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Dear QEHS Community,

Welcome to the final Newsletter of the academic year. Here you will find details outlining just how incredibly busy and successful QEHS students have been once again. Presented here are numerous examples of the diverse academic, sporting and co-curricular activities and achievements enjoyed by students this term. What a multi-talented, proactive and inspirational student population we have!

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for the ongoing support, commitment and loyalty you have shown to Queen Elizabeth’s High School. Without doubt this is a special place in which to learn and grow. There is a real sense of purpose and high degree of collegiality amongst students and staff in this school. Consequently, QEHS continues to thrive and blossom as we all look forward to the future with renewed confidence, a sense of purpose and a determination to succeed at the highest levels.

Do please enjoy perusing the articles contained across the following pages, and maybe take a moment to pause for thought in order to appreciate just how incredibly creative, productive, successful and positive the youngsters here at Queenies truly are.

Enjoy a wonderful summer.

Mr R M Eastham

Headteacher

1. Term 5 Headteacher’s Commendation

Congratulations to Maizie-Lea (10B) on achieving the Headteacher’s Commendation for maturity in her decision making - taking action in a difficult situation, whilst showing great sensitivity and compassion. Mr Johnson was proud to nominate Maizie-Lea for this award in Term 5.

Term 6 Headteacher's Commendations

After a much disrupted two years of GCSE studies, it was finally time to bid farewell to our wonderful and extremely determined Year 11 students.

An amazing, resilient and steadfast group of achievers leave us. The obstacles they have faced were unexpected, difficult to plan for and pushed all of us beyond our  comfort zones. Well done to each and every member of this strong, robust and adaptable group of individuals!

Remember to keep in touch Year 11!

It is always great to hear your news and find out which career path you take. Who knows? Perhaps you will be stood at the front of assembly inspiring the next generation! To sign up and join over 850 Alumni please register your email address here. This should be your personal email and not your school email address.

In addition to the aspirational talk to Year 9 earlier in the term, on Higher Education and life in space from Helen Sharman; Year 10 were privileged to hear motivational speaker and ex-professional footballer Luke Staton deliver a live assembly last week.

A brilliant inspirational talk was heard by our Year 10 students from former footballer Luke, whose successful career, included time playing for Gainsborough Trinity - he even played for England as a teenager! Thank you to Luke for sharing ideas around the importance of target setting and sharing strategies for achieving personal goals.

Post-18 Careers Day 

Work Experience Under Covid Restrictions!

Against all the odds 65 Year 10 students secured and were able to carry out their Work Experience Placements, week commencing 5 July. It has been incredibly difficult for students to make contact with potential employers due to the pandemic and hopefully the students who were not successful will be able to undertake their Work Experience when they are in Year 12 and the world returns to “normal”.

The students' chosen activities varied from catering to engineering, and from ICT (including programming a drone) to farming, with many more in between! Students organised their individual placements, sorted out their own transport arrangements and suitable dress appropriate to their job descriptions, and in many cases arrived early each day for their allotted duties.

The feedback from the employers, many of whom were new to us this year, has been nothing short of fantastic and I am very proud of all that our students achieved over the week.

Here is some of the great feedback received by staff from our placement providers:

“She has been a joy to have in the team. We have really enjoyed

having her work with us and she is a credit to your school.”

“A great ambassador for the school.”

“He is the best Work Experience student we have ever

had and he has set a precedent!”

“She was wonderful - happy, keen to learn about the

business and has taken everything in her stride.”

“He has been very keen to learn and taken on board the

guidance given. A great help to the team.”

I am sure that the skills students have acquired and the experiences they have enjoyed will motivate them and aid their focus as they move into Year 11, and look towards  making decisions regarding Post-16 options.

Well done to all of you!

Mrs J Thorpe

Work Experience Coordinator

Summer Term has finally allowed us to open up sport for everyone, enabling the PE and Sport Department to offer an amazing run of activities for our students, through House Competition, school and out of school events.

Events such as the Lincolnshire ‘This Girl Can’ at Yarborough Leisure Centre help to promote positive attitudes to and through sport. Similarly the 'Your School Games' presented Year 7 students with a wide selection of sports to try, including netball, boxing, skipping, dancing, football, golf and wheelchair basketball.

