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The Autumn Term started with Queen Elizabeth’s School in good heart following another set of exceptional exam results.

QE has subsequently been named the country’s leading state school for the second consecutive year by the Sunday Times’s respected Parent Power survey, a position we have now held for five of the past seven years.

In fact, Parent Power revealed that not only were we the top state school, but were among a mere handful of top-performing schools of any stripe, selective or comprehensive, state or fee-paying. Nationwide, just four independent schools matched QE’s 95.7% figure for the proportion of A-levels passed at A*-B. Remarkable as our boys’ performance this summer certainly was, there is a further aspect that is not apparent from the league tables, and that is the extraordinary long-term consistency in our A-level results: 2019 was the 14th consecutive year in which the A*-B figure has remained above the 95% threshold.

This extended record of achievement thus goes back to the headmastership of my immediate predecessor, Dr John Marincowitz. But John would, I am sure, agree with me that the platform for our exceptional results was built under the leadership of his predecessor, Eamonn Harris (Headmaster 1984-1999), the sad news of whose passing we received last month.

The ongoing programme of improvement to our facilities begun during Eamonn’s tenure continues. Our project to build a new Music School is on track, with the demolition of the Mayes Building to clear the site completed successfully over the summer. We are currently working on plans to fit out the building, including consideration of interior design. A full tender process for the project will be launched in the spring so that work can start in July next year, once public examinations are over.

This has been a busy term for Music, and for the arts in general, with a full programme of concerts and performances. Sergio Ronchetti (OE 2004-2011), who is a freelance composer and sound designer enjoying success in the gaming sector, visited to deliver a careers lecture to senior boys. After leaving school, Sergio first worked for four years as a professional musician, only then going to Goldsmiths, where he took a First in Music.

The boys participated very successfully in the Shakespeare Schools Festival, performing The Merchant of Venice (pictured above right). Such events are tremendously important not only in enhancing School life in general but also in the development of confident, rounded individuals.

Our new catering arrangements have met with widespread approval from the boys, who appreciate the additional choice and better presentation, the theme days and food demonstrations. The food served now has improved environmental credentials in response to feedback: there is reduced packaging and improved sorting of waste, while our new caterers, Holroyd Howe, are diligently making ethical choices with regards to their own suppliers and the food products that they sell here.

QE recently took on St Albans in a special match marking 100 years since the first encounter between the two schools. The game in 1919, which QE won, was St Albans’ very first fixture, while QE had itself only been playing the sport for a few years. At the centenary match, which St Albans won 36-19, I presented St Albans with this photo (right) of the Elizabethan team from the following season, 1920-21, the earliest rugby team photo that either school possesses.

I was honoured to be invited to give a speech at the Girls’ Schools Association’s Annual Conference for Heads, where I explained our emphasis on creating a culture that nurtures free-thinking scholarship. Of course, if we are to sustain such a culture, we must not rest on our laurels. As we look to the future, we have been gathering feedback from both parents and pupils to inform our next exciting development plan, which will drive the School forward over the next four years. That period includes the 450th anniversary of the School, which we celebrate in 2023, and is personally significant for me, since within this time I will mark a decade of my headship and two decades since I first began working at QE.

We are now in the last year of the current School plan, covering 2016–2020. It is still proving highly relevant; we continue to actively pursue its aims. For example, it was with Enhancing future prospects in mind – one of the plan’s four priority areas – that we launched our inaugural university mock interview evening, which was supported by a considerable number of alumni.

The School’s online presence continues to develop. As many old boys will already know, QE Connect, our new online community for Old Elizabethans, was launched earlier this term and has met with a good initial response. We have many plans to develop it. People from across the wider Elizabethan community also seem to be enjoying interacting with our new QE Instagram and Facebook accounts.

Ivin Jose has been chosen as our 2020 School Captain and is pictured above with his senior team.

My best wishes to all Old Elizabethans for an enjoyable Christmas holiday and a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

Neil Enright, Headmaster

Dr Frederick Baker has won a major EU cultural award for an innovative, large-scale digital project telling the story of the run-up to the 1938 Nazi annexation of Austria, the so-called Anschluss.

He led a team of filmmakers, historians and programmers involved in the project, which reached thousands of users via the internet, radio, television, and mobile phones, as well as through analogue media such as postcards, lectures, and print. In addition, it was the first digital exhibition on the website of the new Austrian Museum of History in Vienna.

