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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.

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In a year in which political power has changed hands on both sides of the Atlantic, QE Politics students had the chance to find out more about elections on a visit to Westminster.

Twenty sixth-formers headed to London for a tour of the Palace of Westminster, also enjoying an interactive workshop on elections run by the UK Parliament’s education department.

Politics teacher Liam Hargadon said: “QE students were able to impress the staff of the department with their knowledge of the legislation process, as well as the history of the UK constitution.”

For Year 12’s Sejal Bobba, finding out more about elections was a definite highlight: “The informative and eye-opening interactive workshop where, as teams, we learnt and executed different areas contributing to a successful party and campaigning machine was really the cherry on the top of an absorbing day.”

The A-level Politics course requires pupils to understand the workings of the main institutions of UK government, and how these institutions relate together. The visit aimed to bring boys’ classroom work and independent study on this to life.

Prior to the tour of the palace, boys had a walking tour of Whitehall and Westminster, during which they saw some major Government departments and passed the UK Supreme Court. In Parliament Square, they noted all the statues of significant political figures, from UK Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and Benjamin Disraeli, and suffragist Millicent Fawcett, to international statesmen Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi.

The tour took in the chambers of the House of Commons and House of Lords. The party, accompanied by Mr Hargadon and another Politics teacher, Samuel Neagus, walked through the royal robing room and gallery, as well as the Central Lobby.

They paused for a photo in Westminster Hall – the 927-year-old hall sometimes used for joint addresses to both chambers of Parliament and for the lying-in-state of notable political leaders and members of the Royal Family.

Their visit coincided with the Armistice Day ceremonial around the Cenotaph. “Being in Parliament Square for the traditional silence was a particularly moving experience,” said Mr Neagus.

Reflecting on the day, Sejal said: “We comprehensively explored the much-ignored but important layers that contribute to our Government, such as the Whitehall executive, the Lords and the individuals commemorated in Parliament Square.”

Year 13’s Robin Vickers added: “Our visit to Parliament showed us much about the history of the British governmental system, from the Remembrance Day activities in Whitehall to the tour, which took us to the oldest part of Parliament, Westminster Hall.

“Seeing the chambers up close, with the Strangers’ Gallery, along with the workshop following the tour, has encouraged me to participate more in Parliamentary goings-on.”

As delegates from around the world discuss critical environmental matters at COP29 in Azerbaijan, two QE sixth-formers have come seventh out of 37,000 entries in the Climate Science Olympiad.

With the international olympiad open to people aged up to 25, Andreas Angelopolous and Saim Khan fought off competition from undergraduate & postgraduate students and potentially from young climate professional scientists to claim their place.

Scoring in the final was extremely tight, with the 87.0 points awarded for Andreas and Saim’s 3,000-word essay on the Kyrgyz Republic’s food system only 1.4 points behind the fourth-placed entry. (The scores of the top three entries are being revealed in Baku at COP29, the UN’s climate summit).

Deputy Head (Academic) Anne Macdonald said: “For two school-age students to have secured such success against significantly older entrants sets this apart as a truly outstanding achievement. It’s really an unbelievable feat, made believable only because we know how brilliant they both are!”

Both Saim and Andreas were part of the QE team that recorded a top ten finish in the international finals of the World Economics Cup, having previously come first in Europe in the Continental Round.

The qualifier round and quarter-finals for the Climate Science Olympiad comprised a 25-minute online quiz involving multiple-choice questions. The semi-finals involved writing a 1,000-word essay on three key themes, namely energy, development and natural systems.

In the finals, entrants were set the task of writing a longer essay on a complex global problem.

Once it was submitted, they had two online interviews: each involved giving a 15 min presentation and then answering questions from a panel of scientists, innovators and policymakers for five–ten minutes.

The second interview was for the top 20 entrants online.  During this, entrants had to demonstrate they had responded to some of the feedback from the first panel.

In their essay, the pair wrote that they were presenting “a comprehensive approach towards creating a resilient and equitable food system in the Kyrgyz Republic”. Their systems-oriented solution included promoting capital investment; encouraging research and promoting collaboration among farmers; and a focus on water supply. The collaboration included farmers from the neighbouring country of Uzbekistan working with the Kyrgyz counterparts. The Uzbek government even provided feedback on Saim and Andreas’s proposal praising its “incredible detail for the monitoring and regulatory frameworks, which is of course vital for socio-economic change”. The Uzbek government also stated: “Promoting public, private and international financing are all crucial, and it is especially important to tie them into a single coherent system which gives confidence to all through regulation, which this entry clearly recognises.”

Andreas and Saim were awarded gold certificates and prize money of $1,000.

Year 11 pupil Paarth Aggarwal has been named the UK winner in a global artificial intelligence competition run by technology giant Intel.

Parth took the national title in the AI Changemakers ages 13–18 category after impressing judges in the Intel AI Global Impact Festival 2024 with his multilingual GenAI-powered NavigateNinja app.

The app harnesses storytelling in a natural voice and animated video to offer personalised learning to children with autism and related conditions.

