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A small group of sixth-formers and a larger party of some of QE’s youngest pupils all enjoyed a Languages department trip to a château in Normandy.

Forty-four boys from the current Year 8 benefited from the opportunity to practise their French while undertaking a very diverse range of activities at the Château de la Baudonni& egrave;re, near Avranches. They also enjoyed trips to attractions including the Bayeux Tapestry.

The six Sixth-Formers worked in local businesses – a restaurant, florist, dental surgery and farm – which were selected according to their own interests. In addition, they received specially tailored oral classes relating to the A2 (A-level) syllabus on aspects of contemporary French society and culture. Specific topics covered included racism and the marginalised.

The activities sampled by the younger boys included:

• Raft-building
• Assault course exercises
• Archery
• Rock-climbing
• Feeding animals kept in the château grounds
• French lessons
• French bread-making

Languages teacher Gill Ross said: “All activities were conducted in French by native speakers, as were mealtimes. The boys’ French – both speaking and comprehension – improved dramatically by the end of the week.

“Off-site, as well as the Bayeux Tapestry, we visited the 360-degree cinema at Arromanches, where we saw a film about the D-Day Landings in June 1944, and we s aw the beaches where the Allies landed,” Mrs Ross added.

Old Elizabethan Aidan Radnedge is Chief Reporter at Metro, which last month overtook The Sun to become the UK’s biggest weekday newspaper by circulation.

Aidan (OE 1988-1995) reports on major national and international events and has worked as a war correspondent and an international undercover journalist. He has also written books on world football and about the Olympics.

He follows in the footsteps of his father, Keir Radnedge, a noted football journalist who has written for World Soccer magazine for around half-a-century and is the author of 33 books.

“I have very fond memories of QE,” says Aidan, who recalls, in particular, “trips to Germany to appreciate and enrich our understanding of friendly counterparts”.  He won QE prizes and commendations for Music, History and Politics and was a F orm Captain. School records show that he gained some early journalistic experience by working on the Underne House magazine.

After QE, Aidan went to Birmingham University, where he read English.

He happily recalls attending a QE Dinner Debate ten years after leaving School: “Six of us went as a gang and found former classmates surprised to find so many of us were still friends as adults – as we remain: the best of friends, a good gang.”

Aidan is modest about his career – “apologies to QE for squandering such good grounding and potential” – yet his newspaper has a circulation of close to 1.5 million and is also widely read online.  And he routinely writes front-page leads on the biggest news stories of the day, from the death of three-year-old Syrian refugee, Alan Kurdi, who drowned while trying to enter Europe with his family in 2015, to last year’s Brexit referendum (pictured).

“In attempts at boasting mode, I would point towards times as a foreign correspondent in war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan; working undercover in crisis-ridden Zimbabwe at a time when foreign journalists were officially banned; and to working in earthquake-hit Nepal, famine-ridden Ethiopia and reporting child-soldier stories in Sierra Leone and Cambodia.”

His sports books have been for major publishers, such as Carlton Books and Dorling Kindersley.

Boys from Years 7 an d 8 had the opportunity to explore the vast array of extra-curricular activities open to them at the School through QE’s Clubs and Societies Fair.

Almost 50 clubs, societies and musical ensembles are available to boys in these year groups, and many of them were represented at the event in the Shearly Hall. With highly energetic dance demonstrations, vocal pitches from many of the clubs’ representatives and even a gruesome severed head (courtesy of the Drama Club’s props store), the fair itself proved to be a lively lunchtime attraction.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “At QE, our focus is not only on academic studies, but also on helping our pupils develop into fully rounded individuals. Participation in clubs and societies plays a significant part in this, not least by helping boys develop their leadership and organisation skills.

“We therefore expect all pupils to engage in extra-curricular activities, and I am sure that through this fair, with its rich tapestry of clubs and societies, the boys will have been able to find the right activity for them to throw themselves into.”

Among the pupil and staff-run clubs represented were:

• The History Rangers, for which boys were draped in flags and carried reproduction shields
• & #x09; 3D Printing, which uses the Technology Department’s state-of-the-art machines
• Zoology
• Language Games
• Art.

Sport and the performing arts were also well represented. The Music Department showcased its bands, choirs and ensembles – more than 20 of them – while Sixth Form representatives of the Dance Club treated the younger boys to a series of impromptu routines and the Drama Club brought along a number of intriguing props.

Extra-Curricular Enrichment Tutor and History teacher Matt Dunston said: “There was a real buzz of activity and excitement, and it was good to see pupils of all ages coming together to support each other.”

In a special talk for Year 9 pupils, two representatives of the Terrence Higgins Trust gave their own accounts of how they contracted HIV and how they have lived with it since.

Head of Pupil Development Sarah Westcott arranged the visit by the charity, as Year 9 have recently been exploring the topic of sex and relationships in their form groups and in year-group assemblies as part of their Personal Development Time scheme of work.

The trust was established in 1982 and named after Terry Higgins, who died in London that year and was among the first people in the UK known to have died from the AIDS virus. The charity’s speakers’ names were given as Alex and Carole.

