Queen Ethelburga's Collegiate

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Queen Ethelburga's Collegiate
QE logo 2019.png
Entrance to Queen Ethelburgas College.jpg
Address
Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap
Thorpe Underwood

York
,
North Yorkshire
,
YO26 9SS

England
Coordinates54°01′41″N 1°17′36″W / 54.02800°N 1.29325°W / 54.02800; -1.29325Coordinates: 54°01′41″N 1°17′36″W / 54.02800°N 1.29325°W / 54.02800; -1.29325
Information
TypeIndependent Boarding & Day School
MottoTo be the best that I can with the gifts that I have
Established1912; 109 years ago (1912)
FounderNathaniel Woodard
TrustThe Collegiate Foundation
Chair School BoardAmy Martin
PrincipalSteven Jandrell
Age3 months to 19 years
Capacity1,600
Houses
  • Cantwara
  • Derwent
  • Eoforwic
  • Lyminge
Colour(s)Blue & Gold
Websitewww.qe.org

Queen Ethelburga's Collegiate is an independent boarding and day school for girls and boys from 3 months to 19 years old, located in Thorpe Underwood, near Little Ouseburn, northwest of York, England. It is a member of the Independent Schools Association. It is named after Æthelburh of Kent.

The school is administered under The Collegiate Foundation, which oversees the school as two separate entities. The first, Queen Ethelburga's College, comprises three sections: the Chapter House preparatory school, King's Magna middle school, and a Key Stage 4 (GCSE) and Sixth Form (A Level) section.[1] The second is The Faculty of Queen Ethelburga's and is purely Key Stage 4 (GCSE) and Sixth Form (A Level and BTEC).[2]

History[]

20th century[]

The school originally belonged to the Woodard Corporation, founded by Nathaniel Woodard. The sister senior school was Queen Margaret's School at Escrick and the Junior School was Queen Mary's at Baldersby Park near Thirsk.

The School foundation stone was laid on 21 October 1910 by Viscountess Mountgarret, its inscription was 'Pro deo et ecclesia' – For God and the Church. It was laid on the right hand side of the school door facing the building.

The school was opened on 27 September 1912 by the Duchess of Albany, with Derwent and Lyminge opened by Lord Halifax on 18 June 1932. The Chapel was given by Lord Mountgarret and dedicated to St Aiden. Its foundation stone was laid on 8 May 1911 by the Archbishop of York and its inscription is 'Jesus himself being the chief corner stone'.

Modernity[]

In 1991 Queen Ethelburga's School left the Woodward Corporation, became independent and came to exist in the trust arrangement, renamed Queen Ethelburga's College. At this time, at the behest of the new owner Brian Martin, it moved from Harrogate to the present campus at Thorpe Underwood, the Martin family home, and a huge investment programme was commenced fuelled by the family's business fortune, being the owners and proprietors of E&L Insurance Group.

The senior school has been co-educational since 1999 and draws pupils from over 30 countries.[3]

Pupil numbers of Queen Ethelburga's Collegiate rose from a total of 550 in 2007 to 1,590 in 2015. In the same period a large £80m investment had been made in a new sports village, new boarding houses and new classrooms, and other facilities.[4][5]

Queen Ethelburga's.jpg

In 2016, pupils raised £5,500 over the span of a week for the Chinese earthquake appeal.[6]

Rankings[]

Queen Ethelburga's College was ranked 10th by the Daily Telegraph, for A*/A A-Level Results, in their 2015 UK Independent School League Tables. The Faculty of Queen Ethelburga's was ranked 11th in the same League Table.[7]

The 2016 pass rate at Queen Ethelburga's College was 100%, with 98% of its A-Level grades A* to B. The Faculty of Queen Ethelburga's on the other hand had achieved 91% Distinction or Distinction Star grades in all BTEC subjects, the two highest possible grade classifications.[8] In 2019, 80.05% of pupils scored A*-A for their A-Levels examination, whereas 80% scored A*-A for their GCSEs.[9]

Sports[]

Queen Ethelburga's rugby union first team secured the 2015 British Colleges National Cup.[10]

Yorkshire County Cricket Club has agreed a partnership with the school. This includes the creation of a joint cricket academy for 16 to 19-year-old players.[11]

18-atrium qeb.jpg

Awards[]

It has been awarded the Healthy School of the Year in the 2016 TES Awards,[12] as well as the Independent Schools Association Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sport 2015[13] and the Outstanding Progress Award at an Independent School at the Education Business Awards.[14]

Controversies[]

Planning contravention and apology[]

In 2008 the school's then senior trustee Brian Martin had to apologize to the local community after Harrogate Borough Council had issued a planning contravention notice to the school owners and further suspected the school of 16 breaches of planning controls. The School had submitted retrospective planning applications for the new buildings and those that were in progress.[15] A number of school estates staff were fired some months after the building works were halted.[16] This came after Brian Martin was fined £6,000 in 2001 for breaching planning law when altering a Grade II listed building on the school grounds. These works on the listed building had many retrospective planning applications lodged, which worsened the degree of culpability in that case according to the council.[17]