And, in a move of political significance marking the 80th anniversary of the events, the work was projected on to the walls of the current-day Chancellery on the Ballhausplatz in the centre of Vienna in a presentation that included films, photographs and sound recording. During the annexation, this building was the scene of a power struggle between the local Nazis (following orders from Berlin) and the last Austrian President.

“The work is called the History Radar ‘Zeituhr 1938’ and is a web platform describing the key 24 hours in the Nazi invasion of Austria in 1938,” said Fred (OE 1976-1983), who added that the Chancellery was the Austrian “equivalent of Number 10 Downing Street”.

Born in Salzburg but brought up in London, Fred studied Anthropology and Archaeology at St John’s College, Cambridge, Tübingen and Sheffield universities and went on to gain a PhD from Cambridge in 2009. He was a Producer Director for the BBC, working for the corporation from 1994 to 2006. He is the owner of the Austrian film company, Filmbäckerei, and a College Research Association at the Centre for Film and Screen Media, Wolfson College, Cambridge.

Following the success of the project during the 80th anniversary period last year, it was announced this year that it had won the European Heritage Award/Europa Nostra Award in the Education, Training and Awareness-Raising category. The project was one of only seven to be named as one of the awards’ Grand Prix.

Fred received his award and a cheque for €10,000 from Placido Domingo, President of Europa Nostra, and Tibor Navracsics, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, who co-hosted the recent major awards ceremony.

In his acceptance speech, Fred said: “This [project] was 100 per cent Austrian-funded…and I think that says something for the right side of Austria and the correct side of Austria and those who… stood up and are the winners in the end. Thank you very much for this really amazing prize which will help us a lot to carry on and give us support in difficult times.”

In their citation, the awards jury praised the project’s “impressively designed, interactive, web-portal that enhances the user experience and which is especially attractive for young users.

“This project has used innovative media to cast new light on pivotal historical moments in which crucial political decisions were taken. Curiosity was the driving force that provoked this historical storytelling, evoking the collective memory of eyewitnesses. The project’s pioneering technology allows for the constructive mediation of historical events.”

“This innovative approach enables a more nuanced understanding of individual responsibilities in securing democracy and the common values of society. It expresses the dangers of organised propaganda, which, in combination with a compliant media system, can encroach on democratic values and foster unfounded cultural and social bias,” the jury stated.

In a speech at the awards ceremony, Guillaume Poitrinal, President of Fondation du Patrimoine (France’s Heritage Foundation) highlighted the significance of the event: “We all believe here that Europe is not just about economics, Europe is not just about a single currency, Europe is not just about a common market: Europe is also about a common culture.”

The History Radar ‘Zeituhr 1938’ project was produced by Filmbäckerei, in co-operation with Dr Heidemarie Uhl, Dr Michaela Raggam-Blesch, Dr Eva Gressel and Pauli Aro at the Academy of Sciences in Vienna, with digital engineering by Thomas Prieler (Web-Tech) Christoph Kovacs/ Gernot Huber (Sensotix) and design Raimund Schumacher (Lost in the Garden).

Funding came from the Memorial Year 2018 fund of the Austrian Federal Chancellery, the Austrian National Fund of the Victims of Fascism, Austrian Future Funds, City of Vienna Student Research Scholarship funds, the Academy of Sciences and the Haus der Geschichte Österreich.

Fred is the winner of numerous awards – including a previous Europa Nostra Award for work done with Cambridge University – and is renowned for his work as a pioneer of immersive reality. A virtual reality experience based on the work of Austrian artist Gustav Klimt last year proved immensely popular with experts and the public alike. Having first won a Silver Medal for Cinematic Virtual Reality at the European Virtual Reality Halo Awards in Amsterdam, its run at Vienna’s MAK (Museum of Applied Arts) was extended by nearly six months and it was then staged at the Palais des Beaux-Arts (also known as BOZAR) in Brussels.

Former Headmaster Eamonn Harris, who is widely credited with saving Queen Elizabeth’s from closure and then overseeing its transformation into a successful grammar school, died last month. He was 76 and had been unwell for some time.

The School is planning to celebrate his life and contribution by hosting a commemorative event on Saturday 21st March 2020, to which all alumni are welcome. Further details will follow in the New Year, but if you are interested in attending, please click the button now to let us know by email – remembering to include your full name.

At the start of his headship in 1984, Mr Harris inherited an underfunded comprehensive school with falling rolls, poor academic results and demoralised staff. Over the next 15 years, he set about introducing change into almost every aspect of School life, often in the face of fierce political opposition.

