Viewing archives for

A poem by QE pupil Surya Senthilkumar is being published this month in a special anthology created to raise spirits during the coronavirus crisis.

Year 8 boy Surya’s poem, The Pathway to Triumph!, was selected to feature in an international collection of writing from the Young Writers organisation entitled Write To Unite – Together We Stand.

Young Writers Editorial Manager Jenni Harrison said the anthology aimed to “spread positivity, give thanks, share stories, purge worries and record [contributors’] thoughts during lockdown.

“It’s history in the making and will make an incredible keepsake of an unprecedented time,” she said, adding that more than 4,000 adults, children and families had been involved in the project, contributing writing in various genres.

Surya’s 10-line poem, which is set out below, includes a call for unity – “Only as one will we overcome this disaster” – and a paean to front-line workers battling the virus – “Let us praise the NHS staff at toil”.

Asked for his reaction to his success, he adapted the last line of his poem, saying: “Endeavour from the beginning, and you shall succeed till the end!”

Surya’s triumph comes as GCSE poetry workshops led by QE’s poet-in-residence Anthony Anaxagorou get under way at the School again, helping to develop boys’ creative thinking and writing skills ahead of their English GCSE. Old Elizabethan Anthony (1994–1999) made headlines last month when he spoke out against a Government announcement that poetry was to become optional in next year’s GCSE English examination.

For every copy of the book sold by Young Writers, £1 will be donated to NHS Charities Together. Young Writers is an organisation that has been promoting poetry and creative writing within schools and through poetry competitions for the past 29 years.

The Pathway to Triumph

For the nation, we have loved for years,
Our faith and effort shall polish away the tears,
Thy actions must roar wiseness and care,
Avoiding the faces of sorrow and despair,
Only as one will we overcome this disaster,
By being resolute we can prevent the spread faster,
Let us praise the NHS staff at toil,
Valiant and loving, holding our nation up like soil,
So, let us conquer this misfortune together,
By being wise and cooperative, we continue to endeavour!

Pupils and staff at Queen Elizabeth’s School have made a successful start to the term, taking in their stride extensive measures introduced to keep them safe from the coronavirus.

All 1,250 pupils are now back, with normal levels of attendance reported and lessons well under way.

The new Year 7 boys came in on Wednesday for a special induction afternoon that included an assembly with the Headmaster, Neil Enright, with their Head of Year, Tom Harrison, and with the 2020 School Captain, Ivin Jose. They also had time in their form groups and were taken on a familiarisation tour of the site. These youngest Elizabethans are enjoying their first (non-contact) games afternoon today.

The rest of the year groups started yesterday and have already had their own assemblies and pastoral time to welcome them back.

Mr Enright said: “These are extraordinary times, but I am pleased to report that all is well and everyone is in. After last term’s remote learning through our eQE digital platform, the boys and their teachers are quickly getting up to speed in the classroom and on the sports field again, with productive learning taking place from day one.”

“Everyone is settling in well to new routines, adapting to a new timetable to accommodate social distancing and to lunch being served in multiple venues, for example.”

Mr Enright added that while staff and boys are being urged to remain vigilant, he has so far been impressed at everyone’s willingness to comply with the new measures and take responsibility for keeping the community safe, in line with QE’s anti-Covid-19 slogan, Play your part, help control the virus.

“The next few months are, of course, uncertain locally, nationally and internationally, but I am pleased that all here is running smoothly and am, therefore, cautiously optimistic as we set a steady course for the rest of the term,” Mr Enright concluded.

Queen Elizabeth’s School today begins the final countdown to the start of the new academic year next week, when all 1,250 boys will be welcomed on site.

The School, which celebrated extremely strong results at both A-level and GCSE this month, has prepared extensively and systematically for the September return to classes.

To help families get to grips with new measures to counter the pandemic, the School is today publishing its 35-page Back to School Guide containing details of its three key messages – Please, keep your distance, Wash your hands, and Catch it, bin it, kill it.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “After a great deal of hard work, we are now ready to welcome the boys back to a School that has been extensively adapted in order to keep everyone safe during this pandemic.

“It will be great to see boys from all year groups back here again and to welcome our new Year 7 intake as they embark on their QE education.

“While our teachers showed admirable flexibility and great professionalism in successfully delivering remote learning during last term’s lockdown, they are now very much looking forward to getting back into the classroom.

“I also know that, for their part, many of our pupils cannot wait to catch up with their friends. I am sure they will soon get back into the swing of lessons and start enjoying our exciting extra-curricular activities.”

As well as producing the 35-page guide for pupils, staff and parents, the School has embarked on a wide range of measures to keep everyone safe from the coronavirus. The boys will be in year group ‘bubbles’ that will gather in their own allocated playgrounds during breaks and lunchtime. One-way systems have been introduced and the timetable has been adjusted to incorporate staggered lunchbreaks, all helping to minimise congestion in corridors and communal areas. Additional staff have been trained in First Aid and arrangements made to boost cleaning in the School, particularly on high-contact surfaces, such as door handles.

“We are confident that we have effective measures in place to mitigate the risks posed by Covid-19,” said Mr Enright. “We are now asking all boys and their families to be steadily diligent and individually responsible in following the rules, in line with our new anti-coronavirus slogan, ‘Play your part: help control the virus.’

“Of course, we recognise that many families have gone through difficult times in the past few months and some people may well feel a degree of anxiety as we come back together as a School. Moreover, the pattern of the coming months is unpredictable, both locally and all over the world, and the measures we have taken may have to evolve in line with changing official advice.

“I am, however, confident of this: if we work together as a School and as the wider Elizabethan community, QE will successfully get through this hugely challenging period and emerge successfully on the other side, just as we have done before at other critical junctures in our 447-year history.”

