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What says..

Four schools in one, educating pupils from three months to 18 years and housed on the grand Thorpe Underwood estate just off the A1 between York and Harrogate. Exceptional facilities include a full scale theatre which would be the envy of many small towns and is used for professional lets as well as school shows. There really is something for everyone, from exceptional sports facilities to public speaking and even the ‘dog reading’ scheme where younger children read aloud to the CEO’s dog ...

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What the school says...

An Excellent rated school (ISI 2019), Queen Ethelburga’s has provided a vibrant and supportive school community for its students since 1912.
Set in more than 220 acres of beautiful North Yorkshire countryside, we welcome girls and boys aged from 3 months and support them through four schools - Chapter House (3 months to Year 5), King’s Magna (Year 6 to 9), The College and The Faculty (both Year 10 to 13).

OUR ETHOS
The QE ethos is centred on supporting each student to be the best that they can with the gifts that they have, by creating the right learning and living environment for them to thrive. We have a unique offering. We have four individual schools, with their own heads and staff teams, that are small enough to maintain a family atmosphere. This allows staff to know their students thoroughly and successfully guide them through each stage of their formative years.
We place great emphasis on our children growing into resilient, caring, compassionate and confident adults, who develop independence and initiative, and who can take responsibility for their own learning and futures.

ACADEMIC
Our exam results speak for themselves, consistently ranking us amongst the top 10 day and boarding schools in the UK, with students benefiting from incredible study, boarding and leisure facilities as part of campus life. In 2018, students in the academically focused College achieved 96% A*/B at A level and 97% D*/D in the small number of BTECs taken to enrich the A level programmes (equivalent in university points to A* and A grades at A Level). The Faculty, which offers a wider range of academic, creative and vocational courses, achieved 91% A*/B at A Level and 64% D*/D in BTECs.
QE students also achieve much success in a wide range of sporting, cultural and outdoor activities as part of the school’s enrichment and co-curricular programme, focused on helping them to gain necessary skills in leadership, teamwork and decision making.

PASTORAL CARE
Care is the most important element within the QE community; every member of the Collegiate, staff and student, is responsible for the pastoral care and happiness of the site. QE offers support and guidance to all students and parents to ensure that we are all working to support individual students needs and equipping them with the right skills, not only to be successful in education, but to excel in their chosen career and life in general.
We have a dedicated team of trained staff on call 24 hours a day to offer support and guidance to all students within a specialist welfare area in the school for students to visit at any time.
Our Buddies and Peer Leaders show new students around, explain the school systems, introduce students to new people and help them to settle in. In the Sixth Form we have trained Peer Mentors, who offer a wide range of support to students and can offer mentoring on a one-to-one basis to help with academic progress, cultural understanding, contacting parents in the Forces, or day to day routines.
Our dedicated THRIVE@QE programme offers all QE students a huge range of activities to support their positive mental health and wellbeing. This includes activities and support such as; building self-esteem, strategies to help with exam stress, adjusting to change, home sickness, staying safe online, bounce back, and Forces and international support. Everything possible is done to prepare students for the many experiences they will encounter as they move through their educational journey and future life.

SPORT AT QE
All of QE’s students follow a sports programme with the values of fair play, honesty and determination at its heart. We cater for all abilities and encourage each student to make the most of all the fantastic opportunities on offer during their time here. We have a well-honed mix of physical education teachers and specialist sports coaches, many of whom are ex-professional sportspeople themselves. This means there really is no limit to the level our students can train to.
Health and fitness are so central to school life for students that many continue with sport and exercise, either recreationally or as a route of study, that it continues to be a key part of their lives long after they have left us. What enables us to deliver all this sporting activity so successfully of course is the outstanding range of high-quality facilities on campus.
We have a dedicated Sports Village, completed in 2016, to which all students have access to inside and outside of formal school hours. The Village is home to a 25-metre swimming pool, triple court sports hall, 100 station fitness suite and free weights centre. Outside we have a four-lane synthetic cushioned running track and over 30 acres of both grass and artificial 3G pitches. We also have a number of specialist studios used for; martial arts, wrestling, dance, gymnastics, table tennis, cycling, archery, fencing and boxing.
In addition to all this, the students can make use of an eight-metre climbing wall at the campus activity centre, which also houses an assault course, BMX track and additional tennis courts.
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Other features

All-through school (for example 3-18 years). - An all-through school covers junior and senior education. It may start at 3 or 4, or later, and continue through to 16 or 18. Some all-through schools set exams at 11 or 13 that pupils must pass to move on.

International Study Centre - school has a linked, international study centre for overseas students wishing to improve their English.

Sports

Fencing

What The Good Schools Guide says

Principal

Since 2021, the principal of the four schools that make up Queen Ethelburga’s Collegiate is Dan Machin. Joined QE in 2005, latterly head of College, then vice-principal. Studied management at Hull followed by a PGCE in economics and business at Warwick and started his career in comprehensives in Wakefield after a stint in the retail sector. Quiet and unassuming, he is a QE man to the core, who has seen the school evolve dramatically in the last 17 years, including coping with some significant challenging situations (now resolved) as well as the resulting negative publicity. Still teaches and leads from the front, in keeping with school’s motto, ‘To be the best I can with the gifts that I have’. QE has more than doubled in size in recent years with nearly 900 boarding places...

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Please note: Independent schools frequently offer IGCSEs or other qualifications alongside or as an alternative to GCSE. The DfE does not record performance data for these exams so independent school GCSE data is frequently misleading; parents should check the results with the schools.

Who came from where

Who goes where

Special Education Needs

We have qualified staff who can support students with a range of mild learning difficulties. Each student is treated as an individual and is supported to reach his or her potential.

Condition Provision for in school
ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder
Aspergers
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders
CReSTeD registered for Dyslexia
Dyscalculia Y
Dysgraphia Y
Dyslexia Y
Dyspraxia Y
English as an additional language (EAL) Y
Genetic
Has an entry in the Autism Services Directory
Has SEN unit or class Y
HI - Hearing Impairment
Hospital School
Mental health
MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty
MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment
Natspec Specialist Colleges
OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability
Other SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty
PD - Physical Disability
PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty
SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health
SLCN - Speech, Language and Communication
SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty
Special facilities for Visually Impaired
SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty
VI - Visual Impairment

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