We have certainly had a busy first half

term here at Queen’s Park High. As you

are already aware, there have been

some significant changes within school

since September and I would just like to

express my thanks to students, staff

and parents for all your support.

0n 17 September, we were delighted to

welcome Year 5 & 6 children along with

their parents for our annual Open

Evening. There was a lovely buzz

around the school during the course of

the evening with our current students

proving themselves to be excellent

ambassadors for the school.

Congratulations to Dylan Canty, Year 5

from Belgrave Primary School who won

our Treasure Trail competition. I was

delighted to surprise Dylan this week by

presenting him with his prize during

their assembly.

For those parents/carers who were

able to attend our Review Evening/Day

this week, I hope you found this

purposeful. Our Parents’ Evenings begin

next half term with Year 11. Dates for all

year groups are available on the back

of this newsletter and our website.

I hope everyone has a lovely half term

and we look forward to welcoming our

ST UDE NT L EADER SH IP

We recognise the potential in all of our

students, and from 2015-16 we have

broadened our offer of a range of

opportunities and roles for students to

become involved in leading others,

influencing practice and embedding

change. All students have been

encouraged to apply for student

leadership posts which are available to

students across the school.

It has been a pleasure to read so many

applications from students who are

dedicated and committed to leading

others and supporting the development

of the school. The selection process

has begun in the Sixth Form with the

appointment of some key roles and

those students will now be involved in

the selection process for other roles in

the school alongside key staff. We are

very proud of the students who have

been interviewed so far; they coped

well with the pressure of speaking in

front of senior staff, governors and their

peers and have really impressed with

their passion, commitment and insight.

Congratulations to the following

students who have been appointed so

far. The full student leadership list will

be published in the next newsletter and

on our website as soon as the

appointment process is over.

Head Boy & Head Girl – Matthew

Stolzer & Mari Inns

Deputy Head Boy & Girl – Daniel Depuis

& India Blythin

House Captains:

Eaton – Maisie Hogan & Joseph

Mulholland

Grosvenor – Adem Yilmaz

Westminster – Will Pugh & Ben Salmon

My first half term at QPHS has

been a rollercoaster of emotions!

I can’t believe how much I’ve

progressed and grown as an

individual over this short space of

time. I really feel that QPHS has

helped me along that journey. I

started off as a shy and insecure

child, but now I am confident and

more outgoing.

I am involved with netball and

football and go to Tae Kwon Do

on Tuesdays. I am also hoping for

a position on the Westminster

House Team! I’m starting to see

Queen’s Park as my home. I look

forward to the many more

wonderful years to come!

Eirinn McGuire - Year 7 Student

MY F I RST T ERM AT Q UE EN ’ S PARK H I GH

Dear Parent/Carers,

students back again on Tuesday 3

November.

Miss Watterson, Headteacher

K S4 S TEM CL UB

M ond ays 3 - 4p m i n T4

KS4 STEM club is open to Year 10 and 11

students. This year we are challenging

students to build a Jaguar Land Rover

4x4 remote control car to enter a

competition set by Jaguar Land Rover.

Students will be challenged to

incorporate Science, Technology,

Engineering and Math's skills to fulfil

the criteria set by Jaguar Land

Rover. For more information please see

Mr Budgen.

Year 7 students have a challenge in the

last week of term to find the Science

and Technology words around school

and bring a list to Mrs Hall, with their

meanings. The first student to do so will

win a prize - Good Luck!

Year 6 master-classes still to come

include STEM machines and a

teamwork challenge.

From our recent Tim Peake meeting we

are looking forward to working with

Overleigh St Marys and Belgrave as

part of their work celebrating the British

astronaut's time in the ISS starting 14

December.

POETRY TRIALS

To celebrate National Poetry Day

on 8 October students from all

year groups were invited to enter

an exciting poetry competition.

The Poetry Trials, which has been

set up by Young Writers, asked

students to write a poem about a

subject of their choice. The only

restriction was that the

poems had to be no more

than thirty lines.

L O N D O N

by Zara Gaut ier -Pr ice

Horizons always high

Where London eye lies

Never tires, even at night

The moon keeps the empire alight

A big amusement for any mind

Photographs taken

Memories together bind

A new version of an adventure

Never, ever forgotten

Long or short, it never matters

Forms a new life for any kind

@Ge tCau gh tRe ad in g

Many thanks to all students and staff who sent in

images of themselves reading in weird and

wonderful places! This was part of the important

and exciting initiative to raise the profile of reading

around school.

