NEWS Lent Term 2019 January – April
Creative Industry Afternoon The Art Department ran a Creative Industry afternoon and were pleased to welcome special guests Richard Cross, John Bridge, Sarah Hardacre and Andy Walmsley into school.
Andy Walmsley, artist, and director of Wash Studio, Wash Film, and Artistry House, was recently commissioned for the Hyundai European advertisement campaign. ‘Wash’ is an ideas agency shaped for an integrated age with a team of strategic thinkers and visual creatives; it is one of the most respected design studios in the North West.
Our guests gave inspirational talks, discussed their work, and the various careers and pathways within the creative industry with Years 11 and 13 Fine Art pupils and students. The afternoon was coordinated by Atlantic Contemporary Art.
Richard Cross, RAS, (Royal Academy, National Portrait Award, National Gallery) is an artist based in the North West of England who specialises in drawing and painting.
John Bridge, (Studio John Bridge) is an enthusiastic and environmentally driven chartered architect, specialising in eco-homes and urban regeneration. Sarah Hardacre, is an international artist/printmaker whose work has been exhibited internationally in group exhibitions. She has contributed to artist-led initiatives including the open ended artists’ exchange between studio groups in Manchester and Bristol. The afternoon was thoroughly enjoyed by all and provided a huge insight into the industry and pathways which our pupils and students may choose to follow.
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Q News | Lent Term 2019
Fire Brigade Visit Year 6 On Thursday 24th January, Year 6 had a visit from the Blackburn Fire Department, the firefighters explained the dangers of fire with the pupils. A short video was watched, that demonstrated just how quickly a fire could spread in a living room and everyone soon realised the importance of having a fully functioning smoke alarm in their house. The fire fighters expressed the importance of phoning 999 as soon as a fire was noticed. Road safety was also discussed, as many of the Year 6 pupils will be travelling to school independently when they begin secondary school in September. Pupils understood the importance of being aware when crossing roads and to always be on the lookout for any potential dangers. Pupils ended the session by successfully completing a quiz, which showed their knowledge and proved that the visit had been very worthwhile.
An Inspector Calls Blackburn Rovers Referee Mascot
The English faculty were delighted to welcome the Box Clever Theatre Company to perform at QEGS. Year 11 were treated to live re-enactments of scenes from the play ‘An Inspector Calls’.
Together with musical instruments, small group discussion and audience participation, pupils were taken on a dramatic journey to discover who was to blame for the death of Eva Smith. The tension, drama and anticipation, usually only experienced by an audience in a live theatre, was successfully transported into the main hall. Pupils taking their GCSE examination definitely benefited from hearing essential quotations brought to life as well as experiencing dramatic irony, entrances and exits and contextual background.
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Jack Braithwaite had a fabulous experience being the match referee mascot in a game against Ipswich Town. As a Mascot Referee, Jack met with all the officials to go through the pre-match checks required, including the handing over of the team sheet, testing the scoreboard and all other relevant technology, prior to heading out for the warm up ahead of kickoff. Jack is an up and coming referee and is receiving great reviews for the matches he is officiating; one to look out for in the future!
Busy Times for Baylie Baylie Seery had an extremely busy start to the year, as she competed at the Lancashire County Swimming Championships. She qualified for 13 events at this year’s competition which was held over three weekends at Manchester and Liverpool Aquatics Centres.
Baylie also qualified for the 50m Breaststroke final where she really did rise to the challenge, taking nearly another second off the personal best time that she had already achieved in the heats, finishing in 5th place.
The Championships proved extremely successful for Baylie, where she chose to compete in 9 events and managed to gain 6 personal best times, 1 new long course time and 2 regional qualification times.
Baylie also spent the weekend away with the Sea Cadets working towards her 2nd Class Physical Training Instructor Award, having already earned her 3rd Class a few months ago. Well done Baylie!
She now has a hectic couple of months with three swimming galas in succession as she prepares for the North West Regional Championships.
European Day of Languages and Culture
Year 8 pupils enjoyed a special day off timetable, when they were given the chance to explore some key issues surrounding this topical subject and to have the opportunity to sample different languages (Italian and Ancient Greek) putting their transferable linguistic skills to the test. The day began with a traditional continental breakfast and quiz in Big School; pupils thoroughly enjoyed their pains au chocolat and hot chocolate. This was followed by a question and answer session with an expert panel in the Library Annexe with the focus on UK and Europe: past, present and future. Year 8 pupils definitely challenged the panel with some thought-provoking questions. Towards the end of the afternoon, Mr Braime was honoured to be asked to judge the T-shirt making competition. The entries showed great imagination and had clearly been inspired by all the activities they had participated in throughout the day. Themes such as unity, architecture, politics and national customs were all explored in the designs, and it was an extremely difficult task for Mr Braime to choose just one winner and a couple of runners up.