• Click here to read the guide in full.

Boys at Queen Elizabeth’s School put in an exceptional performance at GCSE this year, as the results announced today reveal.

The proportion of pupils achieving levels 8 and 9 – both equivalent to an A* grade under the old system – rose to 82% from 79% last year. This increase was driven by a marked improvement at the very top, with 61% of all GCSE grades at QE being at level 9.

With no GCSE examinations taken this year because of the coronavirus, today’s confirmed results are instead the product of the national moderation process. They show either the grade predicted by an algorithm devised by examinations regulator Ofqual, or, following a Government change in policy announced earlier this week, schools’ own predictions (Centre-Assessed Grades, CAGs) – whichever is higher.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “Given the exceptional circumstances, it is difficult to compare 2020 results with previous years, but it is nonetheless worth noting that, taken at face value, these GCSE results are our best-ever at QE, better even than last year’s record-breaking figures.

“We are pleased that the boys in Year 11 have been justly rewarded for their efforts over the past two years, and I heartily congratulate them and their teachers: their results reflect great application, genuine ability and true scholarship.

“Many are forecasting that the late policy change will result in huge grade inflation nationally, but here at QE there is a strong correlation between the School’s CAGs and the algorithm, both at GCSE and A-level. Very few of our A-level grades were changed, compared to approximately 40% of grades changed nationally last week, and, at GCSE, there is, in fact, a slight increase in the overall figures as a result of the application of the algorithm.

“We have thus avoided much of the turbulence experienced in other schools and colleges. I am grateful to colleagues for their assiduous application of the moderation system that was sent out to schools in April. The stability we have seen in our results, with so few grades having to be changed, reflects the care with which the School approached the task given to us, the robustness of the data we drew upon, and the integrity of the staff involved.”

There was a strong performance in subjects across the board at QE, with, for example, almost three-quarters of the 185 boys in the year group (74%) achieving a 9 in Mathematics, and 85% of the individual science GCSEs (Biology, Chemistry and Physics) also receiving the top grade. Those opting to take Latin, a subject re-introduced at the School in 2012, truly shone: of the 33 boys taking it, 31 (94%) received a 9, with the remaining two awarded an 8.

“The boys can move into the next phase of their education with confidence,” said Mr Enright. “They are now well placed for Sixth Form study – taking with them a very strong set of grades, as well as the benefit of having used their lockdown time productively. They spent the time on bridging work set by their teachers focused on subjects they are planning to study at AS and A-level, on various online work experience schemes, and on taking Eton College’s Eton X programme, which gives a systematic introduction to all the key components of academic research.

“The continuity of their studies will also be aided by Simon Walker again staying with them as Head of Year. He has worked with the year group since they were in Year 10. We look forward to seeing them back in the classroom in September.”

There is, concluded Mr Enright, a clear lesson to be drawn from recent events:  “One thing that should be evident from this summer is the value of exams in providing the most objective judgement available and for the opportunity that they give for young people to show what they can do and differentiate themselves from their peers across the country. All will be hoping that exams can take place as normal next academic year.”

One of the finest year groups ever to study at Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet, today received their A-level results, setting the seal on their glittering record of achievements as senior students.

Two years ago, more than three-quarters of these pupils’ GCSEs were at the top grade (A* or 8/9); last year, they amassed the highest-ever percentage of the maximum-possible A grade at AS-level, and earlier this year, 40 Elizabethans secured offers from Oxford or Cambridge, outstripping QE’s previous Oxbridge record.

Today’s A-level results reveal that this path of success continued to the end, with 99.6% of grades allocated to leavers being A*–B, the strongest-ever performance for this key benchmark.

This headline figure was underpinned on the one hand by a significant rise in A-levels awarded A* – a 9.3% increase from last year’s 45.3% to 54.6%, which is another QE record – and on the other, by a reduction in lower grades: only two Cs were allocated out of the 487 A-levels taken at the School, and there were no grades at all below C.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “Our Year 13 leavers are a truly excellent cohort of Elizabethans who have shone brightly over the years, accruing great success in public examinations and securing places at many of the leading universities on both sides of the Atlantic, including Oxbridge. Their results today reflect their consistent excellence: they should be proud of what they have achieved over their seven years at the School and look forward with confidence to the next stage of their lives.

“While academic achievements certainly count for a great deal, there is much more to being a successful Elizabethan than getting top grades. This year group has made a broad and impressive contribution to the life of the School, as well as to their communities, through engaging fully in our wide range of enriching activities – from drama and music to chess, sport and engineering – and by giving themselves to mentoring, voluntary service and philanthropy.”

Year 13 inevitably suffered disruption in their final months because of the coronavirus, with their A-level examinations cancelled and a special valediction ceremony that had been planned for them – a QE first – having to be postponed.

“My colleagues and I have been very pleased indeed to see so many of them back on site today to collect their results and to celebrate, in a socially distanced way, with their friends and members of staff,” said Mr Enright. “We still hope to arrange to have this golden generation all back together to celebrate their success at some point in the coming months.

“Over the last months since lockdown began, our teachers have risen admirably to the challenge  of offering boys throughout the School a full programme of remote learning, using our eQE virtual education platform. I pay tribute to them and to the boys for the way they responded in such a difficult situation, and for the smooth roll-out of the partial reopening of the School that took place in the closing weeks of the Summer Term.

“We have detailed plans in place to ensure our full, safe reopening and so – fingers crossed! – I look forward to welcoming back all year groups next month, when they will be able to see the construction work that has now started on our new Music School.

“This is, of course, an extraordinarily difficult period for all involved in education. But our School has a long history, and, over the past 447 years, we have successfully weathered many great challenges: I am confident that we will do so again, and I am optimistic about the future.”