Fixtures are now up and running again, with the Year 7 Cricket Team having their first outing, and the brilliant Year 10 Team who beat Lincoln Minster School in the T20 County Cup Cricket semi-final, before meeting Kings, Grantham in the final - taking the win by four wickets! A huge congratulations to all students on the team!

Mr Fearn commented, "The final was a repeat of the County Cup Final two years ago (which we won) and also the Lindum Shield Semi-final this year (which we lost). The students produced an excellent performance and had to ‘dig in’ and show real grit and determination."

All of the students were absolutely fantastic, with special match highlights being:

• Ani - 39* not out (Ani also took a catch and stumped a batsman out)
• George - 3 wickets for 19 runs
• Oshanda - 2 wickets for 10 runs
• Reuben - 2 wickets for 12 runs

The full team were:

Ani S (C), Oshanda HM, Harrison C, George B, Reuben L, Jayden S, Matthew C, Tom W, Josh W, James H, Lucas RC

To keep up with all the PE and Sport News, including fixtures, see our website here, Twitter @QEHSPE or Instagram https://www.instagram.com/qehspe/

Extra-curricular Rewards

Well done to all of our extra-curricular reward badge winners this term.

Bronze

• Emma D (Year 7)
• Isaac D (Year 7)
• Arthur M (Year 9)

Silver

• Harry M (Year 8)
• Oli K (Year 9)
• Teddy H (Year 9)

Out of School Sporting Achievements

It is great when the QEHS Community is in a position to share news of our own sporting heroes going the extra mile outside of school. Whether it is on Twitter, via  the tutor, through PE or emailing [email protected], please keep the good news coming home!

Netball

Great news for our netball star Maddy B (Year 9). Congratulations on being selected to represent the Loughborough Lightning Under 15s Netball Team, in the East Midlands for the 2021/2022 season. This is a fantastic achievement from one of our new GCSE PE students.

Athletics

Congratulations to Arthur R (Year 8) who was selected to represent England for School Athletics in the Junior Boys 80m Hurdles.

All Rounder Arthur is currently ranked 9th in the UK for Pole Vault, AND he is a regional diver and part of the Retford Elite Boys' Gymnastics Team! He achieved a bronze medal at the London Open a few years ago and has won regional and county medals for gymnastics! Phenomenal! well done Arthur!

Football

Congratulations to Tom S (Year 8) who has signed a contract with Lincoln City Football Club Academy.

  

It is also a great achievement to have so many of our Year 11 footballers representing the Gainsborough Trinity FC U16 Team.

Cricket

It is brilliant to be able to share with you Kate W’s success (Year 8). She is playing beyond her years in cricket, having played U13 County level cricket for the past 3 years. Kate has also recently been involved with the Under 15 Team too.

Congratulations also to Holly T (Year 7) and Max D (Year 8), more of our superstar cricketers proud to represent Lincolnshire.

Shooting

As featured in the Term 4 Newsletter, Oliver S (12S) has gained an England Cap for his participation in the England Clay Pigeon Shooting Association (CPSA). He is ranked as the top Junior Shooter for England in his discipline Down the Line and 3rd in the UK which covers England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland. This is a tremendous achievement for Oliver, also nominated for the Headteacher's Commendation this term. Congratulations!

Well done and good luck to you all for this season and we look forward to hearing of your future sporting progress!

National School Sports Week

Every year group enjoyed an action-packed week, including evening sessions, with outstanding engagement from all of our students. It was great to have so many staff from across the school involved too. The sports offered this year bounced through tennis, Tchoukball, Kinball, spikeball, cricket, rounders, basketball, badminton and pinged onto golf!

It was heart-warming to see so many of our future Year 7 students becoming involved with NSSW 2021. The Year 6 students really embraced our extra-curricular sports on offer!

We had an outstanding turnout for our Year 6 events this year, welcoming 121 of our new Year 7 students, and there is also a 'Summer Sport Event' for the new Year 7s to be involved in too.

We already have some incoming Year 7 students who have completed their NSSW 2021 Bingo Cards, ahead of receiving their Bronze Extra Curricular Reward Card in September. Well done!

Well done to Iris H, Jonah R and Leo P, the first three Year 7 students to collect their Reward Badge for completing our Bingo Card. Also, Isaac D, Noah J, Zara K, Zakareya C and George S. Fantastic work!

Also, as part of National School Sports Week our two fantastic Year 11 Lionesses Megan B and Shannon C were involved in delivering the Year 7 girls football competition.

