Ashbourne News Telegraph

Ho ho ho! We’ve all kept that festive feeling alive

A slightly anticlimac­tic end to the calendar year at QEGS was brightened up by the imaginatio­n and forward-planning of staff and students, says sixth-former Rebecca Burton IMAGINATIV­E QEGS STUDENTS DON’T LET COVID DAMPEN CHRISTMAS SPIRITS

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DUE to rising numbers of Covid cases in school, it was decided that the last two days of this term for QEGS students would unfortunat­ely have to take place remotely.

However, in the few weeks before this decision was taken, much had been done at QEGS in order to help celebrate Christmas and create a festive spirit among students.

The school took part in Christmas Jumper Day on December 10, with staff and students alike wearing their Christmas jumpers to school in order to raise money for Save the Children. A total of £476.51 was raised.

In addition to this, Ms Morgan also ran the shoebox appeal within school, and many students and their families took part, filling shoeboxes with gifts to be donated to children who otherwise would not receive any Christmas presents.

The Sixth Form Heads of Charities, Beth and Fern, have organised a food bank appeal, and received many donations of food from those at QEGS Sixth Form over the Christmas period.

Alongside these fund-raising efforts, the school has also provided many festive activities to alleviate the stress on

These efforts undoubtedl­y helped to lift students’ spirits during what is a stressful and uncertain time of the year for many.

students and to make their time at school more enjoyable.

Last week, students in years seven to 11 were able to have a Christmas dinner, accompanie­d with festive music and a free raffle.

Each year group had a designated day for their meal, and were given priority seats in the canteen and allowed to wear Christmas accessorie­s to school.

At Sixth Form, everyone took part in a Christmas quiz and a gingerbrea­d decorating competitio­n.

Students have also been participat­ing in a Christmas decorating competitio­n, with each form group decorating their classroom. It was particular­ly competitiv­e in Sixth Form, where several people brought in Christmas trees, and someone even dressed up as Santa. The winning forms were 12KE and 13HI.

The rest of the school has also been decorated, with Heads of Aesthetics Alice and Robyn taking charge of decorating the Sixth Form site.

They used decoration­s which were kindly donated by those in the community last year and have done

an excellent job at making the site look festive.

While it is unfortunat­e that QEGS has had to convert to online learning for the last few days before the Christmas holidays, before this point much was done to make the school feel Christmass­y and to support the wider community. These efforts undoubtedl­y helped to lift students’ spirits during what is a stressful and uncertain time of the year for many.

 ?? ?? Rounding off the calendar year in festive fashion at Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School
Rounding off the calendar year in festive fashion at Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School

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