Queen Elizabeth's High School
| Queen Elizabeth's High School | |
|---|---|
| File:Badgewhite.jpg | |
| Address | |
 | |
Morton Terrace , , DN21 2ST | |
| Information | |
| Type | Grammar School |
| Motto | "Service Links All" |
| Established | 1589 |
| Founder | Sir Robert Somerscale |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Headmaster | Mr D.J. Smart |
| Gender | co-educational |
| Age | 11 to 18 |
| Enrollment | c. 1200 |
| Houses | Frobisher, Raleigh, Grenville and Drake |
| Website | http://www.qehs.lincs.sch.uk |
Queen Elizabeth's High School is an 11-18 co-educational grammar school, based in Gainsborough in northern Lincolnshire. It is well known within the local area as an institution of high academic excellence.
The school is selective; pupils wishing to enter the school at age 11 must sit and pass the Eleven Plus exam prior to entry. The school is a centre for sitting the exam.
History
Origins
Although the details are unclear, Gainsborough appears to have had a small grammar school from the 15th century provided by the local clergy, where possibly several of the Pilgrim Fathers received their early education. Many of the school's early records were lost during the reign of Charles I, owing to the prominent Puritan sympathies of many associated with the school who sought to avoid detection, and so had the incriminating records destroyed.
Queen Elizabeth's High School formally originates however in 1589, when Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter to Sir Robert Somerscale in order to establish Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School for boys, with the express purpose of providing an education in the Classics and Divinity for the sons of the emerging middle class in the town. In 1828, the Chartist poet Thomas Cooper sought to set up a rival grammar school, but failed, and saw his school absorbed by QEHS. Gainsborough High School, a grammar school for girls, was founded in 1920.
Amalgamation
During the 1940s both schools re-situated to the present Morton Terrace site, on which the local technical college was also based. Under the Tripartite System they became fully state grammar schools, having been fee-paying before then. The schools merged to form the current setup of QEHS in 1983.
Recent History
In 2006, the headmaster of 11 years, Mr. John Child MA (Cantab.), resigned his position to give way to the current head Mr. David Smart.
School Administration and Structure
Each year from 7 to 11 has ca. 180 students, and each year is divided into 6 forms (the Sixth Form years generally contain approximately 140 students and are divided into eight smaller forms). [1]
The House System
There are four houses at the school [2], Frobisher, Raleigh, Grenville and Drake, named after notable explorers during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
| Drake | Frobisher | Grenville | Raleigh | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| House's Colour | Blue | Yellow | Green | Red |
| Head of House | Miss J. Tipton | Miss G. Wilkinson | Mr G. Harrison | Mrs M. Frecknall |
The houses compete in a closely-fought competition throughout each school year, taking part in a series of events ranging from cricket and football through to debating and drama. The current holders of the inter-house championship are Drake house. Students can win colours for representing house and school in events. From September 2008 the house system will be augmented with two new houses, the final names for which have not been decided. These houses will be formed of students currently in 'DF' and 'GR' forms, which presently are a half-half mix of Drake & Frobisher (DF) and Grenville & Raleigh (GR) students. This decision has not been met with unanimous approval from students, particularly older students, who feel a strong affinity to their current house.
The school contains approximately 1180 students from over a wide area including Northern Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire. There are roughly 80 teaching staff and many support staff.
The current Senior Management Team comprises
- Mr DJ Smart - Headteacher
- Mr PW Russell - Deputy Head (Standards)
- Mr MA Cowling - Assistant Head (Student Welfare)
- Dr MJ Fraser - Assistant Head (ICT)
- Mr S Worrall - Assistant Head (14-19 education)
- Mrs D Brown - School Administrator
The School Day
As of 2007, the School has an eight period day, though many lessons are taught as double periods. There are four periods in the morning and four in the afternoon. Each period lasts 35 or 40 minutes. Students have a 20 minute break mid-morning, and a 1 hour 15 minute lunch break. [3]. Proposals have been mooted to change the school day from 2008, however these remain under discussion and have not yet been finalised.
Subject Departments
Music and Drama at the School
The school has many musical groups, run by the members of Music staff, Philip Ainsworth and Mrs. J. Stockdale, with the school's various instrumental teachers. The school has a junior, senior and swing band, a school orchestra, a string ensemble and chamber-sized brass groups, including a large brass group, a senior brass group, a horn group (and this year, a senior horn group) and a Year 9 brass group (of 5 students, who performed without a conductor). Music has a long history at QEHS, with the Anglican choral composer W. Stanley Vann being head of Music during the 1930s.
The school runs basic music education for years 7 - 9 and students may then elect to take GCSE in Music in Years 10 and 11. Students can then, according to their GCSE results, take it to AS in Year 12 and then convert to A2 in Year 13. Results for Music at A-Level and GCSE tend to be high.
