How Queen Ethelburga’s Collegiate (QE) support aspiring medics, vets, and dentists.
QE’s ‘medics provision’ starts in Year 10, and there are plenty of STEM awards, science responsibilities and competitions offered to our younger students. Every year, QE sees a cohort of successful students head off onto exciting medicine, veterinary and medicine courses, with six September starters this year.
Georgia M, who is going to study Medicine at the University of Oxford after receiving A*A*AA in her A Levels, said that “I received offers from Cardiff, Leicester and Oxford for Medicine and Manchester for Neuroscience with Spanish. One of the main ways that school helped me was with the mock interviews. We had MMI interviews with teachers and this really prepared me and made me feel more comfortable in my real interviews.”
Science and Medics Programme Teacher, Dr Mia Robinson says, “We tailor our support to individual needs to ensure every student has the best application possible. A large focus of our work with the medics is to understand the careers and the working environment in the NHS, since qualification in the UK comes with an expectation that the individual will work in the NHS for a given time. For dentists and vets, we explore their pathways too. All these courses are extremely oversubscribed, and competition is fierce, so it is important that we work with each student to build the necessary skill set and academic success required for their university place.”
As part of the curriculum, students can choose to study both GCSEs and A Levels in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Further Mathematics and Psychology. In addition, QE offer an optional ‘super-curricular’ Medicine and Veterinary lesson which is timetabled into the week for Sixth Form students and is run by the science department. These sessions include guest speakers from medical, veterinary and dental careers and provide an invaluable opportunity to learn about university applications, university study, and careers from those that have gone through the process and are currently working in these fields. Guest speakers in 2023-24 included a current GP, a Consultant, a Medicine Lecturer, a Cancer Researcher, a Sports Medicine Business Owner, and a current alumni studying medicine at Newcastle University.
Outside of normal lessons, QE offers a selection of nationally recognised and relevant courses onsite including Level 2 Award in Basic Life Support and Anaphylaxis, Level 2 Paediatric First Aid, Level 2 Citizen Aid, Youth Mental Health Aware, National Pool Lifeguard Qualification and the ILM Level 2 Award in Leadership and Management. In addition, there is a weekly Psychology Club where students learn, debate and share ideas.
Every year, QE hosts a Suturing Workshop led by a GP for our aspiring medics. The school also hosts their own Medical Conference where students can research and present their ideas to a panel of experts, with prizes for first, second and third place. In addition, students can become Science Ambassadors to both input on science activities and offer support to other students.
As part of the careers programme, students go on educational visits, university tours, and new for 2024-25, will be visiting the cancer research facility of alumni, Dr Ethan Perkins, who will also be hosting a work experience programme. Students can also partake in other work experience such as getting hands-on experience with dementia patients at Heath Lodge Community Haven and volunteering at a second care home who are partnered with the school. The QE careers team is also linked to Harrogate Hospital’s 60-hour work experience scheme but are also available to assist and supply information on hospital placements at York and Leeds General Infirmary, with many students doing multiple placements. Boarders wishing to do placements are supported with transportation to and from each venue.
To help set themselves apart in a crowded field of applicants, pupils can compete in the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge, British Physics Olympiad Challenge, British Biology Olympiad Challenge, UK Biology Intermediate Challenge, University of Warwick National Scientific Challenge, and the Royal Society of Chemistry Olympiad. QE students perform brilliantly in national competitions, and in 2023-24, achieved 1 Roentgenium, 54 Gold, 92 Silver, 9 Copper, 104 Bronze and 10 Commendation awards in these competitions.
All pupils applying to medicine, veterinary or dentistry courses are automatically enrolled onto QE’s Early Applicant Programme, which offers four application support workshops hosted by a current doctor and 1-2 meetings per week with a personal UCAS tutor, who is always from a science background. QE’s careers team provide in-depth information on the UCAT and BMAT exams required for medicine, where to find practise papers, how to use AI in exam preparation, and how to strategically apply to universities based on each candidate’s UCAT score. They host an MMI interview day, which contains seven mini-interviews on the various topics required by universities and fully mimics a typical university interview for these fields. They are also on-hand to carry out further mock interviews on request.
As part of QE’s senior school provision, all students can access the QE careers team for support on university choices, extra-curriculars, and the application process. They can also participate in Q&A seminars with visiting professionals and alumni and attend academic clinics and ‘power hour’ sessions which are timetabled to ensure students obtain their required grades.
QE College currently ranks 2nd nationally for A Level results according to the Sunday Times Parent Power 2024. Entrance into QE College requires Level 7s in the subjects the student wishes to undertake.
QE offers a small number of academic scholarships and means-tested bursaries to Year 12 starters. UK applicants are required to tour the campus, do an interview, present on a topic, undertake a CAT4 ability test, share recent school reports, and submit proof of predicted GCSE or equivalent grades. Academic scholars are usually required to be predicted Levels 8s and 9s at GCSE.
Contact us
To learn more about QE’s ambitious ‘medics programme’, visit www.qe.org,
Email. admissions@qe.org or attend the 16th November Open Morning.
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