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Sixty-five boys from the Combined Cadet Force enjoyed a week-long camp in Shropshire that featured activities ranging from kayaking to a 24-hour field training exercise organised by the QE contingent.

The CCF boys from Years 9-12, accompanied by seven members of staff, joined cadets from four other schools at Nesscliffe Cadet Training Centre near Shrewsbury.

Among the highlights was the award of second place – out of all 400 cadets there – for Year 10’s Zayaan Humdani in the short range shooting competition.

“It was a good week for our boys: such camps are invaluable experiences, helping cadets improve their individual skills and also developing teamwork and a sense of camaraderie,” said Major Mev Armon, who is both the CCF commanding officer and a Biology teacher at QE.

The week began with a day of personal development training at a local activity centre, which included kayaking, canoeing, mountain-boarding, climbing and Laser Quest. The following day was spent on the shooting ranges, with the cadets split into two groups, depending on their level of experience. Activities ranged from competition shooting at 200m and 300m for the senior group to weapons training and a DCCT (Dismounted Close Combat Trainer – a computer-simulated range) shoot for the junior group.

The middle of the week saw two days devoted to military skills and combat skills, followed by the field training exercise planned and run by QE. The last full day was given over to competition, with the schools entering teams of up to ten into challenges that included military skills, tug of war and a ‘gun run’ contest.

QE engineering students have progressed to the national final of a prestigious construction industry competition with their idea for a dust-beating, water-fed broom.

The Year 12 team won the Health & Safety category in the South East Regional Final of the Constructing Excellence 2015 competition.

Pupils William Forrester, Alexander Norcliffe, Mitul Shah and Daniil Slavin developed the broom to reduce the problem of dust on construction sites as part of the Engineering Development Trust’s sixth-month Engineering Education Scheme in conjunction with Lovell Construction.

Representatives of the Trust and Lovell attended a special presentation of the Regional Award at the School.

Lovell business systems manager Alex Wood said: “The brief was simple: ‘can you improve on the everyday broom to improve health and safety?’ We asked the students if they could come up with a better way of controlling dust on site – which can be a serious health hazard for construction workers – and produce a practical solution which would be affordable to produce.”

After carrying out research and experiments and collaborating with Lovell’s small tool and equipment suppliers, the students devised a prototype broom incorporating a controlled water mist. 

“The initiative was designed to encourage innovation and research and enabled the students to see how their school studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics feed into creating practical solutions,” said Mr Wood. “It’s also a way of giving young people a clearer understanding of the industry and of the health hazards which construction workers face.”

Michael Noonan, the Technology teacher who oversaw the boys’ participation in the scheme said: “The competition is run by the Institution of Occupational Safety & Health [IOSH], the world’s largest H&S organisation. Winning the Health & Safety category is a great achievement.”

For the national final, the boys will be expected to make two further presentations to the IOSH in October – one at Millwall Football Club and the other at The Victory Services Club . The winners will be announced at a special event at the London Marriott Hotel, also in October.

The School has been awarded bronze-level Champion School status by the gay rights’ campaigning and lobbying organisation Stonewall – and now aims to work towards silver.

The School Champions programme requires participants to provide evidence that they offer an inclusive learning environment, enabling pupils and staff to celebrate differences and challenge prejudice. QE’s application was put together by Sarah Westcott, Head of Pupil Progression.

“We were delighted to receive the Bronze award,” said Dr Westcott. “QE is a forward-looking school which is committed not only to educating our boys to the highest possible standard, but also to producing young men who are confident, able and responsible. This clearly includes ensuring that they are sensitive to issues surrounding acceptance and inclusion and the celebration of individuality.”

Pupils have taken part in lessons in their personal development time which have specifically looked at the issue of homophobic bullying, the need to use respectful language and the importance of not becoming a bystander but instead standing up to all forms of bullying and name-calling. Pupils also discussed the broader topic of sexuality and sexual stereotypes.

The boys looked at the campaigning work of Stonewall, and discussed what made the charity so effective. As part of this, they undertook a project to design an awareness campaign about different sexualities.

To receive the award, the School had to demonstrate that:

• Inclusive policies are in place explicitly addressing homophobic bullying
• Students know homophobic language is unacceptable
• Lessons have included LGBT issues
• Local/national support services for LGBT young people are advertised
• Library books are available with LGBT themes
• There are posters and displays highlighting LGBT issues and role models
• Training is in place for teaching staff
• Homophobic bullying is recorded and monitored.

Posters were put up in The Queen’s Library pointing pupils to information about sexuality and relationship advice, and age-appropriate fiction and non-fiction works have been displayed.

“When we were informed by Stonewall that we had been awarded the bronze-level status, the charity also told us that we had fulfilled some of the criteria for the silver award, too,” said Dr Westcott. “In fact, as our ethos embraces diversity and inclusion, our aim is now to work towards the next level.”

QE boys involved in a digital film-making workshop are looking forward to seeing their work on the big screen this September in a premiere at the famous Odeon Cinema in Leicester Square.

