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Queen Elizabeth’s School has today been announced as the Sunday Times Schools Guide top State Secondary School for A-levels 2025, jointly with Henrietta Barnett School.

QE also came second (just behind Henrietta Barnett) among state-funded schools in the overall Sunday Times Parent Power rankings for the year, which are based on both A-level and GCSE results. This year’s A-level cohort performed very strongly indeed at the highest grades – 52.9% of A-levels taken were at A* – while the story was similar at GCSE, with 87% gaining grades 8-9.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “We celebrated a fantastic set of A-level results in August, and it is now great to receive independent confirmation that our leavers’ performance places this School at the very pinnacle of the country’s state schools. In fact, QE is in truly rarified company across all UK schools – whether in the maintained or independent sectors.

“At QE we support our students to be free-thinking scholars, going beyond their exam courses to seek out new insights and new solutions. We focus on excellence across the board, with a very extensive programme of academic and extra-curricular enrichment delivered through our QE Flourish programme. Boys receive individual support through bespoke tutorials, while our Personal Development Time programme equips them to navigate our fast-changing world, helping them become kind and responsible citizens.

“We encourage boys to start thinking ahead early in their time here: our QE Futures operates across all year groups, inspiring boys by creatively presenting a range of exciting opportunities for higher education and their eventual careers. Extensive support and detailed guidance are offered to pupils as they approach university applications. The fruits of this may be seen in the outstanding destinations of our students. Fifty-four of the 2024 cohort will be taking up places at Oxford or Cambridge; perhaps even more remarkably, 55% received offers from a university in the QS World Top 5.

“Since we are a selective school, it is true that our boys are very bright, but the evidence shows QE brings out the very best from them. Our Progress 8 value-added measure at GCSE was +1.22, which means that pupils here achieved on average more than a grade higher in their GCSEs than would have been expected based on their attainment at primary school.

“In short, QE offers, as we like to say, a state school education like no other – a very rounded educational experience, which nurtures as well as stretches our highly able pupils.”

Today’s announcement adds to QE’s long record of success in the annual Parent Power academic rankings. In addition, QE has also won the separate Sunday Times Parent Power State Secondary School of the Year award three times, for 2001, 2007 and 2022 – an award which recognises overall achievements across all aspects of the School’s life.

Well over 400 boys performed at this year’s Winter Concert, delivering a highly entertaining programme drawn mostly from the pop and rock repertoire.

The evening featured fun elements aplenty, and there was music to suit almost all tastes. It ranged from the contribution of the ever-popular Indian Ensemble, who included a percussion improvisation in their performance, to the pulsating rendition of Guns N’Roses’ Paradise City from the Electric Guitar Ensemble – a sound that just grew and grew.

One notable feature of the concert was the level of pupil leadership: eight pupil conductors took the baton during the evening, while the Indian Ensemble and Electric Guitar Ensemble have no conductor but are student-led and directed.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “I congratulate our Director of Music, Ruth Partington, and her colleagues on a concert delivered on a grand scale, with the Shearly Hall packed to the rafters and almost a third of our pupil roll involved.

“The music was both highly entertaining and varied, displaying the enthusiasm, talent and dedication of boys and staff alike.

“Our conducting club is supporting boys in their leadership of their peers and in developing higher-level skills. It was great to see those young conductors in action, and to witness how the boys responded to their peers and came together as one.

“All the music was of a high standard, but a special mention must perhaps go to Year 12’s Simi Bloom, who received a rapturous reception from his peers for his vocals for Skyfall played by the Jazz Band.”

Lighter moments during the evening included:

• The sound of cowbells in the pre-concert entertainment from the Year 12 Kowbell Kwintet
• A skit that began the concert proper, which revolved around missing performers who then appeared from all directions to join the Orchestra in its performance of the opening movement of Sibelius’ Karelia Suite
• The Cantina Band (Star Wars theme) in the piece, John Williams Swings, played by the Senior Winds
• The pizzicato playing of Leroy Anderson’s Plink, Plank, Plunk! by the Junior Strings
• Boys very effectively simulating the sound of rain – light, then heavier, then a thunderstorm and back again – using their hands and feet to open the Junior Choir’s performance of Toto’s Africa

Near the end of the concert, Mr Enright presented Music Colours, for which boys from Year 8 upwards are eligible. Two boys receiving Junior Colours – Gabriel Ward and Krish Bhatia – were in this youngest age group (being awarded at the earliest possible opportunity), while a further eight boys from Years 9 to 13 also received colours.