Dr Westcott said: “I learned a great deal from this visit and I am sure the boys did, too. Because these guests told their own stories, it was quite hard-hitting. Perhaps most striking was Carole, who was in her 50s when she was diagnosed. Ironically, she was working as a sexual health professional – lecturing others on what to do. She thought it didn’t apply for someone of her age – it felt disconnected from her demographic.

“One of the messages therefore was that it can happen to anyone: HIV/Aids doesn’t conform to the stereotypes, so all should be aware.”

The boys were told that 40,000 of the 102,000 people with HIV in the UK live in London.

The presentation included information on the distinction between HIV (an infectious virus that attacks the immune system) and AIDS (which develops when HIV goes untreated and the immune system is weakened). It looked at the stigma, discrimination and prejudice which can affect people living with HIV.

It set out how transmission can be prevented, pointing out that people on effective HIV treatment cannot pass on the virus. The presentation also made clear that although HIV remains incurable, those with HIV can expect to live a fairly normal life, with a normal life expectancy, if they are receiving the right treatment.

The boys completed an evaluation form after the talk, reflecting on what they had learned. One wrote: “It was very eye-opening and I learned a lot about prevention and about how, with treatment, those with HIV can have a normal life expectancy. It is important to talk about the issues so people have a true idea. It de-bunked a lot of myths.”

John Brown has built a long and successful career creating abstract sculptures based on the human figure. His clien ts range from hospitals and churches to multi-national companies and private collectors, among them celebrities such as Elton John and Simon Cowell.

Born in 1931, John, who attended QE from 1940 to 1949, continues to work well into his ninth decade and to draw fresh inspiration from the contemporary world: a recent series was based on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, for example.

This year, he has shown his sculptures at several art fairs and exhibitions. One of his artworks was recently hired to appear in a City office scene in Steven Spielberg’s latest science fiction, Ready Player One. And this autumn. the University of Kent is showing two of his dance sculptures, Break Dance and Argentine Tango in an exhibition.

His work deals with human relationships and emotions, expressed in a simplified, abstracted way that aims not only for visual impact but also to stimulate thought and discussion. John’s sculptures range from interior pieces to larger pieces for the garden and are made in English stone, as limited-edition foundry-cast pieces in bronze, or in cast-resin metals, including aluminium and iron.

John’s sculpture training began at Hornsey School of Art and continued under Howard Bate R.A. at Hampstead Garden Suburb Institute, where he later taught sculpture and became Head of Art. John has worked as a freelance sculptor since September 1977 and was also with the institute from 1975 until 1993.

He married his wife Pauline (née Scott) in 1955. For the past 40 years, he has lived at the Bow House, & ldquo;probably the oldest house in Barnet”. The house is situated in Wood Street, close to Tudor Hall – the home of Queen Elizabeth’s School for more than 350 years until it moved to Queen’s Road in 1932.

John’s website features a blog on which he posts news about his work as well as occasional articles giving advice, such as Top tips for choosing a garden sculpture and guidance on how to light outdoor sculptures.

The website also gives his personal account of how he works: “Sculpture has become my all-consuming work and, having developed a particular interest in the human form as a basis for my inspiration, I find myself constantly surrounded by sculptural ideas. So often the everyday encounters between couples in their ordinary lives spark a composition ready to be simplified and developed into a sculpture.

“I like to allow these ideas to germinate in my head before sometimes drawing a simple sketch; but I quickly go on to make a small three-dimensional maquette which enables me to visualise the whole work in the round. These maquettes are all-important – they hold the key to the final work.  Is it to be a stone carving or a large cast piece?  What should the scale be? Even, what will be the final patination in the case of a cast piece?

“I try to give my works a title; this has to be fairly concise – just sufficient to give the viewer a lead from which they can develop their own interpretation.  I like to think that their answers are not always immediate, but that, with time and consideration, they will form their own conclusion.

“I never think of a sculpture as being temporary; it’s wonderful to believe that it is permanent and can be handed on for future generations, though when asked to name my favourite piece, I always reply: ‘My next one.’”

Pictured here are The Conversation, a group of three standing figures carved in Ancaster stone from Lincolnshire, produced for clients who already possess several of John’s sculptures, and Joy of the Family, produced for Priors Court School, Thatcham, Berkshire.
Here is a selection of John’s public, hospital, church and school commissions:

• The Listener – Barnet General Hospital
• Mother and Child for St John the Baptist, Chipping Barnet
• Supplication for United Reform Church, Whetstone
• Crucifix for St Philip the Apostle, Finchley
• Sculpture for the Darent Valley Hospital, Dartford, Kent
• Celebration ll – Kaufman Cancer Centre, Bel Air, Maryland, USA
• Tête a Tête in Harpenden Town Centre
• Unison & ndash; Weston Park Hospital, Sheffield
• Love of the Family – King’s College Hospital, London
• Four sculptures for the Jeffrey Kelson Centre, Central Middlesex Hospital
• Welcoming Christ – St Michael’s School, Finchley