His victory, which brings prizes worth £1,000, is his second major competition success of the year: in the Summer Term, he won the European Space Agency’s Climate Detectives challenge with his AI-driven study into tackling electronic waste in Barnet.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “My sincere congratulations go to Paarth on this latest success – a splendid achievement. I am encouraged not only to see his obvious mastery of AI, but also to recognise that, in line with our School ethos, he has put this exciting technology to use in ways that seek to make the world a better place.”

The competition drew thousands of entries from across the world, with Paarth’s entry being one of 111 projects to reach the global stages.

He spent many hours researching, developing, and refining the project. His app provides unique content across different subjects, based on skill level; it aims to enhance comprehension and information retention.

“Children with autism and several other similar conditions may have trouble with learning through conventional methods,” he said. “…My vision is to empower autistic children by globally launching this app and keep on adding new features like personalised avatars, voices, scenes, ‘gamification’ etc. to make learning fun, engaging and rewarding.”

Paarth used Intel Core Ultra Processor for its strong graphics and fast rendering times for complex animations. He also deployed the OpenVINO toolkit running on Intel Dev Cloud to execute AI models at scale.

His proud dad, Saurabh Aggarwal, said: “This victory is a testament to the excellent education and continuous support Paarth has been receiving from the School and his teachers.” News of Paarth’s success would, he hoped “encourage more and more students to explore the world of AI, inspire them to become the next generation of AI innovators, and realise the limitless possibilities it holds for their careers”.

• Discover further details of Paarth’s competition entry here.

Queen Elizabeth’s School remembered its war dead in traditional fashion with a wreath-laying ceremony, the 11am two-minutes silence, and the participation of the Combined Cadet Force in the High Barnet Remembrance Sunday parade.

But this year has also seen some of the youngest boys wax lyrical in a poetry competition, one Old Elizabethan publish a novel based on the experiences of a soldier in the two world wars, and hundreds of pupils and staff take part in a Remembrance Day quiz.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “We reflected with gratitude on those whose service in sacrifice in the two world wars and other conflicts paved the way for the peace and freedom we enjoy today, while also being mindful that wars are raging today in various places around the world, with all the horrors that that entails.”

At the School, the Armistice Day wreath-laying took place at the memorial to Elizabethans lost in the First World War. The CCF led the proceedings, with the Last Post and Reveille played by Year 13 trumpeter Joel Swedensky.

The School observed the national silence, with a silence also held before each of the weekend’s rugby fixtures.

On Sunday, the parade took the CCF members from the Army Reserve Centre on St Albans Road to the parish church. After the church service, Last Post and a wreath-laying ceremony, the boys joined in the march-past, with the Representative Deputy Lieutenant of the London Borough of Barnet, Martin Russell, taking the salute.

More than 600 pupils and staff took part in QE’s Remembrance Day quiz. Presented to the boys in a colourful PowerPoint presentation, its 18 multiple-choice questions included both some relating to international matters and others directly connected to the School. Here are three examples (scroll to the bottom to see the answers):

1. After the outbreak of war in 1914, QE offered scholarships to refugees from which country?
2. On 11^th November 1941, QE was hit during the Blitz. The bombs damaged the old refectory and which other area of the School?
3. Where did QE’s loyalties lie during the English Civil War (1642–1651), and why?

The quiz was fiercely contested by the boys: none got full marks, but Krithin Jaichandran, of Year 12, achieved 15/16. The staff winner was English teacher Yioda Menelaou.

One 2024 leaver, Tharun Dhamodharan, has recently published a novel that spans both the First and Second World Wars. It tells the story of a former soldier at the Somme who later becomes a teacher and has to confront his memories in the classroom during the Second World War. A copy of the novel, entitled The Forgotten Warrior, is available in The Queen’s Library. Tharun thanked Jenni Blackford, Head of Library Services, for her help and guidance.

Earlier this term, to coincide with International Day of Peace, pupils in Year 7’s Underne form wrote poems about peace. The winning poem was written by Vivaan Karalkar. It was picked by Head of English Robert Hyland, who described it as “very good indeed”. He praised its “creative use of perspective and form, using the 1st person to tell the story with imaginative use of rhyming, and presenting peace in an original way through the imagery of strength”.

The poem, set out below, was also the popular choice among the boys.

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I fly through the breeze, a wave of calm,

I lurk in the tides, tranquillity my psalm,

Warm and comfortable, I surround you, a fleece,

I protect you from war, for I am peace.

 

I live in the soul, free and untouched,

Unrest and violence, my power has crushed,

In frightened hearts and minds, my strength will soothe,

For I am peace, bound to protect you.

 

I flow through all blood, an endless force of qi,

I thrive in all places, whatever there is to see,

I am passed down from generations, a young face looking into an old,

For I am peace, a fire against the cold.

 

Life can be a struggle, a perpetual night,

But war and unrest can truly make light flight,

But fear not now, I’ll tug you from quicksand,

For I am peace,

Ready to make a stand.

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Remembrance Day quiz answers

1. Belgium
2. Rooms L and Y
3. The School was on the royalist side because many of the Governors had royalist sympathies.

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