Two students received Music Bars (for those who have already received colours, but whose contribution is such that they warrant further recognition). These were Ryuki Watanabe and Leo Sellis, both of Year 12. Miss Partington said: “Both contribute to a huge number and variety of ensembles and allow difficult repertoire to be chosen, such is our confidence that they will be able to provide a lead.”

The perquisites of winning Music Colours include being able to use the practice rooms before school, at break or at lunchtime, without seeking permission!

The concert was attended by The Worshipful the Mayor of the London Borough of Barnet, Councillor Tony Vourou, accompanied by The Mayoress.

Thanks were given to School Stage for their work on the sound and lighting, which so enhances the concerts, as well as to all the FQE volunteers who looked after guests during the interval.

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While his 20 fellow pupils savoured the culture of the German capital during a four-day trip – and then told their classmates about it afterwards in the local language – Year 13 pupil Amogh Somayaji enjoyed making his escape over the Berlin Wall.

His light-hearted attempt to flee – an action which could once have resulted in him being shot – came part-way through the busy trip, during which the group of senior pupils focused on Berlin’s history over the past 100 years or more.

Languages teacher Katrin Hood said: “Year 12 have a module on Berlin: we learn about the architecture of the city, its cultural and social role, and how immigration plays a part in making modern Germany. So, to experience the city’s atmosphere first-hand is wonderful.”

The group comprised mostly sixth-formers, with a small number of Year 11 boys joining them. They were accompanied by Assistant Head of Languages Burgunde Lukasser-Weitlaner, Ms Hood and Languages Assistant Corinna Illingworth.

Arriving in Berlin from London City Airport after a very early start, the boys wasted no time before setting off on the first of a number of guided walking tours.

Over the four days, their activities also included:

• Visiting the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and the Jewish Museum
• Enjoying a boat trip, an open-air art gallery and a bowling trip
• Visiting a TV tower, going on an underground tour and seeing a nuclear fallout shelter
• Going to the (East) German Democratic Republic (DDR) museum and to the Berlin Wall
• A trip to the Reichstag (parliament building).

The groups formed from those staying in each room at the hotel had to deliver a presentation in German about a cultural highlight. Pictured is one group delivering theirs on a visit to the Treptower Park, a popular spot with Berliners, which houses the Soviet War Memorial. Each room also prepared a round for the party’s quiz night.

Year 12’s Felix Calder said: “This trip was amazing – so much history to study, some beautiful views of the city at night, and a valuable insight into German culture. So many amazing memories were made, and I hope to visit the city many more times in my life.”

During Year 12, the German A-level students watch a film, Goodbye Lenin, set around the fall of the Berlin Wall, so the trip was useful in helping them understand more about that time, Ms Hood said.

After their return via Heathrow airport, Ms Hood reflected on the four days. “What a pleasure it was to spend a few days with our wonderful students in Berlin. It was great to see them engage so fully in all of the planned activities, and to see lots of what we have already talked about in the classroom come to life.”

Final-year pupil Avi Juneja was invited to the Foreign Office after winning a prestigious essay competition, beating off competition from 600 other entrants.

Avi triumphed in the Next Generation Essay Economics competition – run by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) – with his submission focusing on debt payments by developing countries.

It was Avi’s second major competition win of the year: in the spring, an essay he wrote on the gig economy took overall first prize in a competition organised by Northeastern University London.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “My sincere congratulations go once again to Avi, who researched and wrote his essay in his own time on a topic which intrigued him – he thus embodies very well the spirit of academic curiosity and free-thinking scholarship that we seek to nurture at QE.”

The Next Generation competition was open to any UK school pupils. Entrants had to pick one of four questions, all of which looked at major economic challenges facing their generation.

