Queen Ethelburga's Collegiate Explained

Queen Ethelburga's Collegiate
Motto:To be the best that I can with the gifts that I have
Type:Independent Boarding & Day School
Principal:Daniel Machin
Chair Label:Chair School Board
Chair:Amy Martin
Trust:The Collegiate Foundation
Address:Thorpe Underwood
Postcode:YO26 9SS
Country:England
Coordinates:54.028°N -1.2933°W
Capacity:1,600
Lower Age:3 months
Upper Age:19 years
Colours: Blue & gold

Queen Ethelburga's Collegiate incorporates four boarding and day schools for girls and boys from 3 months to 19 years old, located in Thorpe Underwood, near Little Ouseburn, close to York and Harrogate, England. It is a member of the Independent Schools Association. It is named after Æthelburh of Kent.

Queen Ethelburga's College has three sections: the Chapter House preparatory school, King's Magna middle school, and a Key Stage 4 (GCSE) and Sixth Form (A-Level) section.[1] The second is the Faculty of Queen Ethelburga's and is purely Key Stage 4 (GCSE) and Sixth Form (A-Level and BTEC).[2]

History

20th century

The school originally belonged to the Woodard Corporation, founded by Nathaniel Woodard. The sister senior school was Queen Margaret's School at Escrick and the Junior School was Queen Mary's at Baldersby Park near Thirsk.

The School foundation stone was laid on 21 October 1910 by Viscountess Mountgarret, its inscription was 'Pro deo et ecclesia' – For God and the Church. It was laid on the right-hand side of the school door facing the building.

The school was opened on 27 September 1912 by the Duchess of Albany, with Derwent and Lyminge opened by Lord Halifax on 18 June 1932. The chapel was given by Lord Mountgarret and dedicated to St Aiden. Its foundation stone was laid on 8 May 1911 by the Archbishop of York and its inscription is Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone.

Modernity

In 1991, Queen Ethelburga's School left the Woodard Corporation, became independent, and came to exist in the trust arrangement, renamed Queen Ethelburga's College. At this time, at the behest of the new owner Brian Martin, it moved from Harrogate to the present campus at Thorpe Underwood.

The senior school has been co-educational since 1999 and draws pupils from over 30 countries.[3]

Pupil numbers of Queen Ethelburga's Collegiate rose from a total of 550 in 2007 to 1,590 in 2015. In the same period a £80 million investment was made in a new sports village, new boarding houses and new classrooms, and other facilities, such as a pastoral care centre for caring for students' mental health and behaviour care.[4] [5]

Rankings

Queen Ethelburga's College was ranked tenth by The Daily Telegraph, for A*/A A-Level Results, in their 2015 UK Independent School League Tables. The Faculty of Queen Ethelburga's was ranked 11th in the same League Table.[6] In 2017, Queen Ethelburga's College was ranked as the top performing independendent school in Yorkshire.[7] In 2018, it was the only independent school in Yorkshire to rank in the top 50 nationally.[8] In 2019, Queen Ethelburga's College was ranked second in the country with 85.7 per cent of students getting three A-levels at grades AAB or higher.[9]

The 2016 pass rate at Queen Ethelburga's College was 100%, with 98% of its A-Level grades A* to B. The Faculty of Queen Ethelburga's on the other hand had achieved 91% Distinction or Distinction Star grades in all BTEC subjects, the two highest possible grade classifications.[10] In 2019, 80.05% of pupils scored A*-A for their A-Levels examination, whereas 80% scored A*-A for their GCSEs.[11] Results have remained consistently strong over the last few years and in 2021, students in the academically focused college achieved 85% percent A*/A at A-Level (96 per cent A*/B),. The Faculty, which offers a wider range of academic, creative, and vocational courses, achieved 77% percent A*/A (92 percent A*/B). The percentage of D*/D grades in The Faculty was 75%.[12] [13]

Results at Key Stage 4 are also strong with 85% of college grades at 7 or above and 68% of Faculty grades at 6 or above in 2021. Faculty students are also able to take BTECs with more than 50% of grades at Distinction or Distinction* standard.[14]

Sports

Queen Ethelburga's has 42 acres of outdoor sports pitches and a full-time team of grounds keepers.[15] As well as providing a facility for students and visiting schools, it has also hosted Newcastle United and a number of other sports teams for summer training.[16] The Faculty of Queen Ethelburga's offers the Performance Sports Programme (PSP), a specialist program which allows students to focus on their chosen sport alongside strength and conditioning, nutrition and performance analysis.[17]

