
Over the months of April and
May we and many other Sixth
Formers have gone
through the gruelling process of applying to be Sixth
Form officials. It feels
a relief to finally be
at the end, but for
many of us it is just
the beginning.
By the end of April we had
written letters to Miss O’Neill
detailing why we wanted to be
an official and what
post we wanted.
Then those applying
to be Head Boy or
Head Girl, around 15
of us, had to prepare
a speech for the following week which
would outline to
our year group why
we wanted the post. All the
speeches were fabulous, ranging from funny to emotional
and everything in between.
However after making these
speeches, which most people
found nerve-racking, our year
group and teachers had to vote
for those they thought would
be most capable in the job.
The next day the final six were
announced and they were
then guaranteed a position
as either Head Boy or Girl or
Deputy Head. However the
process for the six finalists did
not end there. After
a well thought out
letter, an emotionally
draining speech and
the nerves of waiting
to see if we had even
made it so far, we then
had to be interviewed
on three separate occasions - once by an Assistant
Head, Mr Houghton or Mrs
Martin, once by Miss O’Neill
and once by the then
current Heads and
Deputies. This was all
very daunting. After
this long week of interviews, and some
very odd questions,
the final selections
were: Head Boy, Sam
Batty and Head Girl,
Jess Douglas; Deputy Head
Boys, Jack Sowerby and Allan Young; Deputy Head Girls,
Megan Dowson and Charlie Pearson. By the time this
newsletter is published in July
we will have a strong team of
fifty or more officials to lead us
through next year. We are both
looking forward to the year
ahead and all the opportunities and responsibilities that
are before us.
Jess Douglas and Sam Batty
Miss C.O’Neill, Assistant Headteacher, writes: This summary from
Jess and Sam gives a fair indication of the effort, emotional input
and clear commitment that all applicants underwent, and I can
honestly say it was a great experience for all staff involved as
well. I am very confident that we have a fantastic team of school
leaders ready to work hard for our community. Officials will run
the Year 12 Induction programme, work on specific leadership
areas such as Community, Sports and Charity, and continue to
lead the way. Congratulations to everyone who applied.
Landscaping
This year the Landscape Committee has been very successful, with lots of new members
joining during the year. We
have made plans for a Japanese Garden with Sam Youd at
Tatton Park, which will replace
the Sculpture Garden and
hopefully be completed next
year. We have plans to create
a water fountain in Ann’s Garden.
The Landscape Committee
have stayed after school to
move slate for the water fountain so we hope that it will
be finished by the end of the
term. Recently the Committee
have been weeding and planting around the school. We have
now got a herb garden, which
is outside the staff room.
We have been planting lots of
pansies, sunflowers, nasturtiums and other plants which
are a great success at the moment. We planted daffodils
and we pruned the plants
on the Avenue. Ben and Nick
and their dads have built us a
willow fence. The Landscape
Committee have had a great
year and can’t wait till it starts
again next year when hopefully we shall have even more
members.
Lauren Capstick 7L
Climate change project
Recently about 25 year 8 pupils
have been working on a project
about climate change. We met
for half an hour every Wednesday lunchtime.First some people came into school to tell us
about the project and to give
us some ideas about what to
base it on. Then we began to
put together our projects. We
started off by writing down an
outline of what we were going
to do and what we were planning to achieve.
We then made PowerPoint
presentations, did experiments or made short films. After several weeks of hard work
we finally showed our finished
projects to a panel of judges.
The next week we were all rewarded prizes and were told
that we had won the competition.
Bethan Davies
Natasha Halsey
Beth Thompson
Project Update
Last term, the Y8 group gave
their presentations to two external judges, one from Lancaster University and the other
from Setpoint. The winning
group were Bethan Davies, Natasha Halsey and Beth Thompson, who made a film depicting news reports in 2050, one
showing the effects of ignoring
climate change and the other
showing how lifestyles had
changed in order to reduce
carbon dioxide production.
This term, each group has produced a poster using information from their presentations.
These have been displayed
in the main library and at
the Kirkby Lonsdale Climate
Change meeting. Well done
to everyone who has taken
part in this project and helped
to make many people more
aware of these issues.
C. Bayne
Sponsored spell
On Friday 25th April 2008, Yr
7 pupils spent their lunchtime
doing a sponsored spelling
test. The whole of Yr 7 were
given a sheet of 62 spellings
to learn. A few weeks later they
did the first spelling test of 20
spellings and raised £620 for
a diabetes charity and for the
Macmillan Nurses. When some
pupils pointed out to Mrs Cross
- Yr 7’s deputy head - that they
were only tested on 20 spellings when they had learnt 62!
She agreed to organise another spelling test - not sponsored
- for those people who wanted
to do the full 62 words.
On Thursday 1st May 2008, the
62-word Spelling Test featuring15 pupils produced the following results: in third place,
with a score of 60/62, came
Gina Harrison 7K and Connie
Luckham 7W, who received a
large bar of Dairy Milk Chocolate donated by Sean Barnes
7L. In second place, with a score
of 61/62, came David Cope 7Q,
who received a bag of stationery and other useful items. In
first place, with a perfect score
of 62/62, came Matin Khadim
7S, who received Speller of the
Year Award trophy in the Yr 7
Award Ceremony.
Gina Harrison 7K
David Cope 7Q
Volunteers in
community
action
For the past year a group
of 6th form volunteers has
been helping out with a local group called Part of the
Action. This group of parents
aims to get their kids active
in the community, boosting their confidence and
improving on their social
skills. These children range
from about 4 to 12 years old
and all have some disability,
some more severe than others. The volunteers are there
to interact with the children
and are usually paired one on
one with a child.
This is a great opportunity
for anyone wanting to study
medicine or any profession
that involves caring or children. Anyone interested in
joining in the work of this
group, or just finding out
more, please contact me.
Megan Dowson 12S
Musical
website
Latest adition to the school
website is the link to the listening library, where browsers can find recordings of
major events in the school’s
massive programme of musical performances.
Hear yourself sing! Drum
along with the jazz band,
wishing it had been you
(maybe it will be next year)!
Pick your favourite group and
join it next term!
Jen Hartley
offsite
Young Chef of the Year Award
We all arrived at Kendal College at 4.30 pm feeling very
nervous about what was to
come. First of all we had a briefing and a quick run through of
the basic rules, in what was to
be the display room. Tensions
were running high as we got to
see our opposition for the first
time! We were then let loose
in the kitchens to set up our
stuff. This was a lengthy process as there was so much to
get ready.