Avi selected this question: According to the UN, 3.3 billion people now live in countries where debt interest payments are greater than expenditure on health or education. What actions could governments globally take to ensure debt does not prevent investment towards development?

“One reason that I chose this question over the others is that I had read a book called Austerity written in 2013, which mentioned how Greece suffered from the sovereign debt crisis,” he said.

“Having read that Greece had won the Economist’s best performing economy of the year in 2023, I wanted to bridge the gap and see what could be done to transform a nation so significantly.

“Leading on from that, I was keen to understand more about the esoteric topics of bond markets and debt instruments, as they have such tangible effects for citizens in an economy.

Avi, who is currently applying to read Economics at Cambridge, said that his research for the essay was much longer than that for previous competitions. “It took a while to grasp a lot of the complex ideas like bond premiums, payoff structures and cyclicality of demand for bonds: I think it was a week where I researched for the essay in my free time, letting the sources take me down rabbit holes before I eventually felt I understood enough to write it.

“I advocated for the use of State-Contingent Debt Instruments* and more stringent transparency requirements to alleviate the pressures of high debt interest payments faced by many nations.”

The actual writing took a few hours in his local library.

During his visit to the historic building in Whitehall, Avi met both the FCDO’s Chief Economist, Adnan Qadir Khan, and Deputy Chief Economist, Fergus Cumming, and discussed with them what he had written. Also there were the competition’s runners-up and shortlisted entries. Professor Khan said Avi’s success was “a fantastic achievement, considering we had 600 entries this year!”

Avi added: “The Foreign Office is incredibly grand and ornate, so I feel very fortunate to have seen it. There was also a cash prize of £500, which is always nice.”

*State-Contingent Debt Instruments (SCDIs) are instruments that link a sovereign state’s debt service payments to its capacity to pay, with that capacity linked to real-world variables or events.

Attendance at the 2024 Old Elizabethans Annual Reunion Dinner matched the record figure achieved amid 2023’s 450^th anniversary celebrations, with some 120 guests heading to Queen’s Road this year.

There was a particularly strong turnout from the Class of 2014, although other alumni ranged from those who were at QE in the 1950s right through to leavers from 2021, with every decade represented.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “This year’s dinner was very enjoyable and pleasantly lively, with a lovely atmosphere, and we have had very positive feedback immediately afterwards, too. The main point of the evening is to socialise and have fun, and there was plenty of that, with Old Elizabethans keen to catch up with old friends and staff. I was also very pleased that so many of our old boys were keen to offer their support to the School.

“To any OEs who missed out this year, may I encourage you to make a note to be there next November, while to those who were there, see you again!”

Among the ten-year leavers (2014’s Year 13) were the current Head of Year 12, Akhil Gohil, and former head of Library Services and Curator of QE Collections Surya Bowyer. Other former staff in attendance included the 1999–2011 Headmaster, Dr John Marincowitz; Eric Houston, who currently serves as President of the OE Association, alongside his governance roles; and erstwhile luminaries of the PE & Games department Tim Bennett and David Maughan.

Before dinner, a string quartet drawn from Years 9 and 10 entertained guests during the drinks reception, while A-level musicians were on hand after dinner to showcase The Friends’ Recital Hall. Their post-prandial entertainment ranged from singing to pieces played on instruments including the drums, piano and guitar, as well as on the electric organ acquired during the anniversary year.

Guests enjoyed seeing recent additions to the facilities, such as The Robert Dudley Studio, which opened this year, while also appreciating a trip down memory lane as they visited  parts of the School campus more recognisable to them.

The Eric Shearly Award was presented to the 2024 School Captain Chanakya Seetharam, of Year 13. The citation, which was read by Chairman of the OE Association Martyn Bradish (OE 1962–1969), stated that Chanakya had “always been a role model for others, as a form captain, a peer mentor, a junior prefect and a leading musician”.

Chanakya, who is currently applying to read Law at university, had been “an extremely popular choice among his fellow students, as well as those who teach him” at the time he was chosen for the School Captain’s role last year, the citation added.

• Click on the thumbnails below to view the images. A full set is available on the QE Connect platform, for registered users within our alumni community.