Athletics

Students from the school have been successful in the Independent School Association National Cross Country finals and in the 2016 Under-20 International meet.[18] [19] In 2021, a student became the U20 Northern long jump champion.[20]

Rugby

Queen Ethelburga's rugby union first team secured the 2015 British Colleges National Cup.[21]

Some former students have been selected for the England Counties U18 Squad.[22]

In July 2019, The Faculty of Queen Ethelburga's student Suva Ma'asi was signed by The Cornish Pirates Rugby Team.[23]

In April 2019, The Faculty of Queen Ethelburga's student Joseph Sawdon was selected to represent the 2019 ISRFC Lambs South Africa Touring Squad.[24]

In 2021, The Faculty of Queen Ethelburga's student Jason Qareqare made his professional debut for Castleford Tigers Rugby League Team.[25]

Netball

Students from the school have been selected for the Netball Europe Championship.[26] [27] [28] They have also been selected as part of the Leeds Rhinos U17 and U19 squads.[29] [30] In 2018, the U18 Netball squad won the Independent Schools Association National Netball Cup.[31]

Cricket

In 2016, Yorkshire County Cricket Club agreed to a partnership with the school which includes the creation of a joint cricket academy for 16 to 19-year-old players.[32]

In 2018, The Faculty of Queen Ethelburga's student Dominic Leech was selected to represent England U19 Squad, and in August 2020 made his first-class debut with Yorkshire Country Cricket Club.[33]

In June 2021, The Faculty of Queen Ethelburga's student Harry Crawshaw made his debut for Durham in the 2021 T20 Blast.[34] Crawshaw was selected to represent England and Wales Cricket Board U19 Young Lions on their tour to Sri Lanka in November 2021.[35]

Basketball

In December 2019, two students at the school were selected to represent England U16 men and U18 men in the Tri-Nations Tournament.[36]

Football

In March 2020, The Senior Football squad made it to the final of the Independent Schools Football Association Cup (ISFA) which was held at Milton Keynes Dons Football Club. The game finished 5–4 to Millfield in what ISFA described as 'arguably the most thrilling Boodles ISFA Cup Final of all time'.[37]

Some students have been selected to join external football teams.[38] [39] [40]

Other

In December 2021, King's Magna students Lily-May Horn won the Independent School Association (ISA) National Clay Pigeon Shooting competition in the Senior women's category scoring 46/50.[41]

Awards

The catering team was awarded Independent School Caterer of the Year in 2017 at the 'Educatering' Excellence Awards, along with the School Food Plan Award.[42] A group of students was awarded McDougall's Young Baking Team of the Year in 2017.[43]

In October 2021, Chapter House, the Early Years, Infants and Junior School at Queen Ethelburga's Collegiate was re-awarded the Primary Quality Mark Award for English and Mathematics by the national program The Quality Mark. This new Award followed after Chapter House was awarded the Primary Science Quality Mark (PQSM) Gilt, earned in June 2021.[44]

Inspection

The most recent ISI Inspection took place in 2019 and was a Regulatory Compliance and Educational Quality Inspection. The report found both schools to be fully compliant and rated the achievements of the pupils, including their academic development, and their personal development, as ‘Excellent’. The Early Years Foundation Stage, as part of Queen Ethelburga's College, received an ‘Outstanding’ rating for the effectiveness of its early year's provision.

The full inspection report noted that “pupils display great self-confidence, self-awareness, and resilience; they reflect on their learning and demonstrate an excellent understanding of how to improve further.” Additionally, inspectors commented on the way in which students were confident to take risks and enjoy taking on new challenges. Queen Ethelburga's is an international school with students from over 50 different nationalities, and inspectors appreciated the atmosphere of tolerance and understanding across the Collegiate.[45] [46]

Controversies

Inspections

In mid-2015, the school was given the notice to improve after an inspection by the Independent Schools Inspectorate, conducted at the request of the Department of Education, described a large CCTV network on the school site.[47] As of late 2015, the school was given a clean bill of health and in 2019, both the college and the faculty were graded as excellent in all categories by the Independent Schools Inspectorate.[48] [49]

Former Chair of Governors

As of 10 July 2018, Brian Martin, Chair of Governors until 2015, was facing three charges against pupils at the college: two of indecently assaulting a girl in the early 1990s and one of sexually assaulting a boy in the late 2000s.[50] At a subsequent trial, Martin was found guilty of an indecent assault on a girl and a sexual assault on a boy and received a sentence of three years and three months.[51] [52]

