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The Music department have adapted to Covid-19 conditions with the first-ever concert from the School to be live-streamed on YouTube.

The Senior Chamber Concert featured a restricted audience in the Main School Hall, but was also filmed and broadcast online so that the wider QE community could see it in real time.

Director of Music Ruth Partington said: “It is exciting to be live streaming to YouTube. As ever, the boys in the concert have been practising hard and they should all be congratulated on achieving such a high standard of performance.”

The programme for the first major concert of the academic year exclusively featured soloists, with 13 performances during the course of the early-evening event.

Playing instruments ranging from the electric guitar to the flute, they were drawn from Year 11 and the Sixth Form. The repertoire was similarly diverse, from Beethoven (Year 12 pianist Alex Woodcock performed the Sonata in G Op.14 Allegro) to contemporary American guitarist Steve Vai’s Die to Live (performed on the electric guitar by Kirtinandan Koramutla, of Year 11).

The concert, which ran for 1hr 17mins, opened with another electric guitar piece – Soma, by Simon Troup – played by Year 11’s Atul Kanodia.

The sole vocalist of the night was Shivas Patel, of Year 12, who performed songs by the 19^th German composer Robert Schumann (Ich Grolle Nicht from Dichterliebe) and his protégé and friend, Johannes Brahms (Ständchen).

Year 12 alto saxophonist Conor Parker-Delves brought the evening to a close with his performance of Pequeña Czarda by Pedro Iturralde, a Spanish saxophonist and composer celebrating his 91st birthday this year, who composed the virtuoso piece in 1949.

Mr Tadashi Imai, one of QE’s visiting music teachers, accompanied the soloists on the piano.

The technical operations, including the live-streaming of the concert on the QE Barnet Music YouTube channel, were run by Indrajit Datta of Year 10.

The concert is still available for viewing on the Music department’s YouTube channel.

Representatives of Perspective, QE’s new pupil-led initiative, have joined senior staff to highlight the importance of Black History Month.

School Vice-Captains Thomas Mgbor and Ayodimeji Ojelade, of Year 13, have been speaking in assemblies at the School, while teachers have also led assemblies and the academic departments are uploading resources to the eQE digital learning platform throughout the month, promoting discussion and awareness in all the subject areas. Pictured here is a Year 12 assembly on Black History Month themes led by Head of Year Simon Walker.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “I am pleased that we are doing more to celebrate black history, especially during Black History Month, and I congratulate Thomas, Ayo and our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Ambassadors on all the hard work they have done.”

Mr Enright added that QE’s forthcoming comprehensive review of the curriculum being carried out in connection with the launch of a new School Development Plan covering the period 2021-2025 will incorporate the themes of combatting racial bias.

The departmental materials, curated on eQE, showcase the work of influential black artists, scientists, poets, engineers and musicians; examine issues such as historical inequality in the protection of intellectual property, or the way in which colonial powers redrew national borders; and consider such questions as the social construction of race, and where our knowledge of black history comes from.

As well as assemblies with contributions both by the Vice-Captains and some Heads of Year and the eQE content, other Black History Month activities at QE include:

• The release of a list of anti-racism books by The Queen’s Library; and
• Short videos from alumni that are being used to stimulate discussions on Black History Month in form groups.

Thomas said: “This experience has been really eye-opening for us. The ability to learn more about our own culture has redefined what black history was, especially within the UK. Understanding the contribution of black people within the UK has shown us how black history is British history”.

One of the first Old Elizabethans to respond to his and Ayo’s request to set out their thoughts and experiences on video was Ifeanyi Chinweze (OE 2008-15), who recorded separate films for Years 7-9 and Years 10-13.

In his video for the younger boys, Ifeanyi began by introducing himself, saying that although his family originally came from Nigeria, he has lived in the UK for his whole life. He recounted his personal history of the “hurtful” comments he received as a teenager, as others questioned his love for the performing arts (including debating, public speaking and acting).  “In my teenage years, I became aware of the fact that this choice of passions was unusual for young, black men like me and I was constantly reminded of this by my peers. At the time, I was often called an ‘oreo’, or asked why I didn’t act like a real black guy.” (Merriam-Webster dictionary defines ‘oreo’ as a ‘usually disparaging’ term meaning ‘a black person who adopts the characteristic mentality and behaviour of white middle-class society’.)