We then had a full run through
of the rules and the timings.
We had only three hours for
three courses! Ready, set and
go and we were off, everyone
rushing to complete the first
stages of their dishes. After
about 20 minutes everyone
was engrossed in their cooking, and all those nerves that
we had before had gone away.
All four of us looked in horror
as the first dish was served in
matter of minutes! About an
hour into the competition Paul
was getting worried as the
ovens were industrial size and
caught you out if you didn’t expect it! Then after an hour and
a half it was David’s turn to get
worried as he had not served
any of his dishes. Time went on
and panic started to set in. Kit
was getting nervous about the
state of his sticky toffee pudding, as he believed it wasn’t
as good as it was in practice.
After three hours everyone’s
dishes were served, tasted and
presented. At this point the
judges left us to go make their
final decisions. We were all
then summoned to the display
room, where we were all presented with a cookery book.
The first trophy went to Charlotte for her great use of local
produce. Although the best
starter went to a student from
St. Bees, the best main course
came back to a QES win, with
Paul taking the trophy. Then
the penultimate trophy went
to Charlotte for her fabulous
pudding! Then it was time for
the big one. The Young Chef of
the Year Trophy goes to..(long
pause).. David! Overall QES
came home with a culinary victory.
Paul Gibson, David France
and Kit Mackereth
QES young chefs with their trophies: left, David
France receives his Cumbria Young Chef of the
Year award from Gillian Cowburn, food critic
for the Westmorland Gazette; above, Charlotte Bunting with her awards for best use of
local produce, and best sticky toffee pudding
Make-up class
A group of Year 11 students went to Lancaster and
Morecambe College on a taster
day. They
attended
four workshops designed to
showcase
the wide
range of
vocational
courses
offered at
the college.
One of the sessions allowed
the students to demonstrate
their skills in theatrical makeup, hence, we came back to
school with twenty-one “black
eyes” and a variety of interesting “wounds”, causing consternation on the corridors!
C.Harrison
Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Expedition 2008
Day 1: All great explorers have a mission in life:
think Edmund Hillary up
Everest, Neil Armstrong
on the moon, Ernest Shackleton in Antarctica, and Josh,
Rob, Tom, Sam and Ollie’s Duke
of Edinburgh Award Bronze expedition to Dent.
It had just gone 3:30pm when
we set off on our expedition
and the sky was remaining
cloudy. An early navigational
error meant we walked about
a mile up the other side of the
valley until we finally realized
that we were meant to be following the river. We retreated
back down the valley. Half an
hour late we arrived at our first
checkpoint.
After checking in, we continued along the designated
Day 2: We awoke at about
6:30am on Saturday morning
stiff and cold and relieved that
the badgers had not devoured
us. We managed to drag ourselves from our sleeping bags
to put the stove on and to prepare some breakfast and a hot
drink. Once we were all up, we
packed our bags ready for the
walk to the snack bar near the
Hill Inn. Once our bags were set
we packed up the tent. After
The fast-walking girls!
10
route, with the amended route
card, for ten minutes and then
had a break. We would have
stayed there a lot longer but
we saw the girls close on our
tails and abandoned our eating of Mars bars in favour of a
continuation of the walking.
At checkpoint 2 we found two
dogs and children to take with
us along the road until we arrived at checkpoint 3. By this
time the girls’ team had overtaken us so we had to wait with
Mr Williams after which we resumed to our long walk to the
campsite. This final leg of the
day included the sight of many
exotic animals (llamas) and unfortunately it was here that the
last team overtook us.
Tired and hungry we arrived
at the campsite. We delved
into our bag of food. Chilli con
that we had a group meeting
with Mr Williams and Mrs Lomax to ensure that we at least
headed the right direction out
of the campsite. We filled up
our water bottles and set off
towards the river in a fashion
that can only be compared
with a drunken wobble.
After a short time walking we
came to the first staff checkpoint and we checked we
carne and wraps followed by
chocolate pudding and custard
made a camp tea from heaven.
Eagerly, we put on the stove
and started assembling our
tent. Our meal was ready, and
we quickly created our wraps,
we took the first bite. Our
mouths turned to fire, what we
hadn’t realised was that it was
Dynamo hot chilli. However,
we maintained eating it apart
from Josh who switched to
eating a Mars bar and cheese
wrap instead.
Afterward we ate our cold
chocolate pudding. After the
delicious meal we went to play
sports on the field nearby. At
10:00pm we returned to have
cocoa and a snack. By 11:30pm
we had fallen into the best
night’s sleep ever.
Sam Warburton
knew where we were on the
map. We all took turns at map
reading and navigating.
After a mild encounter with the
other band of merry men, we
headed onto the railway path.
After about 4 hours walking we
all began to feel tired and had
sore shoulders from the weight
of our back packs. When we
saw Ingleborough we knew we
must be close to the snack bar
and we felt relieved that our
walk was nearly over. When
we finally arrived some of the
groups had already gone because it took us so long to get
there. Taking your boots off
after a six-and-a-half hour walk
is very painful but not half as
painful as trying to put them
back on again.
Rob Crackles
Business Studies London trip
Above: the Business Studies London trip group - Mr Kirpalani, Jack Wild, Nicola Venys, Stephanie
Moore, Vanessa Jackson, Dan O’Connor, Jonny Smillie, Luke Duckworth, Robert Sedgewick, David
Grisedale, Joe Greenwood, David Schofield
Below: Rob Dickinson and Katie Heginbotham with the FA Cup at the new Wembley Stadium
Year 12 and 13 Economics and
Business Studies students were
lucky enough to accompany Mr
Kirpalani, Mr Burnett, and Mrs
Sheldon to London on Tuesday
15th April. We travelled down
on the very early train, arriving
at London Euston mid morning and were all set for a day of
sightseeing.
First off was a noon ride on
the London Eye to take in the
City from above on a beautiful
Spring day. You could see for
miles. Next we visited the Bank
of England museum, where
Mr Kirpalani interrogated the
guide, and a lucky few met the
man who would sacrifice his
hand in order to save a coin
stamp. We then headed back
to the hotel to freshen up and
then set out to dine at Planet
Hollywood, followed by a performance of Les Miserables at
Queens Theatre.
