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: [email protected] 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