NEWSletter
Queen Elizabeth School
Easter 2010
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SCHOLARSHIP AND CARE — SINCE 1591
HEADlines
CONTENTS
Headlines
On site
Off site
Messages from Headteacher Chris Clarke
1
Reports from around the school
3
Educational trips, visits, excursions and expeditions 10
Performing Arts
Coverage of the school’s recent dance, drama and music activities 13
Dear Parents
Focus on
Introducing the Paul Percy Memorial Fund 17
Learning matters
Language College roundup, the new Creative & Media Diploma 20
QESA news
News from the parent/teacher association 28
Sports desk
A round-up of sports and games 30
DIARYdates
Spring term 2010
End of term
Fri 26 March
Summer term 2010
Term starts
Training day - school closed
Bank Holiday
Half term holiday
End of term
Mon 12 Apr
Fri 30 Apr
Mon 3 May
Mon 31 May – Fri 4 Jun
Fri 16 July
Autumn Term 2010
Term starts (Yrs 7 and 12 only)
Term starts (Yrs 8, 9, 10, 11)
All pupils/students in
Half term holiday
End of term
Thur 2 Sept
Fri 3 Sept
Mon 6 Sept
Mon 25 Oct - Fri 29 Oct
Fri 17 Dec
Spring Term 2011
Term starts
Half term holiday
End of term
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QUEEN ELIZABETH SCHOOL
Wed 5 Jan
Mon 21 Feb - Fri 25 Feb
Fri 8 Apr
WHAT’S on
Find out how QES works to
support a wide range of local
community arts activities
and events. Ask for the
Kirkby Lonsdale Arts Scene
booklet.
Contact Helen Baines
on 015242 71275 or email
[email protected]
THANKS to
Thanks to all contributors. Apologies to anyone omitted:
H. Baines, A. Blackburn, J. Brown, Hannah Burch, Sedbergh CDC, Holly
Chalcraft, C. Clarke, Nicola Cookson, Grace Cowperthwaite, S. Cross, S. Dent,
A. Douglas, C. Falcus, L. Fleming, Stephanie Fletcher, S. Garne, A Gerrard, C.
Gibson, R. Gilbert, R. Gilbert, L. Glaves, A. Hall, James Hart, J. Hartley, I. Higson,
G. Holmes, Laura Hunt, Chloe Johnston, Matin Khadem,Year10 L&Tgroup,
D. Lequitte, J. Marriott, H. Martin, R. Mayhew, M. McNulty, Clare Millington,
Poppy Morch, D. Murray, Matthew Percy, J. Percy, S. Rushton, P. Rushton, F.
Sheldon, F. Sheldon, J.Timshle, EdwardTowers, S.Weber, SophieWebster, P.
Weston, A.Wilkinson, D.Williams
Hopefully by the time you
read this, Ann’s Garden will be
awash with daffodils and we’ll
be looking forward to a ‘proper’
summer to balance the severities of winter.
In truth, I think that apart from
having incurred some staggering heating bills, at QES we’ve
rather enjoyed a colder and
more challenging winter. Probably the most taxing time was
immediately after the Christmas holiday when the possibility of snow closures caused
consternation all round. I think
some parents at that time felt
they would have liked greater
clarity as to whether, on a given morning, QES was going to
open and felt frustrated that
there wasn’t an obvious way of
getting a clear message. Happily, in the almost 18 years (!)
I’ve been here, I think we’ve
only ever had 3 days closure
and I’m of the belief that while
safety is paramount, overcoming adversity and trying to
make a go of it is an important
message for young people.
However, our capacity to ‘open’
in poor weather is dependent
on two things: whether the
buses can pick children up and
whether staff can get in. The
first of these we get an inkling
of around 6.30 in the morning
in conversation with the bus
companies. However, even if
the buses do get through, we
don’t know whether sufficient
staff will have been able to
make it until about 8.30. And
there’s always the possibility
that we’d have to turn the buses around and send children
straight back home because
we’re insufficiently staffed to
proceed safely with the day.
This did happen once. So you
can see that we would never
be able to be absolutely sure of
opening until about 8.30 and
so we ask parents always to
make arrangements for their
children to be safe if they are
returned home at any time of
the day. And, given the vagaries of technology (beyond our
immediate control in terms
of our website) our advice is
to check the BBC Radio Cumbria website, by far the most
reliable means of emergency
communication. If we’re closed
it will say so immediately and
if we’re not mentioned there,
we’ll be trying to open but
with the proviso that we can’t
if staff can’t get here.
I hope that’s helpful though
we’ll probably have no more
severe weather for the next 5
years! However, this instance
raises more fundamental questions about communication
with parents generally, something which is exercising us
greatly at the moment and an
aspect of QES which we are determined to improve over the
next couple of years. Perversely,
technology has created many
new and exciting possibilities
for improved communication
between school and home but
has also made it less straightforward to put into place simple measures and procedures
which ensure everyone gets
news, information and access
to discussion. For example, it’s
now possible to communicate
to parents the last-minute
cancellation of a sports fixture
although not everyone wants
to be communicated with using the same means. I hope the
website has helped recently in
this regard.
The website has really taken off
as a means of communication
since it was built in 2005 and
I’ve yet to see a school website
which is more ‘active’. However,
we realise that it’s not perfect
by any means and intend a rebuild in the near future. We’re
also exploring the better use
of texting and e-mail for quick
communication with parents
although problems with the
accuracy of ever-changing
numbers and addresses undermine the reliability of the
method. In the near future,
schools are required to report
online to parents and we’re
very excited by the potential
there is to encourage parents
to be better equipped to support their children’s learning by
having instant access to data
and relevant information at a
time of their choosing rather
than at the school’s behest.
At the moment, developers are
building the means to get you
access to parts of our Management Information System so
that you can get instant updates on progress, attendance,
even behaviour. We see this as
obviating the necessity for the
traditional end-of-year report
which by its very nature is al-
1
SCHOLARSHIP AND CARE — SINCE 1591
ONsite
most out-of-date by the time
you get it. Also, we’re doing
a lot of work at the moment
reappraising our effort grade
system which I know a lot of
parents find really valuable
but, at times, a little perplexing
and even, in some cases, contradictory.
Another area of communication with parents which splits
opinion is ‘Parents’ Evening’.
We’re very fortunate to have
over 90% parents attending
these annual events and I know
that many people really appreciate having the opportunity
for a quick update and to put
a face to a sometimes ‘notorious’ name. But many parents
find the queuing tiresome and
the repetitious nature of many
of the messages laboured. I always feel guilty asking teachers
to face up to four hours of constant and intense interaction at
the end of a full day and know
how much it drains people for
the remainder of the week.
So, we’re experimenting with
some single conversations between parents, students and
form tutors at a more civilised
time of the day with a more
concentrated focus on learning and what can be done by
all parties to improve it.
I’d always be very happy to
have views about how best
parents can be encouraged to
know about and participate in
their children’s education. We
are very fortunate at QES to
have mostly very capable and
committed parents and we
want to capitalise on this.
2
Of course, many of you have
very close dealings with QES
especially if you’ve a child fac-
QUEEN ELIZABETH SCHOOL
ing challenges and receiving
support and this is an area I feel
QES has gone from strength to
strength in over the past few
years. And, I hope you all know
that we’ve tried to give you the
reassurance that we’re committed to the safety and the wellbeing of your children outside
of school by supporting you
with help, advice and practical
assistance in the difficult job of
raising teenagers in a complex
and demanding world. To that
end, our encouragement as always is to give us information,
keep us up-to-date, trust us to
deal sensitively with delicate
issues.
We’ll continue to do all we can
to find means of improving systems and harnessing technologies to communicate generally
in more effective ways but we
believe that talking directly
and honestly is what’s important and we want you to feel
that you can always speak to
us whether it’s about the mundane or the truly serious.
One issue which many of you
will have strong views about
is the plan (now approved) to
build 34 new houses adjacent
to QES. The QES Governors understand absolutely the need
especially for affordable housing and certainly didn’t want to
oppose the scheme. However,
they were very concerned that
the only traffic routes in and out
of the new estate were off the
already very congested Biggins
Lane at the back of school. We
tried (unsuccessfully!) to enlist
the support of our local SLDC
councillors; we commissioned
an independent traffic engineer’s report which refuted the
Cumbria Highway’s Agency
position that safety was not a
significant enough factor; and
Ty Power, the QES Chairman of
Governors delivered in person
to the Planning Committee, a
robust submission outlining
with stark clarity the School’s
concerns about the safety of
children, staff, new residents
and, indeed, the general public in what is in effect a main
driveway into school.
We were dumbfounded that
the SLDC Planning Committee
approved the scheme despite
the fact that there was widespread
acknowledgement
that children’s safety was a
concern and, oddly, without
there being any attempt to
explore the potential for traffic
to enter and leave the estate
from the Booths roundabout.
Currently the scheme is with
Government Office North West
for further consideration. I did
want parents to know that QES
did all it could to argue that
children’s safety should be the
primary concern; strangely and
bewilderingly, with the support
of the Highways Agency, SLDC
Planning Officers and elected
Councillors, this scheme always
seemed likely to be passed.
I’d like to finish by thanking
you for your continuing support, encouragement and trust
in us. Your feedback, written
and verbal is always appreciated and certainly helps me
to encourage the QES staff to
continue to ‘go the extra mile’
for your children. Let’s hope
that dream of a ‘proper’ summer comes to fruition.
Another colourful World Book Day
World Book Day happens every year on the first Thursday
in March. Introduced over 10
years ago by UNESCO, the aim
of the day is to remind everyone of the fundamental importance of reading and its contribution to all our lives.
Over the years it has become a
tradition at QES to mark World
Book Day with events and
competitions, the highlight of
which is provided by the staff,
who dress as various characters from their favourite works
of fiction.
Students this year were greeted with the sight of some wonderfully classic characters from
works of fiction, such as Snow
White, Just William, Henry VIII,
the girls of St Trinian’s school,
Frankenstein’s monster, Schmuel from The Boy in the Striped
Pyjamas (Mrs Blackburn, right),
the White Queen from Alice
Through the Looking Glass and
a whole library of other individuals. Café Q staff dressed
up as characters from the Percy
Jackson series and ran a “guess
the character” competition.
Great fun for everyone and a
chance to see the teachers and
other staff in a new light.
Landscape
Committee
News
After the hard frosts of winter, the spring bulbs are beginning to emerge around
the site. Check them out in
the flower beds near New
Close. Have you noticed
the new stone and bamboo seat by the vegetable
patch (above)? Mr. Dent,
our groundsman, designed
and built it. The stone was
reclaimed from the chimney
removed from Springfield
House. He has also made a
triangular-shaped bed which
will be used to grow carrots.
Watch out for the new rustic
archway (made from our own
wood) at the entrance to the
garden (below). Vegetable
and flower seeds are now
being planted and raised in
the school greenhouse. We
have just taken delivery of
three potato planters and
we are looking forward to
sampling the results in July.
