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Queen Elizabeth’s School has joined the London Schools Eco Network – and a sixth-former has already played a leading role in supporting its work with his contributions to this month’s Youth Climate Summit.

Year 12’s Aadarsh Khimasia was QE’s delegate at the summit, a week-long series of lockdown-adapted virtual discussions and activities for primary and senior school pupils across the UK organised by the network to raise awareness of sustainability issues. Aadarsh subsequently took part in a Sustainable Innovation Forum, along with two other Summit Ambassadors.

“We presented five Climate Calls decided upon by the summit Finale to a wider group of international business and government representatives, hoping to see changes in business and laws in the near future to make our nation and the world more sustainable,” said Aadarsh.

After the forum, he was interviewed by Sky youth TV presenter, Ella Meeks, for the channel’s FYI Kids show: the interview was broadcast three times, including once on the main Sky News channel.

Aardarsh had also appealed for young people to lend their support when he appeared in the promotional video for the summit, organised under the slogan Transform our world.

QE Extra-curricular Enrichment Tutor Micah King said: “I’m incredibly proud of Aadarsh, who is using his talents in difficult circumstances to raise awareness of the climate crisis, and our role in combatting it.”

Coordinated by the charity Global Action Plan and supported by organisations such as Greenpeace, the WWF and Oxford University, the summit’s stated aim was to empower students to create a more sustainable and healthy future for the planet.

It was organised around three main themes: climate, social and racial justice; education, skills and careers, and health & wellbeing. Examples of the sessions held include one on Fast Fashion another on Careers in Conservation.

In the promotional video published last month, Aadarsh was one of only four young people selected to speak. He said: “We all call this planet home, meaning we all share the responsibility to safeguard it.

“Our earth is on the brink of irreversible damage putting us and millions of other species here at risk, but strides are being made in the right direction and we need you to help us along the way to a safer, healthier and more sustainable future.”

Aadarsh, who hopes to become a vet, teamed up with fellow delegate Andra, who is from a school in Belfast, to interview Caroline Lucas, former leader of the Green Party of England and Wales.

Afterwards, the summit host, Dr Jessica Tipton, who is Head of Sustainability and a languages teacher at St Paul’s Girls’ School, said to the pair: “That was absolutely fantastic, a massive well done for leading an informative yet relaxed interview with Caroline Lucas just now. [The] questions [were] great and you were really articulate in your responses.

“Aadarsh is really an excellent ambassador for the summit and your school! I’m so glad he’s got involved,” she added.

The School observed today’s Armistice Day two-minute silence with a ceremony that was adapted this year because of Covid-19 restrictions.

When boys fell silent at 11am on 11th November it was in their classrooms, while a smaller-than-usual wreath-laying ceremony took place at the World War I Memorial outside the Main School Hall.

The event is an opportunity for all today’s pupils and staff to reflect upon the service and sacrifice of those killed, injured or impacted by military conflicts, including the 113 Elizabethans who lost their lives in the 20th century’s two world wars.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “While the size of our commemoration here at the School had to be reduced this year and there was no QE Combined Cadet Force representation at Barnet’s scaled-back civic Remembrance Sunday event either, the importance and solemnity of the occasion was undiminished as we collectively marked the sacrifice of Elizabethans from generations past.”

The bugler who played the Last Post and Reveille at the School ceremony was Theo Mama-Kahn, of Year 11, who is studying GCSE Music. The cadet laying a wreath was Lucas Lu, of Year 12.

CCF Contingent Commander Major Mev Armon said: “Due to Covid, drill words of command cannot be given indoors, so Lucas represented the contingent, saluting the memorial on my behalf.”

Among current CCF cadets, Lucas stands out for his prowess in the field, added Major Armon, who is a Biology teacher.

Since not everyone was in earshot of the bugle, three short bell rings sounded at 10:58 as a signal that all boys should place their work aside to stand and prepare for the 11:00 bell ring marking the beginning of the silence. There was a final short bell at the end of the two minutes.