Money laundering

In May 2016 The Guardian reported that, in March 2012, $20,792 (£14,350) was sent via Lloyds Bank in Harrogate to Queen Ethelburga's Collegiate. This was said to be money laundered from the Russian Hermitage Capital Management fraud.[53]

In September 2017 The Guardian reported that £89,800 was transferred to Queen Ethelburga's Collegiate in 2014. The money was reportedly connected to the Azerbaijani Laundromat scandal, in which the Azerbaijani government is supposedly involved.[54]

Charity Commission investigation into linked charities

In January 2018, the Charity Commission had begun an investigation into two charities linked to QE. The charities were The Collegiate Charitable Foundation and The Martin Foundation. The primary activity of these charities is to "...provide bursaries to enable students to attend independent primary and secondary schools; provide advertising, facilities, and equipment, and assist the local community.” The Commission took over the management of the charities and is yet to make a judgment on the situation.[55] [56]

Child pornography conviction

In 2018, staff member Thomas Ball, who held a junior role at Queen Ethelburga's, was arrested on a series of charges including three counts of making indecent images of children as well as downloading child pornography. In March 2021 Ball was jailed for 20 months.[57]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Queen Ethelburga's College - GOV.UK. www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk. 10 April 2018.
  2. Web site: The Faculty of Queen Ethelburga's - GOV.UK. www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk. 10 April 2018.
  3. Web site: Queen Ethelburga's Junior and Senior Mixed Independent School Yorkshire Guide to Independent Schools. guidetoindependentschools.com. 26 August 2016.
  4. Web site: Queen Ethelburga's | Independent Boarding School for Boys and Girls aged 3 to 19. qe.org. https://web.archive.org/web/20160125062304/https://www.qe.org/about-the-collegiate/. 25 January 2016. 20 January 2016.
  5. Web site: New facilities in UK Schools - Study Travel Magazine. www.studytravel.network. 26 August 2016. 27 August 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160827011952/http://www.studytravel.network/magazine/issues/november2015/nov15-sec1. dead.
  6. News: A-level results 2013: Independent schools results table . The Telegraph. 22 February 2014.
  7. News: Yorkshire's best-performing independent and state schools are revealed. 18 November 2021. Yorkshire Post.
  8. News: Region's top schools revealed in new ratings. 18 November 2021. Yorkshire Post.
  9. News: Every sixth form in England ranked for its A-Level results. 18 November 2021. York Press.
  10. Web site: Queen Ethelburga's Collegiate – QISAN. www.qisan.com. 26 August 2016.
  11. Web site: 23 December 2019. Queen Ethelburga's College Review - Ranking And Fees. 17 January 2021. Britannia StudyLink Malaysia: UK Study Expert.
  12. News: Students and staff at Queen Ethelburga's College and Faculty celebrate more success. 18 November 2021. York Press.
  13. News: 10 August 2021. Queen Ethelburga's celebrates exceptional achievements on A-Level Results Day. 18 November 2021. Harrogate Informer.
  14. News: GCSE results from Queen Ethelburga's. 18 November 2021. Harrogate Advertiser.
  15. Web site: New Sports Village at Queen Ethelburga's Collegiate Pitchcare. 18 November 2021. www.pitchcare.com.
  16. Web site: Magpies return to QE. 18 November 2021. RMC Media.
  17. Web site: Sports at Queen Ethelburga's Independent Boarding School in Yorkshire. 7 December 2021. www.qe.org.
  18. Web site: ISA National Cross Country Championships 2016. 7 December 2021. racetimingsolutions.racetecresults.com.
  19. News: Sprinter Tom Somers stars in England colours. 7 December 2021. York Press.
  20. Web site: Leigh Looks After Northern Athletics. 7 December 2021. view.officeapps.live.com.
  21. News: Best of British triumph for Queen Ethelburga's. York Press. 26 August 2016.
  22. Web site: England Counties U18: Squad for April tour of Ireland announced – NextGenXV. 7 December 2021. nextgenxv.com.
  23. Web site: Suva Signs for The Pirates:Cornish Pirates. 6 December 2021. cornish-pirates.com.
  24. Web site: ISRFC Lambs: Squad for epic South Africa tour named – NextGenXV. 7 December 2021. nextgenxv.com.