Nicola Cookson 10E
Art appeal
Do you have any art work which is currently being held by the
Art department, which you want to keep? The Art department
urgently need to get rid of old art work, to free up much-needed
storage space. Collect yours before it’s too late!
J.Timshle
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SCHOLARSHIP AND CARE — SINCE 1591
New reading project
Three English classes from
Years 8 and 9 have been participating in the Nationwide
Reading Challenge – Operation
Read, spearheaded by ex-SAS
man turned author Chris Ryan
and run by the National Literacy Trust.
Having split into six groups,
the pupils are working enthusiastically to complete
three ‘missions’ each.
These missions vary
hugely:
groups Op
6 and Best
of the Best
are carrying
out a reading survey of pupils,
while Wacky Warfare and UK
Warfare are targeting the staff.
Nuclear Nutters and Crazy Six
will be ‘recommending reads’
in the library.
On World Book Day, one of
the Year 9 classes became paparazzi for a day to ‘catch’ pupils and staff enjoying
their favourite reads,
and another Year 9
group has very cleverly created a litera r y
treasure
4
QUEEN ELIZABETH SCHOOL
hunt that some pupils from
Year 7 will enjoy during one
of their lessons. As a way of
extending the activities to the
wider community, the two Year
8 groups will visit St Mary’s
primary school to share story
telling and reading with a Year
2 class.
Amnes-TEA
Party!
QES Amnesty International
group arrange fundraisers
throughout the year which
help to raise money for Amnesty International, to help fight
for human rights, and “protect
the human”.
The two winning groups will
‘gear up’ combat style, get to
look inside a tank, take part
in a military mission and have
a go on an assault course – all
accompanied by Chris Ryan
himself. As if that’s not enough,
the school will receive £1000
worth of books for the library.
Each year AIUK organises a
“competition”, to see which
youth group can raise the most
money towards the cause. Of
course we don’t take this as a
serious competition to become
number
one youth
group, but
as a harmless bit of
fun which in
the long run
supports a
good cause.
Our
first
fundraiser was the Amnes-Tea
party. The Amnes-Tea party
was a chance for us students
to enjoy a thrilling trip into
the staff room, with cakes and
biscuits.
The pupils’ enthusiasm for
this project has been amazing
and the challenge is providing a wonderful opportunity
for them to develop excellent
team work skills. As their ‘Commander’ I have done no more
than supervise and guide;
they have taken charge and
discussed, planned and developed their missions in a very
well-organised way.
Look out for an update on the
results of our pupils’ efforts
in the next newsletter. – they
will be writing a review themselves!
D.Murray
The twist was, we weren’t selling the cakes at a certain price,
but we were just asking for
a small donation. From this
event we raised around a total
of £70 - overall a very successful result. Since then we have
organised other events such
as the Christmas Fair, phone
recycling and the Christmas
greetings card appeal. Later
in the year there will be more
events that will help contribute to the Amnesty Raise the
Roof campaign, and hopefully,
our school will come in the top
three.
Stephanie Fletcher
All groups which complete
their three missions will receive
certificates and bronze reading
challenge badges, but the ultimate prize, awarded through a
random draw of all entrants, is
an adventure day out.
Upgrades for Design & Technology workshops
Anyone familiar with the layout in the Design & Technology
workshops couldn’t help but
notice that slowly but surely a
few changes have taken place,
with the workshop areas being just a touch brighter and
things seeming to have been
moved around to create better
storage and working areas.
This is part one of a sequence
of phases that are intended to
upgrade these areas into better technological workshops.
Gone forever are the days
when you needed to “sling”
your bag on the corridor floor
as we now have a splendid array of hooks strong enough for
the purpose.
In the workshops the tool
boards have been removed
and replaced with lockable
cupboards. The bandsaw, lathe
and welding machines have
been moved to different places
and a wall has been knocked
down to create a more open
workspace.
Our storage system has been
improved and pupils’ work is
now being kept in neat racks
rather than cardboard boxes
on open shelving. All in all
the changes have created a
cleaner, tidier, safer and more
efficient working environment
that should be of benefit to
staff and pupils alike.
As well as a change in environment, pupils now have the opportunity to try new themed
design-and-make projects at
KS3. The examples at right
show coat hooks from the
new Year 7 Bedroom Storage
Project and Year 8 design work
for a Kirkby Lonsdale themed
clock.
R.Gilbert
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SCHOLARSHIP AND CARE — SINCE 1591
Charity Report 2008 – 2009
The Charity Team have had another hugely successful year,
raising £15,322. The hard work
and commitment of staff and
pupils working together is a
key component of this success.
Students found ingenious
ways to make money, selling
ice cream, running discos, providing catering various school
events and raffles. Year 7 organised a sponsored spell.
Man’O’Man was once again
a massive success. The Sixth
Form boys competed to be
the school champion. Watching the singing, listening to the
chat up lines and admiring the
muscle- bound exercise round
was hilarious. Mark McNulty
compered the evening and we
raised £1425.92.
The Talent Show was another
major event of this year and
we raised £1467.78. This event
is firmly placed on the calendar
of all students. We allow raw
talent to perform, rather than
school groups, and this leads
to diversity, allowing students
who would never perform to
participate.
Active citizenship days are
popular and raised £4237.27
and we held three such days
this year, in aid of Breast Cancer, the Malawi Open Arms
Orphanage, the Paul Percy Memorial fund and Children with
AIDS.
6
The PTA Christmas Fair would
not be the same without Santa
and the Scary Elves (or rather
the Sixth Form boys) who
raised £222.46.
QUEEN ELIZABETH SCHOOL
The Team conduct assemblies
to raise awareness about issues
and to generate enthusiasm
for forthcoming events.
In October, the QES Charity
Team took on the huge task of
‘Turning Kirkby Pink’, in aid of
the Breast Cancer Campaign
and Macmillan nurses.
This involved a lot of time and
hard work. The students in
the Charity Team decided that
they wanted to work with the
community of Kirkby Lonsdale, to turn it pink! Due to
the kindness and hard work
of the shopkeepers in town,
this was able to happen, and
they looked fantastic. The shop
owners in Kirkby also allowed
us to use their flag poles to display pink flags, put donation
pots in the shops, and display
posters advertising the church
service which we held at St
Mary’s Church.
We also had a memory tree in
the churchyard, where people
could buy ribbons from various shops and tie them to the
tree, in memory of people they
have loved and lost, and in celebration of people who have
survived breast cancer.
All of these events take a lot
of time and hard work, and we
could not have done it alone.
Due to the overwhelming
kindness and fantastic support
from the people in and around
the Kirkby Lonsdale community we raised £2000+.
Charity work here at QES is our
best example of active citizenship. It is very time consuming
as I spend much of lunchtime
organising the 100+ students
involved. As a volunteer myself
I can say it is very rewarding to
work with such a committed
group of students, although
there are many occasions when
it is very frustrating too!
This year I have continued with
Millennium Volunteers; this is
a nationally recognised qualification for voluntary work.
Students have received certificates for 100 and 200 hours
of service to the community. I
now track their charity hours
and liase with the MV to ensure
registration and certification.
The Diana Certificate of Excellence recognises the outstanding contribution of young
people, aged 12-18, who work
together in groups to improve
their communities, organisations or schools. Our QES Charity Team for 2008 - 2009 were
chosen for the award because
of their commitment and work
in the field of charity and community service.
QES Charity Team supports:
Giving Nation (G-Nation) is
an active citizenship project
within the education part of
the Citizenship Foundation. It
supports and promotes secondary schools learning about
and involvement in charity and
community action. Over 250
schools take part in the G-Nation challenge and QES were
one of the top eight schools to
have achieved the most within
their local community and
raised a substantial amount for
charity.
As winners of an award, the 5
members of the Charity Team,
Miss Falcus and Mr Hooper
were invited to go to London
and pick up the Award. The ceremony was held at the Treasury and was hosted by the
G-Nation directors and special
guest Angela Smith MP, who
presented the awards to the
eight winning schools. (see full
report in our last issue).
Charities supported:
NW Air Ambulance £229.35
RSPB
£152.9
Rotary Shoebox Scheme £90
The Big Sing
£34
Oxfam
£51.50
KL First Responders
£50
Breast Cancer
£3105
Macmillan
£1605
A Breath for Life
£4000
Malawi
£1912.88
Paul Pfeuti
£1097
Terrence Higgins Trust £300
Children with Aids
£1000
L&A Mountain Rescue £347.68
Air Ambulance
£347.67
Sekwe House
£1000
Total Donations £15322.98
Carole Falcus
Charity Co-ordinator
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SCHOLARSHIP AND CARE — SINCE 1591
The view from the Sixth Form
offers. So far I have had replies
from four of my five choices
- three conditional offers and
one unsuccessful. Next year I
will hopefully be at Newcastle
University studying Economics, which is an experience I am
really looking forward to.
Matthew Percy
Four Thoughts on
the UCAS Experience
The UCAS process is one of the
most frustrating, time-consum-
I have my heart set on the
University of Manchester to
do Mediaeval History and with
a bit of hard work I should be
able to get there. So watch out
Mr Brooks - I’m after your job!
James Hart
ing and rewarding experiences
I’ve gone through. We spend
vast amounts of time and effort
attempting to sell ourselves
to universities to carry on our
education after school.
The basic process involves visiting and picking universities,
choosing the course, writing
applications and the dreaded
personal statement. And that’s
all before you’ve taken your A
Levels. Not a process for the
faint of heart! It is a painstaking
process but one that can bring
great rewards for students and
offer us fantastic opportunities.
8
I was lucky that the school
gives us a lot of help throughout the process by checking
our personal statements and
actually sending off our applications. If attempted without
a school or college the UCAS
process is a lot more arduous
and definitely a lot harder.
Luckily my choice of university was fairly straightforward.
QUEEN ELIZABETH SCHOOL
Apply early, said my sister, the
voice of experience. Apply ear-
The UCAS process has been a
long one involving lots of hard
work, but the hard work has
for the most part paid off for
me. The application consists of
three main parts: Personal Details, which includes employment history and qualifications; the Personal Statement;
and a Reference from a member of staff. After several somewhat traumatising attempts
at a personal statement my
application was given the seal
of approval and sent off to my
chosen Universities.
After all the help I had received
throughout the process I was
fairly confident of getting some
ly, said Mom and Dad, educational slave drivers. Apply early,
nagged Miss O’Neill, and Miss
Abraham, my form tutor. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, I said. I applied late.
As the deadline loomed I still
hadn’t applied, and the pressure was a nightmare. So my
first word of advice to all Year
12s is - apply early.
