Students and staff at Queen Elizabeth’s Academy were delighted to welcome Nigel Frith from the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham as he made a special visit to the academy today (Thursday, 10 September 2020).
Mr Frith, who is the new director of education at the Diocese, visited for the first time following his appointment to the role in March 2020. He previously led Drumragh Integrated College and was also vice principal of a technology college and an assistant secondary school head in a career that started in 1985.
As part of a planned programme of visits to Church of England schools – which were unfortunately delayed due to lockdown – he was keen to gain a first-hand insight into what makes Queen Elizabeth’s such a unique and special place.
After meeting with a group of students and teaching staff, and taking a tour of the academy, Mr Frith commented that QEA had what he called the ‘wow factor’.
He said: “I suspect that Queen Elizabeth’s is one of the best kept secrets in Nottinghamshire. This really is a special place for a number of reasons. There is a passion to give young people the best start in life, a real sense of quality of care, and high expectations with no lowering of standards. The academy also ensures that students from disadvantaged backgrounds face no barriers to learning.”
One of the high points of Mr Frith’s visit was meeting year 11 student, Leah. Leah described how, at her previous schools, she had misbehaved and had often been thought of as one of the ‘bad’ students. She told Mr Frith that since transferring to QEA, her behaviour had turned around and she was now one of the academy’s model students and is happily settled into life at the academy.
Mr Frith summarised his visit by saying: “Queen Elizabeth’s is an academy that truly embraces high academic standards and high behaviour within a Christian ethos. Equally importantly, it does all of these things with love.”
As a Church of England academy, Queen Elizabeth’s upholds nine core Christian values which form part of daily academy life. These nine values can be viewed on our website by visiting: https://www.queenelizabeths-ac.org.uk/our-academy/ethos-and-values/