The music department has recently taken over a former common room (room 57) to be used as extra practice space, in addition to teaching rooms 53 and 54. Furthermore, a "music technology" course has been mooted for future introduction, which will involve a specialised classroom being created elsewhere in the school.
Drama is also strong at QEHS- recent productions have included West Side Story and The Importance of Being Earnest amongst others.
The present Head of Arts Faculty (comprising Art, Music and Drama) is Mrs B.A. Evans.
Languages at the school
Similarly to music, students chose their own preferences with language. All students in year 7 take 3 periods of French and German and (at present) 1 period of Latin a week. At the end of year 7, students must drop one of these subjects. They then continue through to year 9 with the chosen two. They must then take a GCSE in either French or German (of their remaining two) and were until 2006 given the choice to take Latin at GCSE, providing the student has taken it into year 9. Students may take either French or German at A-Level, but the school doesn't offer Latin A-Level owing to a lack of resources, though Classical Civilisation can be taken as an A-Level, which includes sections of what would be taught on the Latin A-Level course.
With the school announcing a specialism in Languages at the same time as the Latin teacher is due to retire, Latin is due to be phased out of the curriculum in favour of Spanish over the next academic year. The arrival of a new languages teacher in 2007, Mr. Markham, has also prompted questions over whether a Russian option will be set up- indeed, this is already an option for sixth formers to take on Wednesday afternoons during Complementary Activities.
The present Head of Languages is Mr S.R. Owen.
Mathematics at the school
The Maths department is one of the strongest faculties within the school. A large 7-room wing of the school is dedicated to the department, together with an office for faculty staff. From year 8 to year 11, students are set by ability into one of four groups, with year 7 students being set in one of 2 groups from 2007. At A-level, the subject stands as one of the most popular, with a number of the most able students electing to study Further Maths. A selection of top-set students take part in the UK Maths Challenge every year. The department as a whole comprises 8 full time members of staff and 3 part time teachers. [4]. From 2007, the most able students will be given the option of taking the GCSE earlier than normal (in year 10) and commencing A-level study earlier.
The current Head of Mathematics is Mr C. Frost.
Science at the school
The school is equipped with a large number of specialist rooms which are currently dispersed around the site (although in the long term, it is hoped to consolidate the accommodation). Biology is centred in Lower School, with rooms 1, 2, 3 and 7 being set aside for its use. Chemistry is more spread out, with room 8 in the lower school as well as 37 and 38 in Middle School, and 52 in the Upper School. The Physics department occupies rooms 31, 51 and 61. However, rooming sometimes varies in accordance with timetabling necessities, and rooms frequently overlap. Additionally, a few A level lessons sometimes occur in regular classrooms.
All students study the three separate disciplines of Biology, Chemistry and Physics in form groups in years 7 and 8, before being set for year 9. For GCSE students can chose between three courses - Single Award, Double Award and Triple Award, depending on their personal preferences together with their year 9 SATS results. A level courses in Biology and Chemistry are some of the most popular in the school - Physics is slightly less so, but remains oversubscribed.
The current Head of Science is Mr P.B. James, who is also Head of Physics. He is supported by the Head of Biology, Mrs G.E. Frost, the Head of Chemistry, Mr G.P. Cooke, and the Senior Technician Mr P.G. Oldfield, who oversees a team of five lab technicians.
Technology at the school
The school has a modern technology suite situated in the middle school, opened by Prince Charles the Prince of Wales in 1999. It comprises two woodwork rooms (33 & 34), and one room each for Electronics (32), Graphics (35) and Food Technology (36). Additionally, three fixed computer rooms (27, 28 & 29) are used both for teaching of ICT and Computing, and for use by other faculties by prior arrangement. All students study Technology and ICT up until Year 9, where they must opt to take at least one technology course for GCSE. The A levels offered in Computing and CDT remain popular. The current Head of Technology is Mr W. Shaw, whilst the Head of IT department is Mr. D. Fogg.
The IT department maintains all computer equipment elsewhere in the school, with a support team of 3 technicians. One of the main ICT teaching rooms was refurbished in Summer 2007 with new computers, and the department is currently implementing a whole school plan to supply all teachers with laptops and fit data projectors and network points to all classrooms, in preparation for the introduction of electronic registration.
Sport and other Extracurricular Activities
QEHS has a thriving sporting calender, with football, rugby, cricket and athletics being the main boys sports, and hockey, netball, tennis and athletics being the main girls sports. From Year 10, these choices can also include squash, badminton and golf amongst others.
Sporting facilities are considered to be very good at QEHS, with four cricket pitches, two hockey pitches, two rugby pitches and three football pitches available. Several long-jump pits and tennis courts are also on site. The school has the use of the local public swimming baths and squash courts on the Avenue in Gainsborough.