My problem was: what should
I apply for? Yes, I had visited
universities and had made a
definite decision that I wanted
to be a student. University life,
when you’ve lived for 17 years
in Grange-over-Sands, where
the average age is 75, seemed
like paradise! But I’m not a
natural academic. I’m allergic
to essays and have an irrational
fear of revision. Finding the
right course was a huge hurdle
for me. Word of advice number
two: decide on your course in
the summer holidays.
The next jump was writing a
personal statement that would
persuade the admissions tutors that I was tailor-made for
the course. By the time I was
finished, I nearly believed it
myself, but it took at least five
drafts. Another piece of advice
- start working on this now. The
relief and triumph I felt when it
was all sent off was like reaching the top of a high mountain.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t long
before I realised that the summit of University was actually
behind two other high peaks
of getting offers and fulfilling
them in A-level grades. I nearly
turned back! So my final piece
of advice is: don’t think that
sending off your UCAS application is the end of the road - it’s
actually just the very beginning!
A.Gerrard
Entering into Year 13 I knew
that I would soon be met with
the UCAS application process.
Many people entering sixth
form seemed to know what
they wanted to do when having to take their first step into
the wider world, but I didn’t
have a clue. However the one
subject that I was determined
on taking for my last two years
was Drama. When entering
QES back in 2003 I was taken
aback by the high quality and
professionalism of the performances. I became fixated
on becoming a part of them
as I grew older. Drama has now
become a huge part of my life
as I am always involved in productions in and out of school
and as a result I now know
that I want to study the subject further by going to acting
school. The application process
through UCAS and the drama
institutions themselves is a big
one with various forms to fill in
and auditions to attend. If I am
successful in gaining a place at
an acting school I wish to work
hard in order to improve my
skills and develop my abilities
to become the actress that I
aspire to be. However there are
a number of other career paths
that are a possibility, such as
going into teaching.
Sophie Webster
The Life of a Sixth Form Official
The winter term has been an
exceptionally busy one for all
sixth formers, with exams and
the deadline for those who
would like to go to University.
On top of this, there have been
many key events for the officials to help out with; one of
the main ones being the sixth
form open evening. Year 11
students from QES and elsewhere came to get a taster of
what sixth form life is like and
get an idea of what subjects
they would like to do. Current
sixth formers showed around
newcomers and made speeches based on their sixth form
experience.
There are many busy committees which meet every week
to try and improve all areas
of school life. Year 12s have
been questioned about their
much is done for us here which
is taken for granted.
uniform preferences, teaching
strategies have been thought
over and Cafe 6 and the common room have been discussed at great length.
Every half term there is a community committee governors’
meeting which a few officials
can attend. It is a fantastic experience which not only helps
one to feel like they are a valued member of the school, but
also makes one realise just how
From day to day, there are tours
of the school done by various
officials for new sixth formers,
potential teachers and other
visitors. These are great fun
and are brilliant at building
confidence and social skills.
Around this time of year there
is also assisting with interviewing for potential new members
of staff, which is fascinating
and makes us feel our opinions
are truly valued and important.
At the time of writing the next
big occasion for the officials
will be the sixth form induction
day on 17 March and although
it’s incredibly sad and way too
soon to be talking about it, we
will then start preparing our
leaving events.
Hannah Burch
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SCHOLARSHIP AND CARE — SINCE 1591
OFFsite
Leisure & Tourism has the X-factor
Sekwe House Update
The fantastic level of support
by the QES students for the
Sekwe House Project continues to grow. As a school we
have committed to support the
running costs of Sekwe House,
a foster home in Blantyre, Malawi for the foreseeable future.
Sekwe House is run by Open
Arms, a UK-based charity. A student group called The
Friends of Sekwe House, and
the school’s Charity Team, aim
to raise £7000 each year to
cover the running costs of the
home. This will include staffing,
food, clothing and school fees.
Sekwe House is home to five
orphaned children; Sam, Eric,
Agnes, Chikondi and Ephraim.
There have already been a
number of fundraising events
and we are some way towards
achieving our target.
A number of fundraising activities have been planned
throughout the course of the
10
QUEEN ELIZABETH SCHOOL
school year, including the 2010
Malawi Calendar advertised in
the last issue of this newsletter,
and a stall at the QES Christmas Fair. If you would like to
offer support of any kind to assist the efforts of the Friends of
Sekwe House and the school’s
Charity Team please contact
either Mr Pete Weston or Mr
Andrew Douglas at Queen
Elizabeth School.
A.Douglas
On 30th January 2010 about 25
pupils from the Friends of Sekwe
House group went bag packing
at Booths in Kirkby Lonsdale.
We had lots of fun and didn’t
drop too many eggs! Overall
£470 was raised which will be
contributed towards the running cost of Sekwe House, the
foster home that QES sponsors. We are going to take part
in various other fundraising
events including the Keswick
to Barrow walk.
Laura Hunt 9W
A message
from Malawi
Christmas was a happy
time at Sekwe House. The
children were pleased to
finish the school term and
received their reports. Eric
is doing really well with
his English and his teachers are delighted with his
progress. His twin brother
Sam is a star mathematician and is top of the class.
Agnes and Chikondi have
settled into their new
school really well and are
enjoying learning to read
and write in Chichewa. At
the end of term graduation ceremony Ephraim
stole the show with his
solo rendition of We Say
Goodbye but Not Forever.
On 23 January the Year 10 Leisure & Tourism group visited
the Castle Green Hotel, Pride
Gym and the Lakeland Wildlife
Oasis. The focus of the day was
to collect information about
marketing in leisure and tourism organisations.
At the Lakeland Wildlife Oasis
we had a tour of the zoo and
got to handle some of the animals. At Pride Gym we spoke
to Andy, the manager, about
how he promotes the products offered by the gym.
The highlight of the day was
at the Castle Green Hotel. We
had a fabulous tour of the ho-
tel given by Grace Williamson,
the HR (Human Resources)
Manager. She showed us
the conference facilities, the
rooms, the kitchen and restaurant area and the gym.
Whilst we were looking
around reception we got a
special surprise. X-Factor contestants Lloyd Daniels and
Daniel Johnston, who were
staying in the hotel after performing in Kendal, walked
into the room. They were happy to talk with the group and
pose for photos. It was a day
to remember, and we learned
lots too!
The Year 10 L & T group
D of E success
Congratulations
to Louise Dawson
and Laurie Diaz
Steptoe (past QES
pupils) who have
recently
been
awarded
their
Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.
They will shortly
be off to the St
James’ Palace to receive their
awards from the Duke himself.
Adam Caton, Rachel Dawson
and Elliot Lund have also been
awarded their Silver Award.
P.Weston
Bronze groups
This year’s Bronze groups got
off to an early start preparing
for their expeditions by taking
a practice walk from school to
the summit of Brownthwaite
Pike and back. Pictured below
are some of the pupils on their
way down from the top. On return to school the pupils practised putting up their tents.
We would like to take this
opportunity to say thank
you to everyone at QES
who has helped to raise
money for Sekwe House.
Your gifts of money and
your kind thoughts mean a
lot to us here in Malawi. It
is wonderful to think that
children on the other side
of the world are thinking
about us here in Blantyre
and are giving up their
time and money to support Zikomo Kwambiri.
Thank you very much.
Jasmine
at the Open Arms
Orphanage
Blantyre, Malawi
11
SCHOLARSHIP AND CARE — SINCE 1591
PERFORMINGarts
In the footsteps of Bonington
The Year in Music - Mrs Hartley reports
RNCM Composing
Competition, Nov. 27th
A party from QES were lucky
enough to take advantage
of Bendrigg Lodge’s fantastic
climbing wall in December.
Every student made huge
progress, be it overcoming a
fear of heights, learning about
teamwork, mastering the art of
belaying and making sure your
climbing partner is safe, taking forward leadership skills or
following in Chris Bonington’s
footsteps up one of the hardest climbs.
All of the students should be
extremely proud of the way
12
QUEEN ELIZABETH SCHOOL
Back in July, the Royal Northern College of Music ran a
composing competition, and
made a shortlist of twelve
young people from everyone
who entered. One of them was
Clare Hymer, who is currently
in Year 12. Each person in the
shortlisted group had to compose a piece of music based
on a 4-note motif by Sir Peter
Maxwell Davies, who came
to the concert to hear the set
of twelve pieces performed. It
was great to see someone from
QES being part of such a big
event, and to hear her music
being played by professional
musicians in a concert hall.
Well done, Clare!
they supported each other to
reach their different goals.
Clare Millington
RPE lecture
Year 12 students taking
RPE (Religion, Philosophy
and Ethics) attended a
study day in Manchester
where they listened to a
lecture by leading theologian. philosopher and
ethicist Professor Peter
Vardy, Vice-Principal of
Heythrop College, London. Prof. Vardy’s published work includes The
Puzzle of Evil (1992) and
What is Truth? (2003).
P.Rushton
Photo by
Oli Schofield Robinson.
Christmas at QES 1:
Advent Service,
Sun. 29th November
The Sixth Form choirs once
again turned out in their droves
for the annual Advent Service
at St Mary’s Church, and sang
an old favourite, Torches, and
an ambitious piece by John
Tavener, God Is With Us. With
the whole choir giving him a
Russian Orthodox-style backing, Oliver Barker did a fantastic job of singing the solo.
Christmas at QES 2:
Year 7 Nativity
Wednesday 9th Dec.
Once again, Year 7 took to the
stage at the end of their first
term at QES to perform a short
but fabulous version of the Nativity story. The orchestra was
almost entirely flutes (even Mr
Hooper put down his clarinet
and changed it for a flute), accompanied by Mr Foster on
the piano, while guitar-playing Mr Beale and bassist Mr
Leather roped in Ian Booth and
Max McLeod to put the rock
into Hosannah Rock! with their
guitar and drum kit. Well done
to Year 7 soloists Martha Day
and Keir McGregor (Mary and
Joseph), and to the Wise Men,
Shepherds, Angels and Innkeepers, who sang their parts
superbly.
Christmas at QES 3:
Christmas Music, Wed
16th/Thur 17th Dec.
For the third year running, we
in the Music Department have
celebrated Christmas with two
concerts, an informal sparkly
one with tinsel and the mirror ball and refreshments on
the tables, featuring all of our
small groups, and the usual
huge affair in St Mary’s Church
on the following day. Well
done to everyone who played
in the Christmas Concert on
Wednesday 16th December,
and especially to the two comperes, Sam Mason and Simon
Balshaw. A special thanks goes
to everyone who spent all day
on Thursday 17th December
rehearsing at the church and
gave up their evening to take
part in the Carol Concert, as
well as their Friday morning to
play and sing for all the services.
Fundraising for the
Choir Tour:
Carol singing
Fundraising for the 6th-form
Choir Tour to Bruges this summer started with a mass effort,
carol singing at the Christmas
Fair on Friday December 4th.
