PSHE Day
Throughout the day, students participated in a series of informative and engaging sessions led by various experts. The Police provided insights on personal safety and community wellbeing, while Stand Against Violence addressed the impacts of violence and promoted non-violent conflict resolution. The School Nurse offered guidance on supporting others in situations where they might require first or emergency aid. Students also learned about the dangers of drug use and strategies for making safe and informed choices through a session with the Drugs Bus. A self-defence expert taught practical skills to enhance personal safety, and Reverend Kelley led a mindfulness session to promote mental clarity and emotional stability. Specialist PSHE teachers delivered tailored lessons on making healthy choices and understanding the dangers of binge drinking.
The day was immensely beneficial, equipping our students with the knowledge and skills needed to care for themselves, make positive choices, and recognize their role within the broader community. These sessions have empowered our students, helping them navigate the complexities of adolescence with greater confidence and resilience.
Crealy
Year 7 had a fantastic time at Crealy Theme Park on Tuesday, marking their final social event of the year with a roaring success. For some students, it was their first theme park experience, and they quickly embraced the excitement, enjoying rollercoasters, log flumes, and giant slides. They indulged in many sweets and ice creams, sharing their treats amidst laughter and fun. Even the herring gulls tried to join in, though their attempts were less welcome. Watching some Year 7s skillfully protect their doughnuts from the birds provided plenty of amusement!
Wire Animal Sculptures
On Friday, Year 8 went on a Geography and Art trip where they learned some interesting facts about bugs. In response to this trip, the pupils drew from observation using the technique of continuous lines with a pen. They then created mini sculptures from these drawings using wire and beads of all shapes. All of these beautiful sculptures are now hanging beautifully in the Art Department Tree.
Visiting Artist
Our year 12 pupils have had the amazing opportunity to meet OQ Amelia Vance who currently works as a visual merchandiser for the Harrods Windows displays after graduating from Loughborough with a First in Textile Design. Amelia graduated a year ago and has shown our pupils her stunning university portfolio, which consisted of work from her Art Foundation year, Textile degree, and GCSE and A Level Textiles from when she was at Queen’s. It has been fantastic to show our pupils where they can take their future creative careers, and also to see where Amelia’s creative journey has taken her. Amelia has inspired our pupils and us as teachers, and we feel fortunate that she has kept in touch and returned to see us.
Year 12 Business trip to the Numatic Factory
On Monday, Year 12 Business students visited the Numatic factory, home of Henry hoover. They experienced a full guided tour of the factory, attended a presentation on the history and operations of the business, and had the opportunity to assemble their own Henry. The students were also delighted to test some of the latest models, such as the Henry Quick.
The tour showcased the entire production process of most of the products sold by Numatic, vividly illustrating lessons on production methods, labour productivity, quality control, and sustainability.
The tour also included a brief look at the filming of an updated instructional video, accessed via a QR code on commercial cleaning machines.
Assembling the Henry vacuum was to be completed under timed conditions and without instructions. Credit goes to Mina, Geli, and Claire in Group 1, and Tim and Tom in Group 2, who managed to assemble their Henry with no instructions and no help.
The staff at Numatic were so knowledgeable and welcoming to the students that they look forward to returning to this thriving local business in the future to learn more.
Royal Honours Foodie Road Trip
It was time for Queen’s College’s annual foodie road trip to celebrate two of the South West’s greatest award-winning foodie entrepreneurs who have been recognised with Royal Honours!
The first stop was the award-winning Darts Farm food hall and food market in Devon, a remarkable foodie haven, having won best Farm Shop in the UK for a record 3 years. The food hall was full of homegrown fruits and vegetables, artisan cheeses, organic bread, sauces, preserves, cordials, and an on-site master butcher all providing only the best local produce. The produce that was most being looked out for was the LittlePod vanilla, coffee and chocolate ingredients (more later).
The next place on the foodie journey was Lympstone Manor named the most luxurious hotel in the South West, awarded World’s Most Romantic Hotel and one of the World’s Best Hotels by Condé Nast. This five-star Relais & Châteaux country house retreat boasts Michelin-starred dining courtesy of one of the UK’s best-loved and most exciting celebrity chefs Michael Caines MBE. Pupils arrived at the charming, stately home to welcome drinks before a tour of the different beautiful fine dining rooms of the Georgian Grade II listed mansion and Michelin-starred restaurants run by Michael Caines. The tour not only included Michael’s state-of-the-art kitchens but also the stunningly beautiful guestrooms and suites, the garden, the grounds and even the outside pool and Pool House restaurant After being treated to a backstage tour of how the best dining experience in the world is delivered it was time to sit back and relax taste some of the homemade treats on offer sat overlooking the breathtaking views of the Exe estuary.
Having had something to eat and drink it was time to get back on the road and head for another of the establishments owned and run by celebrity chefs Michael Caines MBE in Exmouth, Mickey’s Beach Bar and Restaurant and his Café Patisserie Glacerie. It was a chance to look at the Michael’s exquisite handmade pastries and enjoy a light lunch and casual dining including truffle fries in this beautiful beachfront location with spectacular views.
The last stop was our school’s South West supplier and producer of sustainable real vanilla pods, real vanilla paste and real vanilla extract and provider of all-natural ingredients, LittlePod. The LittlePod food company that supports sustainable farming in equatorial regions of the world has been recognised by King Charles for the very first ‘King’s Award for Enterprise’. Our pupils got to hear all about food sustainability and food provenance from LittlePod Managing Director and founder Janet Sawyer BEM and MBE. This was followed by a fascinating tour of the food manufacturing facilities of the company to see how real vanilla is processed.
Year 12 Photography Day
Our Year 12 Photographers experimented using darkroom chemicals and creating images in the daylight using objects. They created some fantastic work which will contribute towards their Photography A Level coursework. We were so impressed with how the pupils were so enthusiastic and some have plans to develop this further during the holidays.
Finance Trading Game
On Tuesday Year 9 spent half of the day looking at oil and futures trading. They played the BP Enterprise trading game to simulate oil futures training. This required them to strategy plan, calculate and then react to the incoming news to decide what to do at each stage. It was fiercely competitive at times! After the trading, the pupils switched skills and in their teams had to research the current price of oil and what it might do in the future and what factors might affect its price, they then had to give a presentation on this to their peers.
Year 12 Trip Bristol Aerospace
On Monday our Year 12 Further Mathematicians visited Bristol Aerospace. Here they took part in a practical ‘Mission to Mars’ engineering workshop to design a ‘mars rover’ using set equipment to meet the challenge. Both teams produced good rovers, but Astrid and Jackie’s was the best the facilitator had seen, being small, light, fast and cheap! The pupils also spent time in the museum, which documents the history of the aerospace industry and you can see where aeronautical engineering has come from and is going to. The cross-section of a modern passenger plane was slightly unnerving. The most impressive exhibit is Concorde, the Concorde which took the final ever Concorde flight, housed in its own specially built exhibit, it was impressive to see up close.