Up bright and early the next
morning, we indulged in a spot
of breakfast before heading off
to Wembley for a guided business-orientated tour of the
fantastic new stadium. Robert
Dickinson showed his skills as
a football manager, and Mr Kirpalani almost managed to kick
off WW3 by upsetting other
members of our tour who were
from Germany.
We rounded off our two-day
excursion with a shopping
trip to Harrods, where we
gawped at the prices (£20,000
for a fur umbrella!) and bought
presents for friends and family.
We dashed back to the hotel
for our belongings and then
it was back to Euston to catch
the train home. Overall, this
was an enjoyable and informative visit.
Adam Robinson
Spellbinding
Cumbria Schools’ Book
Award, Penrith
The top three books, Fearless, by Tim Lott, Skulduggery Pleasant, by Derek
Landy, and Deeper Than
Blue, by Jill H u c k lesby,
were
the focus of
attention for
the eighty
students
who attended
t h e
Spellbindi n g
event
o n
June 18th.
It was brilliant to be able to
chat to students from as far
away as Whitehaven, Windermere and Carlisle, about
these three books and to
find out which one they
thought was best. Cameron
Hans-Brooker and Keith
Terrill both favoured Skulduggery Pleasant and were
delighted when this book
was voted Spellbinding
Book of the Year.
They were also impressed
by the poetry of Mike
Garry, who encouraged all
of the students to make
their thoughts real by writing them down. This was a
great day, so thank you to
Cumbria Library Services to
Schools for arranging the
event, and we can’t wait to
read the ten Spellbinding
books for 2009.
C.Burgess
11
Amnesty International AGM
On the weekend
of the 5th April I
attended the UK national Amnesty International AGM at
Nottingham University. Having
finally managed to pluck up
the courage to ask a taxi driver
to take me there, I arrived at
the university and managed to
find the other youth delegates.
Having quickly identified people who were as alone as I was
and become best friends with
them, I was whisked off to my
first seminar, which was on the
China Olympics. Seven years
ago China promised: “By allowing Beijing to host the Games
you will help the development
of human rights”. So far, they
have done little to improve
their human rights record and,
if anything, the situation has
become worse as the streets
are “cleaned up” by sending the
homeless and drug-addicted
to “re-education through labour” camps.
The rest of the weekend was
spent learning about and then
voting on various motions that
groups wanted to become
Amnesty policies, one of the
most controversial being the
Amnesty policy on abortion.
We watched and were allowed
to participate in heated debates and then voted. I then
attended a talk by Kate Allen,
the director of Amnesty, and
took part in a memorial for the
Tiananmen Mothers, who lost
their sons and daughters when
a student protest was interrupted by Chinese authorities
nineteen years ago.
I found my way home on Sunday feeling exhausted, but
enlightened. Despite having
attended the QES group for
years (Thursdays at 1:30 in
RE1), I hadn’t ever seen how
the policies and campaigns
were developed, and I seriously recommend it to anyone
who is thinking of going.
Charlotte Pearson
Listening to the Dalai Lama
“Through patience and continuous effort, no matter what
our cause, we can achieve” .
His Holiness the Dalai Lama has
recently been touring in the
UK, so not wanting to miss out
on the opportunity of meeting
such a prominent world figure,
a group of 29 QES students
signed up to a trip to go and
hear him speak. On Sunday
25th May we travelled down
to the Nottingham Arena to attend a special audience, hosted
by Jonathan Dimbleby.
12
The theme of the discussion
was based around environmental awareness and universal responsibility. He was
posed difficult questions by a
panel of young people, all of
which he responded to both
thoughtfully and humorously,
showing his immensely warm,
authentic and optimistic char-
acter. Some of the things that
surprised me most about him
were that he didn’t pretend
to know all the answers to big
questions that he was asked
and only attempted them as
best he could, and showed a
striking humility, given the respect with which he is held by
so many.
His basic message was that our
generation have an obvious responsibility to “get it right” with
the environment, that education is essential to the progress
of humankind and that if we
are directed by a good goal
then we have no reason to feel
fear or regret our actions.
Thank you to Mr Rushton for
organising the day. For me it
really was a once in a lifetime
experience.
Clare Hymer
Some of the Dalai Lama’s
teachings
Population growth can be slowed
by better education.
After a certain, (low), level, more
possessions don’t lead to higher
standards of living.
If we are afraid, we should analyse
the causes of that fear intelligently, rather than letting it overwhelm us.
Always properly analyse a course of
action before taking it.
If we are directed by a good goal,
there’s no reason to feel fear or regret at our actions.
If we develop a calm, strong mind,
it will be resistant to anger, violence and hopelessness.
Year 7 Fellside residential trip
On Wednesday 18th of June
a small group of thirteen children from year 7 went to Fell
Side for a school trip.
We undertook a wide range of
activities, including, hill climbing, ghyll scrambling and Canadian cannoning. We slept
over night in tents which was
enjoyable; however, the midges were terrible!
The first day we climbed up
Winster hill, which was pleasurable but in places strenuous.
The second day we went ghyll
scrambling which was challenging while at the same time
great fun; one section in particular springs to mind. We had
a rope attached around our
chests and had to jump into a
river a meter below us where
we were submerged in icy cold
water before being pulled out
by Mr Weston.
After returning to the camp
site we dried off and had lunch
before going to play rounders
in the local park. On the final
day we went Lake Windermere
where we learned about Canadian canoeing. We then tried it
ourselves which was brilliant.
I really recommend this trip to
future year 7 students as I really
enjoyed the expedition myself.
Nye Goodall (7K)
Y7 Residential 08 - a poem
The sun was shining in the sky
As twelve set off and said ‘goodbye’.
The tents went up and a break for lunch,
Then up the hill, what an active bunch.
Pasta for tea with fruity crumble,
Lots of custard so not one grumble.
Giant Jenga and chocolate to drink,
Then off to sleep before we could blink.
Bacon for breakfast with jam and toast
And off for a scramble which some liked most.
Back to dry off and crisps in a bun,
Rounders on the field, the best team won.
The evening was sunny, the bangers charred
But the games were fun and all tried hard.
Eggy bread next day and sandwiches to make,
Time to strike camp and head off to the lake.
With lifejackets on and sun cream spread
The canoeists set off with full steam ahead.
To the island and back in record time
But the climb to the field was a bit of a bind.