After much deliberation, third place was awarded to an entry exploring the varied diets of European countries. The graphic style of the shirt, which represented croissants, sausages and cheese was striking, and an understanding of perspective was evident in the work. Congratulations to the following 3rd place winners from 8LIW: Aizah, Yusra, Sufyaan, Jalal, Fatymah, Ewan and Jenson. Second place was an entry celebrating the architecture of our continent’s nations. This clearly linked to the current theme of Architecture that Year 8 explored in their Art lessons during Lent, and showed an understanding of how, by looking at the buildings and monuments of a nation, the history of its culture can also be traced. Congratulations to the following 2nd place winners from 8BPV: Fatima, Muhammad, Abdullah, Amirah, Amelie, Abdul and Christopher. The winning entry was selected based on the originality of its design. A logo comprising of the human hand combined with the globe was a striking image which demonstrated a sophisticated visual communication. The simple motif was a clear symbol of unity and equality.
Congratulations to the following 1st place winners from 8SNR: Shoaib, Mohammad, Alex, Bilal, Aisha, Sasha and Muruvet. Well done to all the pupils that participated in the competition, all of whom produced an array of imaginative and thoughtful art work. In addition to the T-shirt competition, each group also wrote a poem, themed: UK and Europe - past, present and future. Pupils were able to expand on all their experiences from the morning sessions and there were many creative and original entries. The winning teams all presented their work in a striking manner as well as conveying strong messages. 1st place winners were Ali, Maria, Mohamed, Owais, Simrah, Karima and Haiqa from 8BPV. 2nd place winners were Adiva, Adam, Uzair, Jibraan, Zishan, Samad and Lybah from 8JLN. 3rd place winners were Angel, Muhammad, Kainat, Ellaha, Maddie, Alisha and Laila from 8LIW.
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Jacob Achieves His Charity Goal This season, for the first time ever, Bamber Bridge Football Club is supporting a local charity during their home game matches. This is providing opportunities for children from the local community to become “Young Volunteers”. At the beginning of term Year 11 pupil Jacob Gibson, who is a regular volunteer at the club, managed to raise over £100.00 in just two hours for OJ’s charity.
OJ’s is a charitable organisation set up purely with the aim to provide activities for children with autism, learning difficulties and associated disorders, and rely upon fund raising and donations. Being a young volunteer gives children the chance to improve their life skills, it gets them involved in their local community, allows them to meet new people and is always good to have on their CVs before leaving school, to show that they have given up their time to help others. Well done, Jacob!
Nicole Selected for GBR Talent Pathway Following a successful 2018 season competing in fencing, Nicole Saunders managed to keep her rankings high, and as a result of her hard work, was selected for the U17 GBR cadet squad. The beginning of Lent term, saw Nicole travel to Meylan in France to compete in the final International fencing competition of the season. The competition fielded a strong French and Spanish squad; Nicole managed to win one of her games in the poules but was
narrowly defeated in her remaining three. However, she made the cut, so went onto fence a DE against a local fencer, which unfortunately resulted in a 8-15 loss. Nicole gained a lot from the experience and these newly developed skills helped her to achieve 3rd place in an U20 (junior) British Fencing Ranking competition against eleven very strong fencers. At another competition, the Merseyside Senior Open, which was run by Liverpool University, she fought hard against some of the highest ranked females in the UK and managed to finish 19th out of 34. This is another great achievement which will increase her senior ranking.
Pupil Librarians – Year 8 Year 4 Visit Chester Zoo
At the beginning of term, we were delighted to congratulate and award our team of Year 8 Pupil Librarians, on completing the first stage (bronze award) of the SLA training programme. All pupils have worked extremely hard and have shown much determination to get through the first round of the programme. Pupils have experienced a wealth of new skills; making decisions about new library stock, book repair and processing. They also helped with the Roald Dahl event, taking part in National Libraries Week, National NonFiction Month and the more recent Festive Book Sale. Well done to: Zac Jones, Mohammed Patel, Christopher Chen, Freya Scott, Muhammad Ali and Paige Feast, who were delighted and extremely proud to receive their book prize and certificate.
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Lent term saw Year 4 learn about digestion and teeth; to complement their learning they visited Chester Zoo to find out more. After a short ride on the monorail, the pupils enjoyed a workshop, where they examined animal skulls and teeth. Following on from this, the pupils then had to create and plan a nutritious diet for the diverse animals at the zoo, they also had a huge task to replicate the size of the digestive system of a giraffe.