“It’s important to understand that racism is not limited to hate crimes or acts of violence,” said Ifeanyi, adding that although such comments do not always indicate malicious feelings towards black people, they could nevertheless be hurtful, whether said as insults or as jokes. And, he added: “They can reveal stereotypes, or skin-deep images that people hold of others….It is these stereotypes that produce prejudices…but if we learn to talk about our experiences and our perspectives, we share things, we can understand each other and challenge internal biases and stereotypes. We can propagate change in our mindsets, starting from our local environment and spreading. So, I would like to encourage you to ask questions, to discuss and to understand why your words might be harmful to someone else.”

Perspective, which was established last term in the wake of the global Black Lives Matter protests, is a forum looking at a range of societal issues, including racism. Black History Month was first celebrated in the UK in October 1987.

Queen Elizabeth’s School’s popular and long-established Combined Cadet Force is back in action, with boys competing against each other in a new programme specially adapted to keep them safe from the coronavirus.

The cadets will be battling it out for the rest of the term in a series of activities focused on refreshing their basic skills in field craft, weapon-handling and drill.

Contingent Commander Major Mev Armon, who is a Biology teacher, explained that the activities are being run on a two-week rotation, with older pupils alternating with younger boys, all split into their year-group bubbles. The first session, involving Year 11 and Year 13 boys, went well, he said. “They got wet, muddy and pushed themselves to achieve more than they thought possible.”

QE’s CCF, one of relatively few to be run in state schools, was established in 1992 and is sponsored by the Corps of Royal Engineers, with the Regular Army providing support in training and administration. Open to pupils in Years 9-13, it provides a training framework in which boys can develop a range of physical abilities, including endurance and co-ordination.

Mr Armon has devoted more than a quarter of a century of service to the contingent.

In response to Covid-19, the normal vertical structure of training with senior cadets instructing junior cadets has been replaced by adult-led training for the contingent’s Monday evening sessions, which are being run for the Autumn Term as a competition.

The first two weeks are focusing on Battle Field PT [physical training], including a ‘basic fitness test run’, ‘casualty drag’, ‘fire team fire-and-manoeuvre stand’ and a ‘jerry can carry stand’. This is being run by 2^nd Lieutenant Richard Scally (Head of Cricket & Head of Aquatics), assisted by Physics teacher Jonathan Leigh.

The next stage will be History teacher 2^nd Lieutenant Akhil Gohil’s military skills assessment, which will include target indication, shelter-building and field observation stands.

Other sessions will focus on ‘skills at arms’, and on drill and turnout.

QE pupils, including both teams and individuals, have taken three of the top eight prizes in a summer competition to create a flight manual for astronauts travelling to Mars.

Lev Shafran, Achint Thakkar and Ye-Sung Baek, who are now in Year 12, collectively won the Best of Key Stage 4 Award in the second stage of the Galactic Challenge Journey to Mars Digital Competition, together with a teammate from another school.

The Science Award went to Medushan Thevadaran, also of Year 12, while the Illustration Award was won by Dylan Domb, pictured above, of Year 11. A further seven boys won gold awards, 15 took silver and six gained bronze.

Congratulating the winners, Head of Physics Jonathan Brooke said: “This was a popular competition among our boys, with 47 participants in 20 teams from Key Stage 3 through to Key Stage 5. It was an interesting challenge, requiring them to apply their skills in STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics] and to develop in areas such as teamwork, communication and leadership.

“There were also a few telling parallels between the challenges faced by astronauts confined to a spacecraft and those endured by the boys during lockdown.”

The competition to create the flight manual for a mission set in the year 2041 was the second stage of the competition – ‘Mission II’. QE boys also performed strongly in the first stage.

Chair of the Galactic Challenge Aadil Kara, who is also an Old Elizabethan (OE 2010–2017), explained that when Covid-19 forced the cancellation of in-person events, including one due to be held at QE, the organisation had instead launched the digital competition to allow participants to enter from home.

For the Mission II manuals, pupils were asked to propose ideas to help the astronauts stay physically and mentally healthy in isolation. They were also tasked with designing the overall configuration of the spacecraft and with suggesting experiments to be conducted during the nine-month journey.