Then back to school and a quick tidy round
But will those lost undies ever be found?!
Kathryn Kay
13
Team building day for 6th Form
With the newly picked Year 13
officials selected and all jobs
assigned, a day of leadership
and team building was arranged for us. All we were told
for this trip was “Bring a towel,
you may get wet!”
At Cragwood Manor (next
to Brockhole) we were introduced to what the day would
involve, which was to be a series of problems to overcome.
We would face each problem,
tackle it and then review what
was good about different aspects of our attempt.
The first problem involved getting a ball from the bottom
of a 2m, vertical drainpipe, to
the bottom of a 30cm drainpipe, approximately 2m away,
without stepping within the
boundary. We were given an
assortment of objects with
which to do this, these included three portions of the same
drainpipe, two wooden poles,
an umbrella, a ping-pong paddle, a bucket and much more.
Most teams formed a plan and
managed, however, not without getting wet.
The second was similar, involving two buckets suspended
from a tree by a pulley system.
We had to fill one of these
buckets, without touching it,
in order to lift the other. There
were several difficulties with
this; the main one we faced,
was lifting the heavy industrial
scaffolding high enough to put
water through it.
14
The final morning challenge
involved passing a person
through a cube in a combina-
tion of ways in order to gain
different amounts of points.
A brief lunch respite was
quickly followed by a group
challenge/race, which involved
a barrel, two planks and a balancing act. The task caused a
few disputes, not only within
our teams, but against the
others as well, because of an
attempt at a non-hostile negotiation of various planks and
hostages.
This was ended with a quick,
wet dash to fill a holey pipe
to get yet another ball out
the top. If this didn’t succeed
in getting everyone wet, the
ensuing water fight solved the
problem. I believe the prize
for the wettest can be shared
between Kyle Bateson, Clare
Dunk and me.
Despite the fun and games,
there were lessons to be learnt.
These included an education
in leadership, communication,
planning, time management,
and trust in others. Our team
organisers’ analogy was, 10%
of an iceberg is above the surface and this is the task itself,
the other 90% keeps the iceberg together and afloat, this
is the team and how they go
about their business.
All in all, it was a fantastic day
and I think everyone who went
will join me in saying thank you
to Miss O’Neill, Mr Rushton, Mr
Lucas and all of the guys who
ran the course, who were great
fun and made the day all the
more enjoyable.
Heather Thexton
performingarts
A feast of Christmas music
Year 7 Nativity
18th December 2007
Having spent all term learning songs and developing an
understanding of how to interpret all the pesky symbols
and abbreviations composers
throw in, Year 7 took to the
stage and sang for a full halfhour. With members of Year
12 led by Mr Beale providing a
rock-band accompaniment, as
well as members of Year 7 led
by Mr Hooper providing a live
orchestral backing and Mr Foster holding it all together at the
piano, it was a huge undertaking for everyone.
The plot was conveyed by narrators Holly Chalcraft, Russell
Stubbley, Ruby Sheard, Alex
Hyman, Emma Whitehead and
Vicky Hill, not to be confused
with the “narrators” who sang
part of one of the songs when
Herod was getting cross about
Jesus (they were Grace Cowperthwaite, Emma Hopkins,
Katie Hannigan and Alexandra
Dickinson). Amelia Porteous
as Mary, Rory Gorst as Joseph,
Cameron Hans-Brooker as
Herod (boo) made great soloists, and Jack McMinn, Luke
Morris and Ryan Terry as the
Three Kings, their allies the
angels and enemies Herod’s
evil henchmen sang brilliantly.
Well done everybody!
Mrs Hartley
Christmas Concert
19th December 2007
This concert came the day after the Year 7 Nativity, and the
hall could not have been more
brilliantly transformed by the
6th-form officials, who, with
the help of the untiring Mrs
Crossley, decked out tables
with crackers, mince pies and
sparkly sprinklings. The stage,
the doors and even the piano
cupboard were hung with
tinsel, so providing an almost
cabaret backdrop for the two
bow-tie-wearing
comperes,
Robbie McEwen and Nathan
Critchlow. These two told more
jokes than even the crackers
could provide, and introduced
all the acts as well as taking
part in a few.
Although this concert was for
the smaller and/or less experienced groups at QES, the
standard was amazingly high,
and the round-off given by
the folk group, complete with
a sing-along Gloucestershire
Wassail, was almost professional in its quality. Well done
performers, and thanks to everyone who turned up to help
with the lighting, the staging,
the bar, the mince pies (and Mr
Lancaster for ordering them)
and, above all, who stayed to
help clear up afterwards. You
can all come again!
Mrs Hartley
QES Carol Concert
20th December 2007
This jam-packed affair was, as
usual, fizzing with the atmosphere of over two-hundred
readers and musicians and
their avid audience. Alternating between an expertly delivered selection of readings and
some truly excellent musical
items, this is, if I may be so bold,
fast becoming the Event of The
Year! A few people managed to
hop about between orchestras,
choirs and readings admirably,
given the number of stands,
pews and other pupils they
had to negotiate in order to
get speedily into their new positions. Gospel choir numbers,
rocking playing from the jazz
band (as well as some chilled
out tunes) amusing choreography by the Barbershop and
perfect close harmony from
the Barbarashop, feisty orchestral numbers with a Spanish
flavour, bright Santa lights and
bells from the flutes, mellow
and reflective guitars, a lastminute call to Miss Lawrence
to sightread with the expert
senior string quartet, and outstanding power (and cheesy
80s Gold) from the Wind Band
made for an awesome evening.
If you were there, I hope you
loved it as much as I did; if you
missed it, you can listen on the
school website!
Mrs Hartley
15
Brecht play
Percussion Festival
This event on 13th December
2007 was so packed with items
that it had to be moved to the
Harlequin Theatre just to fit in
the performers and their fans.
Mr Hunter is to be congratulated on a programme as varied
as a pick’n’mix stall, with solos
on the kit (any of the three that
he and his elves set up for participants to choose), appearances from guitarists, a pianist,
a trumpeter and a trombonist, small groups playing rock
items, larger groups playing
alternative world music, not
The Private Life of
the Master Race
by Bertolt Brecht
January’s cold nights witnessed sell out performances
of The Private Life of the Master
Race staged, for the first time,
in the round in the Harlequin
theatre.