Forces in Flight On Friday 1st February, Year 3 pupils set off on a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry. The pupils were keen to begin their exciting scientific experiments, and quickly split into two groups to complete the puzzles and experiments. 3EP tackled the tricky problems first. They drew pictures with light, created different sounds on the DJ deck and used their senses to solve problems. 3KP set off on an electricity trail, trying to crack an electricity code. After spending the morning being scientists, they attended two workshops, Forces in Flight and the Wonder of Light, where, while using nerf guns with a light attached they learnt about how light travels. Then, with Miss Pearson jumping from an aeroplane, Forces in Flight taught the pupils all about friction and forces. It was an extremely scientific day which was enjoyed by all!
Flipping Pancakes The traditional Key Stage 2 Pancake Day Races took place again this Shrove Tuesday with pupils extremely excited to be taking part. Each class tackled an assault course in heats, with the main rule being no running. Pupils had to balance a pancake while manoeuvring around obstacles, hoping to win, to be in the final with a chance to win a crème egg. Even the teachers took part in the fun, some of whom did not play by the rules and cheated by running, they were of course disqualified!
Linguistic Code Cracking To the Moon and Back During Lent term forty-one pupils and students from Years 9 and Years 11-13 participated in the annual United Kingdom Linguistics Olympiad.
On Monday 11th February, the children in EYFS encountered an extra special visit, when a mobile planetarium landed in Singleton House.
The UKLO is a national competition in which pupils and students are given information about a language that they have never seen before. They must use the information and their linguistic knowledge to ‘crack the codes’, answering puzzles and questions about language patterns. Year 9 pupils worked in teams of three and four to collaborate in the Foundation Olympiad. It was great to witness the determination and enthusiasm of the teams as they tried to crack the linguistic codes, with excellent teamwork by all involved.
The children had to crawl through a long, dark tunnel before they could reach the Big Dome which would then take them on their rocket adventure into Space! Helmets had to be put on and seatbelts had to be fastened before the rocket blasted off, leaving QEGS far behind. It wasn’t long before the children could see the sun, and then the moon and stars. It was magical! The children had an amazing time in Space, while learning all about the stars and their constellation patterns, as well as some interesting facts about the planets too. Well done to our brave young astronauts.
The pupils and students in Years 11-13 took part in the Advanced Olympiad, consisting of a series of extremely difficult linguistic puzzles to be answered under examination conditions. Although the Advanced Olympiad is extremely challenging, the students showed resilience and a willingness to succeed. Well done to all involved.
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In Safe Hands
During Lent term, Key Stage 2 split up into their rainbow groups to further their knowledge about staying safe online. Pupils discussed how to keep personal details safe, being mindful about who they talk to online and what to do if something happens online in which they are not comfortable with. Each group then created their own internet safety project. These included creating an online story, fashioning their own avatar, using the computers to design an internet safety leaflet and drawing the ‘real me’ and comparing this to the ‘online me’. It was fantastic to see the older pupils sharing their knowledge of online safety with the younger pupils, thus making an extremely enjoyable day.
Raleigh Rally Together The 5th of February saw the 92nd Junior House Swimming Gala which was, as always, a fantastic event. Parents, carers and invited guests looked on as the very best of the School’s swimmers took part in the friendly yet competitive event. The Gala began with an exhibition race: the Individual Medley, in which pupils across all year groups, including Seniors were invited to take part. This was followed by the
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competitive races for Years 7, 8 and Years 9 & 10 combined. There were quite a few close races, with also some very convincing wins, as the Houses went head to head. The highlight of the Gala was seeing some pupils compete who had only learnt to swim since being at QEGS. The crowd really encouraged these swimmers, cheering their every stroke and giving them huge rounds of applause when they reached the end of their race. Their willingness to put themselves forward, as well as never giving up until they touched the wall at the other end of the pool showed true House spirit.
The Gala also saw School records being broken, with amazing swims by Ruby Brandon (U14/15 girls Backstroke), Kate Cookson (U13 girls Breaststroke), Baylie Seery (U14/15 girls Breaststroke), and Amy Ainsworth (U12 girls Butterfly). It was Raleigh House that won the day with the highest overall points, with Howard in second and Grenville coming in third, making it two years in a row for Raleigh. Well done Raleigh House and thank you Mr Northin for returning to QEGS to present the trophies.
Farmers for the Day The children in Reception were excited to be visiting Thornton Hall Park Farm, a firm favourite also for their teachers! At the farm, the children experienced farming life first hand. They helped the farmers carry out their day-to-day tasks of looking after the animals. First on the agenda was to feed some very hungry new born lambs. A safari tour took the children off into the fields where they were able to see some deer and incredibly woolly sheep. The afternoon was extremely ‘hands on’ as they collected the freshly laid eggs from the chicken coops.
