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Today the 2023 School Captain, Darren Lee, and his large team of prefects officially take up their posts.

The team, all from Year 12, will enjoy the distinction and honour of being pupil leaders during the School’s 450^th anniversary year.

Darren, his Senior Vice-Captains, Ugan Pretheshan and Mustafa Sayfi, and the wider Vice-Captain team, were all called to the Headmaster’s Study in late November to be offered their roles, following a selection and voting process. They are pictured above with the Headmaster, Neil Enright.

Mr Enright said today: “My congratulations go to all our prefects on their success. By virtue of their appointment in this momentous year for QE, they will, in a sense, themselves become part of the School’s history.

“Darren, Ugan and Mustafa make an excellent trio, contributing fully to the life of the School and displaying exactly the sort of positive character attributes that we prize in our senior Elizabethans. I am sure they will be a great example to their peers and to younger pupils, and that they will help us drive further improvements at the School.

“I with them every success in their respective roles as they follow the sterling example set by the outgoing School Captain, Theo Mama-Kahn, and his team, to whom I offer my thanks.”

Darren is both a keen linguist and an enthusiastic engineer. He has won prizes and commendations in a number of language competitions, while he and his fellow Year 12 student, Yash Patel, were also named as recipients of highly prized Arkwright Scholarships after successfully navigating a long and exacting application process. As Arkwright Scholars, the pair will enjoy financial and mentoring support throughout their A-level studies.

Ugan’s extra-curricular involvements have included Young Enterprise and jointly leading the School’s personal finance society, together with his contemporary, Roshan Patel – a reflection of his keen interest in banking and finance. Ugan has also enjoyed playing cricket and rugby at a senior level. A peer mentor, he plays in the School’s Saxophone Ensemble, while practising his debating skills in the Elizabethan Union.

Mustafa is an aspiring lawyer who is studying Mathematics, Chemistry, Philosophy and French. In his role as the leader of Harrow Youth Parliament, he has recently had a leading role in helping tackle the cost-of-living crisis locally, as he and his fellow parliamentarians hand out hot food and drinks to Harrow residents.

Queen Elizabeth’s School is to work with the charity, Classics for All, as a ‘Hub’ for developing the study of classics across schools in North London.

Based at King’s College London, Classics for All was established to halt the decline of classics in state schools nationwide. As a Hub School, QE will host events such as  debates, symposia and lectures for other local schools on topics related to classics.

The School re-introduced Latin as a full curriculum subject in 2012, and all boys opting to study more than one language at GCSE are invited to take classes in Ancient Greek. The announcement follows QE’s inaugural Shakespeare and Latin Festival, which got under way towards the end of the Autumn Term.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “I welcome this announcement and congratulate our teachers on all the creative work they are doing to enrich our pupils’ appreciation of classics. Learning Latin and Greek not only gives the boys insights into the rich cultures of Ancient Greece and Rome, but also instils academic rigour generally and is of particular help in the learning of modern languages.”

The announcement of QE’s new role is one of a series of recent announcements from external organisations which have further underlined QE’s academic credentials. Earlier this month, the influential Sunday Times Parent Power survey confirmed that this year’s QE A-level results were the best of any state school in the country. Before that, Schools Minister Nick Gibb wrote to Mr Enright to congratulate the School on its “leadership in continuing to promote the teaching of languages”. All 191 boys in last year’s Year 11 were entered for at least one modern foreign language GCSE – a 100% rate which puts QE “amongst the top schools in England for the proportion of pupils studying a language at GCSE”, Mr Gibb wrote.

In addition to a School production of Julius Caesar (staged in School and at Finchley’s artsdepot as part of this year’s Shakespeare Schools Festival), the QE Shakespeare and Latin Festival has featured lectures by academics from UCL and King’s College London. Boys across the School have also been getting involved in mythology quizzes and recital competitions.

Crispin Bonham-Carter, Assistant Head (Pupil Involvement), said: “Since we are one of the few state schools to teach Latin to all, it’s not surprising that universities are keen to forge closer links.”

In her lecture delivered at the School, Dr Emily Pillinger, Senior Lecturer in Latin Language and Literature at King’s, looked at Decadence in New York and Ancient Rome. Her well-attended talk was open to senior Latinists and English Literature GCSE and A-level students. “Dr Pillinger drew out the links between Baz Luhrmann’s film of The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald’s novel and the ancient Latin text, The Feast of Trimalchio,” said Mr Bonham-Carter.

For her part, UCL Professor of Latin Gesine Manuwald lectured on the real-life characters of Julius Caesar, Mark Anthony and Cicero.

“Both academics were hugely impressed by how engaged and knowledgeable our young classicists are,” Mr Bonham-Carter added.

Deloitte innovation specialist Ed Greig demonstrated robots on his visit to QE – but told the boys to focus on the nature of any problem, not the technology involved in the solution.

Mr Greig, who works for Deloitte Digital (part of the global Deloitte financial services and consultancy group) as its Chief Disruptor, made it through the snow to give a lunchtime lecture about his work, which involves working with new technologies to understand how they can benefit clients.

He told the boys: “The mantra of my team is to fall in love with the problem, not the solution.”

He stressed the importance of understanding the true nature of problems, suggesting that invariably they are really about cultural change rather than technology – even if technology might be involved in the solution.

He gave the real-life example of a prosthetic arm for a six-year-old girl, where the issue was not merely the functionality of the limb, but making sure the girl would actually wear it by ensuring its design was fashionable and appealing, so that she would want to put it on.

There were now so many more opportunities to create and replicate experiences than even ten years ago, he said.

He gave demonstrations of both AI-powered software robots and hardware robots: having brought along a robot dog, he made it climb the stairs leading to the stage in the hall in QE’s Main Building.

