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Award-winning children’s author Candy Gourlay gave QE boys valuable and inspiring tips on how to improve their own writing when she visited the School.

Ms Gourlay delivered a session entitled The Hero’s Journey to Year 7 and 8 pupils in a visit arranged by English teacher Panayiota Menelaou.

During the hour-long talk in the Main Hall, she gave the boys an overview of what a story needs to be successful and then linked this to her own life and her desire to become a writer.

‘It was refreshing to hear an author’s journey to success and it showed our students that they have to be hard-working and determined if they wish to succeed,” said Mrs Menelaou. “Candy’s talk was inspirational and gave students an array of ideas about how they could improve their creative writing.”

“It was a very productive presentation, especially for the Year 7 students, whose recent work has involved writing their own scripts in preparation for acting them out.”

Ms Gourlay is a Filipino author based in the UK, whose 2010 debut novel, Tall Story, won the National Children's Book Award of the Philippines in 2012 and the Crystal Kite Award for Europe in 2011. Her second novel, Shine, published in 2013, won the Crystal Kite Award for the British Isles and Ireland in 2014 and was longlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize.

The students not only enjoyed asking questions, but many also took up the opportunity to buy signed copies of Tall Story and Shine.

“Some students told me one thing they really liked hearing about was that despite Candy Gourlay being rejected several times, her determination to continue writing and improve her craft was motivating and made them realise that it does take time to learn to write and craft a good story,” said Mrs Menelaou.

“It was an excellent opportunity for boys to learn more about different genres and types of writing, both of which are aspects of literature that they are exploring in their English lessons.”

A week-long charity football tournament culminated in an exciting five-a-side staff competition.

Thirty-seven boys and three staff teams battled it out in the Broughton and Harrisons’ House event, raising £117.90 for the School’s nominated charity for this year, Macmillan Cancer Support.

Organised by History teacher and Extra-Curricular Enrichment Tutor Matthew Dunston, the event brought together male and female teachers from across the departments. A crowd of 48 boys turned out to watch the staff battle it out on the back field. Each spectator contributed £1.25 to the takings, which was added to the subscriptions paid by the players.

In the exciting half-hour final, which took place in chilly conditions, Mr Dunston’s red team emerged as 5–1 winners. There was then the extra treat of a penalty shoot-out, producing both fantastic goals and spectacular saves.

Founded in 1911 as the Society for the Prevention and Relief of Cancer, Macmillan Cancer Support is one of Britain’s largest charities, providing specialist health care, information and financial support to people affected by cancer.

The charity was chosen by QE pupils as part of a survey run through the eQE virtual learning resource.

The School’s other four houses are planning their own charity events to take place later in the year.

QE’s thriving Medical Society has welcomed a string of guest speakers, including an Imperial College professor and an old boy of the School who spoke about life as a junior doctor.

The lunchtime Medsoc is organised by Year 12 pupil Bushry Basheer, who also arranges the speakers.

Bushry recently welcomed back to the School Old Elizabethan Kiran Patel (2000–2007) (pictured left), who previously visited QE as the Guest of Honour at the thanksgiving service on Founder’s Day in 2014. He studied Medicine at King’s College London and qualified in 2013, then completing his two years of foundation training at Barnet and Chase Farm hospitals, as well as with University College London Hospitals. He is currently in the first year of his core medical training at Northwick Park Hospital.

Kiran told Medsoc that he had no regrets about having chosen Medicine as a career: the skill sets it offers are in worldwide demand, while academically he finds it both challenging and enjoyable.

He welcomed questions from his audience of boys from Years 10-13, counselling them to think seriously before embarking on a medical career. The amount of responsibility that medics take for the life and wellbeing of others can be stressful at times, he pointed out, adding that Medicine was also not a career for those seeking financial reward. The route to becoming a consultant is long and involves a string of examinations requiring hard work and perseverance, he added.

Kiran hopes to become a cardiologist, having expressed an interest in the subject since he was in the Sixth Form.

He commented on the current junior doctors’ dispute: without the goodwill provided by staff working overtime, the NHS would collapse. Hence it was imperative for the Government to avoid further demoralising the workforce, Kiran said.