Follow @QPHSEnglish on Twitter for updates and

information from the English department.

L I TE RACY COA CH E S

The English Team would like to welcome Laura

Talbot from the University of Chester who is

volunteering in the English Department every

Wednesday. She will be supporting a range of

students in and out of lessons and will be a great

asset to the department.

October is National Bullying

Prevention Month and as part of their

PSHCE Curriculum Enrichment Day,

Year 8 students had the task of

designing their own Anti-bullying

Campaign. The focus of the day was

on building healthy relationships,

understanding different types of

bullying; what it feels like to be a bully

or to be bullied and why people bully.

To increase students’ awareness they

looked at existing campaigns.

Miss Watts Tutor Group decided to

pull together to send out a clear

message that bullying is not

acceptable and used images of feet

to re-enforce that it should be

stamped out. To support their

campaign Hugo, Ellie, Kian & Ellen

from Ms Allen’s Tutor Group came up

with the slogan See It, Say It, Stop It,

Stand Up, Speak Out.

A clear message that bullying will not

be tolerated at QPHS.

‘ S EE i t , SAY i t , ST OP i t ! ’

S IX TH F ORM R ES I DE NT I AL

Queen’s Park High School Sixth Form

students have returned from the Conway

Centre, Anglesey after a very successful

induction. The sun was shining during their

three day stay and this was a great relief to

students who enjoyed team building

exercises such as paddle boarding, high

ropes courses, kayaking and rock climbing.

Students also developed theirs skills as

learners to enable them success in future

years.

The two night residential is an important

part of life for QPHS Sixth Form students. It

not only allows the students to bond as part

of a team, but teaches them important

lessons in overcoming challenges.

INTERESTED IN BECOMING A TEACHER?

Queen's Park High School has a long

standing tradition of providing

outstanding teacher training

opportunities working with a number

of University providers in the North

West.

As a member of the Cheshire Vale

Teaching School Alliance, we are

committed to providing training

opportunities for September 2016 in a

range of subjects in partnership with

Liverpool John Moores University.

If you are interested in training to

become a teacher and would like to

find out more, we would like to invite

you to attend one of our promotional

events. Alternatively, contact can be

made with the CVTSA directly:

Email: admin@cvtsa.co.uk

www.cvtsa.co.uk/become-teacher

NATIONAL DRAMA & MUSIC EXPO INVITATION

As a school we are very lucky to have been recognised as a

school of Performing Arts Excellence and as such, we have

been invited down to the London Olympia Exhibition Centre

where the annual Drama and Music Expo is being held. This

is an exhibition for professionals involved in the teaching of

Music and Drama in both the UK and internationally. Mr.

Yeoman, Director of Learning for the Visual and Performing

Arts, has been invited to give a presentation as a guest

speaker to the delegates looking at how schools can develop

‘Outstanding Productions’, leading to increased engagement

in learning. Not only will he be representing our school on a

national stage, but he will be taking two of our students from

this year’s production to showcase a musical number for the

hundreds of teachers, musicians and actors at the show.

This is a fantastic accolade of the school and serves as

national recognition of the work our Performing Arts Teachers

do.

For more information about the expo, visit:

www.musiceducationexpo.co.uk

On Thursday 15 October, 67 students

from the GCSE Drama groups and

from the cast of our school

production went to watch a

professional production of the show

'Little Shop of Horrors' at Theatr

Clwyd. It was a fantastic evening and

as a result of contacts the school has

made with the company, our

students were able to meet with the

cast and talk about how to become a

professional actor. Earlier on in the

day, our resident Set Designer, Mr.

Dawber and our Marketing and

Community Officer Miss Morris, had

the opportunity to speak to the stage

crew and look at the set for the

production in a bid to fuel ideas for our

own. Our GCSE Drama students will be

writing a theatre review based on the

performance and considering the post-

show conversations we overheard,

they are full of ideas already as to

what they will be commenting on!

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS THEATRE TRIP

NATIONAL THEATRE: CONNECTIONS 500

We are very proud to announce that QPHS has been

selected as one of the companies to be involved with the

National Theatre Connections Project 2015-16. Over 30

students from Years 10 & 12 attended an audition

workshop held in the Drama Department on 16 October; 14

students were selected to be in our chosen play,

'Bassett' which will be performed in March next year at

school.