16
A large cast of students from
years ten to thirteen performed this series of snapshots
of the life of ordinary people as
the Nazi party came to power
in Germany in the 1930’s.
Jason Brown
to mention the xylophone
duet and the appearance of
the bodhran. Mr Hunter himself played a variety of instruments, including rhythm guitar for one or two kit players,
harmonica for Gayle (timpani)
and Simon (kit) and whistle,
agogo, plastic tub and talking
drum. Glad to see the old plastic barrels haven’t slipped out
of favour!
Well done everybody; I’m already looking forward to next
year’s.
Mrs Hartley
Folk group on fire
One of the benefits of the appointment of Miss Lawrence is
a thriving folk music group. It
meets on Thursday lunchtimes
in MR2 and pupils from year 9
upwards with some musical
experience are welcome. There
are flutes, whistles, fiddles,
piano accordion, concertina,
bodhran, guitars and drum kit
and it’s starting to sound quite
authentic. The repertoire of
music includes Cumbrian jigs,
French Mazurkas and, as a seasonal gesture, an Old English
wassail. Listen for them at the
Christmas Concert!
Mandy Crossley
A plea to instrumentalists
Please name your instrument clearly on the outside
of the case, so that someone else doesn’t mistake it for theirs.
Thank you. — Mrs Hartley
Updates on Drama and Dance
Drama
A2 students performed their
practical examination pieces in
the Harlequin this March. Students have to perform three
pieces; an extract from a play
written before 1900; an extract
from a play written post 1900
and a self-created devised
piece, linked to the texts by a
common theme. The standard
this year was very high, with
an excellent range of devised
work that explored people trafficking, TV reality shows and
how tragedy can link the lives
of strangers. Students worked
across a wide range of styles
to produce an excellent set of
performances.
GCSE Drama students also had
their practical exams this May,
performing in groups from a
range of texts.
BTEC Showcase
Our first BTEC showcase took
place on May 2, when students
from dance and drama classes
performed their work for assessment to an audience. An
excellent selection of material
ranged from a street theatre,
through dance work to devised
pieces from Years10 and 11.
Year 8 and 9 Drama club
A well attended club has met
every Friday lunchtime in the
drama studio, and has worked
on a selection of theatre games,
improvisation, creating drama
from text, using still images
and exploring story-telling
techniques. Two sixth formers
have helped lead the sessions
and worked extensively with
the younger students.
Zoo Story Workshops
A level students enjoyed a full
day’s workshops on their set
text from visiting actors Tom
Harrup and Chris Ball. They explored staging potential and
characterisation from Edward
Albee’s Zoo Story in an intensive and highly motivating day
as well as performing the entire
text to the drama groups.
QES Performance Company
My Kingdom Project
A group of students from year
10 to 13 have been working
on an in-house project linking
text, movement and music to
create a 20 minute performance piece that is being premiered at the Summer Dance
celebration in June. The piece
has been created entirely by
staff and students at the school
and has enabled students to
significantly extend their performance and cross-discipline
collaborative skills.
Jason Brown
Summer Dance Celebration
(previously Footnotes)
This is the performance of a large part of
the dance produced this year involving
pupils from every year. The dance pieces featured have been choreographed
during lessons, in dance clubs and after
school rehearsals.
South Lakes Dance Company
Lucy Nicholson has choreographed two
high quality contemporary dance pieces
with the company. The first piece, Distance was premiered in Carlisle as part
of a youth dance festival then was performed in assemblies for each year group.
The second piece Internal Sunshine will be
premiered at this year’s Summer Dance
Celebration.
Young Apprentice Theatre Company
The Year 11 group had the opportunity
to perform at the Cumbrian Dance showcase at the Brewery Theatre in Kendal.
This performance was assessed as part of
their course. The Year 10 group have been
given the opportunity to perform as part
of the Lancashire Dance Showcase in the
Charter Theatre in Preston.
Commedia Del’ Arte
The Year 12 BTEC actors are in the process
of devising a major piece for their course
and have chosen to be influenced by
characters and techniques from the Italian Commedia Del’ Arte. They will be having a day workshop with a leading performer/director from this style of theatre.
Dance Clubs
Year7 dance club is a very popular session with up to 30 pupils competing for
space to explore chorographical ideas.
Year8/9 have been working on a group
piece that will be performed in the summer dance celebration.
Boys dance have been working on a
‘Stomp’ style rhythm and movement choreography.
Jasper Marriott
17
focuson
Reflections on leaving QES
It’s not easy to convey the
whole experience of leaving
QES in one newsletter article.
I’ve been coming here for the
past 7 years, and to suddenly
stop that routine is very unnerving. I’ve grown to love QES
and the people that constitute
it, and leaving all that comfortable familiarity behind is both
upsetting and scary. However,
I also feel like it is time to leave
now. Although stepping into
my future is scary, I’m itching
to break out of the mould I’ve
lived in for so long and experience something new.
Leaving school really has been
the most positive experience it
could have been, thanks to the
tireless efforts of teachers, staff
and students. Leavers’ events
began with the wonderfully
atmospheric
Entertainment
Evening, where I was once
again astounded by the wealth
of performing talent possessed
by my peers. Staff also left us
stunned, with their breathtaking rendition of Moonriver, and
their somewhat less breathtaking (but very funny) performance of Monty Python’s Always Look on the Bright Side of
Life. On the last day, our form
18
teachers revealed their hilarious video, which they claimed
to be the original Wizard of
Oz. Students again showcased
their talent in the Goodbye Assembly, before we all headed
down to rehearse our final
church service. The beautiful
music and poignant poetry of
the church service made this
perhaps the most reflective,
moving part of the last day.
Back at school, leavers and
teachers gathered in the glorious garden by the amphitheatre for our final lunch. The sun
was shining, people were enjoying high spirits, and Café Q
were serving profiteroles. Perfection. Of course, hugs and
tears were shared, hundreds
of photos were taken, leavers’ books were thrust at you
with people demanding “Write
something nice about me
please”, and then suddenly… it
was time to go.
And five hours later we all met
again for our final ball! At the
Castle Green hotel the food,
décor, and extensive gardens
were all just splendid. The
music was great too - even for
those of us who are terrible at
dancing. We all cried a lot at
the end and it was a battle for
us to drag ourselves out to our
separate homes at midnight.
