Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School Ashbourne, Derbyshire
QEGS PRESS
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Success Edition
September 2017
Charity fundraising success! Fundraising for a variety of excellent causes is very much Thank you to everyone who supported our events part of the fabric of QEGS. It was amazing to see that throughout the year. Together we really do make a the amount raised in the last academic year passed the difference. £10,000 mark. A large number of students took part in a variety of activities to raise money as follows: Children In Need- £1,166.25 Christmas Jumper Day- £855.13 MIND- £72.67 Red Nose Day- £1,199.18 Cancer Research Coffee Morning- £92.45 St John Ambulance- £325.78 Derby Hospital- Puffin Ward- £239.03 The Breck Foundation- £130.47 QEGS Race for Life, July 2017 Summer Fair- £3,678.87 Race For Life- £2,243.19 Total: £10,003.02
Welcome to Your New QEGS Press Welcome to the new QEGS Press! The school publication is being relaunched with stories and other content created by students for the enjoyment of all school stakeholders and the wider community. Each one of our issues will focus on one of the QEGS values of Question, Explore, Give and Succeed. This edition looks at a variety of successes enjoyed by QEGS students over the past year. We hope you enjoy reading our stories and please get in touch if you have any questions, comments or stories you’d like to see covered.
Historical Success! In the summer term, the History department at QEGS ran a historical fiction competition where students had to write a short story on any historical period. There were some amazing entries and it was very difficult to select the winners. After much deliberation, prizes were awarded to Caleb Perkins, Georgia Briggs and Joshua Phillips. History teacher Mr Constable said, “The standard of entries was extremely high and the winners of the competition deserve special praise for their efforts.”
Engineered Success! QEGS’ Engineering Education Scheme (EES) team successfully worked with JCB to produce a solution in response to a brief. The brief was to design a product to allow the safe transportation of plant equipment in the shovel of a JCB backhoe. The team designed and evaluated a range of options before arriving at their solution. This was then presented to a team of engineers, complete with recommendations and costings. The QEGS EES team is pictured below.
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Psychology Work Experience Success! QEGS has developed a strong working partnership with the University of Derby over recent years and this was strengthened further when ten Year 12 Psychology students completed a week of work experience in The University of Derby’s Psychology department.
and the feedback from the university was excellent - they commented on how engaged, mature and hardworking the students had been. The majority of them have returned with an intensified interest in the subject which will enhance their studies in Year 13.
During the week, the students took part in some psychological research; conducted their own interviews, had their fingerprints taken; visited the forensic house used as part of the criminology course; created and delivered presentations to university lecturers; had tours of the campus and attended guest lectures on a range of psychology topics, including gender and parapsychology. They had an amazing time
Students involved were Rohan Vaikla, George Johnson, Gina Riach, Imogen Leech, Katie Bifiani, Millie Watkins, Connie Thomas-Lacroix, Beth Collins, Joe Smith and Beanie Baker.
Dancing to Success! The Dance and Drama department at QEGS has celebrated numerous successes over the last 12 months. The main school production again played to packed houses on all four performance nights. This year, the show was ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’ and lots of students showcased their talents. The QEGS Street Dance Crew made the national finals of the Great Big Dance Off, where they competed against the best street dancers from all over the country.
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Students also took over Ashbourne Radio for a morning, with four of them hosting separate, uniquely different shows, live on air. Younger performers were not to be outdone, with exceptional performances seen at the Primary Dance Festival and School Summer Fair. For more dance & drama delight, follow on Twitter:
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Observing Success! QEGS is now one of the few schools that can proudly boast they have their own observatory! The QEGS Community Observatory officially opened on Tuesday 9th May 2017. The FPTA have been fundraising for 2 years and the observatory has been built next to the new technology block. The White Peak Astronomical Observing Group have donated a Celestron C14 research grade Schmidt Cassegrain astronomical telescope and mount to use in the observatory with members of the group providing advice and support. The Observatory will be used by students and will be open to students from partner schools. In addition, the
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observatory will be open to the community so that anyone with an interest in astronomy can request to attend organised sessions. Although focusing on astronomy, a wide range of space science related activities will be planned to appeal to different interests. These activities, along with some day time observing, will enable full use of the observatory during the day as well as for evening sessions.
