Dear QEHS Community,

Welcome to the Term 5 Newsletter in which you will see and be able to read examples of the fantastic endeavours, both academic and personal, of our amazing students. At all levels across the school, and in a myriad of different ways the students have once again this term demonstrated how their resilience, sense of purpose and compassion for others continues to shine through - no matter what life and circumstance may throw at them.

In a week which sees us bid farewell to our Year 13 students following the successful completion of their A Level Assessments this term, I would like to share with you my sentiments conveyed to our departing Sixth Formers during their final Leavers’ Assembly on Wednesday.

Five frantic weeks in school is certainly not enough time to get to know a year group properly, but know this, from meeting some of you at interview, to conversations had in corridors and in meetings held together I have been massively impressed by your caring and compassionate approach towards each other and the wider school community. Similarly, your determination to succeed in the face of adversity and within an incredibly fluid learning environment over the past 18 months has been remarkable. Thankfully, the vast majority of you have been able to sit your full complement of Assessments as intended, and will have done yourselves every possible favour to secure the grades you deserve this summer. Very well done on your stoicism and remarkable resilience throughout your Sixth Form studies.

So, given all this, how can it be you are still sometimes referred to as the ‘snowflake generation’? A generation that is fragile, fleetingly precious and easily influenced and altered in form or impression. This simply doesn’t seem to fit anymore with the experiences you have been through. Let’s then, look at this in a different way…

Yes, like a snowflake each of you are utterly unique and follow your own paths, sometimes drifting, sometimes swirling in circles and sometimes taking a more direct path. Of late however, the cupped hands of support offered by family, friends and school that have guided you through these turbulent times will have changed and shaped you. Compacted and contained, and warmed by shared compassion, you will have become ever closer and tighter knit. The bonds you have made are strong and have seen you through some difficult times and will do so in days to come.

As you leave QEHS, you won’t melt away. Rather, like a snowflake you will never entirely disappear as you are challenged by the world around you. Snowflakes re-enter the atmosphere in a newly developed and sometimes more substantial form. As you move on, therefore, to become global citizens and future world leaders, consider the experiences of your time at QEHS and how these have helped to make you what you are – amazing young people with the world at your feet.

As sad as it is to say farewell to any cohort of students, it is a joy to know that Year 13 leave QEHS as confident, successful and well-rounded individuals who have grasped every opportunity the school has been able to put their way. Within this Newsletter we can see most clearly how current students continue to make the very best of their time and experiences as the exciting cycle of life here at QEHS continues to go from strength to strength.

Mr R M Eastham

Headteacher

Friday 28 May

Students may wear non-uniform on this Friday, 28 May. Please ensure your child wears something appropriate if they have a PE or drama lesson during the day. All contributions can be made via ParentMail from 16.00 Thursday 27 May until midnight on 10June, so please make a contribution at a time convenient to you. There is a suggested donation of £1 but please feel free to give more if you are able.

All monies raised will go to Supporting Minds in Lincoln. This is a not-for-profit organisation offering affordable and accessible therapy to those who need it, ensuring money is not an obstacle to healing. They are passionate about providing services which pro-actively support mental health as part of an individual’s general wellbeing and support a number of schools across Lincolnshire with award-winning workshops and one-to-one counselling provision.

Thank you.

As lockdown eases, taking a rapid COVID-19 test twice a week, even if you do not have symptoms, will help us stay ahead of the spread of the virus, particularly as new strains appear. Around 1 in 3 people with COVID-19 have no symptoms and are spreading the virus without knowing. This includes those who have had their vaccine.

We want to thank you for your continued support in testing. Over 40 million tests with staff and students have now been conducted nationwide as part of the education testing programme.

Please continue to test twice-weekly over half-term and during Term 6. Testing should ideally be undertaken on a Wednesday and Saturday and please remember to report your results.

• Every test result must be reported to the NHS here 

• Every test result must be reported to school here.

• Positive results received at any time must also be emailed to [email protected].

Please continue to advise us of any positive cases throughout the school holidays.

Periods of lockdown learning and working within bubbles has meant that life has changed for us all, and we commend the students' attitude to learning, resilience and adaptability. Over the last year our staff have certainly added to their ICT skills, with many now capable of delivering lessons in a way that 18 months ago was at the outer limit of our comfort zones!

Year 7 Parents' Evening afforded parents the opportunity to let us know personally what they thought of the remote learning experience provided by QEHS during the last lockdown, with some of the comments shared below:

"Your entire career was completely changed overnight, but you rose to the challenge."

"5 days a week 9.30 - 3.30, 6 lessons a days for weeks and weeks, the children knew exactly what they were doing. A massive thank you to all staff!"