To ensure boys of all ages understood the significance of the occasion, a PowerPoint presentation detailing the history of the day was sent to form tutors to spark discussion among the pupils. It explained the importance of poppies – the first flowers to bloom on the World War I battlefields of Belgium and France – and included the famous poem they inspired, John McCrae’s In Flanders fields. Boys were also invited to watch a video featuring the Last Post.

House representatives throughout the School were involved in selling poppies to the year-group bubbles, including Leicester’s Victor Angelov (Year 11, pictured). The representatives brought the poppies round to the forms, giving everyone a chance to buy one in time for Remembrance Day.

Twenty-four boys from Year 10 had the opportunity to learn how to compose a speech from scratch and then deliver it with confidence in front of classmates in a day-long workshop at the School.

The boys learned about the importance of the three corners of the Communication Triangle – delivery, content and structure – in making a successful speech. They gained insights into overcoming nerves and tips on how to listen and give constructive feedback to each other.

The event, run by Jack Petchey’s ‘Speak Out’ Challenge!, was led by author, coach and speaker Hari Kalymnios. Four participants from each of the six forms in Year 10 were nominated for the workshop by their form teachers.

Extra-curricular Enrichment Tutor Oliver O’Gorman, who organised the day, said: “This was a fantastic opportunity for a select group of Year 10 boys to develop their confidence speaking in front of their peers, as well as learning some top tips for public speaking.”

Jack Petchey’s ‘Speak Out’ Challenge! is supported by the Jack Petchey Foundation, which is named after entrepreneur and philanthropist Sir Jack Petchey and was established with a brief to inspire and motivate young people across London and Essex. The challenge involves an annual public-speaking competition with a number of rounds culminating – in normal non-Covid years – in a Grand Final held in London’s West End at which participants speak in front of an audience of around 1,000,  including MPs, mayors and other leaders.

The workshop, which was held in QE’s Conference Centre, included an opportunity for each boy to deliver a speech to the group on any subject of their choice.

One of the boys involved, Abdullah Khalid, said: “I really enjoyed participating. I learnt how to control my breathing whilst doing a speech, which I found really useful. I hope we can do something similar again!”

Those reaching the final held on the day as part of an assembly were Victor Shyptur, speaking on Winston Churchill, Ethan Nauth (the US election), Aman Padala (Leaving things to the last minute) and Moniejan Pagareethan (Laziness). Topics selected during the day covered areas including mental health, politics, sleep, video games and social media.

The workshop leader, Mr Kalymnios, has a degree in Physics and has worked in sectors from Law to financial services, and for employers from Accenture to Sainsbury’s. He also spent three years travelling the world.

He became fascinated with what it took to become a high-performance leader and has studied experts from a wide-ranging set of industries, as well as looking at topics from nutrition, practical psychology and personal development, to science, spirituality and business.

With coronavirus restrictions precluding a repeat of last year’s inaugural University Mock Interview Evening at the School, QE’s old boys and supporters have instead been turning out in force online to make sure current pupils don’t miss out.

Using the School’s QE Connect social media platform, Assistant Head (Pupil Development) Michael Feven paired up Year 13 boys with Old Elizabethans happy to conduct virtual interviews via Zoom and Skype.

“Whilst we are disappointed not to be able to hold our Mock Interview Evening in person this year, the value of these interviews in supporting boys with their university applications cannot be overstated,” said Mr Feven.

The Autumn Term is a busy time for Year 13 boys, with UCAS applications due in, university admissions tests taking place for Oxbridge places and for degree subjects such as Law and Medicine, and with Oxbridge interviews being held in the run-up to Christmas. Mock interviews constitute an important element of the detailed programme of support that the School provides to help senior pupils secure places on the best courses and at leading universities.

OEs have been helping out sixth-formers with interview practice for many years, but last year’s dedicated mock interview evening at the School, which was attended by nearly 40 alumni and supporters of QE, was the first of its kind. This year, dozens of online-only mock interviews are instead being held; they continue throughout November.