Inter-school matches are played against other grammar schools in Lincolnshire, and a few public schools and secondary modern schools. In recent years cricket has proved particularly successful at QEHS, with several sides proving victorious in local competitions. Several Elizabethans have also been active at county level, including Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire.
Pupils are encouraged to serve the community, and several do volunteer work in the local area. Many Sixth-Formers have taken part in Young Enterprise and this has proved another area in which the school has succeeded. The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme has similarly thrived.
QEHS has built up an excellent reputation locally for debating, with teams winning several competitions locally and nationally, including the Youth Speaks Competition.
The Head of PE is currently Mr S. F. Curry.
School Buildings
As the school in its current state derived from an amalgamation of three former institutions, the main school buildings can be divided into three parts. Each part of school differs slightly in both architectural design and function. The original buildings have been extensively refurbished and updated in some areas, and broadly left alone in others. Some areas are completely new build, either integrated with the older buildings (e.g. technology) or separate (e.g. humanities). The designations "Lower", "Middle" and "Upper" school broadly denote the forms which are based in these areas, however this is set to change with the introduction of a house-based tutorial system in 2008.
College House
A large Victorian house was previously in use in the school as part of the old girl's school. It is, however currently un-occupied and used for storage by caretakers. It sees occasional use for art exhibitions as well as bi-annual language oral examinations (due to its location in a quiet part of the campus, in an area that can be sectioned off for long periods of time easily). It is connected to the main buildings by a passageway (normally locked) accessible near room 9. A scheme was mooted as part of the specialism bid for College House to be turned into a music centre, however this was dropped due to lack of funds and the difficulty in converting the building in line with modern building regulations.
Due to the infrequent use of the College House, several ghost stories have sprung up surrounding several art students and the caretakers, who occasionally use the house for storage. The most famous of these stories is that six art students went one day to move a statue or bust to another room of the house in order to use the statue room to display the students' artwork. The next day, the extremely heavy statue (which had taken all seven of them to lift it) was found on the staircase, laid on its side. There are also rumours of floating lights and extreme, sudden cold in certain rooms.
Lower School
The Lower School buildings are the northmost on the school site, and originated from the former Girl's High School.
Today, the buildings are used to accommodate a number of humanities departments, as well as departmental teaching rooms for science - in the main Biology but also some Chemistry. The building's main hall, Lower School Hall is used for sporting activities, occasional internal examinations, as well as house and, ironically, Middle School (Years 10 & 11) assemblies. Additionally, there are two science preparation labs, Head of Year offices and the school's Finance Office. Two changing/shower rooms exist but are these days used only very rarely. The building has been added to by a mixture of portable and permanent classrooms, some of which have been demolished and replaced recently.
The school's numbering scheme commences in Lower School, starting at room 1, a biology laboratory, and moving through to room 18, one of number of recently constructed portable classrooms.
Middle School
The Middle School buildings are the central buildings of the school site, and originated from the former Gainsborough Technical College.
Today, the buildings are used to accommodate a number of departments, including English, Technology and Information Technology. A small hall in this area is fitted out as a performing Arts Studio, used for drama lessons and productions as well as occasional assemblies and presentations. The Science department headquarters are located near room 31, a Physics lab, and upstairs there are two Chemistry classrooms, a prep lab, and offices for the Head of Chemistry and the Property Manager. This was also home to the old boardroom which, as of September 2007, will be used as the Headteacher's office. A new boardroom has been created in the area of the central buildings used as a staffroom.
Upper School
The Upper School buildings are the southernmost on the school site, and originated from the former Boy's Grammar School.
Today, the buildings are used to accommodate a number of departments. Mathematics occupies most of the southern corridor, with 7 dedicated teaching rooms and a staff office. The Science department has two Physics and one Chemistry lab, as well as the central technician's office. Music is spread near the corridor towards "Middle School", and two large classrooms as well as several smaller practice rooms are available for their use. From September 2007, a room formerly utilised as an overspill common room has been converted for use as another music practice room. The Art department is located near Music, and encompasses a converted gym with two large Art rooms, and smaller rooms for storage and for use as offices. The building also includes the library (which itself has a sixth form private study area, careers room and offices), the main ("hot") canteen, and the school shop. Several smaller rooms are used mainly for sixth form teaching of various subjects, including maths and humanities, but also smaller classes lower down the school, such as set 4 maths groups.
The building contains two large halls used for assemblies and examinations. One, known as the Sports Hall, is, as its name implies, the main sports hall of the school and is also used to accommodate Lower School (Years 7-9) assemblies and GCSE exams. Another, Upper School Hall is used for Upper School (Years 10-13) assemblies, as well as A-level exams. Upper School Hall is fitted with a modern sound and projection system for audio-visual presentation, and as such is often the location for computer-based presentations or drama events.