Whilst at the farm ‘Critters 2 You” were also visiting. The children were very lucky to be invited to see and even hold some creepy crawlies. It was fantastic to learn about these mini-beasts and to be able get a closer look at them too. The children in Reception were exceptionally brave as they were offered the opportunity to hold a tarantula, a mini lizard and a huge snake! After a busy day, there was just enough time for an ice cream before heading back to School. The farmers at Thornton Hall Park Farm commented on how much they enjoyed spending the day with the children and how they were impressed by their good behaviour and impeccable manners. It was pleasing to hear that even the youngest members of the QEGS family were upholding our school values.
PREVENT Conference Six pupils from Year 9 represented the School at the Blackburn with Darwen PREVENT Conference, which was held at Ewood Park. They participated in numerous workshops and even had the chance to meet with Ahmad Nawaz. Ahmad survived a Taliban attack and now travels around the word delivering talks in schools, focussed on educating teenagers about being radicalised. It was an absolute pleasure for the pupils to meet him.
Psychology in London The Psychology Department accompanied a group of 21 students to London to visit a conference featuring a key researcher, Professor Elizabeth Loftus. Elizabeth spoke about how she carried out research into variables affecting recall in Eyewitness Testimony. The students heard a wide range of excellent talks about Social Influence, Forensic Psychology, Perception and a fantastic key note speech, which discussed the strengths and limitations of research into Eyewitness Testimony. An opportunity was also given to the students to pose questions. Sulayman Tabassam Year 13, directed a question to Loftus herself, asking about biological factors affecting the recall of memories. The students were thoroughly engaged during the seminars thus making a fantastic and very worthwhile trip to London.
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Annual Verse Speaking Competition During Lent term, Key Stage 2 pupils took part in the annual Verse Speaking Competition. Every pupil chose a poem and showcased their amazing talents as they auditioned in class. Two pupils from each form were chosen as finalists who later that day performed a short poem to all of Key Stage 2. The competition is all about bringing poems to life, celebrating how good they sound out loud and performing them with fabulous expression, which the finalists certainly did! Well done to the following Year group winners; Hasnain Babar (Year 3), Zahra Karolia (Year 4), Zoeya Ali (Year 5) and Zainab Kothia (Year 6). The outstanding talent impressed all of the staff and pupils, congratulations to Nabhaan Aziz, who was the overall winner of the competition. Well done to all of the pupils and finalists who performed, they all worked very hard to learn and perform their poems in front of their peers, it was an extremely enjoyable afternoon.
Superstar Scientific Spelling Hibah Munir, Hannah Shahzad and Iqra Mehmood, pupils from Year 7, took part in the Northern Schools STEM spelling bee. Literacy is a key factor in an individual’s success in science exams and during a pupil’s journey learning science, they encounter a huge number and variety of new words. These words may not be commonly used outside of the science classrooms therefore, pupils will get fewer opportunities to practise the accurate spelling of such scientific words.
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The aim of the spelling competition is to raise the profile of scientific vocabulary through competitive spelling and is based upon the format used in foreign language spelling bees. The first round took place in school on the 21st December with 36 pupils taking part to compete for a place in round two. In each round, pupils were given lists of words to learn, exposing them to new vocabulary beyond which they would meet in the usual school curriculum. The North West regional competition took place at Salford University on 26th February and was an extremely fiercely contested event with thirty schools taking part. The pupils had to take it in turn to spell as many of the 80 words from the list as possible, all in one minute. They managed 46 words between them and finished second which was
a fantastic achievement. They each received a science dictionary, a water bottle, sweets and a mystery book. The school also received two boxes of science dictionaries, which have been placed in the school library for all of our pupils to benefit from. Well done girls!
National Storytelling Week An abundance of stories was shared during National Storytelling Week as the Senior School library joined forces with various faculties, to help raise awareness and celebrate this special storytelling week. It was a brilliant week of lunchtime storytelling sessions, with something different every day: • Mr Braime (Creative Faculty) delighted us with The Devils Three Golden Hairs by Brothers Grimm and also a reading from The Murderer by Ray Bradbury. • Mrs Cross, Mrs Mallon and Mrs Perkins (English Faculty) enthralled their audience with a variety of stories, one being Into the Jungle, leaving a lasting impression on all those who attended. Our Writing Club also made time for some interactive story writing.
• Miss Denton (Learning Support) had a captive audience as she read one of her own favourites, Rhyme Stew by Roald Dahl. • Mrs Dewhurst (Head of Library) was eager to promote the Michael Morpurgo month of February, choosing a story taken from the book From Hereabout Hill, a selection of short stories written by Morpurgo. • Mrs Parker (Cover Supervisor) delighted us with Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes, some very interactive tales and even a reading from The Tales of Beedle the Bard. • Our parent helper Mrs Abahlous EP Satia chose to read one of her own children’s favourites, George’s Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl. • Charlotte Lingard from Year 7 and Angel Miller from Year 8 read The Vixen and the Oak Tree - a re-telling by storyteller Sue Allonby. • Year 8 Pupil Librarians were eager to have their voices heard too, with Muhammad Ali reading Not Bad for a Bad Lad by Michael Morpurgo and Christopher Chen reading Going Home by Cliff McNish.
