Looking to the future

At the recent Gainsborough Business Awards, Queen Elizabeth’s High School took home the prize for Best Use of Innovation and Technology - beating off competition from Burton and Dyson and the Kal Design Group.

QEHS headteacher David Allsop said that the award was well-deserved after a number of initiatives were put in place and the school were always ‘looking to the future’.

“We’re really pleased and proud to be recognised for our work in the area,” he said. “This gives out the message that we are not only a school but part of the wider community and economy pf Gainsborough.”

Mr Allsop went on: “We won the award after we took a three-fold approach.”

“The first part was for technology, where we improvement innovation, lowered our carbon emissions and saved money.”

“We received a £50,000 Carbon Trust Loan to replace all of our lighting with T5 energy efficient lighting, which has not only improved the quality of light, but the bulbs will last longer and it has reduced our electricity bills enormously.”

He continued: “The second part is for communication. We’ve introduced a new management system which means that our data only has to be entered once but can be used by a lot of different people.”

“Pupils and parent will be able to access this from home, and with Parent Mail, they’ll be able to keep informed without letters being lost at the bottom of schoolbags and be able to pay for trips online.”

“We’re now much more interactive.”

Mr Allsop said that the third strand of their plan was the most important - their ambitious approach to the future.

“We want to introduce handheld devices into classrooms,” he said. “Not mobile phones, but you’ll be able to access the internet, take photos and such and we’re looking at developing that.”

“We’ve also got the ICT Mark, which is a national certificate for using computers for appropriately for the best benefit of the students and parents.”

Site manager Chris Williamson said: “In the very near future, we’ve applied to be part of the Eco Schools Solar Programme to install up to 215 solar panels. We have plenty of roof space for them and they’ll generate about 35,000 kilowatt hours which is about £5,000 worth of electricity.”

QEHS would like to thank Business Awards organisers Langley’s Solicitors, the sponsors and all staff, students and parents at the school.