As part of the project, the National Theatre will send one of

their directors to critically appraise the production before it

transfers to Manchester's new theatre, HOME on 29 April.

The opportunity to perform a production at a professional

venue will be extremely valuable for our students and we

are very proud to have been selected to take part. Details

of how to obtain tickets for both the QPHS performances

and the Manchester performances will be announced in

the next few months.

H I ST ORY AWARD

The History department would like to

congratulate Reece Jones and Alistair

Hogan for winning the “Legacy 110”

award.

This award is supported by the Imperial

War Museum, the Institute of Education

and Britannica Learning and celebrates

the work the boys did in sharing their

story with others after their trip to the

World War One Battlefield.

By writing news articles for local

magazines they kept the memory of

World War One alive and ensured that

remembrance stays a part of the

lessons of the Great War.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Event Date Time

Year 11

Parents’ Evening 11 November 2015

4.30 –

7.30pm

Year 12/13

Parents’ Evening 25 November 2015

4.30 –

7.30pm

Year 11

Futures Evening 9 December 2015 6.00pm

Christmas Concert 15 December 2015 7.00pm

Year 9

Parents’ Evening 13 January 2016

4.30 –

7.30pm

Year 9

Futures Evening 27 January 2016 6.00pm

School Production 10 – 12 February 2016 7.00pm

Year 7

Parents’ Evening 9 March 2016

4.30 –

7.30pm

‘V’ Factor 24 March 2016 7.00pm

Year 10

Parents’ Evening 30 March 2016

4.30 –

7.30pm

Year 8

Parents’ Evening 27 April 2016

4.30 –

7.30pm

Year 6

Induction Evening 4 May 2016 6.00pm

Awards Evening 13 July 2016 7.00pm

G I R L’ S P E

Girl’s sporting fixtures are progressing

at a rapid pace in the P.E department

with netball teams in all years having

already played matches against

Catholic High, Abbey Gate College, The

Queen’s School and Tarporley. There is

representation from across the three

Houses in school and girls who are

voted Player of the Match are receiving

Vivos for their efforts.

In addition to this the Girls Key Stage 3

football team represented Queen’s Park

High School in the recent U14 Chester

and District Tournament, finishing a

respectable 5th place. Some of the

players were representing a team two

years above them so this is very positive

for future tournaments.

Girls are also attending a new club this

year – Key Stage 3 gymnastics. The

club is proving very popular with Year 7

students who are working very hard

creating routines for the competition

next year. Later on in the year the

students will start to work on their

vaulting technique!

I would like to take this opportunity to

thank all the girls who are committing

their time to represent the school and

would also like to extend the invitation

to anyone else out there who is wanting

to get involved. There are lots of clubs

out there, including the Tuesday

Enrichment Activities – Get on board!

Queen’s Park High

School is very excited to

offer DofE Bronze award

to Year 10 students this

year.

The award will challenge students to

take part in outdoor education;

understanding map reading, camping

skills, first aid skills, and team work

skills.

The practice expedition will take place

around March 2016 and the final award

and students qualifying will take place

in June 2016

QUEEN’S PARK HIGH SCHOOL STARTS ITS DUKE OF EDINBURGH JOURNEY

After an early foggy start, the

mist cleared to a warm

summer’s day, which saw all

Queen's Park High School

Rowing Club athletes competing

over the 5km and 2750km

courses in the long distance

sculls at Chester on the River

Dee.

The Year 9 girls double with Kiera

Burke and Zara Gautier-Price

won gold in their category with

their crew mates Louise Coleman

and Charlotte Carswell coming

second. These four girls along

with Cox Felicity Weir also rowed

in a quad boat in the afternoon

finishing a well-deserved second

out of a large group of eight

competitors.

The Year 11 double of Felicity Weir

and Eve Lawlor were also

winners in the Novice

Adult category.

The IM3 quad of Emily

Cox, Eve Finlay, Rona

Fishburn and Lucy

Clegg rowed the 5k

course finishing in

second place; this was

Lucy's last race for

QPHS as she went off

to University straight

after her race. Thanks

to all our rowers for

their commitment to

QPHS Rowing Club.

CH E STE R L ONG D ISTA N CE SCULLS

Congratulations to Denise Oliver and John Harrison who were the winners of the 200 Club draw for June and July.