Among those paired together for the mock interviews were Zac Howlett-Davies (OE 2006–2013, pictured) and Year 13’s Zeke Essex, who is applying to read Modern Languages at Corpus Christi, Cambridge. Zac, who read Modern Languages at Durham, uses his French and German on a daily basis in his role in European copyright licensing for printed music publisher Hal Leonard Europe.

“Mr Howlett-Davies gave excellent feedback based on his own experiences and it was great practice before the real thing. He was very knowledgeable and was very easy to have a conversation with,” said Zeke.

Sai Bodanapu, who is among QE’s aspiring medics, pointed out that the specific benefit of meeting his interviewer via Zoom in this pandemic year: “My mock interview helped me as it gave an actual representation of how online interviews will take place.” Sai was interviewed by Andleeb Ahmed, who is an NHS GP and mentor; her son, Fozy Ahmed, who left QE this year, is studying Medicine at Gonville & Caius, Cambridge.

“I am hugely grateful to the longstanding support from our Old Elizabethan community and from other Friends of the School who each year so generously give up their time to support our Year 13 students in this way,” Mr Feven added.

Pupils overwhelmingly voted for Joe Biden in the School’s mock US elections, which were carefully modelled on the real poll taking place today on the other side of the Atlantic.

Boys voted in their forms yesterday on their first day back after the holiday, having spent the weeks before half-term finding out more about the two main presidential candidates and the whole American electoral process.

The results, which were announced to the forms today, show that the Democrats’ candidate easily broke through the 270-vote threshold needed to win the electoral college, gaining 444 of the 538 votes available. Forms representing big-hitting states such as California (with 55 votes) and New York (29) backed Biden, even if there were a few upsets, such as Florida (29) returning as Republican.

The popular vote was also emphatic: there were 821 votes for the Democrats, compared with just 322 for the Republicans. Of the six year groups voting, only Year 10 voted red (Republican), while Biden swept the board in Year 7.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “We saw this as a great opportunity for our pupils to expand their knowledge of politics and current affairs, and to enjoy the cut and thrust of an election themselves.

“Our History & Politics department and Extra-Curricular tutors took a lead in providing boys throughout the School with information and resources aimed at stimulating debate, and there were contributions from a number of our Year 12 Politics A-level students.

“We now wait with great interest to find out if American voters concur with the verdict of our boys!”

To start things off, a PowerPoint presentation on the basics of the election was shown to all the tutor groups.

In order to make the experience as realistic as possible, every tutor group was allocated a state. Each had the same number of votes as in the electoral college, ranging from Alaska, Wyoming, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Vermont, all with just three votes apiece, through to Texas, with 38, and California, with its 55.

Boys were challenged to research the state allocated to their form, including topics such as which party it normally votes for, what the major issues there are, and whether it is considered a ‘battleground state’.

To keep the mock election Covid-safe, most of the activities took place online, with links provided through a dedicated page of the School’s eQE digital platform, created by the History & Politics department.

To coincide with the actual election day, a US-themed lunch was served today in the QE Dining Hall: the menu including cheeseburgers, hot dogs and sweet potato fries, with cream soda and popcorn available, too.

Information and links on the eQE election page included:

• Information-packed 10-minute podcasts created by Year 12 members of the QE Politics Society, Utsav Atri, Alexandre Lee and Ciaran Price.
• QE’s own presidential debate, which was recorded as a video. Ciaran was again involved in this, speaking for Biden, while Ethan John, also of Year 12, represented Trump, with Christian Emmanuel putting the questions.
• A series of opinion polls. Asked which candidate had performed better in the final presidential debate, for example, 114 boys chose Biden, while just 35 picked Trump.
• An election forum, where boys have taken full advantage of the opportunity to field their own comments about the elections over the past few weeks in response to questions posted both by their teachers and by classmates.

The eQE page also featured a link to information about the elections for 35 Senate seats taking place at the same time as the presidential contest.