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Boys from Years 7 & 8 lined up in front of the School to bid a colourful goodbye to Queen Elizabeth’s School’s 450^th anniversary year.

With sixth-formers helping to ensure all looked good, and with a drone filming overhead, the junior boys filed on to Stapylton Field in front of Main Building to spell out #QE450. Click here to see the drone footage showing how it was done!

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “It has been a tremendous year, so we wanted to find a way to mark its conclusion which was both fun and which created an impressive spectacle involving a large number of boys. My thanks go to our Head of Technology, Michael Noonan, and his Year 12 Technology class for lining up the participants so accurately.

“More generally, I would like to thank the countless people – boys, staff, alumni, parents, Governors and other friends of the School – who have contributed in so many ways to making our anniversary year such a resounding success. We look back with gratitude on a fantastic 2023, and look forward with great anticipation to all that 2024 will bring.”

The Year 7 & 8 boys wore sports strip in their House colours for the shoot:

• Broughton in red for the hash tag (#)
• Harrisons’ in brown for Q
• Leicester in yellow for E
• Pearce in purple for 4
• Stapylton in blue for 5
• Underne in green for 0.

The anniversary celebrations were heralded close to the end of the 2022 Autumn Term with a royal visit from HRH The Duke of Gloucester.

Major events during the year itself began with the launch of a new authoritative history of the School, Queen Elizabeth’s School: 1573–2023, written by former Headmaster Dr John Marincowitz (1999–2011).

On 24^th March, 450 years to the day since Queen Elizabeth I signed the Royal Charter to establish QE, the whole School gathered for a thanksgiving service in Westminster Abbey.

Founder’s Day on the third Saturday in June was heavily anniversary-themed, with events including the planting of a time capsule intended for exhumation on the School’s 500^th anniversary in 2073.

The Old Elizabethans Annual Reunion Dinner this year had a special emphasis on the anniversary, including the opportunity for alumni to see items from the QE Collections archive.

The Chamber Choir were recorded performing And Be it Known, the anniversary anthem commissioned by the School from international composer Howard Goodall for the service in Westminster Abbey, where it was premiered. The recording was used as the soundtrack for a special anniversary video.

The traditional Service of Nine Lessons and Carols in Chipping Barnet parish church, which included the first-ever congregational rendering of And Be It Known.

And those are just some of the highlights: throughout the year, the anniversary was celebrated through a series of special events and activities, including: the 56th Annual Elizabethan Union Dinner Debate; competitions; festivals in areas as diverse as the Sciences, Economics & rugby; and the planting of trees in Heartwood Forest, as well as hundreds of bulbs around the QE site.

• For more details about the anniversary celebrations, visit the dedicated 450th anniversary page.

Boys at QE planted hundreds of trees and flower bulbs, ensuring that the School’s 450^th anniversary year would leave a living environmental legacy.

Forty-seven boys from Year 10 headed to Heartwood Forest with the aim of planting one sapling for every year of the School’s history, while back at the Queen’s Road campus, Year 7 pupils helped plant bulbs. The bulbs were selected so that the flowers will bloom each year around 24^th March, the day of the signing of the Royal Charter in 1573.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “Our anniversary year has been about celebrating the present and looking to the future, as well as remembering our rich history: so, what better way to mark the end of the year than by doing some planting – an activity bringing environmental benefits to both current and future generations!”

Trees have been a theme throughout the anniversary year. HRH The Duke of Gloucester heralded the start of the anniversary celebrations by planting an oak tree when he visited the School near the end of 2022. In his anthem commissioned for the thanksgiving service on 24^th March 2023 in Westminster Abbey, international composer Howard Goodall wrote that “like an oak [QE] draws its strength from ancient roots spread deep and wide”. And “thriving from ancient roots” was chosen as the slogan for the year.

The area planted in Heartwood Forest, near St Albans, has been donated to the Woodland Trust relatively recently. The trust aims to reverse deforestation there, creating corridors for wildlife. The 47 boys, accompanied by staff including Assistant Head (Pupil Involvement) Crispin Bonham-Carter and Head of English Robert Hyland, spent several hours working in the mud to plant several species of young trees under the guidance of trust volunteers. During their labours, the boys saw wildlife including deer and red kites. The Headmaster also stopped by to lend a hand with the planting.