Outbuildings
Near the end of the Maths corridor in Upper School, there is a large outside block known as the "languages block", as it is primarily used for teaching foreign languages. It comprises four brick-built classrooms and two more temporary Portakabin buildings. Offices for faculty staff, language assistants and a Head of Year are situated in the building.
Other outbuildings include the Cricket Pavilion, which was erected during the early 1990s by the late Mr John Tiffen, but which has of late fallen into disuse and been the subject of several break-ins by local vandals. A workshop is situated nearby in a Portakabin building, and forms the base for the Property Department.
Sixth-Form Centre
The School's Sixth Form has its own dedicated building, situated at the south of the school campus. It features a large main common room, two smaller rooms (one of which is the Councillor Mrs Jean Bassett Room), and a large room with computing facilities for study (known as room 80). Outside the building is a car park for the use of sixth-form students and teaching staff. [5]
As of September 2007, teachers Mr Simon Hopkinson (Head of Sixth Form), Mr Nigel Dawson (Assistant Head of Sixth Form) and Mr Shane Worrall (Assistant Head of 14-19 Curriculum and Line Manager for the Sixth Form), as well as Mrs Anya Brown (6th form administrative assistant), have offices in this centre also.
The majority of sixth form lessons still take place in regular classrooms elsewhere in the school, however several rooms (notably 57, 67, 68, 75, 80, 81, 82) are set aside exclusively for sixth form teaching and other uses.
The QEHS Sixth Form is quite successful; its AS and A2 performance scores 396.5 (the national average is 277.6) (From BBC League Tables). Many pupils go on to Russell Group Universities for further study, including a small number each year who successfully attain undergraduate places at Oxbridge Colleges.
For the future
Mr. Smart, the incumbent Headteacher, will be entering the school for application of specialist status in Music and Languages. It will become effective in 2008. [6]
Not all members of the student body and their parents were happy with this decision. It has since been agreed among PTA members and staff that Music and Languages would be a good move for specialism for the school. This decision caused particular anger among the Sports department, and the resulting protest involved a number of students protesting on the schools' field. Many students involved in the protest cared or knew little of why they were protesting but took the opportunity to leave lessons. Whether or not the protest was supported or encouraged by members of the sports department remains unresolved. Head teacher David Smart referred to the protest as "ridiculous".
A visible sign of the changes to the school has been the installation of 6 LCD display screens at various locations around the school, which are set to scroll notices of sports practices, room changes, revision sessions, student meetings etc. This replaced the previous system of such announcements being broadcast in assemblies, and is administered by the ICT Department, supported by the school's office staff. Notices are still read out daily in registration, and the screens act as a summary of these notices. Plans are in the pipeline for the creation of a new music technology classroom in an as-yet unrevealed area of the school, although after the recent move of lower 6th formers to the upper 6th common room , the lower sixths previous common room seems to be a possibility for this new music classroom and would explain the fairly sudden change.
A recent remark by the headmaster however seems to indicate that the cold canteen in middle school will be refurbished to serve as a classroom, possibly for music technology.
Student Voice
Another of Mr. David Smart's contributions to the school is "increased importance of students' views." A new school council was started shortly after Mr. Smart started his period as Head. It was aimed towards allowing students to have a say in how (not if) the school was to change. Unfortunately, some students feel their views were ignored.
Many rumours have been spread throughout the school in connection with Mr. Smart changing the house system. This has left the headteacher out of favour with many of the students, as most feel very strongly attached to their house and would not feel the same way about a new one, even if a similar house system were to be put into place. These rumours recently were confirmed when a questionnaire was circulated asking for suggestions for new names and house colours, and it is now confirmed that the D/F and G/R form groups will be made into their own houses, with the other forms retaining their current house identities.
Notable Old Elizabethans
- Michael Belton- astronomer and Gerard P. Kuiper Prize holder
- Sir Halford Mackinder- British geographer and socialist
- James Bowling Mozley- Anglican clergyman and theologian and Oxford Movement chronicler
- Thomas Mozley- Anglican clergyman and Anglo-Catholic theologian
- Edward Rainbowe- 17th century Anglican bishop of Carlisle and Puritan writer
- John Robinson- Puritan theologian and pastor to the Pilgrim Fathers
- Robert Smith- mathematician and mc music theorist
- John Smyth- Puritan pastor and founder of the Baptist movement
See also
- Grammar School (general)
- Grammar schools in the United Kingdom
- Eleven plus
- Gainsborough, Lincolnshire
External links
- Queen Elizabeth's High School - Offical Website
- Rate My Teachers
- QEHS on google maps
- QEHS on Microsoft Virtual Earth (higher resolution than Google Maps)