Teacher of Biology

Queen Elizabeth High School

Hadrian Learning Trust was established as an academy converter in 2016. The Trust currently comprises Queen Elizabeth High School (with circa 1300 students aged 13-19) and Hexham Middle School (with circa 460 students aged 9-13).

Queen Elizabeth High School provides the highest standard of education to the people of Tynedale. We are an excellent school with a sixth form which outperforms most other state and voluntary-aided schools and colleges in the North East of England. Our success is due to having a shared ethos and a strong partnership between students, parents and the local community, and we want to recruit the best staff to help us achieve our vision of being the best school in the region.

Academic Performance

Our attainment is high. In 2019, our Attainment 8 score was 53.3, with a Progress 8 of 0.29. While proud of our students' success, we are far from complacent and aspire for our Year 11 students to make the best progress possible. Our sixth form is truly outstanding and invites comparison with the best state schools in the country. With an average grade of B at A-Level, and an average vocational grade of distinction*-, over 160 students each year progress from our sixth form to a range of universities including Oxbridge and the Russell Group. A number of our students also progress to exciting apprenticeships and vocational schools / conservatoires for a range of disciplines. We have been placed 2nd out of all state schools in the North-East of England for two years running in the Sunday Times Parent Power listings (based on attainment at GCSE and A Level).

Reasons for Our Success

Our curriculum currently offers a greater choice of subjects than most schools. Our Year 9 courses prepare students for their GCSE studies whilst at the same time ensuring that students receive a broad and balanced education. The advice and guidance offered to students ensures that the GCSE courses chosen by students best suit their needs and abilities. The size of our sixth form and the subject expertise of our teachers allow us to run a range of exciting courses at KS5. Our historically strong performance in maths attracts over 60 students each year to study maths and a further 15 or more to study further maths. Our vocational offer in sport, music performance, media, IT, health and social care and business allows students the opportunity to go on to study specialist vocational degrees at university.

Our last Ofsted inspection (April 2019) recognised our achievement in producing well-rounded and happy students. Each year, physics students visit the CERN Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland and our Human Rights group travels to the Tashi Lhunpo Tibetan Monastery in India. One of our great strengths as a school is our links with the local, national and international communities, whether this is through sport and arts or through our charity work, Fairtrade group, hospital concerts or foreign visits. This year our students will participate in foreign exchange visits linked to schools in Spain and Germany. We also run an annual expedition to Morocco. Our renowned commitment to the performing arts can be seen through our weekly youth theatre and fantastic productions such as “Les Miserables” in December 2019. Our musicians put on concerts in autumn and spring and we have numerous choirs (including a boys’ choir) which perform at Hexham Abbey and to the local community. The opportunities for our students to take part in sport are considerable and they compete at a very high level whether individually or in teams. Our rowing team competes and is successful nationally and the school has produced Olympic athletes and rowers.

Moving Forward

Continuing professional development is bringing about significant improvements in leadership and teaching, and a very strong Pastoral Team ensures that barriers to learning which affect outcomes for students are reduced. Our key to success in recent years has been to recruit the best staff we can and to provide a supportive but challenging environment in which they can develop as professionals.