After a rigorous anonymised judging process, the winners were announced. In their feedback, the Digital Competition Team praised the:

• Use of floorplans by Key Stage 4 Award-winners Lev, Achint and Ye-Sung to show astronauts the location of facilities on their spacecraft, The Aion. with eight separate modules serving different purposes. “There was excellent consideration of backup resources, and the use of shifts amongst crew members was an interesting proposition.”
• “Real scientific principles” underpinning the manual for Science Award-winner Medushan’s Genesis I “Medushan referenced physical phenomena in lots of areas, including fuel used in the propulsion system, osmosis used in the water reclaimer, and dietary modifications for the astronauts to mitigate against radiation exposure.”
• “Impressive illustrations” from different elevations provided by the Illustration Award-winner, Dylan, for his Explorer Vessel Cyclops. “Dylan also used labelling and annotations throughout to bring the diagrams to life, explaining the purposes of all the components on the vehicle.”

Commenting afterwards from the Key Stage 4 Award-winning team, Lev said: “I am proud to have worked with such an outstanding team, and I would love to work with them again. I learnt both organising and entrepreneurial skills through the transitioning of a product into a specific format, and it has further inspired me to pursue my interest in astrophysics and aerospace engineering.” Achint said that not only was it a “rather interesting experience since it enabled me to research and predict the form that space travel might take 30 years into the future based on the technology which is growing right now and which might be useable sooner than people think” but it also required him to do some wider reading, which was good preparation for the A-level Physics he has now begun. Ye-Sung added: “I’m most proud of an element of the spacecraft that actually didn’t make it into the final submission, as we didn’t have time to put it in. It was a solenoid that would have blocked solar wind, ensuring the relative safety of those onboard.”

Pandemic or no pandemic, the show goes on at QE, with a special Shakespeare Schools Festival (SSF) workshop held to help Year 9 boys prepare for next month’s performance of Hamlet.

Rehearsals for the play, which opens with the ghost of the King of Denmark instructing his son, Hamlet, to avenge his murder, are now in full swing at the School. During the workshop, boys rehearsed the fight in the bloody final scene during which the young Danish Lord, Laertes, kills Hamlet in revenge for the deaths of his father and sister, only then to die himself, having been wounded with the same poisoned sword.

To maintain the safety of QE’s year-group bubbles, all the actors for this year’s SSF production come from Year 9, while the festival itself will also be different, with every participating school’s performance live-streamed instead of being performed in front of a theatre audience.

Crispin Bonham-Carter, QE’s Assistant Head (Pupil Involvement), who is himself a former professional actor, praised the work being done in Year 9 to stage “Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy”, while adding that weekly drama sessions are taking place in Year 7 “developing the key skills of collaboration, timing, story-telling and – most importantly – having a great deal of fun!

“It’ll take more than a national pandemic to stop QE boys’ enthusiasm for drama,” he said.

Leading the workshop were Gavin Molloy, of RM Drama (the company which provides drama direction for the School), and Brian Mullin, an Artistic Associate with the Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation (the organisation which runs the festival).

Mr Molloy said: “I am lucky to have such a keen cast from Year 9, with a mature and ‘can-do’ way of working. They perform well together, working as an ensemble. I am very excited with what is to come.

“It’s a little different this year, as obviously we are working with some limitations: our version of Hamlet will not be performed in front of a live audience, but rather on a live video feed to the Shakespeare Schools Festival on the evening of November 20th.”

But, he said, progress to date has been strong, with all boys involved already having gained an understanding of the plot of Hamlet. Asked what the themes of the play were, the Year 9 boys instantly responded: “Revenge!”, “Murder!”, “Madness!” “Power!”

“I added to the list by saying it’s also a play about grief. A son who loses his father, and how devastating that is for him. I also tell them it’s what The Lion King is based on!” said Mr Molloy.

“We have a totally blank canvas and are working collaboratively with thoughts, ideas and production decisions. We share ideas, talk about productions we may have seen and also discuss how we will need to make a lot of character choices as we have only 30 minutes to re-tell probably the most famous story in literature, as we are working with a heavily cut-down script for the festival.

“The boys have also been having some fun learning of the double meanings of some of Shakespeare’s dialogue. I am very excited with what is to come. The play’s the thing!”

The final photo (right) shows a recent bonding exercise in the Year 7 Drama Club.