An amazing week of sporting fun was been had by all. Thank you to our outstanding PE and Sport Department for providing such a wide range of activities.

The School Games National Finals 2021 will be taking place from 2-5 September. This will be the first School Games multi-sport event for young athletes to take place since lockdown.

Sport Ambassadors

Congratulations to our outstanding Year 12 PE Ambassadors. We are so proud of you all for your fabulous commitment, dedication and all the hard work you have put in. Your help and support, particularly over National School Sports Week has been incredible. You represent inspirational ambassadors and role models for the younger students and are a credit to yourselves, your families and QEHS. A massive thank you from your PE and Sport Department.

Dakota sums up this term's activities with her quote from the NSSW Bingo:

Over the last term it has been really exciting to see our House events coming back, we have missed them over the last 16 months. Unfortunately due to Covid and many students self-isolating it was decided to not reward points towards the House Championship this year. In House Rounders it was great to see we had over 500 students participate within their year group bubbles.

Sports day this year was very different being in bubbles but I must say it was an amazing atmosphere.

Winners:

I would personally like to thank all of the students who have entered recent House events to make the end of year as successful as possible.

Ms M Frecknall

House Events Next Term

Term One

On 6 and 8 July, our Performing Arts students held 2 full days of Arts events for one of their units on their BTEC course. Mia, Abbie and Molly created the whole Arts Event Festival - working to a pre-prepared brief to create a piece that celebrated and informed younger students about Arts in the local area.

The 3 students created a 20 minute performance that took 24 Y2 students from a local primary school on a trip to the past, present and future, helping them to visualise what the Arts in the local area once looked like and to imagine what it could look like in the future.

Our Year 2 visitors enjoyed a fun and activity packed day, learning performance skills, (singing, dancing and acting), making and designing animal masks and finally putting on their own performance to save theatre in the future.

Our Year 12 students were fantastic ambassadors for the school and their well-planned activities kept the primary learners smiling and engaged all day; both classes earned certificates for their best developed skills, whether this was singing, dancing or acting.

This was an innovative project led by 3 incredibly creative Performing Arts students. It was an absolute privilege to see the work created by these talented students in difficult circumstances and they certainly did themselves, the Drama Department and the school proud!

Mr D Rigby

Head of Drama

We were so fortunate earlier this term to have Helen Sharman, beamed directly in to our classrooms for Year 9 to hear an inspirational talk from Britain's first Astronaut! 

Helen provided the students with a comprehensive guide to university life and some of the choices ahead with a great deal of information on STEM careers. Helen explained how she chose three sciences for her Year 9 Options, and also highlighted how French and German, along with Geography, had been important for her career development particularly when it came to learning Russian during the first three months of her astronaut training.

With over 50,000 university courses available in the UK, and wider opportunities available for volunteering, media, music and sport, Helen shared an exciting view of what university has to offer. As part of students' research into university courses, it is also worth considering the scholarships and bursaries available, which differ between institutions.

It was helpful for students to hear that many of us, (including Britain's first Astronaut!), do not know which career path we will choose at the age of 14, or even when we leave school. Helen herself changed course during her career, her scientific enquiry taking her from chemistry, developing ice cream with Mars, to electronics before deciding to apply for the brand new/unrelated challenge of becoming an astronaut. The specification required a STEM Degree, and Helen saw an opportunity. Helen urged our students:

"It's your life, you choose... if you can, I really encourage you to spread your wings a bit!"

An advocate for the wide range of opportunities within STEM careers, Helen explored key messages around ambition and aspirations for Higher Education. It was interesting to note the diversity of STEM career pathways, finding connections to construction, design, mechanical engineering and product manufacture. Describing the plant experiments she conducted in space, Helen was able to link this to how careers in STEM could branch out further to marketing and finance.

Over half of the jobs that our young people will go onto do not even exist yet, but the message from Helen was clear that choosing a STEM Degree would give a great grounding for many of the latest developing technologies. Advances in technology over Helen's own career moved her away from the electronics of cathode ray tubes, and rocketed her into space, conducting plant growth experiments.

Helen appealed to students (and teachers) to explore and include wider participation opportunities when applying for future courses or jobs, such as music and team involvement. Whether STEM or otherwise, this is something that we can all demonstrate at QEHS and it could be the difference between being offered a place or not. Working now at Imperial College London, Helen has direct experience of this resulting in lower entry grade requirements if you are able to demonstrate wider skills and interests.

