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An Old Elizabethan starting his final year at Oxford returned to QE to extol the virtues of studying English.

Surya Bowyer (OE 2007–2014) spoke to the whole of Year 11 in the Main Hall and encouraged them to study English at A-level and at university. In the afternoon, he also conducted mock interviews for boys considering applying for an English degree.

English, he told his audience, is not only a very well-regarded degree, but can also lead to many interesting careers. For his part, he aims to become a barrister, possibly specialising in either commercial or family law. He said that participating in debating at School inspired him to consider this career.

Surya, who is at Keble College, is passionate about literature. His course at Oxford began with compulsory study of the canons of English literature, including Shakespeare. More recently, he has been able to choose to write a 6,000-word extended essay on Writers and the cinema and a Special Option 8,000-word dissertation on Donald Barthelme, a US short-story writer known as ‘the father of post-modern fiction’.

Surya’s talk gave pupils an overview of university life and was leavened with some amusing anecdotes about cooking food at college. He happily answered boys’ questions.

In addition, he had some tips for those considering reading English at university on how to succeed in the pre-interview English Literature Admissions Test (ELAT), which is used for admission to English courses at Oxford and Cambridge.

QE pupils learned about language and migration at a topical conference for Sixth Form linguists hosted by a leading independent girls’ school.

The Languages conference at North London Collegiate School featured talks by three distinguished academics on the themes of migration and transnationalism. It was attended by 13 Year 12 pupils from QE, accompanied by Languages teachers Marie-Jo Jacquin and Rebecca Grundy.

Dr Siobhan Shilton, of Bristol University, gave a lecture on Paris-based artists exploring identity in video, performance art and graffiti.

Professor Margaret Littler, from Manchester University, spoke about Turkish and German literature and used the example of a rap song to demonstrate how the large Turkish community living in Germany are integrating themselves into society.

And Professor Charles Burdett, of Bristol University, talked about his research into ‘transnationalising modern languages’ with specific reference to Italy and Ethiopia.

Students had the opportunity to ask the speakers questions about their areas of research, about broad cultural issues and about preparing for university.

The three lecturers each gave advice for students who are considering studying languages at university; they should prepare themselves for the broad, challenging curriculum and look to develop their interests.

Year 12 pupils drew inspiration for the start of their AS Politics course from a visit to Westminster.

The 14 boys visited Whitehall and the Houses of Parliament, before finishing the day with a workshop on debating.

Head of Politics Liam Hargadon said: “Parliament always inspires the boys who get the chance to visit. Afterwards they can more readily appreciate terms like ‘frontbencher’ and ‘backbencher’ MPs and understand the reasons behind some of the more obscure practices, all of which help to explain why Parliament works in the way that it does.”

The trip involved an opportunity to see Downing Street, Whitehall and Parliament Square, where the boys savoured the range of statues of historic figures and political leaders. A tour of the Houses of Commons and Lords including walking by the green and red benches and standing at the Despatch Box. The group also visited the 900-year-old Westminster Hall, which is the oldest building in the Parliamentary estate and has been the venue for countless historic occasions, including the lying-in-state of the Queen Mother and addresses to joint sessions of Parliament by successive world leaders.

The workshop on debating focused on what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable parliamentary language; why, for example, MPs never ‘lie’ but may instead be ‘economical with the truth’.

Sixth-Former Maaz Shahzad has won a bursary and work placement from a prestigious City law firm – one of just four overall winners in a fiercely fought competition for state school pupils.

For the initial stage of the competition run by CMS Cameron McKenna, Year 13 pupil Maaz, who hopes eventually to become a barrister, first submitted his academic results to date, with a reference from the School.

He also wrote a 1,000-word essay, for which he was given the choice of two titles – Does the UK have responsibility for citizens abroad? or Is tax avoidance legitimate? Opting for the latter, Maaz argued that not only was tax avoidance legal, unlike tax evasion, and therefore legitimate, but that the Government actually promotes it, through ISAs, for example. It is beneficial for individuals and the state for individuals to save and invest, and they are thus encouraged by the government to do so through ISAs and other tax relief schemes.

Maaz was then among 12 students selected for an assessment day. This involved taking part in group tasks with other candidates at Cameron McKenna’s City offices, focusing on negotiation skills. The day included an interview, which covered various legal issues.

In a letter to the Headmaster announcing his success, Cameron McKenna solicitor Sarah Hyde, who heads the scheme, wrote: “We felt that Maaz was an outstanding candidate who coped impressively with a challenging assessment day and we were delighted to award him one of our bursaries. The standard of applications was high and we believe that Maaz should be very proud to have been one of the four students awarded a bursary.”

As well as the bursary, which is worth £2,500 for each year of a student’s law degree, Maaz has also been offered mentoring from a Cameron McKenna lawyer and a work placement at the firm’s offices during his first year of university.

Maaz is currently studying for A-levels in Mathematics, English, History and Politics.

A special event at QE encouraged boys to think globally when making their university choices.

The lunchtime and early-afternoon Global Education Fair in the Shearly Hall brought representatives from 15 universities in Australia, Canada, Finland and the USA to the School.

Organiser Sarah Westcott, who is QE’s Head of Pupil Development, said: “The event, which was well-attended by a large number of Sixth-Formers, aimed to encourage our boys to think widely and consider the global context when making university choices.”

“Studying abroad can also be considerably cheaper, with, for example, Finland offering completely free education to UK students (unaffected by the recent Brexit vote),” Dr Westcott said. She added that the fair was also attended by representatives of specialist colleges recruiting for business and languages courses which were looking to train graduates for jobs in the European business market.

In recent years, QE boys have won places at a number of overseas universities, including Yale, Harvard and Stanford in the US.

The fair was organised by BMI, a company specialising in international student recruitment. In its information for the boys, it stated that the biggest reason given by students for not going overseas was the intimidating prospect of finding a place to study and then actually moving there. The fair aimed both to address these concerns and to set out the advantages of studying abroad, which include:

• Opportunities to learn a further language
• Gaining a sense of independence
• The chance to avoid incurring the large debts typically accumulated by students in the UK
• A broadening of students’ horizons
• Advantages in the employment market, since employers value those who have the courage required to study abroad and also value the additional experience that these students gain.