"You have done a sterling job. What staff have done in very difficult circumstances is amazing!"

"Your remote provision was above and beyond."

From the students’ perspective, the Remote Learning section of the QEHS website shares here some of the comments gathered in a student survey conducted in early Spring.

A big thank you must also go to all of the parents who have juggled work and supported the home learning experience, thus helping our students to fulfil the expectations of the school and to put them in a position to continue to achieve as best they possibly can. It really has been a phenomenal team effort.

On Tuesday 23 March 2021 the whole school community joined together to reflect on the tragic loss of life we have felt over the last year and to support all those who are grieving.

We also reflected on how students had risen to the challenge of the last year and celebrated all of our successes. Students worked creatively, independently or in groups, and students expressed themselves in a variety of ways to create pieces of art, poems, stories, pictures, memory hearts and flowers.

These have been put together to create a longstanding Reflection and Celebration Board for current and future students to gain an insight into our recent history. During the day students also took part in an assembly and joined hundreds of other organisations and millions of people for a minutes' silence.

Mrs R Haldenby

Assistant Headteacher (Head of Sixth Form)

Purdy T (7C) recently donated an extensive 12 inches of her hair to the Little Princess Trust! 

Purdy was motivated by a family friend who lost their hair and she had the compassion to take action after her lockdown locks were in need of a trim. Community spirited Purdy told us "The Little Princess Trust is a charity that makes wigs for people that have unfortunately lost their hair. These wigs help them gain back their confidence and help them discover their identity again. Many people cut their hair for the Little Princess Trust because it helps people discover their identity again".

Seeking sponsorship to cut off her beautiful hair led to Purdy raising over £1000 so far. What an amazing thing to do! Thank you for inspiring us all!

            

Since 2006 the Little Princess Trust has been providing free wigs for children and young people who have lost their hair to cancer or other treatments. Are you still in need of shedding your lockdown locks?

https://www.littleprincesses.org.uk/ 

We are always delighted to hear of fundraising, achievements and community work that our students undertake outside of QEHS. If you have stories to share,  please submit content at the top right of the Newsletter. (All items are checked, proofread and approved by you before publishing).

Congratulations!

We had some fantastic entries from Year 7 and 8 – and they managed all this during the difficulty of lockdown!

Huge congratulations go to :

Thanks to Meisha who was the first to share the good news, her poem gives you a taster of the quality pieces that you can read in the book:

Imagine Being Free 

Lockdown holidays

I’m trying to make sense

No family, no friends

Boredom strikes

WhatsApp keeps me going

Friends at the end of a tap

My dearest phone

What would I do without you?

Imagine there is no lockdown

Imagine the rules don’t apply

Imagine a normal world

Imagine being free

Lockdown holidays

I am trying to make sense

No school, no activities

Loneliness hits

But we must keep in touch

By whatever means

For there is not much else to do

And nowhere to go

Imagine there is no lockdown

I could be on a beach far away

Imagine a normal world

Imagine being free

Lockdown holidays

I’m trying to make sense

I try to stay positive and happy

And hope for an end soon

Finally, the weather warms up

Spring is approaching

The sun is out

There is hope once again

Imagine there is no lockdown

Imagine the rules don’t apply

Imagine a normal world

Imagine being free

The judges will now choose 5 of their favourite entries from those published - so it might be that some of our students will achieve further success!

QEHS will receive a complimentary copy of the book for our library and we can order additional copies at a discounted rate, so look out for a ParentMail. 

Mrs K Regan

Assistant Head of English Faculty

For those students successful in securing a work placement in these challenging times, we are now moving towards the date of the placements; 5-9 July.

A few students booked PROVISIONAL placements, due to Covid 19 and it is requested that these be confirmed as soon as possible to ensure the Health and Safety agency have time to book a visit and carry out the necessary risk assessment, enabling the placement to go ahead as hoped.

Placement confirmation paperwork will be sent home with students as and when the placements have been risk assessed and are approved to use. Covid 19 restrictions have impacted on the ability of the risk assessors to visit placement premises this year, meaning paperwork will be later than we would normally expect and some may even be in the last few days before the placement starts.

We also have a lot of new employers this year as well as existing ones whose current risk assessments have expired. This has increased the volume of Health and Safety visits needed. Please be assured that we are working with the Education Business Partnership (EBP) to finalise placements as soon as possible. If any particular problems arise with visits and/or risk assessments, whether due to Covid 19 or any other issue, the student will be notified immediately so that the situation can be addressed in a timely manner.