Inspections[]

In 2015 the school was given notice to improve after an inspection by the Independent Schools Inspectorate, conducted at the request of the Department of Education, uncovered a large CCTV network on the school site. The CCTV network counted 700 cameras at the time of inspection.[18] As of 2019, both the College and the Faculty have been graded as excellent in all categories by the Independent Schools Inspectorate.[19][20]

Chair of governors[]

As of 10 July 2018, Martin was facing three charges, all against pupils at the college: two of indecently assaulting a girl and one of sexually assaulting a boy, on all of which the jury had been unable to reach verdicts.[21] At a subsequent trial, Martin was found guilty of an indecent assault on a girl and a sexual assault on a boy. On 2 July 2021 he received a sentence of three years and three months.[22]

Money laundering[]

In May 2016 The Guardian reported that, in March 2012, $20,792 (£14,350) was sent via Lloyds Bank in Harrogate to Queen Ethelburga's Collegiate. This was said to be money laundered from the Russian Hermitage Capital Management fraud.[23]

In September 2017 The Guardian reported that £89,800 was transferred to Queen Ethelburga's Collegiate. The money was reportedly connected to the Azerbaijani Laundromat scandal, in which the Azerbaijani government is supposedly involved.[24]

Teacher ban after relationship with Sixth Form pupil[]

A teacher misconduct panel banned Howard Britton from teaching for life due to a sexual relationship with a pupil that developed following the completion of Year 13 examinations when Britton taught Economics at the school in 2005.[25]

Charity Commission[]

In August 2018, the Charity Commission had begun an investigation into two charities linked to the Queen Ethelburga's College and Queen Ethelburga's Faculty schools based on the same site. The charities are The Collegiate Charitable Foundation and The Martin Foundation. The primary activity of these charities is to "...provide bursaries to enable students to attend independent primary and secondary schools; provide advertising, facilities and equipment, and assist the local community.” The Commission has taken over the management of the two charities.[26]

Thomas Ball[]

In 2018 staff member Thomas Ball, who held a senior role at Queen Ethelburga's, was arrested on a series of charges including three counts of making indecent images of children as well as downloading child pornography. Ball was later jailed for 20 months.[27]

References[]

  1. ^ "Queen Ethelburga's College - GOV.UK". www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  2. ^ "The Faculty of Queen Ethelburga's - GOV.UK". www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  3. ^ "Queen Ethelburga's | Junior and Senior Mixed Independent School | Yorkshire | Guide to Independent Schools". guidetoindependentschools.com. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  4. ^ "Queen Ethelburga's | Independent Boarding School for Boys and Girls aged 3 to 19". qe.org. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  5. ^ "New facilities in UK Schools - Study Travel Magazine". www.studytravel.network. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  6. ^ "College students' fundraising boost for earthquake victims". Harrogate Advertiser. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  7. ^ "A-level results 2013: Independent schools results table". The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  8. ^ "Queen Ethelburga's Collegiate – QISAN". www.qisan.com. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  9. ^ "Queen Ethelburga's College Review - Ranking And Fees". Britannia StudyLink Malaysia: UK Study Expert. 23 December 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  10. ^ "Best of British triumph for Queen Ethelburga's". York Press. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  11. ^ "Yorkshire teams up with leading independent school Queen Ethelburga's". Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  12. ^ "TES Schools Awards 2016". www.tesawards.co.uk. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  13. ^ "The ISA Awards 2015 | The Independent Schools Association". Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  14. ^ danny. "Winners announced at 2014 Education Business Awards". ebawards.co.uk. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  15. ^ "School's apology for expansion bid". Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  16. ^ "Estate staff axed at private school". Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  17. ^ "School governor fined over alteration". Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  18. ^ "Queen Ethelburga's school given notice to improve by Government". The Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  19. ^ "Queen Ethelburga's College :: Independent Schools Inspectorate". www.isi.net. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  20. ^ "The Faculty of Queen Ethelburgas :: Independent Schools Inspectorate". www.isi.net. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  21. ^ "Brian Martin, ex-chair of governors at Queen Ethelburga's School, cleared of 21 sex crimes". Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  22. ^ "Queen Ethelburga's School owner Brian Martin jailed for non-recent child abuse offences". Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  23. ^ Harding, Luke; Townsend, Mark (3 May 2016). "Russian embezzlers went on $30m spending spree in UK, MPs told". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  24. ^ "UK at centre of secret $3bn Azerbaijani money laundering and lobbying scheme". The Guardian. 4 September 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  25. ^ "Ex-Queen Ethelburga teacher banned for pupil relationship". BBC News. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  26. ^ "Commission announces class investigation into two independent school charities". Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  27. ^ "Jail for teacher who installed spy camera in North Yorkshire school bathroom and had stash of child-sex images". The Scarborough News. Retrieved 18 March 2021.

External links[]

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