Queen’s

Queen’s House has had a wonderful year full of endeavour and fun and has been expertly led by Heads of House, Sophie Barry and Oli Coulthard. It has been a real pleasure to follow the journeys of the seventy seven pupils in House and I feel very proud of each of them.

Despite the Merit Cup taking up residence in House the previous year, we have continued to have mixed successes in the various House events that have been taking place since September. One thing that I have come to expect and rely on is the willing enthusiasm with which the Queen’s pupils commit themselves to all they do. This year for House Sing we tackled the 1980s, Hall and Oates, pop classic, ‘You Make My Dreams Come True’. Unfortunately, despite some keen motivation to the younger year groups from Oli, our dreams did not come true and, once again, we placed 4th (we like to think!). Maybe next year...

The biggest House event of the year (by numbers) after House Singing is the Inter-House cross country and, with keen runners in House, Queen’s gained 5th and 7th places for the junior and senior girls and 2nd place for both junior and senior boys. This year the weather, for once, allowed whole school sports day to take place and it was an excellent afternoon of sporting endeavour. What made this year extra special was the presence of the new pupil-designed House kit which added a lovely purple hue to proceedings!

“It was an excellent afternoon of sporting endeavour.”

Although in the team sport events this year there were no key wins, there were some exciting matches and team spirit shown. The Lower Sixth football league reached 6th place with some very passionate performances and much entertainment for those watching! The rowers continued the gruelling early morning training and enjoyed several races over the year with the weather being fairly kind overall. The girls came a tantalisingly close 2nd place in the junior netball, and energetic performances in badminton and

hockey. The House Squash was not our friend however and, as Amanda Paul summed up halfway through it, “We’ve lost all the games so far but a valiant effort.” We then went on to lose the rest! The boys secured a strong showing in the House Tennis and placed 4th overall so perhaps there is hope for our racket sports yet!

This year saw much success in the debating for our senior team who won the House Competition and our juniors giving compelling arguments in the group stages. It was a good run in the Senior House Challenge too with The Grove just nudging us out of play in the semi-finals. Alongside all of these events there were many musical performances, drama productions, science and literary quizzes, the Man Booker debate and Community Action ventures including Comic Relief where we had some fab outfits on display! In every activity running in St Peter’s there was a very strong representation by Queen’s House pupils and I am incredibly proud of how much they put in and it stems from them being interesting, talented and successful individuals. A particular highlight for the House came in securing the Merit Cup for a second year, showing that we can keep the academic plates spinning alongside the many others. The question now is can we make it three years in a row?

So here we are at the end of this year’s journey and I am excited to see what next year will bring. I am also confident that new Heads of House, Will Middleton and Ava Horner guide us all well and maintain the positive energy Queen’s House has in abundance.

Mrs Sarah Mckie