  25. Web site: Jon Wells: A debut to remember for Castleford Tigers teenager Jason Qareqare. 18 November 2021. Sky Sports.
  26. Web site: 22 January 2018. U17 squad selected for Netball Europe. 7 December 2021. England Netball.
  27. Web site: In conversation with ... Erin Peters. 7 December 2021. Richard Kirby. https://web.archive.org/web/20211207145229/https://www.richardkirby.org/grangetown-reports/in-conversation-with-erin-peters. 7 December 2021. dead.
  28. Web site: 26 September 2019. U21 Netball Europe Squad Announcement. 7 December 2021. Netball Scotland.
  29. Web site: Flynn. Leanne. 17 November 2020. Rhinos Netball finalise U17, U19s and U21s squad after successful Pathway Trials. 7 December 2021. Leeds Rhinos.
  30. Web site: Flynn. Leanne. 29 October 2021. Pathway players given chance to shine in Fast 5. 7 December 2021. Leeds Rhinos.
  31. Web site: 8 January 2015. NetballNational Events The Independent Schools Association. 6 December 2021.
  32. Web site: Yorkshire teams up with leading independent school Queen Ethelburga's. Yorkshire County Cricket Club. 26 August 2016.
  33. Web site: Teams - Dom Leech. 7 December 2021. Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
  34. Web site: Harry Crawshaw named in Durham squad for Rapids & Bears T20s. 7 December 2021. Durham Cricket.
  35. Web site: Young Lions to tour Sri Lanka. 6 December 2021. English Cricket Board.
  36. Web site: England to face Scotland and Wales in new Tri-Nations Tournament Basketball England. 6 December 2021. www.basketballengland.co.uk.
  37. Web site: Dickson. Mark. Independent Schools Football Association – 2019–20: Millfield 5 Queen Ethelburga's Collegiate 4 aet. 6 December 2021. www.isfa.org.uk. https://web.archive.org/web/20211206164406/https://www.isfa.org.uk/index.php/competitions/boodles-isfa-cup-past-tournaments/story/696/2019-20-millfield-5-queen-ethelburga-s-4. 6 December 2021. dead.
  38. Web site: Jay McGrath - Defender - Under-23s - Coventry City. 6 December 2021. www.ccfc.co.uk.
  39. Web site: NEWS: Sky Blues Duo Involved In Ireland Under-19 Camp. 6 December 2021. www.ccfc.co.uk.
  40. Web site: Senior Teams. 6 December 2021. Hull City Ladies.
  41. Web site: 11 May 2015. Clay Pigeon Shooting ISA National Events The Independent Schools Association. 7 December 2021.
  42. Web site: Educatering Excellence Awards 2017. 6 December 2021. flickread.com.
  43. Web site: Chapter House Preparatory School crowned McDougalls Young Baking Team of the Year LACA. 6 December 2021. laca.co.uk.
  44. News: York Press. 19 November 2021. Success for Chapter House after receiving prestigious award. 19 December 2021.
  45. News: Inspectors praise York school in latest report. 18 November 2021. York Press.
  46. News: School achieves highest rating from inspectors. 18 November 2021. York Press.
  47. News: Queen Ethelburga's school given notice to improve by Government. The Yorkshire Post. 10 April 2018.
  48. Web site: Queen Ethelburga's College :: Independent Schools Inspectorate. 11 May 2021. www.isi.net.
  49. Web site: The Faculty of Queen Ethelburgas :: Independent Schools Inspectorate. 11 May 2021. www.isi.net.
  50. Web site: Brian Martin, ex-chair of governors at Queen Ethelburga's School, cleared of 21 sex crimes. 31 August 2018.
  51. Web site: Queen Ethelburga's School owner Brian Martin jailed for non-recent child abuse offences. 2 July 2021.
  52. Web site: 2 July 2021. Queen Ethelburga's School owner Brian Martin sent to prison for non-recent child abuse offences. 9 November 2021. Harrogate Informer.
  53. Web site: Russian embezzlers went on $30m spending spree in UK, MPs told. Luke. Harding. Mark. Townsend. 3 May 2016. The Guardian. 3 February 2017.
  54. Web site: UK at centre of secret $3bn Azerbaijani money laundering and lobbying scheme. 4 September 2017. The Guardian. 5 September 2017.
  55. Web site: Commission announces class investigation into two independent schools charities. 9 November 2021. GOV.UK.
  56. Web site: Commission announces class investigation into two independent school charities. 5 July 2019.
  57. Web site: Jail for a teacher who installed a spy camera in North Yorkshire school bathroom and had a stash of child-sex images. 18 March 2021. The Scarborough News.