Queensmead

News

KS4 and KS5 Awards Evening

September 2017

Every September,

Queensmead School holds

an Awards Evening to

celebrate academic and

pastoral success from

across Years 10 to 13. This

year was a particularly

special occasion as the

school welcomed guest

speaker The Rt Hon Boris

Johnson MP to present the

awards.

Before the prize giving

commenced, Mr Johnson

gave a motivational speech

to all students, staff and

parents in attendance. He

commended the students

on their hard work and

efforts last academic year

and added in a few

memories and humorous

anecdotes from his own

school days.

There were a range of

awards presented

throughout the evening,

including subject prizes for

academic excellence, as

well as Head of Year and

Head Teacher awards for

those students who

continually contribute to

the wider school

community. All of the

award winners had been

nominated by the staff at

Queensmead with over 120

students being recognised

at the event.

KS4 and KS5 Awards Evening

Winner of the most

prestigious accolade of the

evening, The Governor’s

Award, was presented to

16 year old Charlotte

Morgan for not only

making outstanding

progress in her GCSE year

but for also being an

influential and integral part

of a number of sports

teams.

‘I was honoured to have

been chosen out of

hundreds of students to

receive this award. I have

enjoyed the past five years

at Queensmead immensely

and am excited at

continuing my journey as a

Post 16 student. Meeting

Mr Johnson was also a

highlight!’

Charlotte Morgan

The evening was also an

opportunity to celebrate

the outstanding set of

GCSE and A Level results

from August 2017. Many

Year 13 students, who are

about to begin their

university careers,

returned to Queensmead

one last time to receive

recognition for their hard

work and commitment to

their studies.

Khalid Aleem, Raj Mehta

and David Graovac, who

will shortly be starting

their studies at Cambridge

University, were also

congratulated on stage for

achieving a remarkable

13A* grades between

them.

A thoroughly enjoyable

evening was had by all and

we continue to be

incredibly proud of all of

our students at

Queensmead.

Thank you to all the staff

and parents who attended

the evening as well as

Mr Johnson for also

celebrating the success of

our students with us.

Miss Rowthorn

Assistant Head Teacher

KS4 and KS5 Awards Evening

On 15th-17th July, 158

Queensmead students

travelled to Cornbury Park

in Oxfordshire to take part

in the "Bushcraft"

residential trip.

Over the course of their

time in camp, students

undertook a range of

activities and experiences,

ranging from survival skills

to cooking with fresh

produce and sleeping out

under the stars in Bell

tents.

The students behaved

amazingly and were a

credit to the school. Each

and every student also

performed in a talent show

in front of the entire camp

and staff and it was lovely

to see them develop their

confidence and team

building skills over the

weekend.

Feedback from the trip was

fantastic and staff and

students alike commented

on how welcoming,

engaging and interesting

the activities were. There

was also high praise for

the food and the range of

tasty desserts.

I would like to thank all

the staff who made the trip

possible and for every

student who took part.

The Bushcraft camp

leaders were extremely

vocal in their praise and

admiration for

Queensmead students who

delighted them by being

willing to really take

themselves out of their

comfort zones.

Well done everyone!

Mrs Gibbons

Assistant Head of Year 11

Bushcraft Trip

I am delighted that Raj

Metha, David Graovac and

Khalid Aleem, who between

them achieved 13 A* grades,

will be studying at Cambridge

University from October. Both

David and Khalid will be

reading Natural Sciences at

Trinity College and Raj will

read Mathematics at

Homerton College.

Other notable achievements:

Jeshan Canayah AAA

Howard Hall-Benn A*A*A*

Halima Miah A*AB

Alice O'Brien A*AB

Shade Owomoyela AAA

Tianna Patel A*AA

Samantha Redwood AAA

Michael Trant A*A*A

Initial headline figures are:

A* - B 48%

A* - C 74%

GCSE

We pride ourselves on the

progress that our students

make from the start of

secondary school to the end

of Year 11. In 2016 our

results placed the school in

the top 4% in the country by

the new progress measure,

Progress 8. In 2017 our

Progress 8 measure has

increased from 0.58 to 0.62,

so once again we expect to be

in the top 4% of schools

nationally and graded as 'well

above average' in the School

Performance Tables, the

highest available grading.

To give this figure some

context, 0.62 tells us that on

average students in Year 11

last year achieved nearly

two-thirds of a grade better

than expected in all of their

GCSEs, so a student expected

to achieve 8 grade C's would

have achieved 5 grade B’s and

3 grade C’s.

There were some individual

students who made

outstanding progress based

on their Key Stage 2

results, Huma had a Progress

8 score of 4.7, achieving on

average nearly 5 grades

better in each of her GCSEs.

Similarly Charlotte (P8 4.0),

Alfie (P8 3.7) Kamile (P8 3.5),

Joanna (P8 3.5), Haider (P8

3.2) and Rashika (P8 3.2) all

made exceptional progress.

New GCSEs were introduced

in Maths and English this year

and students received

numeric grades from 9 to 1.8

is equivalent to A*, both 5

and 4 are equivalent to C,

with 5 classed as a strong C

and 4 a standard C.

80% achieved grades 9 to 4 in

Maths and English, this is the

closest measure to A* to C in

Maths and English where last

year we achieved 78% (59%

nationally).

59% achieved grades 9 to 5 in

Maths and English, there is no

comparable figure for this

from previous years.

43% achieved EBACC, 9 to 4

in Maths and English and

grades A* to C in two or more

sciences, humanities and

languages (23% nationally).

English Language 73% grades

9 to 4, English Literature

81% grades 9 to 4,

Maths 85% grades 9 to 4,

Science 83% grades A* to C

(this is students achieving 2

or more grades A* to C).