Upon receipt of the placement paperwork, please check the details and if you are in any doubt about dress code, hours of work, mealtimes etc. do contact the employer for clarification. The job description for many of the placements asks the students to 'confirm their hours of work before the placement starts' and they must act on this by making contact with the employer, as soon as the paperwork is received.

The student/parent agreement section of the paperwork needs signing by both parties and returning to school as soon as possible. This agreement can be scanned in and emailed to me on [email protected] or returned to tutors. As notified in the expression of interest letter, ParentMail will be used to pay for the charges applicable to work experience. This facility will open when the placements start and parents will be informed by ParentMail.

Where students are doing irregular days or hours, details of the days/hours of work MUST be given to Mrs Thorpe as soon as possible, as the emergency contact for students working outside normal School Office hours.

Thank you for supporting your child as they have faced the challenge of organising work experience during a pandemic. As always, we look forward to hearing about the students’ experiences when they return to school. The glowing reports from employers about QEHS students always make the hard work worthwhile!

Mrs J Thorpe

Work Experience Coordinator

Every year our Sixth Form leavers create picture boards.

The Year 13 students design boards within their friendship groups, choosing their own unique design and where they would like their work to be displayed in College House.  For instance, many students choose a particular room that they 'hang out' in for the duration of their time in the Sixth Form - leaving a lasting memory for us to display is such a great way for us to remember this fantastic year group.

Here are some of the boards that our Year 13 students have designed this year, they all look great displayed around College House.

It has been a pleasure working with you all and

we all wish you every success for the future!

Mrs E Housham

Sixth Form Administrator

Congratulations to all of the students who were successful at interview

to make it onto the Senior Student Team!

.

SENIOR STUDENT TEAM 2021-22

Head Girl 

Arwen W 12E

Head Boy 

Joel S 12C

Deputy Head Girl

Grace L 12D

Deputy Head Boy

Thisula J 12A

Deputy Head Girls (School Council)

Charlotte H 12A and Simran U 12D

Senior Team:

Sasha A 12A, Joanna B 12D, Hollie W 12D, Molly S 12D,

Andrew B 12D, Oliver I 12D, Jacob F 12S

.

As usual there was a high calibre of applications and the Leadership Team had the difficult decision of selecting the team.

We wish them good luck in their new roles and look forward to hearing more from them!

Community Project

Queen Elizabeth’s High School BTEC Performing Arts students are currently creating a fun-filled two day Community Theatre based experience including a performance and different workshops for a group of primary school children. The project is about exploring the past, present and future of theatre and The Arts in the local area. The Year 12 students are currently working extremely hard, devising, directing and designing performance and workshop material, which will include an original song, produced and sung in the brand new recording studio at QEHS.

Year 12 want to recognise how important The Arts are and how it can bring together Gainsborough as a community. The premise of the performance is to take 2 classes of primary school children on a journey, using different zoo animals to re-create moments of theatre from Gainsborough’s past, and present as well as explore what the future of theatre in the local area will look like. Our students will carry out workshops for the younger children including making and decorating puppets, creating animal headbands and other arts and crafts activities. This will result in the primary students creating their own performance material which will include an original song, written, produced and sung by this talented group of students. The Year 12 students are very excited to initiate this project and can’t wait to offer their creations to the primary school children.

Mr D Rigby

Head of Drama

Congratulations!

Many thanks and very well done to those Peer Listeners who have completed their Safeguarding e-module ‘LCSB Introduction to Safeguarding Children’.

Peer Listeners are a valuable resource available to the QEHS student body, to find out more see the following website link: https://qehs.lincs.sch.uk/peer-listening. It takes a special calibre of student to step up to support others, and this group have certainly picked up the baton. Their certificates are an excellent addition to any portfolio of achievements for future interviews, etc.

The Senior Peer Listening Team have now taken the group through classroom and group skills as part of their training to move into classroom-based work come September.

Headteacher Mr Eastham passed on his “Congratulations to all the students who have successfully completed the module.”

I would like to say how much I have enjoyed working with this group during our training these past three weeks and I really look forward to working with them over the next few years.

Students please ensure that you continue to file certificates with me as you complete your assessment.

Thank you.

Mrs D Hall

School Counsellor

This year's Readathon is now underway, running for two weeks from 26 May.

This is a great activity for Year 7 participation at QEHS, giving students the exciting

challenge of adding to the tremendous £28,000 already raised by the school to date!

What a wonderful opportunity to Read For Good for literary development and to receive excellent support if required by readers.

Students will be given sponsor cards and bookmarks and parents will receive further details about sponsor collection on ParentMail.

Students please give it your best shot, paying all sponsor money in by 25 June.

We would like to thank English teacher Ms Jones, for her dedication and passion in organising this opportunity for our students.