Pupils Go Potty The Harry Potter Book Night never ceases to amaze us, as once again, the love and passion for the books are always re-kindled, year after year. On this extra-special book night, those who have loved and read the Harry Potter books had the chance to simply pass the magic of the books on to the next generation of readers. Fans can celebrate their love of Harry Potter on any given night of the year, but sharing in the delights of the official Harry Potter Book Night is always a far better option. Essentially, a series of Potter parties and celebrations happened all over the globe, from reading parties to quizzes, movies to fancy dress competitions, all kinds of wizardry and fun activities took place. This was the fifth Harry Potter Book Night since it was first launched, and certainly another popular one here at QEGS
and then lots of treats at the end, including a certificate of attendance.” Isaac Blackburn commented, “I really enjoyed the event and would like to attend again next year. I had the chance to dress up in HP costume and was rewarded with a prize for doing so. Mrs Dewhurst presented me with a really nice book, How to Draw Fantastic Beasts, which I am really keen to use.”
Assia El Sakka, also from Year 7, was thoroughly absorbed in the movie, Fantastic Beasts, saying, “The movie was fabulous, the whole atmosphere was exciting and I didn’t want the evening to end. I love the Harry Potter books.” As we continue to see the magic of Harry Potter come through to use year after year, and our Library loan stats continue to be healthy ones, it can only be a good thing to highlight such a magical celebration.
Harvey Buck from Year 7 was extremely excited about the event and was extra excited when he won a prize in the raffle, “I never win anything, but on Harry Potter Book Night I did.”
Freya Scott, one of our Year 8 Pupil Librarians had this to say, “The event went really well and quite a few people managed to attend, some in costume, others just excited about the whole evening. The movie itself was very enjoyable and I liked the added touch of treats that Mrs Dewhurst had organised. I would definitely attend again and encourage others to do so.” We also had comments from Elle Procter-Wooff, “I was really excited during the run-up to Harry Potter Book Night, Mrs Dewhurst had created some hand-made magical quill pens and bookmarks, and I even got to see the new Harry Potter chair in the Library. During the event there was lots of excitement with a costume competition, a sorting hat, raffle
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House QUEST Following on from the success of our recent Book Week the annual House QUEST took place in the school library. The QUEST is our senior library’s contribution to House events and one which continues to draw much attention and curiosity. Over seventy pupils and students across Years 7 to 13 represented their House, and were sent on a mission, with lots of clues created to help them solve the mysteries of Dewey, QR codes, resources including books (both print and digital) journals and magazines, reference material, special collections and online resources.
Everyone enjoyed the competitiveness, as well as the challenge, using the resources available to them in the school library, with some pupils even discovering new ones along the way. Mrs Dewhurst was delighted with the sessions and commented, “It was absolutely brilliant to see just how much library knowledge our pupils and students retain - having access to a well-resourced library is extremely beneficial to all.” The results were amazingly close, right up until the last QUEST. Well done to the winners Howard House, and to everyone who took part.
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It may still have been winter but spring wasn’t far away, when our EYFS took a short stroll to Corporation Park on the hunt for the first signs of spring. The children kept their eyes peeled; leaves were spotted growing on the trees and the pretty spring flowers were beginning to bloom, they visited the Avery where the birds were in full chorus, and also found a playground! Once back at school the children examined and discussed their findings and looked more closely for further signs of spring in the photographs that were taken. Spring brings warmer weather and longer days, so it was the perfect opportunity to take some time out and explore the great outdoors.
Book Week and World Book Day 2019 Book week began with a real buzz as the Library ran a Mindfulness competition in collaboration with PSHE, and also a Design a Book Token competition with the Creative Faculty. Frobisher House listened to a short assembly delivered by Mrs Dewhurst, prior to a fundraising event for the author Tommy Donbavand. A delightful and creative bookmark craft workshop with Serendipity Finch took place and the World Book Day book token exchange was a huge success. Also during Book Week, the English Department engaged in 5 minutes of personal reading as a starter to each lesson and also made good use of the World Book Day masterclass author videos. Mrs Perkins hosted an extra special Writing Club where pupils had to create a novella in just 30 minutes, which was easily achieved. Then, on Thursday 7th March, it was time to celebrate the annual World Book Day. To launch the day, the whole school took part in the ever-popular DEAR event (drop everything and read) a reading initiative which ran right from Reception through to Sixth Form. At 09:30 the school bell rang and for 10 minutes the whole of school were reading
at the same time - what a truly remarkable experience. Reading for Pleasure (RfP) certainly was working at its best that day. A DEAR event is a fun and informative way to help improve literacy skills and instil independent reading. The key event of the week had to be the author visit, when Cliff McNish entertained Year groups from Year 3 right through to Year 9. It was a fabulous day where Cliff shared his own passion for writing, offered lots of writing advice and of course promoted his books: Doomspell, Breathe, Angel, Going Home and My Friend Twigs. A lunchtime book sale with book signings also took place, with an array of pupils arriving to meet Cliff, he made time to personally chat with everyone. His books sold fast and Cliff was truly humbled at the amount of book sales.