Some notable achievements

are:

Priya 10A* 1A (grade 9 in

English Literature and

Language)

Safia 10A* 1A (grade 9 in

Maths and English Literature)

Erica 8A* 3A (grade 9 in

English Literature)

Alfie 8A* 2A (grade 9 in Maths

and English Literature).

It was really pleasing to see

the most able students

attaining the new grade 9

(higher than A*).

English Language had 6 grade

9s: Piranavi, Jessica,

Dominique, Priya, Manraj and

Georgina.

English Literature had 10

grade 9s: Sara, Erica, Safia,

Yasmin, Hayley, Priya, Alfie,

Khushal, Haroop and Rhianna.

Maths had 11 grade 9s:

Subicsha, Harry, Safia,

Aneesa, Manav, Ashvin, Avni,

Sean, Alfie, Khushal and

Michael.

Miss Johnston

Head Teacher

GCSE and A Level Results

‘Your Environment ’

photography competition is an

opportunity for you to get

creative and explore how you

interact with your

environment. There are some

excellent prizes to be won

such as a Nikon camera, a

range of high quality art

materials, vouchers and much

more.

One entry per student

accompanied by a two

sentence summary describing

how the photo captures the

effect of the environment.

The competition is open to all

UK students aged 11 and

over.

Twelve entries will be

shortlisted by the esteemed

panel of judges: Fiona Shields

(Head of Pictures at The

Guardian), Professor Iain

Stewart (BBC presenter and

lecturer at the University of

Plymouth) and NERC's Ned

Garnett (Associate Director of

Research).

Images will be judged on their

originality, visual appeal, the

summary you provide and

how they capture the impact

of environmental science on

you.

The twelve images will be

displayed at the Unearthed

showcase in Edinburgh, where

visitors will be able to vote for

their favourite.

Winners will be announced on

22nd November 2017.

For further information

please visit:

http://unearthed.nerc.ac.uk/

The photos below are last

years winners.

Miss Brady

Head of Art

The Annual Photography Competition

Gardening Club

Dates for your diary

October Thurs 5th Year 7 Meet the Tutor Evening 5.30pm — 7.30pm

Thurs 19th Year 11 Consultation Evening 5.00pm — 8.00pm

Half Term Mon 23rd — 27th October

This term has been

fantastic for Queensmead

school gardeners. We

have had huge success in

growing multiple herbs

and vegetables. By

popular demand, we have

brought back some herbs

from the previous year.

Last year herbs were

even given to the Home

Economics department to

spice up their cooking.

The Gardening club have

all worked very hard to

grow healthy herbs and

delicious vegetables such

as cabbage and carrots.

Some special herbs we

have planted this term

are Mint, Rosemary,

Sage, Basil.

We are extremely proud

of our garden and have

received multiple

compliments from

teachers and visitors for

the flowers displayed

around the school.

Three tips for your

garden!

1) A little baking soda

can go a long way!

A regular sprinkling of

baking soda from your

kitchen can help you

grow sweeter tomatoes!

It helps add a bit of

flavour.

2) You can change the

colour of a hydrangea.

By altering the pH level

of the soil, the soil

becomes more of an

alkaline which results in

a much pinker bloom.

3) You don’t need to be a

dedicated composter to

reap similar benefits.

Call it cheating, but

applying coffee grounds,

egg shells, banana peels

(chopped up), and other

organic waste can offer

plants nutrients when

applied directly to soil.

The Autumn term

hanging baskets and pots

are looking wonderful

and we are looking

forward to seeing them in

full bloom. We have

grown a variety of

beautiful flowers such as;

pansies, cyclamen, and

violas. They have helped

brighten up our school

immensely.

We cannot wait to see

the success of the

summer flowers next

year.

Some Fun Facts

Basil had ritual uses

in ancient times and

sometimes today.

Rosemary has been

used for memory

and energy.

Lucy Newman and

Paige Ditton

Year 9

Year 7 Girls 6 Aside Tournament

Queensmead School, Queens Walk, South Ruislip, Middlesex, HA4 0LS

Email: office@qmschool.org.uk Twitter: qm_news

The Year 7 girls’

football team

competed at the

Metropolitan Police 6

aside competition on

Wednesday 20th

September.

They played four

matches at the group

stages finishing

second.

Shaneeka Williams

scored some great

goals across the four

games during the

group stages to be

joint top goal scorer.

The top two teams

from each group

progressed into the

semi final. The girls

held Harefield

Academy off to come

out with a 1-0 victory.

The team progressed

into the final to face

Ruislip High. After

two minutes Ruby

McCulloch had made

some fantastic saves,

however Ruislip High

managed to get a ball

past her. Despite

this, Nadia

Animashaun

intercepted the ball

and dribbled past two

players to take on the

keeper and scored an

excellent goal to keep

Queensmead in the

competition.

With two minutes to go

and the score one all

Nadia Animashaun

went on another run

and scored the

tournament winning

goal.

Well done to all the

girls who competed

and took part and

congratulations to

Ruby McCulloch who

was voted by

competition organisers

and won goal keeper of

the tournament.

Miss Reed

Head of Year 7

Top left to right: Saraniya Makeswaran, Preethika Sri Balakumaran, Excel Oloniyo, Nadia Animashaun, Maya Bensalem, Jasmine Matthews,

Ruby McCulloch, Naysa-Simone Nwaogwugwu, Arkiry Aravinthan Bottom left to right: Nimisha Dilan, Jessica White, Shaneeka Williams,

Maddison Wolthers-Cleverley