The Prince’s Teaching Institute has awarded its prestigious Schools Programme Mark to QE’s Science Department.
The Mark recognises the department’s work to challenge and stretch students and is awarded after a year-long qualification and evaluation process.
The Prince’s Teaching Institute, which was created by the Prince of Wales, is an educational charity that seeks to foster inspirational teaching and to encourage schools to deliver a rich subject-based experience both within and beyond the examination curriculum.
Following the success with Science, which is part of QE’s work as a Training School, the School hopes that in 2011 the English, Geography and History departments will all gain the Institute’s Mark. QE’s History Department recently hosted a teachers’ conference on the Cold War organised by the Institute.
The awarding process for Science began with an evaluation of the department’s provision and with teachers attending a Cambridge University summer school featuring subject-based workshops in July 2009. It culminated successfully in July 2010, when departmental objectives for 2009-10 were judged and discussed during an evaluation day held in London.
QE’s Head of Pupil Progression and Chemistry teacher, Sarah Westcott, said: “Work particularly recognised by the Institute includes the incorporation of Forensic Science workshops at the end of Year 9 and the recent addition of the Extended Project Qualification in Year 12, both designed to challenge and develop students’ thinking outside of rigid curricular frameworks. The Institute also highlighted the many extra-curricular opportunities – such as astronomy, engineering and other Science clubs – that students at QE enjoy, as well as recent links with The Henrietta Barnett School.”