Although 6th formers took
charge of organising many of
our leaving events, we were
helped and directed and provided for from all angles. I can’t
name everyone who helped us,
but I do want to say, on behalf
of the ex-year 13, a huge thank
you to everyone who helped
make our leavers’ arrangements so very special and
memorable. The “top thank
you” has to go to Miss O’Neill,
who almost single-handedly
organised everyone and kept
us all in check, providing tireless support and encouragement. She’s a truly wonderful
head of 6th Form!
My biggest sentiment on leaving QES is simply one of immense gratitude to the school
for everything it’s given me
over the past seven years. It’s
shaped the person I am today
enormously, and I feel eternally
indebted to it. So thank you,
everyone, for everything! Best
wishes, and good-bye!
Sally Murray
The changing face of QES
and have been received very
well there. We used to have
contractors to do the bulk of
our grass-cutting, but now we
cut our own using a tractor and
roller mower.
I have been reflecting on
the changes that have come
about during my twelve years
as Groundsman here, and I
have to say that, on the whole,
things are better now.
The most obvious changes
have been made to the fabric of
the school-the buildings themselves. Areas of grass which I
used to tend have given way
to new builds-six, I think, during my first eight years or so
including the second largest
sports hall in the county. On
the sports front we had the
construction of the all-weather
astro-turf pitch, replacing a
very wet football field. We used
to keep our grounds equipment in the garage that stood
near the music block, but that
fell victim to the building development in 2003
Another change which has occurred recently is that we no
longer have our breaks in the
“tea shop” next to the Kitchen.
That has become the Site/
Cleaners’ office. We now have
our breaks in the staff room
One of the main differences
over the years have been the
increasing numbers of people
to be found on site each day.
When I arrived in 1996 there
were between eight and nine
hundred pupils and there are
now in excess of 1,400. More
students mean more teachers and more support workers
and, unfortunately, more cars!
Twelve years ago Frank Atkinson was the School’s only Site
Manager. He had a way with
words and with people. He was
a dependable colleague whose
advice I valued. I sometimes
wonder if Frank ever felt overworked at times because it has
taken three men to replace
him! Seriously though, Stuart,
Tim and Paul get through a far
greater work-load than Frank
was ever able to do, even with
the help of John Shepherd in
later years.
John Shepherd was a great
servant to the school and a
much-loved character. He was
respected by the staff and
adored by many of the students, especially in the lower
school. He was honest, hardworking and loyal and would
always go the extra mile to
help in any way he could. He
had a great knowledge, although his way of describing
how to do a job often left my
mind in a muddle! John taught
me so much about the job of a
Groundsman – lessons which I
am now passing onto my assistant Tom Wynne. Tom is a great
help to me, especially with his
prowess on the tractor!
One change which has been
evident is an increasing awareness that the school values
the work which the support
staffs do. We are now able to
do more training courses - Tom
and I have recently completed
one. Support staffs are increasingly invited to functions during the school day, and David
Lancaster and the kitchen staff
sometimes provide dinners for
Support staff during school
holidays, which is much appreciated. This all helps to build
relationships and a spirit of caring for one another. Birthdays
are sometimes marked with a
cake and a card. It seems to me
that teachers and other staff
members are working more
closely than ever for a common
goal and are having respect for
the individual’s contribution to
the life of the school.
Change is the norm at a school
and the end of the summer
term illustrates it well. I often
feel quite melancholic at this
time of year when I think that
some of the young people
whom I’ve got to know over
seven years will be leaving to
go out into the big wide world.
No longer will I hear Nathaniel
Bateson say “Hi, Mr. Dent, how
are you?” But still, in September there’ll be another lot to
get to know as a new school
year begins.
Stephen Dent
19
Re-vamped fiction for 6th form
The QES 6th form library fiction section has had an exciting new re-vamp. Our aim was
to make the section more relevant and accessible, with an
emphasis on reading for pleasure as well as study.
You will find new stock next to
old classics as well as Graphic
Novels and Popular Biographies. The section has also
been ‘zoned’ into genres to
make browsing easier, a bit like
a book shop. Old and unread
stock has been weeded out,
leaving a colourful collection
with something for everyone.
The collection is compact but
we have an eclectic mix from
Dickens to Katie Price! This is
an idea which was first mentioned to me in my first week
working as Assistant Librarian
in February. Only a couple of
weeks after that Miss Dowding and I (pictured left) were at
the suppliers, absorbed in endless shelves of books, quickly
filling a giant trolley! A lot of
cataloguing, labelling and
hard work later and we’re very
happy with the end result.
We intended to create a fiction section students and staff
would be eager to borrow
from, which offers a little bit
of escapism and fun as well
as educational value. We also
recognise that a good book
and some quiet reading time
can be a great stress buster,
which is especially important
at this busy time of year. So, if
you need a well earned break,
feel the need to escape, or you
just fancy a nosey, come and
browse our updated section.
Miss Sosnowsky
Assistant Librarian
When I say I am a librarian, people think - “nerd”. But in
fact it’s not at all like that.
20
To be a librarian you don’t have to like books - in fact you don’t
even need to read books. All you have to have is a good sense of
humour and be able to learn. It’s that simple. When I became a
librarian in September I was only in Year 9. This meant that I only
had one year to be a librarian. So I started with an open mind
ready to learn. As the year went on I learnt more of the library,
all thanks to Miss Dowding, Miss Sosnowsky and Miss Gatrell. So
as the year has gone on on I have learnt more and had a great
laugh as well. But this was a unique opportunity because I’m not
going to be able to carry on as a student librarian. However it
was great and I really enjoyed it.
James Onions 9E
Languages
As part of our outreach work
as a languages college, we
are supporting the introduction and embedding of Primary Languages in our feeder
schools and our Director of
Languages, Hayley Martin, has
been working with Year 3 at St
Mary’s school all year. In May,
we gave French teaching there
a more cross-curricular, primary approach by working with
Miss Jackson, our sports coordinator, and teaching some
simple PE activities through
the medium of French.
Year 3 pupils played Les feux
(traffic lights), Prenez le drapeau (Capture the flag), Sardines, Canard, Canard, Oie
(Duck, Duck, goose), Attrapez
ou faites une tete (Catch and
head) and Quelle heure est-il
monsieur Loup? (What time is it
Mr Wolf?) all taught and played
in French.
We had a lot of fun and it was
a good way of consolidating
the language learnt over the
course of the year. The pupils
really enjoyed it, the sun shone
for us and we finished off with
a French breakfast on the
school fields.