By the time he retired in 1999, QE had become one of the finest state grammar schools in the country, providing a platform from which his successors were able to take the School to the position of pre-eminence it enjoys today.

Current Headmaster Neil Enright said: “It is no overstatement to say that without Eamonn’s unwavering commitment and redoubtable leadership, the School may have ceased to exist and would certainly not have flourished in the way that it has since.

“His tenure was characterised by the bold decisions and high expectations which are the foundations of the School’s present success.

“Of course, Eamonn had a considerable impact on the lives of so many Old Elizabethans – a fact that has been underlined by the many messages and tributes we have received in recent weeks from alumni living all around the world.” A private family funeral has already taken place.

Mr Harris was appointed in October 1983, having taught for ten years at a tough school in Croydon and then at Samuel Whitbread Community College in Bedfordshire, where he was deputy head.

It was only after his appointment – but before he took up his post in January 1984 – that he learned that the local authority had scheduled QE for closure in two years’ time.

The School at the time was badly undersubscribed, with a mere handful of parents actually requesting it as their first choice. In September 1984, only 133 places out of the 180 available were filled. Not only were academic results poor, with few boys going on to good universities, but behaviour also left a great deal to be desired, and QE pupils had acquired a reputation in Barnet town centre for being rowdy and noisy.

He set to work with his customary energy, and the transformation quickly began, with one of his first measures being to ensure boys stayed on site at lunchtime while the behavioural issues were tackled.

Within just two years, the School was effectively oversubscribed, as, in September 1986, the number of successful parental appeals against refused places meant that the intake exceeded the School’s official roll.

One major challenge that quickly emerged was the state of the School’s finances. The School was not getting its fair share of the Local Education Authority’s budget.

Mr Harris therefore pressed hard to take advantage of the new freedom schools were given in 1988 by the Conservative government to opt out of LEA control and become Grant-Maintained Schools, funded directly by a grant from central government. It was a controversial move, opposed by the local Conservative-run council.

Mr Harris, however, was tenacious and the School achieved Grant-Maintained status in 1989. He explained why to his successor as Headmaster, John Marincowitz, in an interview conducted in 2015 as part of Dr Marincowitz’s research for a forthcoming history of the School. “I believed that I was responsible for my patch, my school, and to do all I could to make it a successful place. If all heads did the same schools would improve and standards rise.”

He took a holistic approach to the transformation of the School, combining vision and drive with clarity of thought, a willingness to try new ideas and considerable attention to detail. While there was certainly a focus on teaching and monitoring of performance, ostensibly smaller matters were not neglected, either: uniform policy was, for example, properly enforced, and the School campus was better maintained, with shrubs and flowers planted.

The result was a cultural sea-change, with staff re-energised and motivated, and expectations raised. It was Mr Harris who reformulated the School’s mission: “to produce boys who are confident, able and responsible”.

Professional standards were introduced into areas such as staff development, IT and finance: the School acquired Investors in People status in 1996, while in 1998 QE was named Supreme Winner of the National Training Awards.

Extra-curricular provision received considerable attention, with notable successes achieved in national Young Enterprise competitions, rugby and water-polo.

In the early 1990s, taking advantage of another new freedom for schools, he drove the process which led to the Secretary of State granting the Governors’ petition to allow the School to apply a fully selective admissions policy once again in September 1994, thus reversing the move to comprehensive status some three decades earlier.

Following an Ofsted inspection in 1995, the Education Secretary, Gillian Shepherd, wrote to Mr Harris informing him that the inspectors had found QE to be “an outstandingly successful secondary school”.

The Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s (FQE), which had remained loyal during the School’s decline, was reinvigorated, and fundraising reached hitherto unseen heights in the last years of his headship. Without recourse to either local or central government funding, an amount of nearly £3 million was spent on new buildings – a Sixth Form block (the Heard Building), five Science laboratories and a Music block.

By the time he retired in 1999, after suffering ill-health following a bout of pneumonia, the School had in very large measure been transformed, with examination results strongly in the ascendant and the School’s reputation fully restored.

At his retirement, a Governors’ tribute penned by Dr Marincowitz said this of Mr Harris: “He inherited a school which was struggling to fill 150 places. He leaves his School one of the most sought-after and outstanding boys’ schools in the country. It is so because of his leadership, courage and commitment.”

Pupil Joshua John won QE’s Years 8-11 Chess Tournament – even though he was competing against boys more than three years above him.