The eager planters easily exceeded their target of 450, Mr Bonham-Carter explained. “We lost count in the end, but we estimate that our 47 boys planted upwards of 700. Many thanks to The Woodland Trust for looking after us and helping us mark the end of our 450th anniversary in such a long-lasting and life-affirming way.”

The opportunity arose after last year’s Year 10 visited Heartwood Forest on the QE Flourish days in July – special activities run as part of the School’s Flourish extra-curricular programme – and took part in various conservation activities.

Mr Hyland added that the Year 10 pupils had recently been reading extracts from authors such as Henry David Thoreau, William Hazlitt and Edward O. Wilson on environmental themes. “When it comes to raising awareness of ecology and sustainability, it is so much more powerful, however, to experience a connection to the world around us at first-hand.”

The bulb-planting by Year 7 around the School campus was also a muddy experience. The new plants will provide visual interest, as well as supporting the ecology and biodiversity of the School site, building on existing efforts to re-wild selected areas.

• Click on the thumbnails below to view the gallery.
• Read more about our 450th anniversary celebrations in our dedicated anniversary section.

Queen Elizabeth’s School drew its 450^th anniversary celebrations to a rousing, festive conclusion with its Service of Nine Lessons and Carols in Chipping Barnet parish church.

St John the Baptist Church was packed, with extra chairs having to be brought in to accommodate the unprecedented demand from the congregation made up of Year 7 boys and their parents, current and former staff, Governors and friends of the School.

While the service’s format was traditional, there were some innovative touches from the start, with, for example, an introit, The Little Drummer Boy, that was arranged by three sixth-formers, Isher Jagdev, Arjun Patel and Tharun Dhamodharan. The melody was played first by trumpets at the back of the church, but then by Isher, on the tabla, before the Chamber Choir came in with the vocals.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “With a bit of squeezing, we just about managed to fit everyone in – and I am pleased to say that all were treated to a marvellous service.

“The traditional Bible readings were impressively delivered by pupils of all ages and by senior staff. We also enjoyed the more modern musical pieces and arrangements, as well as the classic carols sung by the congregation.”

After the organ voluntaries – played by Year 8’s Zach Fernandes, Noah Morley, of Year 10, and Joel Swedensky, of Year 12 – the service began in darkness as the introit was sung. The traditional solo descant for the first verse of Once in Royal David’s City gave way to the Barbershop group singing verses two and three; it was only on verse four that the congregation joined in and the church returned to light, creating a dramatic opening to the service.

The other congregational carols were: O come, all ye faithful; God rest you merry, gentlemen; While shepherds watched their flocks by night; Hark! The herald angels sing. The Chamber Choir and Barbershop pieces were by composers from John Rutter to Peter Cornelius.

“All the music was strong, but the upper voices of the Chamber Choir singing New Boy Born, with flutes and piano, and the whole Chamber Choir’s powerful and percussive Nova Nova really stood out, the Headmaster added.

The service culminated in the first-ever congregational signing of And Be It Known – the new School anthem commissioned from international composer Howard Goodall for the School’s thanksgiving service in Westminster Abbey on the day of the 450^th anniversary, 24^th March 2023. The Year 7 boys had been taught the anniversary anthem in advance of the carol service.

“The boys joined in with gusto and were in great voice, helping to make the congregational singing of the anthem a success.

“Overall, the service was innovative and really quite a spectacle, in the best sense – an entirely fitting end to a wonderful anniversary year.”

The service was attended by: Martin Russell, Representative Deputy Lieutenant for the London Borough of Barnet, and the Deputy Mayor of the Borough Cllr Tony Vourou, accompanied by the Deputy Mayoress, Mrs Caroline Vourou.

The service was preceded by a reception for the Headmaster’s guests at Tudor Hall – the home of the School from soon after its founding in 1573 to 1932, when it moved to its present location.