Four sturdy souls then turned
out the following day to sing
carols in Kirkby Lonsdale to
the Saturday shoppers, raising
an impressive £70-something
13
SCHOLARSHIP AND CARE — SINCE 1591
This was a concert given by
various brave soloists (or pairs
of people who wanted the
support of someone else when
it was their turn to be in the
spotlight – perfectly understandable!) who were sponsored to perform in front of an
audience. This ingenious idea
raised a great sum of money
for the Choir Tour. Thanks to
everyone who played!
as hard as it sounds) and Holly
Chalcraft with a very musical
performance of Tico-Tico, but
also deserving of a mention
are Nat Woof-Dwight, with a
beautiful performance of a traditional melody and Hannah
Pearson, who started the event
with a moving performance
of a Tchaikowsky’s Canzonetta.
Freya Rock managed wonderfully to keep playing (and very
competently!) despite a loose
shoulder rest which eventually fell off during a performance which nonetheless didn’t
falter! An example to us all of
stage presence and calm in the
face of a crisis.
Festivals in January
and February this term
Piano Festival,
Wed 10th February
The Upper Strings Festival took
place on Tuesday 26th January, and featured some of the
most confident and stunningly
good performances on the violin that I have ever seen here at
QES. Most of the players were
lower-school pupils, with one
or two older ones showing the
way forward and what is possible on the instrument with
years of hard practice! Particularly standing out were Georgie
Lockett with a very ambitious
performance of Czardaz (it’s
Well done to everyone who
performed to a packed Recital
Room in this concert. What a
terrifying prospect for some
of the youngest players, who
nevertheless rose to the occasion and played confidently in
front of so many people. Some
very competent performances
formed the highlight of this
concert, with some expressive and musical playing from
many students. Special mentions go to the youngest performer, Zoë Lovell (aged 8),
pounds for the tour. Thank you
to Ian, Sam, Zoë and Aimee.
Fundraising for the
Choir Tour:
Solos concert
Thur 15th February
Hugh Johnson for turning up
to play the guitar with Simon
Boyles’s rendition of Hey Jude,
Sophie Bullock for singing and
playing at the same time, and
Carl Aldridge for an absolutely
superb piece of blues singing
and improvising at the piano.
This year’s whole-school production
Percussion Festival,
Thur 11th February
For the fourth year running,
the Percussion Festival has
been the highlight of the year
for Mr Hunter’s gang of dedicated musicians, growing to
be such a large event that it
needs the Harlequin Theatre
to accommodate it. Featuring
exciting plastic barrels, exotic
darabukas, regimented parade
snares, solos and duets on the
drum kit and the hugely popular QESamba, this is a true festival and celebration of the percussion playing that goes on
in school, and of Mr Hunter’s
achievements with so many
pupils.
This year’s whole-school production was the delightful
Rodgers & Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music. Over five
nights the show sold over 1000
tickets with the sold out sign
up for every performance. The
reaction to the performances
has been overwhelmingly positive, with people referring to
how professional and mature
the acting, singing and music
was for each show.
As director I am immensely
proud of what was achieved
this year; the sensational performances of students in Years
7 to 13 on stage, the stunning
set, an orchestra filled with students and numerous members
of staff all pulling together to
create one successful project.
It really typified what performing arts at QES are all about.
I would like to thank all the
students, staff and parents for
their huge support and kind
comments after what was a triumphant week. Massive compliments must go to Hannah
Neale (Maria), Oliver Barker
(Captain Von Trapp) and Lily
Turner (Lisl) as their dedication to the project alongside
their academic studies in Year
13 was remarkable at all times
– it truly was a better show for
your presence.
So there you go for one more
year…well in terms of a musical anyway! The question is already being asked by students
and staff, what’s it going to be
next year? Well…I will let you
know when I have caught up
on some sleep…and marking.
L.Fleming
Double Reeds Festival
Thur 25th February
14
QUEEN ELIZABETH SCHOOL
Just before the Sponsored solos concert, the Double Reeds
Festival – a celebration of all
the oboe and bassoon playing
in school – took place, featuring Mrs Owens and Mr Foster’s
pupils, expertly accompanied
as always by Mrs Morwood.
There was even a bassoon trio,
and not many schools could
boast that in a concert. Well
done to all performers!
J.Hartley
15
SCHOLARSHIP AND CARE — SINCE 1591
Dance at QES
To celebrate five
years of West End
success for Billy Elliot the Musical,
the producers have
launched Billy Youth
Theatre. This is an
exciting opportunity
to stage a schools version
of the musical in school and
have our version considered
for a regional performance
at the Lowry Theatre in Manchester and also a national
performance West End gala
at the Victoria Palace Theatre,
London.
Mr Marriott and Mr Fleming
attended a Billy Elliot performance at the Victoria Theatre followed by a day of workshops
with the Director, Choreographer, Musical Director and a
couple of Billys and a Michael
from the show, in preparation
for our production.
Our version will consist of three
10-minute sections from the
musical and will be performed
as part of Arts Week in the
week of 14 June. One of the 10minute chunks will be filmed
and submitted to the Billy
Youth Theatre selection panel
for consideration for regional
and national performances - so
fingers crossed.
Centre Stage Dance
and Fashion Show
16
We are currently rehearsing for
a performance at Trimpell Club
in Morecambe on 13 March.
This is part of a dance, gymnastics and fashion show organised by Centre Stage. Tickets
are available from Centre Stage
dancewear shop in Bare, Morecambe.
QUEEN ELIZABETH SCHOOL
Lancashire
Dance showcase
In January his year we entered a live dance work from
our QED dance company. This
was a piece choreographed by
Megan Alder-Cox (Yr11) who
has been running the company this year. Megan is a very
talented dancer and choreographer and this is a fantastic
opportunity for her work to be
seen by a larger audience. We
also entered two dance-forcamera works that were created as part of our Young Apprenticeship Performing Arts
course, one from last year’s
Yr11 group and one from our
current Yr10 group.
Brewery
Dance showcase
This year we are entering a
piece by our boys’ dance company (Raucous Boys Dance)
who have been working on the
piece on Thursday lunchtimes.
There are now 15+ boys in the
group from Years 7 and 8 and
there is a lot excitement about
their first opportunity to take
their work to another theatre.
Their performance will be on
25 March at the Brewery Arts
Centre. Tickets are available on
01539 725133
Retina
Dance Company
In January we went to the Nuffield Theatre at Lancaster University to watch Retina Dance
Company perform a piece
called Antipode. This was a
contemporary dance piece that
focused on four male dancers
and was accompanied by a live
double bass player who worked
with various effects to create a
contemporary
soundscape.
The next day two dancers from
Retina, Matt Salter and Steven
Martin, came to QES to lead a
dance workshop that explored
movement material from their
show. The workshop was a
high energy, athletic few hours
that challenged us all. They
taught a complex movement
phrase and a duet that was
fast and furious and contained
some amazing lifts, leaving
everyone involved aching and
a bit bruised but enthused for
a good few days.
J.Marriott
SNAPshots
Lots more colour photographs on our website: www.queenelizabeth.cumbria.sch.uk
Left: Creative & Media Diploma, from top: at the National
Media Museum; “Speed Dating”; at the Majik House
Below: C&M claymation animated characters
Forthcoming
Drama
Year 13 BTEC
Drama showcase
Our Year 13 students will be
performing extracts from
three plays as part of their
course assessment. The
pieces are taken from Death
and the Maiden (Dorfmann);
The House of Bernarda Alba
(Lorca); Waiting for Godot
(Beckett) and A Street Car
Named Desire (Williams). Performances will start at 7pm in
the Harlequin Theatre at the
school on Thursday 22 April.
Senior plays
This June sees a cast of over
thirty students from Years 11,
12 and 13 performing in two
plays in the senior double
bill. The plays, Woyzeck and A
Dream of Blue Water present
challenging material for the
cast, and will be performed
in the Harlequin Theatre and
outside in Anne’s Garden in
the week commencing June
7. Tickets will be available
nearer the time.
J.Brown
17
SCHOLARSHIP AND CARE — SINCE 1591
SNAPshots
SNAPshots
Left: Mrs Clarke as Jordan Baker from
The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald
and Mr Clarke as Henry VIII from Wolf
Hall by Hilary Mantel
Centre: top, the massed ranks of QES
staff; middle, the LSA staff as the Belles of
St Trinian’s; bottom, Mr McGregor as the
monster from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Mr Reid as William Shakespeare
18
QUEEN ELIZABETH SCHOOL
Right: top, Miss Pakeman as William
from the series of the same name by
Richmal Crompton; bottom, Mr Brown as
the White Queen from Alice Through the
Looking Glass
19
SCHOLARSHIP AND CARE — SINCE 1591
SNAPshots
FOCUSon
Left: 3 scenes from The Sound of Music
This column: above, Year 7 pegs
project; below from top, World Book
Day - Miss Abraham as Coraline, Miss
Govan as Maid Marian, Miss Cafferty as
Snow-White; the FairTrade footballers;
the Amnes-Tea party cake-sellers
The Paul Percy Memorial
Fund is intended to encourage young people at QES to
participate in outdoor and
adventurous activities by
providing them with financial support.
Full details of the scheme,
and how to apply for support,
are on the school website at
www.queenelizabeth.cumbria.sch.uk.
The fund was started with the
proceeds of a sponsored coastto-coast cycle ride by former
and current QES science technicians Sarah Matthews, Kate
Cox and Sue Konczynski.
A further £1000 was raised at
an entertainment evening organised by QES parent Chris
Hodgson and hosted by the
Club Inn in Endmoor, featuring
former Leeds and Great Britain
rugby league legend Barrie
McDermott and comedian Lea
Roberts.
Paul Percy was a chemistry
teacher at QES who died in a
tragic accident in January 2009
whilst walking in the Langdales.
20
QUEEN ELIZABETH SCHOOL
Born and bred in the Yorkshire
Dales, Paul was late in realising
the potential of his surroundings, but with the encouragement of QES friends he soon
became committed to the
great outdoors, running regu-
larly to keep fit, cycling the
Coast to Coast and the length
of the Rhine Valley and potholing in the classic caves of Yorkshire. But Paul’s preference was
always for the mountains.
He climbed extensively in the
Lake District and the Scottish
Highlands but also more locally (ascending Ingleborough
a staggering 97 times!) He
became a competent mountaineer, completing a classic
traverse of the Cuillin Ridge on
the Island of Skye.
The Cuillin Ridge,
Skye
Jack’s Rake on
Pavey Ark, Lake District
Paul’s greatest
satisfaction came
from encouraging
young people in the
outdoors
Paul’s greatest satisfaction
came from encouraging young
people in the outdoors. Running the QES Duke of Edinburgh scheme for sixteen
years, he saw hundreds of pupils safely through walking and
scrambling expeditions in the
mountains of Snowdonia, the
Scottish Highlands, Norway
and the Pyrenees.
The Paul Percy Memorial Fund
will be a fitting tribute to Paul
by continuing to help young
people develop a love of the
outdoors.
