Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
I'd heard many good things about QE from people who came from my old school.
It's been highly recommended - it's been shown to be one of the highest achieving colleges
in the city.
There's a lot of choice with a range of courses. In the first year, you choose four subjects
- four AS levels and usually one enrichment. Enrichments are normally one or two blocks
a week and it's something you're generally not examined in. There are lots of arts ones
and languages ones and others that complement your courses.
There's a good range of sports; I know there's lots of opportunities to get involved.
There are loads of unions, for example religious unions. As well as that, you can run for the
student exec so you can be involved in the student process.
We organised a freshers' fayre which was really good this year. We had a bungee run which
was hilarious. We organised the talent show which was really cool. It's not all about
studying and getting grades but also having a good time and meeting people and the social
aspect to it as well.
The teachers at QE offer loads of support. They don't spoon feed you and rightly so.
If they did, we wouldn't build independent skills.
The teachers do help when you need help. In class they'll teach you the fundamental underlying
ideas but it's like a skeleton.
You need to put the flesh on and go away to do your own study.
The help from additional support is really good. I get one to one sessions with Janine.
I have a mild hearing disability so she helps me understand difficulties with words.
If I have difficulty in class, I go to Janine and she helps me with the work.
Academic coaches do help you a lot. When you come to QE, you have more independent study
time than you do at school.
They help and teach you skills to make revision and learning and work a bit more fun.
My personal tutor does a lot for me. They make sure you're up to date with all the notifications
that come out from college and that you're aware of opportunities that are coming up.
We have the silent study area which is where I live. We have the study hub and study centre
as well which have the IT facilities for everybody.
We have a sports hall and a gym which is used for strength and conditioning sessions and
then we have a couple of football pitches and a rugby pitch.
If you want to do work and do well in your exams, there's everything you need.
Now that we have the new social space it's much better than it was before. You can socialise
and eat there but there are also study areas so it's a space for everyone.
I think I've built a lot of skills here.
QE has helped me to be independent, especially with learning.
I played in the county cup last year in which we reached the final.
It's a scary experience to come to college; to be in a totally different environment.
Everyone is friendly here; no one will put you down.
Teachers are there to help;
they want the best from you and for you to achieve the things that you can.
I've met so many people who are talented and interesting.
I'm going to miss everything about QE.
The way you change coming to QE is you take more responsibility for what you're doing.
You interact with the teachers in a very different way to secondary school. It's less "this is
the teacher and this is the student". It's more "we're both going to work together".
Advice for coming to QE is put in the work and you will be rewarded.
At A level, it's totally different to GCSE; you won't get away with not putting in the effort.
Being a part of QE; everyone when they come here is like, I go to QE. There's something
about it - I'm proud to say that I come to QE. Here, everybody tries to integrate together;
it's very culturally different. Some people never meet people of a certain culture and
when you meet someone it's like, actually I never knew that, that's kind of cool.
You don't get that in some places. That's the kind of thing I'll miss the most.