Queen's Gate's mini horticulturalists have spent the Summer Term with very green fingers! Alongside their weekly Gardening Club activities which included a visit to Chelsea Flower Show to enhance their gardening knowledge, pupils have been taking part in a charity project in partnership with Thrive and Grow For Life. The two charities provide therapeutic gardening opportunities for those with learning difficulties or suffering with mental health difficulties, and the girls have been volunteering their time and skills to create magical fairy gardens at Thrive Battersea ready for their summer children’s programme.

Continuing their hard work outside, pupils hosted the annual Queen’s Gate Flower Show in the Senior School rooftop garden on Thursday 4 July, in aid of the two charities. The show was a colourful success, raising over £200 and it was wonderful to see what they have been cultivating!

11 Queen’s Gate girls took part in The Merchant Taylors’ School MUN on Sunday 10 February, representing France and the Dominican Republic. Pupils sat on various committees including the Security Council, Finance, Human Rights, Health, Disarmament, and Environment, competing against more than 170 students from 15 schools.

Topics debated ranged from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to the question of water security, the financial inclusion for women and the elimination of medical black markets, to name but a few. The QG delegations played a full part, proposing motions and amendments, making points of information and voting on the resolutions. The girls also took part in a global ‘crisis’ and were asked to respond to a topic that was unknown to them prior to the conference; the fictitious breaking news that Iran had invaded Israel and had used chemical weapons. The girls had to think on their feet and their debating skills were tested, always mindful that the role of the UN is to avoid war.

congratulations to LVI's Luna and UV's Diane-Sophie who each received the prestigious ‘Best Delegate’ award, both girls dealt exceptionally well with the pressures of representing France and displayed confidence and impressive maturity throughout.

Friendship, tea and dancing were the order of the day at the annual Age UK Tea Dance on Thursday 14 June at Queen's Gate School!

Residents from the local community, who enjoy Age UK lunches every Thursday during term time at the School, came together for an afternoon of musical performance, cake, tea and of course, dancing!

Senior School pupils kicked off the afternoon with some fabulous songs including The Beatles' classic, With A Little Help From My Friends and Emeli Sandé's, Read All About It.

Next up, Sixth Form prefects served a delicious assortment of homemade baked goods for guests to enjoy, along with plenty of tea before the dancing got into full swing to live musician, Jonathan Stevens. It was wonderful to see everyone having such a lovely time and even the staff and pupils joined in for a boogie!

Two hours flew by and once everyone was danced out, farewell was bid until next time. 

To find out more about the work of Age UK, click here www.ageuk.org.uk.

To find out more about Jonathan Stevens, click here www.jonathanstevensmusic.com.

A complement of three delegations attended this year’s Model United Nations conference at The Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School (HABSMUN) from Friday 16-Sunday 18 March. As well as a wealth of delegations, our MUN Prefects Anna Vittoria Porter and Isabel Ocampo alongside pupil Luna Middleton-Roy were selected as committee chairs – and they led the way in the often difficult task of managing large committees debating complex and difficult issues, including the question of human rights violations in Yemen and the threats of Israeli Middle Eastern tensions.

Throughout the three day conference, an extremely high standard of original, dynamic and constructive debate was shown across all delegations and committees, and it was very encouraging to see so many of our first time delegates enjoying their initial taste of MUN. This was a fantastic opportunity for some of the younger newcomers to MUN conferences, and it was wonderful to see them seize the opportunity with both hands, and enjoy themselves so passionately in the process. Congratulations go to Diane-Sophie and Clara Cole for winning the Highly Commended Award for the Human Rights and Political Committees, respectively.