21
SCHOLARSHIP AND CARE — SINCE 1591
Around the grounds
One of the strange things
about growing older is that
we start to appreciate older
things. No-one can fail to appreciate the balance, proportions and style of the old QES
Grammar buildings that seem
at odds with the 1960s boxystyle architecture of the three
storey block.
As you walk into the school
from Biggins Lane, there is a
very large beech tree growing at the entrance to the car
park and although it may not
be as magnificent as some of
the ancient trees in England, it
certainly is “pretty old”. I wondered if this could have been
planted around the time that
Springfield House was built
- the date stone of which says
1846, informing us that the
building is 164 years old.
Unfortunately there isn’t any
straightforward and accurate
way of establishing the age of
a tree without harming it in
some way, so a way of estimating the age must be found.
Looking at odd pieces of
beech wood in the CDT workshops, you will see that the annual growth-rings are roughly
spaced more or less the same
distance apart, depending on
whereabouts from the tree
they were cut. In fact trees are
much like children in that way.
Providing they are kept fed,
watered and warm, they will
show fast accelerated growth,
followed by a steady period of
putting on height and weight.
I measured around the circumference of the tree and it
comes to 3700 mm. From the
basic maths equation C = pi x
D, we can establish a diameter
of 1177mm and then a radius
of 588 mm, which is as close as
doesn’t matter to 600mm.
Talking to the trainee teachers
Now assuming annual growth
rings of 5mm for half of its life
and 3mm for the rest, the sum
is quite simple: 300mm / 5 = 60
years and 300 / 3 = 100 years
giving a total age of 160 years.
These results do suggest that
this tree was newly planted
when QES moved from Kirkby
to this present site, and having
reached the grand old age of at
least 160 years, it deserves our
great respect as a true founding member of our school.
Anyone who is super-observant may notice a gravestone
close to the wall near the tree.
The inscription reads Mick July
23rd 1910, and here lie the
mortal remains of someone
(something?) that died 100
years ago. Anyone interested
to know who Mick was, ask me
or Mr Dent.
R.T.Gilbert
Around the middle of October
Miss Donnelly asked me to
speak to some trainee teachers
about what makes QES special
from my point of view. I gave
them several reasons why QES
is special to me, the chief one
being the outstanding pastoral
care which is afforded to students and staff alike. Having
talked to the trainee teachers
(below) I thought it would be
interesting to ask them what
memories they would be taking away .
Tom Babbage, at left, from
Stratford-upon-Avon, is training to teach Spanish and German, and has lived for some
time in the United States. His
special memories are the people at the school, both staff
and pupils. He was particularly
impressed by the “way pupils
are supported in many ways
by the staff.” He also mentions
our weather. He’s obviously not
used to our winters, coming
from the Midlands!
Aisling Kilcline (second left)
is from a farming background
in County Roscommon in the
Republic of Ireland. Her teaching subject is Geography. She
says “the QES team are highly
dedicated and efficient in what
they do”, and will take away
happy memories of becoming
truly involved as part of a team.
She mentions the grounds staff
and site managers as being “
friendly, helpful and effective”
(no incentives were given for
Aisling to say this!)
22
QUEEN ELIZABETH SCHOOL
Another trainee with Geography as his teaching subject is
Michael Graham (right) from
about QES but he says he was
surprised to meet “well-mannered, amazing teenagers”, and
adds “well done, you guys!”
Tiverton in Devon .He will particularly remember the Christmas Carol Service at St. Mary’s,
and the friendly and welcoming staff. He appreciated the
real sense of community at
the school, and the spectacular surroundings of the Kirkby
Lonsdale area. He mentions,
and I quote, “the hardworking, dedicated, highly-trained,
professional grounds staff ”.
(Reports that Tom Wynne was
twisting Michael’s arm at the
time are strenuously denied!)
Neville Lenegan (third right)
is from South Africa and is training to teach ICT. I think sport
must be his second subject as
he kept me updated with the
Test Match scores, and also the
World Cup preparations after
his return from a Christmas trip
back to his native country. I am
not sure what he had heard
The other two trainees are both
from Kendal. Toby Barker
(second right) has History
as his teaching subject, and
Victoria Loton (third left), an
Oxbridge graduate, is training
to teach French and Italian.
She says her abiding memories
of QES will be “the privilege
of teaching, challenging and
helping so many wonderful,
hard-working pupils.” She felt
“extremely welcome at QES
thanks to the hard work and
help from staff and students
alike, which creates a very
special environment.”
Toby is no mean footballer,
adopting the anchor-role at
the heart of the defence on the
Astro-turf on a Friday afternoon. He was impressed with
his “extremely well-organised
placement” here and will take
away memories of “the openness and support of all the
staff, both teaching and nonteaching,” and was very sorry
to be leaving.
It was a pleasure having the
trainees with us and we all wish
them every success and happiness in their future careers.
S.Dent
23
SCHOLARSHIP AND CARE — SINCE 1591
LEARNINGmatters
Creative Writing in English
Language College roundup
Chinese Lessons
After the snow fell, Mrs
Weber, like a QES version
of Mr Tumnus, guided
her Year 9 English class
through a wonderful
winter landscape and
encouraged them to look
afresh at their familiar
school environment
transformed by a white
blanket. These poems
are the result.
Falling slowly
Delicate flakes
Dust the ground
As these gleaming ice crystals fall,
From the resplendent heavens above,
Shedding their light to all,
Spreading warmth, spreading love.
Despite being small, despite being cold,
Despite being weak and frail,
In their masses they’re bold,
Blanketing and strong, be it sleet or snow or hail.
Children rejoice as they ride the slopes,
Getting faster and faster each time they go,
While the adults dig snow, so their cars can cope,
Along those slippery and perilous roads.
Reflecting light
The snow shimmers
All around
And as it melts, fading into mere dreams,
We await its wondrous return,
From that very first flake, reflecting
Winter’s glorious beam,
Spring, Summer, Autumn, waiting attentively
for Winter’s return.
There is silence
There is stillness
Not a sound
Matin Khadem
Children play
Children go
Their hearts pound
There is snow
There was snow
Not anymore
The Kingdom of Winter
Snow so silent as it drifts reluctantly,
To choke the ground that sleeps below,
Under flakes of ice.
Lonely footprints leave their mark,
In the dunes of white,
Vast expanses left untouched.
Sun bathes the blanket of serene stillness,
Highlighting the tiny specks of gleaming powder.
Cold, icy wind turns skin from peach to pink,
Sending eager shivers down one’s spine.
This wonderland, so quiet and still,
Trees topped with frosted crystals,
Tipped on top of the branches,
Like icing on a cake.
Winter, the majesty of all seasons,
Snow is its monarch,
The sun, the crowning jewel.
Poppy Mørch
Holly Chalcraft
The sun rises
The snow thaws
Not pure
No longer delicate
No longer fresh
No longer sure
No children play
No one’s happy
They shut the door
24
QUEEN ELIZABETH SCHOOL
German, Spanish and
French intensive days
Gifted linguists in Year 9 have
begun lunchtime Chinese lessons this term with Qimei Li,
a native Chinese speaker currently living in Lancaster. One
of our pupils reports below:
Chinese Club was offered to
some pupils in Year 9 as an extra-curricular activity.
Although only a small group of
us attend every week, we have
learnt a lot with our teacher,
Qimei Li, and learnt the numbers and the months of the
year last session. We meet up
every Monday lunchtime and
also learn about the culture
and the food in China. We are
taught the pinyin language
along with Chinese characters.
I really enjoy learning Chinese
and would encourage anyone
who is interested in learning it
to do so.
Grace Cowperthwaite, 9S
French Exchange
On Monday 23rd February,
over forty French exchange
pupils along with four teach-
ers from the Collège de la Faye
and Lycée Jean de la Fontaine
arrived at QES. They were
hosted by pupils in Years 8 to
13 inclusive and many friendships have been forged during
their stay. Miss Stephens put
a lot of time and energy into
making sure the exchange ran
smoothly, with trips to York and
the Lake District for the French
pupils, along with some time
in school and a family evening.
We are set to return there in
March, when the French families will host our students and,
we hope, do everything to
encourage them to speak as
much French as possible!
Qimei Li, who
teaches at
Chinese Club
Our GCSE Germanists in Years
10 and 11 travelled to Manchester in February to attend
a fun and motivating German
student conference. Activities
included a whodunit mystery
and a quiz based around German TV adverts as well as a lot
of directed teaching towards
improving their grades in their
approaching GCSE exam. All
pupils thoroughly enjoyed the
day, and even managed to fit
in an hour’s shopping before
catching the train home!
Our Sixth Formers studying
Spanish and French also enjoyed intensive A level days at
Lancaster University and again,
experienced stimulating activities to improve their grades.
ILL in our feeder
primary schools
Once again, several of our
feeder primary schools hosted
trainee teachers from Paris
throughout January. Pupils in
Years 2 to 6 at St Mary’s and
St Mark’s Natland amongst
others enjoyed the culture
and language immersion they
brought with them. They also
experimented with ILL teaching. ILL stands for integrated
language learning and is basically the teaching of a subject
such as Geography through
the medium of the target language, in this case French.
Our picture (next page) shows
Cindy teaching about Indian
clothing at St Mary’s in French.
Pupils thoroughly enjoyed the
experience and the French
trainees were sad to leave, but
took back with them many
25
SCHOLARSHIP AND CARE — SINCE 1591
pedagogical skills acquired
from their mentors in school,
as well as the link tutors at QES
and UoC.
Continuing Professional Development for Staff
The Big Sing
This is QES’ answer to the Eurovision Song Contest and took
place on Tuesday 9th February. All classes and groups in
Years 7 and 8 learnt and then
performed a song in French or
Spanish to the rest of the year
group in the hall. Simon Cowell
was busy that day so our very
own Mr Rowlands stepped in as
judge and the winners were Ms
Luckham’s Year 7 French group
with a beautifully-executed
traditional French song with
mimes, and Mrs Armistead’s
Year 9 group with a song sung
to the tune of La Macarena. All
pupils entered into the spirit of
things and it was a very enjoyable start to the day. Our thanks
to Mrs Lomax for organising
this event.
H.Martin
Newspaper insider talks to Media students
26
Chloe Johnston reflects on the messages of a recent talk from a newspaper industry executive
We are constantly notified of bility of the internet was also and free editions. Many titles
the latest technologies in the rapidly on the rise. Ten years have already transferred from
media, from iphones to ipads. on it’s a different world! Circu- paid to free distribution, the
Convergences as such offer a lation volumes are under vast London Evening being a prime
range of limitless applications, pressure, advertisers have cut example of this. A proposal for
but how does this relentless spend or moved online and ad- improved websites with higher
update affect standard print vertising revenues are down by consumption for national and
media? Keith Leeming, region- 30% year on year. Along with regional titles is also in place.
al newspaper sales director for the dominance of the internet, However nothing is black and
white (ha-ha) and experts are
the recession has lead to cuts
the Birmingham Post and Mail,
still unclear on the exact direccame to QES to discuss with in consumer spending
tion of the industry. Many quesMrs Weber’s Year 12 Media
So how did the industry react? tions are unanswered, one of
group, how the newspaper industry is adapting in a chang- Initially, there was a large re- which is: how do newspapers
attract younger readers who
duction of staff across all major
ing media landscape.
have become accustomed to
newspapers groups, followed
free content on the internet?