In addition to Kiran’s visit, Medsoc has welcomed OEs Athavan Thirukkumar and Mahenthran Thanurshan, (both 2003–2010), who were also keen to help a younger generation of pupils. Having started their higher education reading Medicine at Queen Mary University, the two are currently students at Barts and the London School of Medicine. They spoke on Life as a Medical Student.

Other speakers invited by Bushry in recent months include:

• Professor Paul Aylin (pictured right), a Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at Imperial, who spoke on the topic of the ‘weekend effect’ – the claim that you are more likely to die in hospital if you are admitted at a weekend – and the use of ‘big data’ in Medicine
• Ludvic Zrinzo, Consultant and Senior Lecturer in Neurosurgery at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. He gave a lecture entitled Sentient stardust and brain surgery in which he spoke about his work as a functional neurosurgeon – which involves inserting electrodes into the brain to stimulate electrical activity – and compared this to more invasive neurosurgery.
• Charles Till, a paramedic with the Red Cross and London Ambulance Service, who spoke about the importance of paramedics in acute Medicine.

Bushry also recently delivered a talk himself; he compared health systems across different countries, considering how the NHS could be improved (bureaucracy and cost-efficiency) and also where it is doing well (including end-of-life care).

All four QE groups in a prestigious Music festival reached the finals – and the School won the composition category.

Fourteen boys from QE took part in the 2016 Spring Grove Music Festival, an annual competition run under the auspices of the Springdene Care Homes Group for the benefit of the elderly. These groups were:

· Year 13 Piano Trio, featuring pianist Anhad Arora, Simon Purdy (violin) and Akhil Shah (cello)

· Barbershop, featuring Anhad, Daniel Cheung (Year 13), Alfie Clarke (Year 11), Simon and Varun Vassanth (Year 12)

· Saxophone Group, featuring Thomas Archbold (Year 13) and Rohan Radia (Year 12), as well as Rufus Kent (Year 11 – baritone), Sanjeev Menon (Year 11 – tenor) and John Tan (Year 10 – alto)

· Original Composition, featuring composer Drew Sellis (Year 9, playing alto sax), Tai Oyama (Year 9 – cello) and Bhirammah Ramanohar (Year 9 – violin and piano).

After the festival, its Director, Dr Robin Powell, wrote to the Headmaster to congratulate him on the School’s participation. “The judges felt that the 14 Queen Elizabeth’s School students who performed as four musical ensembles in both popular, classical, and composition music competitions did so with great skill and musicality.

“To pick out individuals seems invidious but I must mention Drew Sellis who, with the support of Bhiramah Rammanohar and Tai Oyama, triumphed with Swing Groove in the original composition competition,” wrote Dr Powell, who also complimented the “positive and supportive response” of the School’s Music department. The prize for the composition category was £250 for the School.

“In all, your students and your staff were a tribute to Queen Elizabeth’s School,” he added.

QE’s Director of Music, Cheryl Horne, reports that the boys in the Piano Trio were competing against four other groups and were narrowly pipped at the post: “Their feedback from the original heat was ‘…effective ensemble playing and an enjoyable performance. This was pretty much of a professional standard’ – which shows the skill involved at this level.”

The Spring Grove Music Festival started in 2005 with the aim of providing enjoyment and interest to the elderly residents of Spring Grove care home, which is on the Finchley Road, near to Swiss Cottage. Many Springdene Care Homes Group were present at this year’s event.

A QE team of four Year 10 boys has won a regional Mathematics competition, beating off challenges from other leading schools.

Kiran Aberdeen, Jahn Bautista, Sehj Khanna and Mudit Tulsianey were all selected to take part in the Maths Feast London event, which took place at Highgate School. The competition involves a number of rounds featuring problem-solving scenarios that require participants to combine mathematical, communication and teamwork skills.

Scoring 72 points out of a possible 85, the QE team emerged as winners against 11 competitors who included their hosts and The Henrietta Barnett School. Assistant Head of Mathematics and organiser Wendy Fung congratulated the winning four.

The nationwide Maths Feast competition is run by the Further Mathematics Support Programme, a Government-funded initiative supported by the Department for Education. Its format changes slightly every year to keep the various rounds interesting and exciting. Participants are encouraged to take the materials back to their schools and run the rounds with their classmates.