Eight Year 9 boys are the latest QE group to take part in the course run by Film Skool, a Barnet-based company which works with a small number of independent and state schools across London. In total, 26 QE boys from Years 7–11 have attended Film Skool workshops in recent months.

The course gives young people the opportunity to learn about the film-making process, make professional short films spanning different genres and then have their film showcased at leading cinemas, where they can invite along family and friends. Last year, nearly 300 guests, including QE families, came to one of Film Skool’s premieres at the Curzon Mayfair Cinema.

The groups taking part have one day to shoot their film and they then spend a weekend editing it using professional editing software in a media suite.

Film Skool is run by Mo Alam, who has also been teaching Media Studies and Film Studies at Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School for ten years. He explained that the brief allowed the boys a great deal of autonomy, stipulating only that the finished film had to be approximately five minutes long. “They also needed to be realistic, using locations that they could control and ensuring that props and actors were believable,” he said.

Mr Alam is currently working in television and in feature film-making. He is  developing a teenage comedy series with an independent London-based children’s entertainment company called Zodiac Kids, as well as working on an action film based in India and China.

The eight QE boys wrote their own script. The plot was as follows: ‘Boy meets up with old school friend who seems to be doing well financially and suggests they meet up with a contact of his if they want to make money. They get involved with selling something that is illegal and an innocent family member dies. There is a moral at the end referring to choices and consequences. There is an indirect reference to drugs, although the word “drugs” is not mentioned.’

The day of filming took place on a Saturday based at the home of one of the boys, Sajeev Krishnathasan, with shooting also taking place at a local pizza shop. The finished film was edited at QE Girls’ School.

Mr Alam praised the boys’ “really good script” and said afterwards that they had produced some of the best acting he had seen all year.
The workshop was organised at QE by Jeanne Nicodemus, Art teacher, and Charlotte Coleman, History teacher, who also runs the School’s extra-curricular film-making club.

Ms Nicodemus met with the group before the shoot to discuss expectations. She also ended up with a bit part in the film herself. “They all worked really hard and we had a long day, finishing at 6.30,” she reported.

In addition to Sajeev, the boys involved were: Muneeb Faiz; Shivam Masrani; Marc Hill; Kumarran Mathisekaran; Xin Yuan He; Mipham Samten and Dylan Nakrani.

Six QE Year 12 pupils have won Jack Petchey Foundation Achievement Awards after being nominated by younger pupils at the School for showing exceptional leadership.

Mr Petchey, a London entrepreneur and philanthropist, set up the awards for schools throughout London and Essex to help young people “raise their aspirations, believe in themselves and make a contribution to their society”.

QE Extra-Curricular Enrichment Tutor Martin Bassett-Jones said: “We value these awards because through them we are able to celebrate and reward the outstanding leadership that our Sixth-Formers give to their peers in younger years. It is especially valuable that the nominations are made by the younger boys themselves.”

Pupils made their nominations online at the eQE Learning area, with one for each month from January to June. They were asked to give their reasons for each nomination.

As a gold-level participant in the awards, QE is able to offer nine awards each year – these six, plus up to three more in the autumn. Each award-winner receives £200 to spend on items that benefit other people.

QE first took part in the awards scheme during the autumn of 2014, when Alex Chinweze was the School’s inaugural winner, taking the award for November.

After compiling and evaluating the nominations and checking with QE’s Senior Leadership Team, Mr Bassett-Jones announced the latest winners and presented them with their award certificates. The names of the winners and the reasons given for each nomination are listed below:

• January: Sahil Handa – “Outstanding coach captain, peer mentor, drama and ‘lifestyle coach’. He has made a significant impact on younger and less robust pupils’ development, both physically and mentally, through his support in the above capacities.
• February: Matthew Norman – “Outstanding in Combined Cadet Force leadership and as House Captain; boys speak of him as being extremely helpful whilst maintaining high CCF discipline. He breaks in younger boys easily and is constructive when mistakes are made. He has also been looked up to as a House Captain, charity fundraiser and sports leader.
• March: Shiras Patel – “Outstanding coach captain, peer mentor and performing arts supporter. Shiras has been extremely generous with his time in a wide variety of extra-curricular activities, largely behind the scenes but very visible to those he works with.”
• April: Akhil Shah – “An inspirational cellist who has given up much of his time helping out with junior strings and many other groups in the Music department. Not only is he a really kind person, but he is also an amazing representative for Underne House.”
• May: Sam Carling – “Sam has been an inspirational House Captain that younger boys look up to, as he 'helps people in trouble'. He has given freely of his time to encourage participation in charity events and sports. His achievements in water polo, representing GB, are encouraging others to participate in this sport.”
• June: Prahlad Das Patel – “For being a friendly face and role model for younger boys on the coach to and from School. Someone to whom they could turn for advice to help them with the big decisions at key points in School life. A real-life peer mentor.”

All six were invited to attend the award ceremony at The Arts Depot, Finchley, but only Shiras was able to be there. He is pictured carrying his Jack Petchey Foundation Achievement Awards medal with the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Mark Shooter.