Pupils really enjoyed the whole week and it has been delightful to hear such positive feedback. Thanks must go to everyone who helped to make the week a huge success, including our parent helpers, our catering team who put a literary menu together for World Book Day, Mrs Seedat who created a wonderful Book Week display in Singleton House for our Sixth Form students, to all teachers (both Primary and Senior) who sent in photos of their DEAR event and to all pupils/students for their contributions. It really was a whole school celebration, including the delightful little ones in QEGS Nursery who also dressed up for the occasion. We are pleased to announce our Book Week author booking for 2020 will be with Kjartan Poskitt, author of Murderous Maths.
Feedback from the week and WBD came in fast and furious, with the author being one of the first to email in, he commented, “I just wanted to thank you for organising yesterday’s WBD event so beautifully at QEGS. I really enjoyed meeting you, your colleagues and all of the students! Hopefully your students and staff felt it was all worthwhile. Do let the teachers know that if they do a class reader of any book I’m happy to correspond with their students on it.”
Viva Volver On Wednesday 6th March, Mr Gould accompanied Year 12 Spanish students to Manchester Metropolitan University for an essay writing workshop centred around analysing scenes from Spanish films. The students experienced an excellent insight into critically analysing particular scenes from the Spanish film ‘Volver’ in an outstanding higher education environment. They were able to gain a deeper understanding not only of the key material for their course, but also what it is like to study languages at university. The students found the workshop extremely useful and have already begun to practise the skills that they have acquired in preparation for their A level examination.
World Down Syndrome Day To raise awareness of World Down Syndrome Day, Primary Phase pupils celebrated by wearing silly socks, odd socks, brightly coloured socks and even brightly coloured hair accessories. It definitely made their school uniform dazzle!
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Cross Country On a cold wet Monday evening at Witton Park, twelve Primary Phase pupils represented the School in the Blackburn with Darwen Cross Country competition. Everyone performed to his or her best in the extremely difficult conditions. Findlay Carroll was the first QEGS boy finishing in an excellent 3rd position and Molly Caffrey was the first QEGS girl over the line in 5th place. Well done to everyone who took part!
Emilia Hip Hops her Team to the World Champs Emilia Brandon recently competed at an UDO Regional Street Dance competition and, with her squad the ‘Demigods’, finished in 3rd place. Being in the top three, the Demigods have now qualified to compete in the biggest global street dance competition of the year, the UDO World Street Dance Championships. Emilia, along with her sister Ruby were also a part of a group that have achieved a place in the Guinness World Records this year, by participating in the largest simultaneous performance of Beauty and the Beast. The show was performed by Stagecoach Performing Arts students across 73 locations in the UK, Germany and Canada.
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Run Rabbit Run All of Year 6 went back in time to live a day in 1941. They dressed up as evacuees of World War Two and were evacuated to the countryside, to the farmland of Tatton Park. As new evacuees, the pupils were able to learn something of what life was like for these children, and how they had to adapt to their new and strange surroundings, the daily chores they had to do and the precautions they had to take. The Year 6 evacuees were introduced to the farm animals and many had the chance to milk the cows, feed the goats and chickens, and visit and learn about the horses, reindeer and pigs. The evacuees had to use their rations to make their own toast on the open fire, and practised trying on gas masks and helmets. Their chores included ensuring that all the windows in the cottage were fully blacked out at night. During their visit, the air raid siren sounded and everyone rushed to the air raid shelter to stay safe. Spirits were kept high, as together they all sang popular wartime songs. After a speedy rendition of ‘Run Rabbit Run’ the siren stopped, and to everyone’s relief they stepped out of the shelter to discover it all to have been a false alarm.
Primary Phase Dropped Everything to Read!
Primary Phase pupils made sure that they took part in the Whole School event; Drop Everything And Read. Reception class were excited to know EVERYONE in the whole school was reading at the same time, as they too shared a book.
2CE crammed themselves into Mrs Southworth’ s office and Year 3, all 51 of them plus 2 teachers, squeezed themselves into Mrs O’Donoghue’s office. There were pupils on tables, in cupboards, in the bin, on their chairs and under their desks. Great fun was had by all, and most importantly, everyone dropped what they were doing to read!