Hayley Martin
Hayley Martin, Director of Languages (second left), with senior QES staff and visitinging teachers from Greece
Learningmatters
Teacher training at QES
QES is a Training School. The
Government’s
educational
standards website says: Training Schools demonstrate excellent practice across the range of
teacher training activities, especially in initial teacher training
and the continuing training and
development of the whole school
workforce. They are imaginative
and influential in these areas. So
what is it like to train to be a
teacher at QES? Here are some
thoughts and feedback from
our most recent trainees from
the University of Cumbria.
Training as a teacher over the
past 10 weeks at QES has been
a unique and inspiring experience and the high expectations and achievements of the
school made the encounter all
the more challenging. I have
thoroughly enjoyed being
part of the staff for this short
time and have been greatly impressed by the pupils and their
attitude to school life. I will
be taking away skills that will
help me survive my first year
in teaching and some great
memories of the experience.
Annali Bone, Music
Arriving at QES on a drizzly day
back in February, I immediately
managed to get lost, only to
be directed along to where I
should be by two polite and
helpful students. I did not
confess to being a Geography
teacher! Four months later, as
I reflect on my experience as a
trainee teacher at QES, I realise
that my first day summarises
my time at the School rather
well. At times I have got lost,
but there has always been a
friendly pair of hands to guide
me back on course and I cannot thank both staff and students enough for making me
feel part of their School community and not laughing too
hard at my many mistakes.
Laura Kernahan, Geography
During the past three months
I’ve been lucky to work within
the excellent Religious Education department at QES. It
has been such a valuable experience to work with such a
strong provider of RE and it has
been great to see the pupils
both engaged and enthused.
The Year 8 form I was taking
were brilliant to work with and
have inspired me to continue
to focus on the pastoral side
of teaching in my future career. The commitment that the
teachers show to the pupils is
always 100%, and the benefits
for the school are obvious. The
ethos of QES really brings out
the best in young people, and
it has been thoroughly enjoyable to work with the pupils
who make the school a very
special place.
Catherine Dobson, RE
My time at QES has been both
challenging and rewarding. My
subject and professional mentors have given me structured
guidance through the course
and always been about for a
pep talk when it was needed!
It has been a valuable experience with a good structure
ensuring firm foundations are
laid for the world of teaching.
The system at QES is very rigorous, you have to be prepared
to work very hard but feel immense satisfaction at the end.
Elizabeth Banks, Geography
My time at QES has been a
great experience. I have thoroughly enjoyed being a Year 7
form tutor after spending a few
weeks working closely with a
helpful and supportive teacher
who made me feel relaxed and
confident about looking after
31 Year 7 pupils. I have been
able to get to know the pupils
in my form in a different way to
the pupils in my subject classes, which has been rewarding
and at times a challenge. I have
formed an excellent rapport
with the group. I will be sad to
leave.
Gillian Slater, MFL
I have thoroughly enjoyed my
time at QES and have learnt a
great deal. One aspect of the
school that I have particularly
benefitted from is the range
of extracurricular opportunities I have been able to take
part in providing. The difficult
part is choosing what you will
do! I have helped at hockey
practice, athletics club and
climbing club – where we did
a gill scramble that was great
fun. I have also helped with
the Duke of Edinburgh scheme
and the pupils were all fantastic despite the tired legs and a
blister or two. It is great to get
to know the students outside
the classroom environment.
I’m looking forward to many
more trips and practices in the
future.
Sophie Garne, Maths
21
Sportsdesk
First IX become County Champions
The wait is finally over! After an
eternity for boys football and
endless heckling in the staff
room the U18 first XI finally
delivered some silverware
to break the duck and give
something for Mr Foster to talk
about, other than himself! In
May they were crowned Cum-
bria U18 football champions
after a deserved win over St
Aidans 2-1 in the final. On the
way to the final they brushed
aside opposition from QKS,
Kirkbie Kendal and Whitehaven
School. The lads have represented QES fantastically well.
It has been particularly pleas-
ing as this season the team has
included seven Y11 lads who
have all acquitted themselves
extremely well - a good omen
for next season. It just leaves
me to thank all those lads and
parents that have so loyally
supported football at QES.
Mr Foster
For the first time in Mr Foster’s
illustrious 12-year career as
football coach at QES, the 1st
IX reached the county cup final - but not content with just
reaching the final, the team
defensive blunder, and fired
us into the lead with a well-hit
strike into the bottom corner
- a dream start. We continued
to create chances throughout
the half, the pick of the bunch
substitutes made a big impact,
and super-sub Ross Kilshaw terrorised the St Aidans defence
on multiple occasions. Some
scrappy play in the opposition
box led to Matt Longden scoring his second of the afternoon
from a tight angle, once again
putting us in the driving seat.
The game was still not over.
We had to weather continual
pressure from St Aidans as
they tried to take the game to
extra time; we also had a few
chances on the counter attack
to put the game to bed but just
lacked that final killer touch in
front of goal.
went that one step further and
actually won the cup!
After definitive victories on the
road to the final, we knew that
our opposition – St Aidans from
Carlisle - would be our toughest yet. With several County
and Carlisle United players on
their team they were not going
to be a push over.
22
The game was played on a hot
day at French Fields in Penrith,
and the QES boys - led by Nick
Turner - made a good high
tempo start. Within 5 minutes,
Matt Longden pounced on a
being Theo Pavli’s placed chip
over a defender to Dan Houlden, but unfortunately he misguided the shot wide. At half
time we were 1-0 up.
However, the tables turned at
the start of the second half.
St Aidans started the better
team, after sustained pressure
in our half and a hefty goal line
scramble, they managed to
level the score. But for a stunning save from Joe Whitfield a
few minutes later we would be
losing. Rather than let this faze
us, we went in search of the
winner. The introduction of our
Finally the whistle went, and
we deservedly won, 2-1. We’ve
made our own bit of history,
becoming the only QES team
to ever win the county cup!
A big thanks to Mr Foster for
his training and team management, and well done to all the
lads involved in the team!