In 2000, the rates by the closure of non-profitof newspaper able titles. Decisions were
The discussion was highly insales were made to reduce the number
on a slight, of editions and many evening teresting and thought-provokbut steady titles moved to overnight pub- ing and the difficulties that the
i n c re a s e. lishing, lessening transport industry continues to face are
much more apparent. The fucosts. Mr Leeming informed us
Regrettably, for of the potential future for the ture seems bleak but with positive directors like Keith there is
majority of large titles. There
newspapers, the are new models for publish- the potential for a successful
ing, including a mixture of paid future.
accessi-
QUEEN ELIZABETH SCHOOL
As a Training School, QES takes
the continuing professional
development of its own staff
very seriously, and provides
a wide range of training and
development opportunities
for teachers at all levels of their
career. Available courses are
circulated to the staff in the
form of a CPD Menu offering
ten choices of Professional
Development opportunities.
As part of a review of our CPD
provision, staff were asked for
feedback on the system via a
questionnaire. Eighty-six responses were received, rating
QES CPD provision as follows:
Excellent
28
Very Good
36
Good
19
Satisfactory
3
Poor
0
There follows a selection of the
many comments from teachers
on how their CPD choice had
helped them become an even
better teacher or leader:
I always come away from the
group feeling we have achieved
something positive that will ultimately make a difference to our
students.
Being part of the PD development group has given me more
insights into pupils’ development
and made me more focussed on
the skills of teaching PD eg. Group
activities.
Attending these twilight sessions has helped me look at how
I interact with pupils and this affects how they listen and how they
engage in dialogue and work.
The way in which I look at
observations has changed; focus-
Furthermore, our A*/A results
at GCSE increased a massive
8½%, from 27% in 2008 to
35.5% in 2009.
Immersion Days
ing on the learners instead of the
teachers brings a whole new outlook to observing and mentoring.
I am confident going into my
second year having been well supported in my NQT year.
I have developed my own
questioning skills and also methods of improving pupils’ questioning skills.
The course has made me more
aware of children’s learning needs
as I have become a learner myself.
The G&T course has had a big
influence and effect on my teaching. All lessons are planned and
delivered with a focus on independent learning and high level
learning skills that can be transferred at A-level and university.
I feel I have a more acute sense
of why some systems are the way
they are, and the impact that this
can have on individuals and departments.
Dozens of colleagues worked
hard on leading and/or planning a Year 7 Immersion Day
(new to the curriculum last
year) and, although it was hard
work at the time, many of them
said how enjoyable and worthwhile it had been taking part:
My involvement in the Immersion day for Yr7 has allowed me
to work in a truly cross-curricular
way, working with subject specialists and adapting those of others
into my own teaching.
This has given me an insight
into how different departments
work but also an insight into the
outstanding commitment of colleagues.
Pooling ideas from very different areas of the curriculum,
providing valuable team teaching
experience.
Working closely with other departments has reinforced the importance of collaborative teaching and learning and is something
I would like to do more of.
Responsive Teaching
We also had a focus on Gifted &
Talented pupils and Responsive
Teaching, with ongoing professional development in these
areas within departments, at
HoDs meetings, within a South
Lakes G&T Group, and at staff
meetings. The staff meeting
“AfL Circus” last year was rated
well, with over 85% of responses being ‘Good’ or better.
Collaboration with different
departments has given me a better understanding of how other
departments work and allowed
me to see classroom techniques
which I can use in my lessons.
Thanks to everyone for their
continued hard work and
commitment to CPD.
A.Hall
27
SCHOLARSHIP AND CARE — SINCE 1591
Immersion Days 2009-10
Building on success from last
year, when Immersion Days
were first introduced, we are in
the process of opening these
fantastic days to Yrs 8 & 9.
Enterprise Immersion Day
Street market
in “Malawi”
Breaking rocks
in “Malawi”
Back in October, Year 7 had
an “Identity and Culture” Immersion Day where pupils
explored how emigrants took
aspects of their culture with
them and formed strong communities in new countries, becoming famous for their music,
their beliefs, their art, food and
dress. This is the second year
we have run this, and again it
was a huge success.
In November, Year 9 had their
first ever Immersion Day. The
theme was “Enterprise and Entrepreneurship” and pupils experienced a day of designing,
making and selling Christmas
cards as a company might do
(top picture). At the end of the
day, pupils’ “companies” presented their product in a Dragon’s Den scenario to a panel
of judges, and a winner was
announced. The other pictures
are from our most recent day
on the theme of “Sustainability
and the Global Dimension”.
A.Hall
Students create Options film
28
Queen Elizabeth School students have recently been
working with filmmaker Tom
Lloyd to create a pilot film to
help other students with their
option choices. The students
had discussed the questions
that pupils making their option choices would ask and addressed the issues in the film.
The film will complement the
wide range of information al-
QUEEN ELIZABETH SCHOOL
ready available about options
choices. The picture shows students preparing for filming.
H.Baines
Learning
Planners
We know that the current
planner establishes the need
to plan and manage extended tasks and independent
learning properly but it just
doesn’t have roomy enough
pages. We’re also missing our
teacher/parent weekly comments section.
So we’ve made an early start
on designing and commissioning a planner for next
September, with a consultation session for staff and students. We also had parents
input - many of our staff are
parents too!
The ideas people came up
with were great and we’ve
been able to go to printers
with a list of requests:
3 pages to a week
Holidays listed for KS4 and Sixth Form
Comments section for each week
Key dates printed in the diary section
Periodic table
Maps
Interesting facts
Different languages
More colour
Our own artistic covers
Whiteboards at the back
Built-in ruler
Larger size for sixth form diaries
No address details for security reasons
This is an interesting list of
important issues. Thanks to
all involved in the consultation. Let’s hope that next
year’s planners help us to get
even more determined to be
successful learners – QESstyle!
A.Wilkinson
Local Adult Education Short Courses and Day Workshops
Code
Subject
Tutor
Wks Day Start
Times
Art, Craft & Design
KBL9150 Cushions and Wall Hangings Angela Barrow 1 Fri 07.05.10 10:00-16:00
KBL9155 Fabric Printing Workshop
Shirley Williams 1 Sat 12.06.10 10:00-16:00
KBL9154 Silk Painting
Shirley Williams 1 Sat 15.05.10 10:00-16:00
KBL9153 Wearable Art
Shirley Williams 1 Sat 24.04.10 10:00-16:00
SED9041 Nuno Felt Workshop
Gill Ferguson
1 Sat 15.05.10 10:00-16:00
SED9021 Woodwork & Joinery for All Bryan White
7 Wed 14.04.10 19:00-21:30
Computing & Digital Photography
SED9145 Intro to Desktop Publishing Chris Wood
4 Tue 13.04.10 19:00-21:30
KBL9143 Intro to Digital Cameras
Chris Wood
4 Wed 14.04.10 19:00-21:30
SED9002 Digital Photography & Editing David Barrett
7 Wed 14.04.10 19:00-21:00
Healthy Living
SED9127 Yoga Sedbergh Daytime
David Burbidge 10 Fri 23.04.10 09:30-11:00
KBL9084 Yoga in Kirkby Lonsdale
Sandra Tallon
13 Mon 12.04.10 19:00-20:30
SED9044 Pilates
Teresa Hill
6 Mon 12.04.10 16:30-17:30
SED9045 Pilates
Teresa Hill
6 Mon 12.04.10 17:45-18:45
History, Science & Nature
KBL9148 Family History Workshop
Katy Iliffe
1 Sat 15.05.10 10:00-16:00
KEN9134 Rocks & Riches of the Lakes Chris Lane
2 Sat 24.04.10 10:00-16:00
Music & Writing
SED9017 Play in a Ceilidh Band
Carolyn Francis 6 Mon 12.04.10 19:00-21:00
SED9070 Creative Writing
Janni Howker
10 Fri 16.04.10 13:30-15:30
The Great Outdoors
SED9146 Dry Stone Walling Weekend Robert Airey
2 Sat 15.05.10 09:00-15:30
SED9136 Lowland Navigation
Tim Deighton
3 Thu 29.04.10 18:00-21:00
KEN9137 Feel Confident on the Fells Tim Deighton
1 Sun 02.05.10 10:00-17:00
SED9138 Mountain Adventure
Tim Deighton
3 Sat 05.06.10 10:00-18:00
Understanding Ourselves
KBL9131 Bite Size Psychology
David Walton
7 Tue 13.04.10 10:00-12:00
SED9129 Understanding Depression David Walton
5 Mon 19.04.10 19:00-21:00
Foreign Languages
KBL9024 French Conversation
Laurence Luckham 7 Tue 13.04.10 19:00-20:30
KEN9156 Quick Summer Spanish!
Pilar Valera
5 Sat 24.04.10 09:30-11:30
KEN9139 Italian Day Out (inc lunch) George Handley 1 Thu 20.05.10 10:00-16:00
KEN9128 French Day Out (lunch/wine) Laurence Luckham 1 Sat 05.06.10 10:00-16:00
KEN9151 Spanish Day Out (inc tapas) Pilar Valera
1 Sat 26.06.10 10:00-16:00
Venue Codes
CAS
Castle St Centre, Kendal
KLI
The Institute, Kirkby Lonsdale
RAV
CDC
Sedbergh CDC
KLM
Methodist Hall, Kirkby Lonsdale
SDM
DEN
Dent
QES
Queen Elizabeth School
SHS
QKS
Queen Katherine School, Kendal
SPS
Full
60+
Ben
Venue
£20
£20
£20
£20
£20
£49
£16
£16
£16
£16
£16
£40
£5
£5
£5
£5
£5
£13
KLM
KLM
KLM
KLM
SDM
SHS
£5
£5
£40
£5
£5
£32
£5
£5
£10
CDC
QES
CDC
£42
£55
£36
£36
£34
£44
£36
£36
£11
£14
£36
£36
SDM
KLM
SPS
SPS
£20
£20
£16
£16
£5
£5
KLI
Tbc
£34
£56
£27
£45
£9
£14
SHS
CDC
£79
£35
£35
Tbc
£79
£28
£28
Tbc
£79
£9
£9
Tbc
RAV
DEN
Tbc
Tbc
£39
£5
£32
£5
£10
£5
KLI
CDC
£30
£28
£26
£26
£23
£24
£23
£23
£23
£19
£8
£7
£14
£14
£8
QES
QKS
CAS
CAS
CAS
Ravenstonedale
Methodist Hall, Sedbergh
Settlebeck High School
Sedbergh Primary School
For booking and further information contact
Sedbergh CDC, The Cottage, Long Lane, Sedbergh LA10 5AL
015396 21031 email: [email protected]
www.sedberghcdc.org.uk
29
SCHOLARSHIP AND CARE — SINCE 1591
The new Creative & Media Diploma
After a hectic first few months,
we’re delighted to report that
the students are certainly rising
to the challenge – as reflected
in their comments on life so far
on the C&M Diploma…
Animators & actors, painters &
potters, designers and journalists – we’ve had some amazing
help from so many professionals across the South Lakes to
kick-start our Creative & Media
Diploma.