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Silver Medal Success During Lent term, eighteen pupils from Year 4 took part in an Indoor Athletics competition, where they competed in an array of jumping, throwing and running events. Points were scored and recorded and, out of the twelve schools that took part QEGS finished in 2nd place. The pupils received medals and celebrated their success with huge smiles: well done!
Fitness Put to the Test All of our GCSE and A level PE academics enjoyed an informative day at UCLAN, where they attended a Sports Analytics course. The pupils and students’ fitness levels were tested during the workshop, using hi-tech software and performance analysis. It was an intense but enjoyable workshop provided by the undergraduates at the University of Central Lancashire.
Year 10 Engineer their Careers On Thursday 14th March, a group of Year 10 pupils that have shown an interest in an engineering career attended the Big Bang Fair Show with Mr Taylor and Miss Ash at the NEC, Birmingham. The show is a huge national event with schools attending from across the country. It gave our pupils an excellent opportunity for them to meet and talk to a vast number of both large and small national providers and employers including, BAE, Rolls Royce, BMW, The Armed Services, the NHS, JCB, racing teams, to mention a few. This was an extremely hands-on event, pupils were able to use the equipment and get a real feel for the different engineering and scientific roles. It was long but very enjoyable day and the group will have benefitted immensely from these individual meetings and the seminars provided.
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The 32nd Primary Phase Swimming Gala All pupils from Years 5 and 6 competed in the annual Primary Phase Swimming Gala on Friday 15th March, where every pupil represented their House by swimming in at least two races. All swimmers performed exceptionally well as they displayed their skills in front of their parents, teachers and peers, with the points tallying up nicely for their Houses. Winners from the heats went on to swim in semi-finals, and then the finals, with medals and trophies being awarded to pupils in 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions. Daniel Saunders had an amazing gala, swimming in three finals and winning all three. Zoe Nightingale won the individual medley and butterfly event. The seahorse relays were both won by Drake House and, as the relays were worth double points, it made the scores extremely close going into the final event, but Raleigh pulled out a fantastic freestyle relay team which catapulted them into Champion House position. Well swum, Raleigh House!
One Voice
Well done to Assia El Sakka, lead singer of ‘Banned’, who recently performed at the One Voice annual dinner.
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Q News | Lent Term 2019
Comic Relief On Friday 15th March, the Primary Phase, Senior Phase and Sixth Form held a non-uniform day to raise money for “Comic Relief”. Pupils, students and staff, were invited to wear their own casual clothes, adopting a “red theme”. We are delighted to announce that a staggering £1910.00 was raised for the very worthwhile cause.
Cross Country Champions 2019 Twelve pupils from Years 5 and 6 represented QEGS and competed in three separate Cross Country competitions. The scores across all three races were added together to create a total for each pupil, with medals being awarded to the top three girls and boys. Out of all of the Blackburn with Darwen Primary Schools that took part, Findlay Carroll finished in an amazing 3rd place and received a Bronze medal. The QEGS Girls team finished in an excellent 4th position. Out of 23 schools that took part, our QEGS Boys team performed amazingly well and became Blackburn with Darwen Boys Team Cross Country Champions 2019. Well done, we are extremely proud of all their achievements!
Eddison has a Ball As an Ambassador for Derian House children’s hospice, Eddison Holmes-Dennett was invited to the Mayors Charity Ball. The event was held to raise money for various charities including Derian House.
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EYFS Visit St Silas’ Church On Thursday 25th April, EYFS visited St Silas’ Church on Preston New Road, accompanied by the class teachers, Mrs Gammon, Mrs Southworth and parent helpers. Everyone was in awe of the beauty of the stained glass windows and fascinated when Reverend Sheelagh explained that they each told a story. Every crevice of the Church was explored from the Altar, to the wooden carving on top of the Font, (which looked like a castle), to even finding the School’s crest being displayed. An Easter garden was also discovered, which the Sunday School children had helped to create. Maia Miller-McInerney, then modelled the Reverend’s robes. Reverend Sheelagh explained why she wore different colours at special times of the year.
Easter Extravaganza Throughout the final week, prior to the Easter holidays, EYFS and Key Stage 1 took part in oodles of exciting Easter themed activities. One event was an Easter egg hunt. Pupils had to search for Easter eggs that had been scattered around the school grounds, luckily all the pupils succeeded in finding a chocolate egg to take home! Classes also completed their own Easter activities within the classroom, ranging from making Easter chocolate cornflake nests to designing and making their own Easter themed cards. The Easter Bonnet Parade is always a favourite: the pupils made a huge effort with their bonnets, creating fabulous designs. Each teacher selected two pupils who showcased the most interesting and innovative bonnets, with all the winners receiving a huge Easter egg for their marvellous creations.