Luke Duckworth
The team, L to R:
Front row; Luke Duckworth, Adam Garnett,
Robin Woodburn, Dan Houlden, Jack Smith,
Jackson Eatherden, Dan O’Connor
Back row; Ross Kilshaw, Jake Fawcett,
Glen Rees, Joe Whitfield, Nick Turner, Matt
Longden, Theo Pavli, Dan McCandlish, Tom
Beaumont
Athletics reports
Pewsey, Will Teal, Charlotte
Rickards. Congratulations on
your success and good luck.
This year saw QES organising
the District Athletics Competition at Stanley Park Blackpool, a massive, stressful job
but one which was done with
complete competency and
flair - well done Mr Mayhew on
your organisational skills and
well done to the rest of us for
jobs well done on the day!
We had much success at the
competition with a total of 16
athletes either winning their
events or coming second and
as a result qualifying for the
county finals. well done to all
competitors.
Having arrived at the county
final after getting lost en-route
and surviving Mr Mayhews’
three-point turn in the middle
of the city centre during rush
hour, we had a very long but
successful day.
The following pupils finished
first or second in the county in
their events and as a result will
now go on to represent Cumbria in the Inter-Counties competition later this month:
Ollie Blackburn, Scott Brocklebank, Alisha Casement, Josh
In the County Combined
Events held at Sheepmount in
Carlisle, competitors compete
in 5 or more disciplines. Three
of our athletes, Ollie Blackburn
U15 boy’s, Alisha Casement
U17 girl’s and Matt Wright
U20 men’s finished in the top
two for their age group in the
county and now go onto represent Cumbria in the North
West Final in Bebington, Wirral later this month. This is a
particularly difficult event. To
be good in over 5 events is no
mean feat and we wish them
well and all the best.
Closer to home we have had
a fantastic turn out for athletics practices. It is encouraging
to see so many young people
involved in either running,
jumping or throwing strange
objects! We hope it will continue through the winter with
indoor athletics where athletes
will have the opportunity to
hone their skills ready for the
following year.
Thanks to all those pupils who
have given their time and to
staff for running this club in
what is always a really busy
time of year for them.
Alison Blackburn
QES had resounding success
at the North West Athletics Combined events at Bebington, Wirral, with three of
our athletes gaining places at
the English Schools National
Finals. Matt Wright won the
Senior boys event and is now
North West Champion, Alisha
Casement finished 4th in the
Inter girls competition and is
now ranked 4th in the North
West and Ollie Blackburn finished 5th in the junior boys
and is now ranked 5th in the
North West. Ollie was one of
three boys competing for Cumbria as part of the Junior boys
team who finished the day as
North West Champions. Well done to all our Athletes on
their superb performances and
good luck representing the
North in the National finals.... we wait with bated breath!
Alison Blackburn
Girls’ Football
The girls’ football session, on
a Monday night after school,
is really fun. There are people
aged from year 7 to year 11.
Lots of people go, with the
year 7 girls playing a match at
Queen Katherine School.
We do lots of fun activities to
start with, like dribbling in between cones, shooting against
a goalkeeper, volleying into
a net, penalty shooting and
loads more. At the end we play
either one big match or little
matches against each other.
The year 7 girls have also got a
tournament coming up.
So if you want to join and have
lots of fun on Monday nights
come along, everybody is welcome!
Rachel Todner 7K
23
Cricket season 2008
Team
U15
U14
U13
U12
PW
5 2
6 4
4 3
6 5
D
0
1
0
0
L
3
1
1
1
Teacher i/c
Mr Rawson
Mr Higson
Mr Wilson
Mr Mayhew
Pupils and staff alike have
taken up the challenge of an
increase in fixtures for the 2008
Season. Mr Dent, our Head
Groundsman, has repeatedly
prepared outstanding batting
strips and fast outfields. While
the QES batsmen have relished
this, the bowlers have had to
raise their game, bowling tight
lines and consistently hitting
the seam in order to restrict
run rates and take wickets. A
second season of winter nets
with Cumbria 1st XI Head
Coach, Jonathan Hall, and the
continued commitment of QES
staff, has again paid dividends,
with improved performances
from many of the boys.
With twenty-seven of the forty
fixture dates passed, six have
succumbed to the weather. Of
the remainder, QES teams have
been victorious in fourteen,
one has been drawn, with six
losses. Schools played so far
include QEGS, Giggleswick,
Windermere St Anne’s, Ripley,
Kirbie Kendal, Ullswater and
Dallam. At the time of writing,
fixtures remaining to be played
are against Sedbergh, Morecambe, Cartmel and Settle College. Good luck boys!
I would like to pass on the comments of a member of staff at
Windermere St Anne’s School,
who wrote following a recent
match between the schools. It
says much about the standards
that QES students set themselves when representing the
school upon the playing field.
“I just wanted to say what a
pleasure it was to play your
boys at the cricket yesterday,
they were a great bunch of
lads and played the game with
a fantastic spirit. Even my lads
commented on just how sporting your boys were and how it
was the most enjoyable game
they had played all year, despite the 1st Innings drubbing!
Please pass these thoughts
on to the boys too, they were
a credit to the school and we
look forward to coming back
for other fixtures in the future.”
Mr Mayhew
Success and disappointment in Tennis
Boys: The U13As had a great
start to the season, seeing off
Windermere St Anne’s 6-0.
24
Unfortunately the cancellation of subsequent fixtures
due to the weather, meant a
team widely tipped for County
success, had to pull out of the
County Cup for failing to fulfil
their matches within the allot-
ted time. The newly formed
U13B’s, however, enjoyed their
first win against St. Aidan’s in a
pulsating fixture at QES.
The U15As have had a tough
season, losing out to Sedbergh
and Windermere St Annes,
whilst the Bs lost to Cartmel
Priory. With the league behind
them, both sides are look-
ing forward to the upcoming
friendly fixtures.
Girls: The U13 B girls tennis
team won the league this year
winning 3 out of 3 and are now
county champions! The U15
girls came second in the league
only losing one match against
a strong Sedbergh team.
R.Mayhew
QES on the Internet
Keep in touch from
home or workplace
It’s easier than ever to keep in touch with
what’s happening at QES. Apart from our
own information-packed website (www.
queenelizabeth.cumbria.sch.uk), you can
also find out about the school’s massive
charity fundraising by visiting the G-Nation
website (above, at www.g-nation.co.uk),
and get regular updates on pupil Jonny
Moore’s round-Britain sailing adventure
(below, at www.jonnymooresailing.com)
25
26

Queen Elizabeth School - QES Main Website

Transcription

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