Transition week for Year 10 was a busy and exciting week of insight into what life in Sixth Form at Queen’s will be like.
Students took part in careers sessions, A-level taster lessons, workshops, and even a trip to Oxford University for some who were toured around one of the colleges by Queen’s 2022 alumna Hattie Benton. The girls also had full use of the Sixth Form Common Room for the week and experienced some of the freedoms our sixth formers enjoy, such as wearing their own clothes and being able to go into the city.
Q-Elevate - Queen's brand new Sixth Form academic enrichment and bespoke future skills programme, was also officially launched to our Year 9 and 10 families.
Launching in September 2024, parents and students learnt how the programme will equip students with the confidence, aptitude, and expertise to achieve their own aspirations. The Q-Elevate Programme is much more than just bridging the gap between school and what lies beyond. It will leave students equipped with the abilities and values that our School ethos prioritises: 'world-ready' young adults: bright, articulate, well-rounded citizens.
The transition week began with two careers talks as we welcomed Deidre Stubbs to talk about her work in Osteopathy, alongside Lucy Murphy and Amelia Oulton from global commercial law firm CMS. Pupils heard about the choices our speakers had made for A-level and how, even when you are choosing your degree, there are many varied routes that can be taken, but the skills you pick up along the way are what employers are looking for. Work experience, joining school clubs and societies, and attending webinars and talks are all part of the careers portfolio we at Queen's ensure our pupils have.
There were A-level taster sessions for all subjects such as drama, where the girls explored the opening to the Greek tragedy Antigone and loved experimenting with different acting styles.
In biology students did a circus of activities focusing on practical work. They investigated the behaviour of maggots, looked at cells diving using a microscope, dissected and made biological drawings of kidneys, and carried out a fun experiment about natural selection of beak shape in birds.
Over 40 pupils attended sessions for business and economics, which are new subjects at A-level and are always popular. In the business session, they looked at the role of the marketing mix and how it could be applied to festivals, with the girls working to come up with new product ideas from the 40,000 tents left each year at festivals. In economics, they discussed some key economic issues including how the government can encourage greater use of plastic recycling, stopping smoking, and reducing NHS waiting lists.
Girls also had the chance to visit workshops covering a range of areas including leadership, learning, EPQ, Unifrog, and one on scholarship opportunities at universities in the UK and USA, following up on the International Universities Fair earlier in the term.
They also joined a breakfast on Thursday with a welcome and talk on sixth form life, and a pizza lunch with the current Year 12s on Friday to find out more about their experience of sixth form at Queen's.