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Q News | Lent Term 2019
An Abundance of Creative Talent On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th April, The Creative Faculty at Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School staged a suitably ghoulish production of The Addams Family Musical. The show is based upon The Addams Family characters created by Charles Addams which depict an American family with an affinity for all things macabre. The macabre and much-loved Addams Family discover that, much to their disdain, Wednesday has fallen in love with Lucas Beineke, a nice normal boy from Ohio. To make matters worse, she has invited the Beinekes to their home for dinner. On this hilarious, fateful evening, secrets are disclosed, relationships are tested, and the Addams Family must confront the one thing that they have always managed to avoid: change.
Sebastian Roberts gave a captivating performance as Gomez Addams, along with Morticia Addams played by the talented Eleanor Connell, and together they wowed the audience with their fiery tango, passionate delivery and impressive vocals. Rhys Millington’s performance of Fester was a brilliant showcase of comic timing, vocals and acting. The musical also featured debut QEGS performances from Arran Parkinson (Lurch), Toby Saxty (Pugsley), Assia El-Sakka (Grandma) and Rayhan Jamil (Mal Beineke). A particularly moving performance was Toby’s rendition of ‘What If’. Seasoned QEGS performers included; Julie Mathew (Wednesday Addams), Lea Robinson (Alice Beineke) and Kyle Robinson (Lucas Beineke). Pupils from Years 6-9 formed the chorus of the Addams Family Ancestors and did so with great enthusiasm.
The creative talent at QEGS was in abundance for the musical, not only on the stage, but also in terms of the set design, lighting and sound. Rebecca Mitchell was in charge of lighting on the night and fellow sixthform student, Jarvis Davies, managed the sound. The backstage crew and front of house volunteers also executed their roles superbly, ensuring that the performances ran smoothly.
The Band sounded fantastic on the night and was comprised of Mr Garrett (piano), Mrs Simpson (keyboard), Ms Ferrarin (brass), Mr Topping (guitar),
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Mr Joseph (drums), Mr Braime (violin), and Mr Gould (saxophone), and the bass player was Year 11 pupil Zakariya Bux who did an excellent job.
Well done to Sadie Merritt who achieved 3rd place in the North West Ski Federation competition at Pendle Ski Club. The competition was tough, with some extremely close times, which made for some very exciting races.
Year 5 Kate Greenaway Shadowing Group During Lent term, a group of eight enthusiastic Year 5 pupils joined Mrs Dewhurst in the Senior School Library for the launch of the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway 2019. The CILIP CKG (Carnegie and Kate Greenaway) are two extremely well-known children’s book awards, with the Carnegie aimed at older pupils and the Kate Greenaway aimed at younger pupils. We are extremely fortunate here at QEGS to be able to offer both the awards. During the first session with our Year 5 shadowing group, the eight shortlisted Kate Greenaway book titles were introduced. Pupils were amazed at the books, the stories and most of all, the illustrations; it was a great pleasure to deliver the launch to such a delightful group of readers. The Carnegie and Kate Greenaway continues to amaze and inspire pupils year after year. Over the next twelve weeks, our Year 5 shadowing group became judges, reading, reviewing, discussing and debating the Kate Greenaway shortlisted titles, following the strict criteria which is now in place. Throughout the award, pupils posted their book reviews on the official CKG website and had the opportunity to see what other shadowing groups are saying about the books. It all became extremely tense towards the end of the book award, as pupils voted for their favourite book. The final session took place on June 18th with a CKG celebration, with the winning books being revealed.
QEGS put to the test by BAE Systems and EDF Energy On Friday 15th March, a group of ten Design Technology pupils and students took part in the annual Rotary International Technology Tournament which was sponsored by BAE Systems and EDF Energy. It was a huge event with schools across Blackburn with Darwen and the Ribble Valley taking part. The challenging brief was to design and build a wheeled device, to move along a track that could pick up a container with a magnetic hook, which then had to take the container back along the track and place it down. In addition, the
Intermediate teams had to pass under a low bridge on each journey there and back. Advanced teams had the bridge a little closer to the container, and had to place the container onto a target, then release the magnetic hook to complete the task. Our pupils and students enjoyed a great day putting different solutions forward, using wood, glue, wire, string and an electric motor. All QEGS teams were focused, and fabulous ambassadors of our school. They developed team work skills, had to meet deadlines, and their planning and design abilities were put to the test as well as building and performance skills.
The teams achieved some outstanding results on the day, Chief judge, Don Fraser-Clark, commented on the high standard of entries this year with what was a very challenging project. QEGS Foundation team consisted exclusively of four Year 8 pupils, while teams from other schools in this section were Year 9 or above so a podium place of second was outstanding. QEGS Advanced team was awarded 1st place, as was the QEGS Staff team. Well done to all participants!
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Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, West Park Road, Blackburn, BB2 6DF Call 01254 686300 Email reception@QEGSblackburn.com QEGSblackburn.com