The session finished with students asking Helen questions of their own, and we thank Helen for this excellent broadcast that we were very privileged to be part of.

"What's for sure is your perspective on the world is likely to change,

but with STEM subjects we can take our lives in all different kinds of directions."

Our Year 7 students took part in the Readathon Challenge last month.

They had to read books in order to raise money for 'Read for Good Charity'. This charity gives as many children in the UK as possible the opportunity and motivation to develop their own love of reading, benefiting them throughout their lives. Their work in hospitals transforms the experience of being a child in hospital, and their work in schools gets millions of children motivated to read for fun. In addition, they have provided books for millions of children.

Overall, as a school, we raised £592! Ms Jones (Readathon Coordinator), the English Department and our Year 7 students have done an amazing job!

Special thanks go to the three students from 7B:  Alfie H, Lewis BW and Imogen S who managed to raise between £60-100 each. Well done!

Mrs N Daubney

Teaching and Learning Coordinator

Year 7 Geographers took part in this year's Blue Peter Climate Heroes Challenge. Each student completed three environmental pledges over two weeks. The pledges had to relate to power, plastics and plants.

Each class then also completed a whole class 'supersized pledge' for one of the three categories.

All students who completed the pledges and submitted supporting artwork have received a much coveted green Blue Peter Badge, which is an added bonus this summer (and beyond) as they can enjoy free entry to over 200 attractions across the UK.

Well done to everyone involved!

7A

Ethan CD, Hollie C, Evelyn C, Monty D, Grace H, Noah J, Lily J, Arun J, Scarlett K, Olivia L, Verity L, Zarna L, Jax M, Samuel M, Hannah P, Alexa P, Jessica P, Johann RJ, Christian S, Oliver S, Elsa S, Joseph W, Hugo W, Weixi W

7B

Macy A, Sonny A, Tsara B, Charlie B, Bethany C, Chloe C, Ewan D, Leo D, Mackenzie F, Maddie G, Poppy G, Alfie H, Seb H, Sajin J, Martha K, Kanye L, Evie L, Keogh P, Georgina P, Pavithira R, Imogen S, Licsha S, Matthew W

7C

Falan S, Jonny W, Purdy T, Emily B, Austin M, Leo P, Charlotte P, Alice L, Jonah R, Oliver M, Ellie W, Miah N, Iris H

7E

Catherine P, Nidhi M, Isaac K, Oliver P, Ava M, Jennifer W,Ava K, Tommy R, Kaveesha K, Aden L, Millie M

7D

Liberty B, Summer D, Tom G, Zhi-xuan L, Emma D, Anna J, Chloe B, Ava L, Adam T, Addison L, Isla W, Emily M, Olivia L, Sebastian S, Joleen A, Freya HR, Konrad S

7S

Meisha R, Ahmed M, Maya N, Tejas K, Andres-Kee R, Angel H, Barry L, Asia T, Amy O’L, Austin S, Lucie F, Thomas L, Charlotte T,Talitha O, Rhys B, Poppy B, Sarah H

Miss H Meneer

Our Year 12 English Language/Literature and Literature students took part in an amazing online workshop held by the British Library last term.

The topics covered included identifying clear, direct and concise writing; reviewing terms used in academic writing; exploring critical thinking and practising paragraph planning. It was well received by all of the students who will undoubtedly benefit from the training. We can't wait to read their next assignment!

We absolutely loved it! #bl.uk

Well done everyone!

Mrs N Daubney

Teaching and Learning Coordinator

We were delighted to host an 'in-person' Welcome Morning for our new Year 12 students at the end of June.

Student feedback from the Subject Fair proved this to be a very informative session; providing a great way to meet and gain a real insight of their chosen subjects, with our Heads of Departments.

Not to be deterred by the delayed roadmap, new students to Sixth Form were also able to join in virtually, getting to know their tutors and peers with a fun 'pub quiz' as well as finding out about the all-important added extras in Year 12: what to wear for school, how they are able to work from home during the day and further support available should they need it, to keep on top of things both academically and emotionally. Students also had a tour around College House, to see for themselves all of the facilities they have to look forward to using in September, whilst incoming students new to QEHS joined us on Saturday 4 July for a full tour of the school.