Joshua, of Year 8, achieved the maximum possible score of 6 in the competition, which saw 60 boys competing to be named 2019 Years 8-11 Chess Champion.

There was hot competition in the year below, too, where 43 of QE’s youngest boys fought it out in the Year 7 Chess Tournament. Samrath Sareen took the title of Year 7 Chess Champion with a score of 5.5.

Teacher in charge of chess, Geoff Roberts, said: “I am very pleased to see the number of highly able and enthusiastic chess players we have at Queen Elizabeth’s.

“I’m particularly delighted to see Joshua John secure the title for the first time. It is very rare indeed for a Year 8 student to win this title, so Joshua is an especially worthy champion, having won all six of his games against a high-quality field.

“The Years 8-11 tournament was an enjoyable and competitive morning of chess. We were able to make use of the chess expertise that Sixth Form boys have developed, utilising their skills in the running of the tournament for the benefit of the younger pupils. All of the competitors undoubtedly enjoyed receiving advice from the sixth-formers who have been highly successful at chess over many years.”

Mr Roberts added that more than 100 boys are currently attending the after-school Monday and Friday sessions of the Improvers’ Chess Club.

Second place in the Years 8-11 tournament was shared jointly by five boys on 5 points:

• Andreas Angelopoulos, of Year 8
• Divyesh Bansal, of Year 9, who was also therefore best in his year
• Yash Mahajan and Vedaangh Rungta, who were jointly best in Year 10
• Ish Chhabra, of Year 11, who was best in his year.

Similarly, in the Year 7 tournament, joint second place went to five boys: Shardul Gupte; Karthik Kalaiarasan; Yoshiki Nagumo; Anirudh Srinivasan, and Nathan Xu.

Judges in the prestigious Empire Mock Trial competition held in New York praised a nine-strong QE team for their performance in courtroom battles against leading American and Chinese schools.

Despite having to grapple with a legal system that can be very different from the English system, the Sixth Form team competed strongly, gaining both votes and plaudits from the adjudicators, reports their coach, Jack Robertson, Head of Philosophy, Religion and Society.

One of the team, Dharrshan Viramuthu, of Year 12, reflected afterwards on a “fantastic, unforgettable experience. Dharrshan said: “Visiting a city like New York was amazing, as was the opportunity to compete against the best Mock Trial teams in the US and across the world.”

Saifullah Shah, of Year 13, added: “Beyond its academic rigour, the entire Empire experience was unforgettable, largely due to the remarkable kindness of our fellow competitors. Numerous friendships were made both amongst our own team as well as with our opponents.”

The weekend event was held at Southern District Courthouse in downtown New York. Mr Robertson and his fellow coach, Chemistry teacher Charani Dharmawardhane, travelled with the team.

“The Empire Mock Trial follows the US legal system, so students had to learn a lot about how it works,” he said. “They had to familiarise themselves with, and then be able to apply, a range of case law, as well as adapt to various procedural aspects of being in a US court room. In particular, adapting to the use of objections was a challenge, but one the team rose to well.”

Their appearance in the competition centred on a fictional legal case between the Tam family and a company, Castle Construction. The construction company owned a luxury apartment block on the fictional island of Empirion. The block had some affordable housing units, one of which was occupied by the Tam family. Evelyn Tam, who was one of the occupants, became pregnant. Her child, Timothy Tam, developed dilated cardio-myopathy in vitro, and was given five years to live. It was then discovered that a chemical trichloroethane was present at the apartment block and that this could potentially cause heart defects. The Tam family subsequently brought a civil suit against Castle Construction, accusing the company of negligence.

Although the QE boys were not among the overall winners, the trip was a great success, said Mr Robertson.

“Judges and observers were impressed with the professional manner in which they conducted themselves, the persuasive force and clarity of their speeches, and the incisive manner of their examinations. They won the ballots of several judges in some hard-fought contests against schools from the US and China.”

In addition to taking part in the competition, the boys had the opportunity to:

• Visit the Met, the United States’ biggest art museum
• Take in the spectacular views of New York from the top of the Rockefeller building
• Sample the food at a famous kosher deli on the Upper East Side
• Go for a walk through Central Park
• Enjoy the atmosphere of Times Square at night.

The team comprised: Rivu Chowdhury, Aditya Mukhopadhyay, Saifullah Shah, Qaizaar Bharmal, Manas Madan, and Tobi Durojaiye from Year 13, along with Aadam Choudhary, Dharrshan Viramuthu, and Yuvan Vasanthakumaran from Year 12.