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www.queenelizabeths.derbyshire.sch.uk
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Physics Olympiad Success! Success is perhaps a bit of an under-statement for this story! During the summer term this year, one of our Year 12 students, Oliver Reed was invited to the British Physics Olympiad Awards ceremony at the Royal Society in London. Oliver, accompanied by Mr Metcalf (Curriculum Leader of Physics) and his parents Paul and Sophia, was rewarded for being one of the top four students in the UK for the AS (Year 12) competition. QEGS was also awarded the ‘Texas Instruments Science Package’ for outstanding achievement in the AS level Olympiad. Oliver, alongside other equally dedicated students, spent months of time with Mr Metcalf during lunchtimes preparing for the British Physics Olympiad competition papers, which are designed to test the best students in the country and are normally taken only by those predicted an A grade or higher. These papers consist of a series of tough problem solving challenges based on the Physics Curriculum and also require the students to work at a much higher level than expected from students of their age. Every student who took part performed fantastically well, on very difficult papers; the medallists for QEGS this year are as follows: Physics Olympiad GCSE (March): 1. Helena Shapton - GOLD - top 5% - approx. top 150 in UK 2. Benton Stevens- SILVER - top 15% 3. Georgina Chamberlain - BRONZE 1 - top 30% Physics Olympiad AS Level (March): 1. Oliver Reed- GOLD - Award for top 4 students in the UK 2. Eloise Page - SILVER - top 15% 3. Ben Warner - BRONZE 1 - top 30% 4. Alex Cranstone - BRONZE 2 - top 50%
Sporting Success! We could have produced a sports special to document all of the successes of the QEGS PE department over the last 12 months, but instead here is an image of some of their trophy haul. We have numerous students who continue to excel in a variety of sports and the PE team continue to support a large number of sporting activities.
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The UK’s Top Four Year 12 Physicists Physics Olympiad Y13 (November): 1. Jack Dames - SILVER (top 15%) 2. Josh Challinor - Commendation QEGS is very proud of every student who took part in this competition.
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Summer Exam Success! Everyone at QEGS is extremely proud of the achievement of our students in 2017 GCSE and A Level examinations. First it was the turn of our Year 13 students: • 58.1% of A Level students gained at least one A* or A Grade (up from 55% 2016) • Average point per candidate for Academic qualifications is 125.69 (up on 2016); • Average point per entry is 37.07 (up from 36.4 in 2016), expressed as a grade means the average grade a student achieved is a B-. Vocational/Technical Results: • 95% of BTec students achieved at least one Distinction * grade (up from 90% in 2016) • Average point per candidate in Vocational/Technical qualifications is 145.0 (up from 121.4 in 2016) • Average point per candidate of 47.51 (up from 39.8 in 2016) which, as expressed as a grade, the average grade a student achieved would be D+. An incredible year for our students who, once again surpassed themselves. We are justifiably proud of the results they have achieved. Ranked 1st in Derbyshire in 2016, the improved 2017 QEGS results mean we once again hope to be the number 1 educational institution in Derbyshire. Assistant Headteacher Mr Atkins with Year 13 Students Amazing individual results: The A Level results are again outstanding with many amazing individual results; these are led by Nathan Corbyn and Jack Dames who achieved 4A* grades, and Hannah Taylor who achieved 3A* grades. Bradley James, Elizabeth Aiton, and Thomas Farrand each achieved 2A* grades and one A grade. 3 or 4 A*/A grades were achieved by Joshua McFall, Joshua Challinor, Sean Fitzakerley, Callum Goode, Jess Liddle, Jack Goldsworthy, Molly Ellis, Max Garnett, Jennifer Derbyshire, Jason Woolley, and Willow Kerr. Jack Dean also achieved 2A* grades. 36% of all exam entries were graded A*, which is an outstanding achievement. Students also excelled in the Vocational and BTec subjects. In the Extended Diploma courses, Triple Distinction Stars (D*D*D*) were awarded to David Kelly and Charlie Sims (IT); Helen Johnson, Corinne Lakin Isaac Teage, and Ellie Whitehouse (Business); and Emily Brett and Eleanor Storr (Sports Science). D*D*D grades were also awarded to Oliver Walker (Sports Science), Rebecca Dean, and Sophie-Rose Gardiner-Smith (Art). In the Diploma courses Ingrid Mackay achieved D*D* (Art), and in the Subsidiary Diploma courses (Science) Fraser Clowes, Rios Konar, and Dmitri Kljukin all achieved D* grades. Students are now exceptionally well placed to progress onto the next stage of their education and employment. We want to take this opportunity to congratulate all of our students on their tremendous achievements and wish them the very best for the future. Following on from this were the achievements of our wonderful Yr11 students, where QEGS saw their best ever GCSE results in English and Maths. As has been widely publicised, students sat the new reformed GCSEs in English and maths this year. The new examination system has been deliberately designed to be tougher with a new grading system of numbers instead of letters. This year, students of English and Maths have achieved some fantastic results in the midst of a volatile educational climate. There were some amazing individual student performances. Students who made the most progress compared to national average expectations included Sienna Allen, Harry Clarke, Abigail Spencer, Max Guest, Lauren Sowter and Alex Guest. Students who deserve the accolades for the highest number of highest number of top grades at GCSE include Helena Shapton amassing twelve A*/A or 7/8/9 grades. Millie Beaumont, Max Guest, Abigail Spencer and Ben Stevens all achieved eleven A*/A or 7/8/9 grades. Georgina Chamberlain, Charlotte Cross, Leila Lockley and Lara Stoney achieved ten A*/A or 7/8/9 grades. Success indeed!
GET IN TOUCH
We encourage all members of the QEGS community to contact us with their questions, comments or ideas for stories. Please do so using one of the methods below:
@QEGS_Media
studentpress@qegs.email
Next Issue
Keep an eye out for our next issue on the theme of ‘Question’ to be published in December 2017. Deadline for entries: Friday 17th November 2017.