 

Welcoming new Sixth Formers is always such a joy as we plan the next career step together. Our Sixth Form provision offers so much more than an excellent academic record. Please see further details on our website: https://qehs.lincs.sch.uk /sixth-form/prospectus.

We look forward to welcoming all of the students into the QEHS Sixth Form in September.

Sixth Form Team

Congratulations to Sara S in Year 12 who has won a place

on the Sutton Trust US Programme.

Sara has secured a place in the tenth cohort of the Sutton Trust US Programme, run in partnership between the Sutton Trust and the US-UK Fulbright Commission.

The Sutton Trust US Programme allows high-attaining low and middle income UK students to explore US Higher Education and apply for admission to top US universities.

Entry to the programme is highly competitive and Sara was chosen from more than 1000 of the UK’s brightest students to be one of 150 scholars.

Speaking of her achievements, Sara said: “Finding out that I secured a place on the Sutton Trust Programme was unbelievable. I’ve always wanted to study abroad as I have a passion for language and culture, and I think that studying in the US is truly the best opportunity out there. I’ve already learnt so many things about US study, but what stands out to me most are the countless options you have when choosing degrees. In the US you can study degrees you’ve never heard of before - from Entrepreneurship and Slavic Studies, to Creativity or Gender Studies. Another amazing element of US study is that with a liberal arts education, you can explore lots of majors, and you don’t have to commit yourself to choose one until after your first year of study! Also, don't forget about the beautiful and remarkable locations of campuses - from Miami, to NY to Atlanta - you can study anywhere!”.

All staff at QEHS are hugely proud of Sara and we are delighted to hear that her talent and potential has been recognised; Mr Dawson especially, after supporting Sara through the application process. Sara will now be receiving guidance and advice from the UK-based team at Sutton Trust, allowing her to explore US Higher Education and learn more about the application process. All students will take an American University Admissions Exam, the ACT, preparation for which is included as part of the programme’s support. The second part of the programme includes admissions guidance from the Fulbright Team, including university choices and support with applications and financial aid processes.

Good luck on the programme Sara. We can’t wait to hear about your experiences!

Mrs J Cropper

Deputy Head of Sixth Form

Our very own Lincoln Imp left us last month to become part of the Lincoln Imp Trail. Thank you to the team of artists who designed and painted our brilliant QEHS Lincoln Imp.

Why not see if you can spot the QEHS Imp if you are in Lincoln over the summer?

You can follow the Lincoln Imp Trail in search of our very own QEHS Imp, or better still, take a selfie! Remember to share your selfie with us on Twitter or email: [email protected] to be included in our photo gallery.

Well done to Miss Souter who has already spotted the QEHS Imp, whilst out and about in Lincoln last week! We knew our Imp was out there somewhere. 

Who else can find it?

See: https://twitter.com/looknorthBBC/status/1414283348642459649 for further details.

Do you know how easy it is to support QEHS with small but regular donations through many general purchases you may make online?

Thousands of retailers will donate a percentage of the purchase price to your chosen charity - at no extra cost to you!

We would be so grateful if you would consider making QEHS Foundation your chosen charity. Please see our Support Us webpage, here for further details on how to register with any of our three online partners, such as Give as you Live. This page will be updated over the year as new opportunities to support our fundraising initiatives unfold.

At QEHS we are always looking for new ways to increase the funds available for the  development of student resources. We hope to have the Parent Supporters' Group fully up and running again from September, offering activities to involve the whole QEHS Community in 'fun-draising'. You may wish to support an activity or event; whereas other people might be happy to support in new ways such as poster design, selling tickets, shopping, etc. Please let us know how you would like to help, by registering your interest here to join the Parent Supporter Group and we will be in touch. Alternatively, email [email protected].

Please make contact if you would like to support our school in other ways. For example, to take part in our successful Careers Programme, you can enter your details on the Parental Careers Database or check here for further information.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Mrs J McGrath

Community Relations Officer

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

QR Code

Check out the QEHS QR Code to access the website direct, saving time and helping to keep in touch.

SZapp

Easy to use, buttons take you straight to the current QEHS news on specific webpages. What is there not to like?

Use CODE 1620 to install and find out more below:

https://qehs.lincs.sch.uk/szapp

There have been some changes to the Term dates for 2021-22 and 2022-23. Please see here.