I’ve really enjoyed Creative &
Media so far because we haven’t
done the same thing all the time
and it introduced me to new experiences.
‘C&M’ is just one of a new wave
of the GCSE-level ‘Diploma’
courses, which are designed
to enable students to look beyond the classroom and work
with ‘real’ practitioners on
practical projects.
Our C&M Diploma started in
September and is currently
based at QES but is on offer to
students in schools across the
South Lakes Federation, with
a teaching team that also includes colleagues from Kendal
College and The Queen Katherine School.
Last September, the team of
30-plus C&M students started
out by helping to stage an arts
showcase event
the The Brewery in Kendal,
before moving
onto a series of practical projects in art &
design, animation and
radio production.
On each project we’ve
been very lucky
to have local
professional
partners, such
as The Majik House, Cactus and
Indigo 106.6FM, who have all
set the students ‘briefs’ just like
on a ‘real world’ commission.
30
Students have also been able
to visit some local businesses
QUEEN ELIZABETH SCHOOL
I have learned a lot of different
things which I wouldn’t normally,
taking another subject.
and talk to experienced professionals, offering a real insight
into what working life’s like
in the creative & media sector. One ‘speed dating’ session
even enabled students to meet
over a dozen local specialists in
areas from graphic design and
film-making to photography
and web design.
For the students, this new Diploma is demanding because
it’s crammed with so many different experiences, with lots of
meetings, visits, research, design and online work as well as
‘hands on’ tasks.
We can manage all this because students spend one full
day a week on the Diploma,
which really enables them to
get stuck into their work, often using specialist resources.
On the Animation Project, for
example, the students work at
Kendal College because they
have Macs and industry-standard software for ‘stop frame’
animation.
I especially enjoy the trips,
because we go to places which I
wouldn’t normally go.
Creative & Media takes a lot of
patience and hard work.
If you are interested in presenting, designing, and creating then I
would advise you to take the Creative & Media Diploma.
We have done loads of different things in the Diploma. My favourite part so far has been the art
project. It is great fun. Before this
we did a radio project that was
actually aired on the local community station! It has been great
doing so many different things.
terested in taking Creative &
Media from next September,
when there will also be several
other new Diplomas on offer
across the South Lakes Federation schools.
Art project workshop with
professional potter
Again, the feedback from students on the C&M Taster was
very positive. I enjoyed the whole
day because it was not like anything I had done before, was one
comment posted online, while
another student said: I loved all
the activities that we did. It was
really interesting doing all these
things that I would never have
thought of doing before!
Preparing display for arts
showcase event at the Brewery
To see more about life on our
C&M Diploma visit:
www.queenelizabeth.cumbria.
sch.uk/temp/cmdiploma/CMDiplomaSlideShow.swf
M.McNulty
Starting the radio project
workshop with Paul Broadbent
from Indigo 106.6 FM
There is sometimes a lot of
work to do but it is fun, too.
Creative & Media is a really
good course to take but it is also
very hard work and you have to
have a lot of patience! I would recommend people that are creative
to take part in this course.
Recently, we also hosted a
‘Taster Day’ for students in-
Photos in this column: top, students on
the Taster Day; middle, animation course
at Kendal College; bottom, radio interview
on location with Cat Pennington of Kirkby
Lonsdale Play Partnership
31
SCHOLARSHIP AND CARE — SINCE 1591
QESAnews
Queen Elizabeth School Association news
Hello and welcome to the QESA
news. We have had a busy time
since our last newsletter and
have lots of exciting fund-raising events planned over the
coming months.
We are pleased to present our
new logo for the Association,
pictured right. Our Year 8 pupils were asked to design a
logo to represent the Association and the results were truly
outstanding. A winner was
chosen from each class before
an overall winner was decided.
Our congratulations go to Owain Houghton for his winning
design.
The logo will be used in all future correspondence from the
Association and has already
been printed onto a magnificent advertising stand that we
are able to display at all of our
events. Special thanks go to
Jacqui Hill for preparing the
artwork and organizing this
for us.
Promise Auction
QESA and the Washington trip
fundraisers held a Promise
Auction at the school on Thursday 19th November. The Washington Trip is an annual event
where QES pupils are invited
to represent, not only their
school, but also their country
in a student Shakespeare Festival at the very prestigious
Folger Shakespeare Library.
32
The Washington group are
involved in numerous fundraising activities throughout
the year and work very hard to
enable the trip to run as economically as possible, keeping
QUEEN ELIZABETH SCHOOL
social event, well attended by
students, friends, staff, parents
and the local community and
got everyone into the spirit of
Christmas.
the cost down for all involved.
It was a fantastic opportunity
to work together for the benefit of the school and all of our
pupils.
Special thanks to John Hughes,
our auctioneer, Anne Harrison
and Emma Armer for their professional administration support and assistance throughout,
as well as the many individuals
and businesses who generously pledged goods and services.
Finally, a big thank you to everyone who turned up on what
was a very blustery and wet
evening, helping us to raise
over £2300, which has been
shared between the QESA and
Washington Tour.
Christmas Fair
Our annual Christmas Fair, held
on Friday 4th December was
a tremendous success, raising £3148. It was a lively, fun
We would like to say a very big
thank you to everyone who
helped to make the event such
a success, either by helping on
the night, donating items to
sell or use as prizes or by attending and supporting us.
Special thanks also go to: Jen
Hartley and her carol singers for
a wonderful performance that
really set the ambiance to mark
the start of our festive celebrations in school; the site team
who worked really hard to ensure that everywhere was set
up quickly and efficiently, and
tidying everything away again
at the end of the evening; Dave
Lancaster and his professional
team for organizing everything
in the kitchen, thus enabling
the smooth running of the catering with our refreshments
team; form teachers for pushing the raffle ticket sales – the
raffle alone raised over £1000.
Winning forms this year for the
raffle ticket sales were 7Q, 8K
and 8L (joint winners), 9K, 10L
and 11M. Each winning form
was presented with a certificate and prize for their efforts.
Well done!
200 Club
The 200 Club is an easy way
to help us fundraise if you are
a busy working parent/carer.
A yearly subscription of £15
enters you into regular draws
throughout the year. Lucky
winners, drawn at the Christmas Fair were as follows:
New Member
£100 John McGovern
Current Members
£100 Mrs P Cooling
£50 Jane Kerr
£25 Neil Fleming
£25 Hannah Taylor
320
98
264
259
258
If you are considering joining the 200 Club, please contact Christine Gibson via the
school.
The Sound of Music
The outstanding school performance of The Sound of Music was held over five evenings
at the beginning of February.
Apple strudel, carrot cake and
chocolate fudge cake, together
with hot drinks were organised
and served by the Association.
Thanks to our dedicated team
of parents who helped out
each evening, enabling us to
raise £265. Special thanks also
to our catering Manager, Dave
Lancaster and his team for their
continued support.
Cross Bay Walk
We have managed to book
a new date for the Cross Bay
Walk for Saturday 22nd May at
12.30pm from Arnside to Kents
Bank. This will once again be a
separate fundraiser for the PE
Department, targeting sporty
pupils and their parents/carers to help with transport costs
etc.
If you have already paid your
£5 per person donation to participate, this has been held on
to by the QESA so you are automatically booked in for the
new date. If you have not yet
paid but would still like to participate, please forward your
money to us as soon as possi-
ble so that you can be issued
with a sponsor form. We have
secured 200 places and may
be able to book more if the
demand is there. If you are unable to make the new date and
would like a refund, please let
us know - but if we don’t hear
back from you we will assume
that you will be joining us on
the new date.
Summer Fair
Our annual Summer Fair will
be held on Sunday 11th July.
Our link on the QES website
will keep you up to date about
this and any future events being held throughout the year,
as well as dates for committee
meetings. Our meetings are
friendly and informal so, please
come along and support us in
any way that you can and maybe bring along some new ideas
for the Association.
Car Boot Sale
We will be holding a Car Boot
Sale at the school on Sunday
25th April. Available spaces will
be limited so please keep an
eye out for further details on
the website (we have our own
section - see above) and for
letters and notices sent home
with pupils.
Diane Lequitte
Fiona Sheldon
33
SCHOLARSHIP AND CARE — SINCE 1591
SPORTSdesk
Match and Event Reports 1
Rugby
QES 1st XV National
Daily Mail Rugby
Union Cup/Vase Run
Ends in the Mud!
Having despatched Kirkbie
Kendal, before going down to
last year’s semi-finalist, Giggleswick, QES moved into the
Vase competition. The 1stXV
team showed great depth in
numbers by beating Blackpool
Sixth Form College 65 – 12 in
the third round. Fielding a severely weakened side, the boys
were roused by a speech that
Churchill himself would have
been proud of! What followed
was arguably one of the best
performances of the season.
Jack Ackrigg had a superb
game out-of-position, playing
at stand off, dictating and executing the backs’ moves with
style. Good quick ball was supplied by the forwards platform,
where the promising young
Sam Chesney-Benson and Sam
Whitfield worked flat out to
spoil the opposition’s ball.
despatched Sam ChesneyBenson to hospital and Martyn
Knapton to the first aid room,
two yellow cards meant that
the QES team, despite their
determined defence, couldn’t
keep Ermysted’s out. Two late
tries and one on the final whistle saw QES bow out 17–7. Still,
not a bad result against the National Champions from 2007.
The QES 1st XV has not lost at
home this season and has possibly had one of the best seasons in recent years. Hopefully
this can be continued on tour
in Australia and in the next few
years. Good Luck boys!
According to the Schools Rugby Team Leagues 2009/10, QES
1st XV ranked 9th in the North
of England, 35th in England,
and 39th in the British Isles.
Matches
Total Points
Played Won Drw Lost For Against
16 11 0 5 507
193
Edward Towers
1st XV Captain
QES 1st VII Season
34
Following the Blackpool game
in the Vase was Ermysted’s
Grammar School in the 4th
round. We played under floodlights at National Division 1
Club, Wharfedale. With blizzard-like conditions affecting
the kicking game for territory;
every inch was worth fighting
for. The first score of the game
was to QES, with the forwards
forcing over the line from a
line-out catch and maul. Sam
Lester got the try, with Liam
Cleary following with the successful conversion. This meant
the score at half time was 7-0
in our favour. Having already
QUEEN ELIZABETH SCHOOL
Despite the QES 7s being cancelled due to the weather, the
7s side put in some great performances at the Austin Friars
7s, despite going out in the
group stages. A score with the
last play of the game to last
year’s National 7s runners-up,
Kirkham Grammar, saw QES
lose the first game 14 – 10. This
was followed by a 36 – 7 win
over Keswick, before drawing
19-19 with hosts, Austin Friars.