• For more photos from the carol service, scroll through the gallery near the foot of our 450th anniversary page.

Amid all the end-of-term busyness, QE pupils and staff still found time to remember people less fortunate than themselves, both locally and further afield.

The QE Barbershop group gave their first-ever performance of a full programme of music in a fundraising concert in central London for the Family Action charity.

And today, the last day of term, donations that the boys have brought in for Chipping Barnet Foodbank and Homeless Action in Barnet, two charities regularly supported by the School, were handed over.

A group of senior pupils headed out in a School minibus, accompanied by Assistant Head (Pupil Involvement) Crispin Bonham-Carter and QE Flourish Tutor Celia Wallace.

Mr Bonham-Carter said: “Care for others and philanthropy are an important element of the QE ethos. Furthermore, our Barnet community is important to us, so it was good to support the two local charities, as in previous years, while also supporting Family Action, too.

“Last year, Chipping Barnet Foodbank fed more than 5,000 people. The need is, therefore, great, and I am delighted that as a School we have been able to play our part in helping out.”

The delivery of the donations came at the end of a run-up to Christmas that has included boys tucking into a traditional Christmas dinner – with vegetarian options available.

The Barbershop group’s invitation to the Family Action concert at St James’s Clerkenwell (Farringdon) came from Adam Hope, who teaches piano and organ at QE.

The boys have previously sung individual pieces of music, but never a whole programme.

Their repertoire for the concert included both familiar carols and lesser-known festive pieces:

• Once in Royal David’s City (Henry John Gauntlett, 1805-1876)
• Ding Dong Merrily on High (Trad. Arr. Joe Johnson)
• Away in a Manger (Trad. Arr. Reginald Jacques)
• The Three Kings (Peter Cornelius, 1824-1874) (with Arjun Patel, of Year 13, as the soloist)
• We Need a Little Christmas from Mame (Jerry Herman 1931-2019, Arr. Dave Briner)

A new pupil in QE’s first year as a comprehensive, David Burton (OE 1971–1978) returned to Queen’s Road decades later to work as its Head of Finance.

Now retired, he is back with the School once again: this time, to serve as a Governor.

“I have always set great store by education and learning, which meant that I was happy to accept the Governor position as a way of supporting the running of QE, in particular guiding on the finance aspects,” says David. “I look on it as giving something back to the community and the institution of QE.”

He arrived at QE at a time of rapid expansion, with entry doubling from three forms to six. “It still carried elements of a grammar school in many respects, with masters and prefects wearing gowns in assembly, for example. But in my time I witnessed the expansion of pupil numbers up to close to its current size, and the construction of the Fern Building to help accommodate them.”

His personal memories include being in Eric Shearly’s form in his first year, participating in the School play, getting involved in debating, and becoming a prefect. Although excited to be one of the very few who was at the School for the 400th anniversary in 1973 and is still involved now during the 450th anniversary year, he says: “To be honest, I don’t recall very much about the actual commemorations 50 years ago.”

A clearer memory is of being appointed treasurer of the sixth form entertainments committee by Sid Clark, Head of Sixth Form (who later, like David, served as a Governor in retirement): ” I didn’t realise at the time that this would plant a seed for my subsequent career!”

After reading English and History at university, he embarked on a career in accountancy and insurance, training as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young. Based in the City of London, he nonetheless had the opportunity to travel on assignments to North Africa, the USA, France and Switzerland.

“After a long time away from the School (38 years), a coincidence of me being at a loose end and seeing the vacancy for Head of Finance brought me back in 2016. I had little knowledge of modern state school finance, but in my experience, these are often the best situations  I have always appreciated learning and understanding something new. I found the senior team and all the staff to be inspirational, so enjoyed deeply my second stint of six years at QE.

“Coming back did bring back many more memories than I thought I had retained about the school, the masters and my contemporaries.”

He retired in May 2022 and returned to the Governing Body in September this year, having served a term as an elected Staff Governor from 2016 to 2020.

David is married, with two grown-up children and a young grandson “who keeps us busy and entertained”. He enjoys DIY on both houses and cars, as well as travel, cinema, and, more recently, gardening.