Thanks in advance for all of your efforts. Enjoy Readathon 2021!

Mrs N Daubney

Teaching and Learning Coordinator

Congratulations to Martha E (9S), the winner of this year's World Book Day Competition and runners up Isla J (9E) and Inaaya K (10A). Martha received a £10 Amazon Voucher, with Isla and Inaaya enjoying chocolate prizes!

 

In order to celebrate World Book Day 2021, the English Department decided to hold a ‘Hidden Reader’ competition online - as it took place during the latest lockdown.

Students and staff used this Google Drive link to access a power point presentation that contained slides with images of the QEHS teaching/support staff, reading their favourite/current books, however their faces were hidden behind books. Each image was numbered; there were 24 images in total, plus two bonus images at the end with the two new members of staff who only started working in our school in January – some of us found those quite tricky. Each picture contained a clue that enabled students to guess their teacher/support staff.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17eMhIjkrjLi1D267pvoMNE3pg6YzHnVW/view?usp=sharing  

The competition turned out to be very popular, and I received numerous entries from our students across KS3 and KS4.

Thank you to all who took part and well done to the winner and runners up!

Mrs N Daubney

Teaching and Learning Coordinator

One of the Student Senior Team not only represents the student body within school, but also speaks for others within the local area.

This is a fantastic achievement for Simran U, 12D - representing the voice of young people on the Youth Council, which she also emanates within the school as one of the leaders of our School Council in her role as Deputy Head Girl. Simran is currently in her 2nd term as the Chairperson and Member of the Youth Parliament for Bassetlaw.

To find out more about how Simran represents young people on the local Youth Council see the link below:

https://www.bassetlaw.gov.uk/community-and-living/children-and-young-people/bassetlaw-youth-council/who-are-bassetlaw-youth-council/simran-uppal/ 

For your own personal development, improving confidence and communication skills, why not become involved in the QEHS School Council? It looks great on your CV when you are competing for college, university, apprenticeships or jobs! Even just debating the ideas raised in class with your peers could lead to greater involvement in the future.

Who knows? - perhaps you are the next Youth Council Representative for your area!

If you have a success story you would like to share, please email [email protected] or upload the details at the top of this page.

Grace O 10D took 2 more music exams during lockdown and has now received her results:

Grade 5 Oboe (Trinity) 89/100    Distinction

Grade 5 Theory (ABRSM) 75/75!!  Distinction with 100%! what a fantastic result!

Congratulations Grace!

Revision guides and workbooks relevant to courses studied at QEHS are now available to purchase on ParentMail. As a school we are able to buy many of these books at a reduced price and pass this saving on to parents whilst ensuring our costs are covered in providing this service. Please click here to view the titles available and examples of the books. Students can also view the book lists in the Library Folder on the W:Drive.

To order please:

1. Place the order on ParentMail
2. Email [email protected] with the order confirmation and details of you chid's name and tutor group.

The Library staff can then ensure that the correct purchases are allocated to your child in the most efficient manner.

Thank you.

Mrs J Stevenson

Learning Resource Centre Manager

Dear all,

Please see below for next term’s schedule from Speakers for Schools. Students need to pre-book for some of the speakers. Please let me know if you’d like me to book you a place.

Here is the Live Broadcasts Schedule for the following weeks.

Live broadcasts are a great way for students to hear directly from leading figures from a range of industries, and have the opportunity to ask questions via a moderated Q&A.

UPCOMING TALKS

HOW TO JOIN THE LIVE BROADCASTS

• Join 10 minutes before the broadcast to be ready
• You can join without needing an account – Watch how here
• For full speaker descriptions visit the Broadcast Schedule here

LIVE BROADCASTS LIBRARY & MORE

• Watch pre-recorded broadcasts from our library here
• Please see our Schools Guide here.

Mr J Kingdom

Assistant Headteacher (Assessment and Student Progression)

All students have been issued with a copy of this years' Gainian, our academic journal. Adapting its name from the original Ganian, a student newsletter produced at our precedessor, Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, the New Gainain represents a wide range of current student work. All 4 volumes are now available on the website here . To request your additional copies please email [email protected]

Please share The Gainian far and wide!

We are aware that financial situations may have changed over the past few months.

If you would like, please follow the link below to check and see if your child is eligible for Free School Meals: http://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/schools-and-education/free-school-meals/

The application doesn't take long to complete and could be very beneficial. Please do not hesitate to speak to me at the school if you require any further help. Full details are available on our website under The School: Funding and Financials; alternatively click here to view our Pupil Premium information.

Miss E Carter

Attendance and Welfare Officer