The tag ‘group of death’ could
easily be applied, as Kirkham
went on to win the Plate, and
Austin Friars were runners-up
in the Cup to Durham.
In the Keswick 7s the following week, QES won both their
games against St Bees and
Ermysteds, before defeating
Cockermouth in the semi-final.
This set up a final against Dame
Allan’s from Newcastle. Unfortunately, early decisions went
against QES, and Dame Allan’s
ran out worthy winners, as the
better team on the day. QES,
therefore, collected the plate,
presented in the competition’s
49th year.
With both the North of England 7s, and the National 7s to
come, we wait to see just how
far QES can go!
R.Mayhew
Match and Event Reports 2
Tag Rugby Festival
The QES Cluster kicked off
the Tag Rugby season with a
schools Tag Rugby morning
at Kirkby Lonsdale RUFC. 160
Children from St Mary’s Kirkby
Lonsdale, St Patrick’s Endmoor,
Burton Morewood and Old
Hutton Schools participated
in the festival and seventeen
Rugby Leaders from QES were
on hand to help with the running of the day.
ting them into teams means
that the day can get competitive between class mates. Special thanks must go out to the
volunteers who did an incredible job with the young players,
coaching, refereeing and team
managing. The volunteers
have all signed up to the local
volunteer programme run by
Garry Holmes, RFU Community
Rugby Coach.
The next event many of these
children will be involved in is
the South Lakes District Tag
Rugby Festival as part or the
national Tag to Twickenham
programme where the winners
will represent the district at the
Regional Finals in Manchester.
G.Holmes
Rugby Development Officer
The children were split into
eight groups, where the QES
Rugby Leaders taught them
different rugby skills for the
first hour of the morning, before being split up into teams
of ten in which four mini-festivals were played. Each team
represented a rugby nation
present at the last World Cup.
The winners of each mini festival were Fiji, Wales, Italy and
England.
Year 7 Football
Takes Off!
The morning is a great way to
get every child in Year 5 and
6 in the cluster to experience
rugby in a fun way, and split-
The boys have hit the floor running this year. Following the
ABC seven-a-side selection fixtures v Dallam, the boys have
gone three games undefeated.
Tag rugby
Grant Smillie, Edward Towers and Liam Cleary, part of
the team who were runners-up at the Keswick Schools
49th Annual School Sevens Tournament.
well to win 4-3 in a gripping
second half. With games to
come against Kirbie Kendal (SL
Cup), Heysham Sports College,
Queen Katherine School and
the Lakes School, the question
is already being asked… can
the lads go unbeaten?
D.Williams
Tag rugby
Football
An 8-3 win away to Carnforth
was followed by a 13–2 win
away at WSA in the South Lakes
District Cup. Most recently, the
U12s travelled to Morecambe.
Despite being 3-0 down at
half time, they fought back
Hockey
Year 9 Hockey
The Year 9 hockey team had
an exciting day in the North
Final of the national competition at Belle Vue hockey centre
in Manchester. They had three
very close games: beating Barnard Castle 3-1, drawing with
Wakefield Grammar School 1-1
and losing to Arnold School 02. This resulted in a third place
finish overall, just missing out
on the national final.
All the girls involved have
worked really hard this year
and should be very proud of
their performance.
In addition to the Yr 9 success the Yr 8 hockey team are
North West Champions following a resounding victory at
the latest round of the Yazoo
tournament. They defeated
Westbourne School (Sheffield)
4-0, Altrincham Grammar 41, Kirkham Grammar 4-0 and
Queens School 3-0. All the
girls played really well: Beth
Cordukes scored seven of the
goals, Amy Cordukes controlled the centre of the pitch
and Sasha Cotton and Alice
Clews-Smith made fantastic
runs on the wings. At the time
of writing the team are set to
play in the North Final on Friday 19th March with a good
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SCHOLARSHIP AND CARE — SINCE 1591
Ski trip 2010 - Sansicario
Match and Event Reports 3
Badminton
Center Parcs National
Schools Badminton
Championships
The first round of the tournament was held at QES. Six QES
teams entered in various age
groups with two boys’ teams
and two girls’ teams winning
through to the county finals in
Penrith.
North-West champions!
chance of making the national
finals. Good luck to all the girls.
Elsewhere the Year 8 hockey
team have remained undefeated. They have recently
recorded wins of 8-0 v Kirkbie
Kendal, 9-0 v QKS, and 10-0 v
Windermere St Anne’s. They
should therefore be favourites
for the area tournament to be
played on Tuesday 23rd Feb.
Good luck girls and keep up
the high standard.
S.Garne
Girls Junior Hockey
Year 7 have managed to fit in
practices and three fixtures
this term, despite the inclement weather. Well done girls!
In the fixture against Kirkbie
Kendal the A team earned a
well deserved 1 – 0 victory,
playing some excellent hockey, creating some good scoring opportunities and making
some excellent, well timed
tackles in defence. Well done.
36
The B team came back from 2
– 0 down at half time to earn
a well deserved draw. Special mention must go to Mrs
Blackburn for her inspirational
tactical awareness, bringing
QUEEN ELIZABETH SCHOOL
on one player from the bench
who scored the equalising goal
with her first touch! Pure genius! Well done girls on a gutsy
performance.
In our fixture against The Lakes
School both teams played
some excellent hockey again.
The A team under the supervision of Assistant Super Coach
Mrs Hayton played some superb hockey and won their
match 3 – 1 against the Lakes
Year 8 team! Two absolutely
cracking goals from Laura Hayton secured the victory – perhaps because Mummy was
watching!
All four teams played some
great badminton in some
closely fought matches. Success came with the Year 9 boys’
team who won their group and
went onto win the county final.
Well done to Arthur Bridgeman-Quinn, David Kirkpatrick,
Daniel Wheildon, Thomas Hudson and Dean Ward. They now
go on to represent QES and
Cumbria in the North West Regional finals in Manchester in
March. Good luck to the boys
and well done to all those who
competed in each round.
L.Glaves
Athletics
Olympic Coaching
The B team, despite playing
well and digging in, lost 2 – 0
but they were playing their A
team so good effort girls!
Still to come at the time of writing we have QKS away followed
by the U12 district tournament
at Kirkbie Stephen so fingers
crossed and watch this space!
Thanks again to Emily Morrish
and Alastair Fleming for their
help during practices - and to
Mrs Hayton, my right-hand
woman. Thank you!
A.Blackburn
On 12th January a small group
of pupils braved the alpine
conditions to travel to John
Ruskin School, Coniston to an
Equals Indoor Athletics event.
We worked with other pupils
from the South Lakes area on
jumping, throwing and sprinting events. Shelley Quarin, a
former Olympian, was on hand
to coach the junior athletes in
throwing the javelin and to inspire them to take part in athletics. It was a truly unique and
enjoyable day!
C.Gibson
On Saturday 13 February, 63
pupils and staff set out for the
Italian ski resort of Sansicario,
the home of the 2006 winter
Olympics. This is the same resort we used last year, so staff
were familiar with hotel and
slopes thus saving a lot of time
getting to know the area.
Boot-, ski- and helmet-fittings
completed it was dinner, then
early to bed ready for our first
day’s skiing. Pupils who had
never skied had been taken
to the dry slope in Kendal before the trip. These pupils were
transferred by bus to the ski
school on this first morning.
All other pupils could ski from
the hotel down underneath
the Olympic bobsleigh track,
then use the lift to ski school.
Progress is fast and pupils soon
pick up the basics of the sport,
showing the value of going to
the dry ski slope. This meant
we only had to use the coach
on the very first morning. After that, pupils could all ski to
and from the hotel for their
lessons.
When I think back to the very
first time at Kendal and how
pupils struggle to conquer the
beginner slopes the difference
in only one week on snow is
fantastic. To see the look of
satisfaction on pupils’ faces
after skiing from the top of the
mountain makes my job very
rewarding.
Our first day being bright and
sunny gave pupils some outstanding views of the surrounding snow-covered mountains.
After that first clear day we had
a couple of days of fresh snow
- 45cm in 24 hours (that’s 1
foot 6inches in old money). For
a lot of our pupils this meant
the chance of skiing in powder
snow under the instruction
of the Italian ski school. One
drawback of this resort is the
lack of après-ski. This meant
pupils did not have the opportunity to go shopping, either
because of the fresh snow on
the roads or meal times within
the hotel, so evening activities
were confined to the hotel.
Our last day was again perfect
skiing conditions, with bright
sunshine, powder snow, and
wide open runs. This made
packing for our return very
hard, and all too soon the week
was at an end.
A Beck
Ski trip leader
Pupil comments
The 2010 ski trip was great. The
weather was mixed, and when it
snowed it was even more exciting.
The journey was not so bad. The
hotel staff were really friendly and
the skiing was fantastic.
Josh Maddock
Every day brought something new
and was greeted with enthusiasm,
from beginners learning to ski
challenging runs to experts jumping cliffs in the off-piste areas.
Evenings were spent socialising in
the hotel, with quiz nights and discos providing entertainment for
the group, but tired legs often led
to early nights for many of the skiers. All-in-all an excellent trip, thoroughly enjoyed by all involved.
Adam Alder Cox
The ski trip was a action-packed
week which I think everyone fully
enjoyed. Despite crashing many
times I thought it was a worthwhile experience. The ski instructors were a good laugh and it was
fun to ski with friends. Overall I
had a great time.
Sean Lewis
PE Policy Reminder
Parents and students are reminded
that it is school policy that, if injury
or illness prevents full participation
in PE, a note needs to be provided
to explain the problem and PE kit
must still be worn.
We will try to include students in
all PE lessons in some capacity,
whether it be refereeing, scoring,
analysing performance, providing
feedback to others or feeding the
ball. This policy is designed to help
students get the most out of lessons and remain part of the group.
For health and safety reasons it is
also important that jewellery is removed and long hair tied back.
I.Higson
Fundraising
Thank you to everyone who supported our fundraising stall at the
Christmas Fair. Prizewinners were:
Wii Sports Champions:
Base Ball - Cam Hans Brooker
Bowling - Tom Bunting
Tennis - Joe Collier
How many sweets in the jar?
Angela Clarke
The teddy bear’s name was George
Charlesworth
Guess the lottery bonus ball
Sue Stephenson
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SCHOLARSHIP AND CARE — SINCE 1591
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QUEEN ELIZABETH SCHOOL
SCHOLARSHIP AND CARE — SINCE 1591