He also sent a robot around Deloitte’s offices looking for people to say ‘hello’ to members of his QE audience – a task complicated by the fact that, as a result of the snow, the offices were virtually empty!

Mr Greig, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University of Warwick. After running his own web design business, he joined Deloitte in 2009 as a Technology, Creative and User Experience Consultant in 2009.

In his current role, his work involves demonstrating the benefits of new technologies in a tangible way by building proofs-of-concept and minimum viable products.

Traditional festivities brought the term to an end for the pupils and staff of Queen Elizabeth’s School – while one member of the Elizabethan family was singled out for the honour of an invitation to The Princess of Wales’ Carol Service at Westminster Abbey.

Highlights of the final days of term included the delivery of this year’s hugely successful charity collections to the local community and the School’s Christmas dinner, served complete with musical accompaniment – and all the other trimmings!

There was more festive music at the QE Service of Nine Lessons and Carols this week at Chipping Barnet parish church and at the Winter Concert at the start of the month.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “My best wishes and season’s greetings go to our all families, alumni and friends. It’s been a super end to a tremendous term that included the royal visit last month by HRH The Duke of Gloucester.”

“This year has seen QE, the Sunday Times State School of the Year for 2022: achieve an ‘outstanding’ Ofsted report; open a new Music building, and celebrate the best A-level results of any state school. It’s certainly been a year to savour! I hope pupils and staff will enjoy their well-earned rest and return in January ready to celebrate our 450^th anniversary in 2023.”

Among the guests at Westminster Abbey last night were Diane Mason and her husband, George. The Representative Deputy Lieutenant of the London Borough of Barnet, Martin Russell, nominated her in recognition of decades of work in support of The Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s and other causes in the borough. Diane worked at the School as a PE teacher many years ago and was a longstanding Secretary to the Friends’ Executive Committee.

The service was attended by the King and Queen Consort, as well as The Prince and Princess of Wales and George and Charlotte, alongside other members of the Royal Family.

“Diane, and indeed, George, have been stalwart supporters of the School for a very long time, and this rare honour is well deserved indeed,” the Headmaster added.

As it has done every year since 2014, QE ran a charitable food collection for Chipping Barnet Foodbank to benefit the most vulnerable living in the local area. In addition, boys and staff collected clothes for Homeless Action in Barnet.

QE Caretaker Steve Anderson said at the end of term: “I have just got back from delivering the charity donations with four of our prefects and I have to say I have never been more proud to be a QE staff member.

“The generosity of parents, boys and staff was unbelievable; the staff at the two centres were overwhelmed and very grateful.

“I am sure a lot of people will benefit from the kindness from our School.”

Tuesday’s Christmas dinner for boys and staff featured the traditional roast turkey – or a vegetarian option – together with roast potatoes, honey roast parsnips, carrots and brussels sprouts.

To make it even more festive, the Saxophone Quartet – Suraj Cheema and Leo Dane-Liebesny, of Year 13, Arjun Patel, of Year 12, and Leo Sellis, of Year 10 – played for the diners.

The four were also among the many musicians involved in the Winter Concert in the School’s Shearly Hall on the first day of the month.

The programme featured several different genres, with the pieces played ranging from Michael Jackson’s Beat It, performed by the Electric Guitar Ensemble to pieces more traditionally associated with Christmas, such as the excerpts from Handel’s Messiah performed by the Senior Strings and the Chamber Choir.

This week’s carol service in St John the Baptist Church started in darkness, before the church returned to light as the congregation sang the final verses of Once in Royal David’s City.

As well as other favourite carols and Christmas Bible readings by boys and staff, there were lesser-known musical treats, such as the Vocal Group’s rendition of Dormi Jesu – a setting of a short lullaby text collected by the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge while he was on a tour of Germany with William Wordsworth in 1798.

Akash Vaghela is continuing to grow and refine his fitness business – now billed as “the only place in the world entirely focused on helping you not only get into shape, but on learning how to stay in shape”.

RNT Fitness has transformed more than 3,000 lives in more than 25 countries, says Akash (OE 2003–2010) – and fellow Elizabethans number among some of his most satisfied customers.

As previously reported in Alumni News, Akash set up the business in 2017. Recently, he has put more emphasis on ‘get in shape, stay in shape’ as its unique selling point. “This is emphasised with a minimum commitment of 12 months, which is very different for the fitness industry.

“RNT has evolved from ‘spreadsheets and emails’ to building its own proprietary technology to better serve its members,” he adds. “All the technology is being built self-funded. Doing it without outside investment and as our first foray into building tech has been a very interesting challenge indeed!

“We have also ‘niched down’ towards working with high performers, which is a natural fit to QE alumni, who are typically high performers in their careers.” In fact, the most-read case study on RNT’s website has been that of Shyam Kotecha [OE 2003–2010], whose story has featured in Men’s Health, The Telegraph and The Guardian.

“Tom Bridges [OE 2005–2011] is a great example of our USP in action, showing the benefits of the long-term journey. Punit Rawal [OE 2002–2009] exemplifies our ethos of ‘using the physical as the vehicle’ very well: he used this as a springboard to open his own vet practice. And Minil Patel [OE 2003–2010] shows just what is possible as a vegan. His story featured in the Evening Standard recently.” Click on the thumbnails below to see what they achieved.

Akash himself turned vegan last year and has used his experience to prove that it is possible as a vegan to make fitness gains. In his own words, his “body transformation journey” took him from “eating a kilo of meat a day to getting shredded on a completely vegan plant-based diet”.

His website offers a free 28-day programme – the Transformation Accelerator – which Akash is inviting his fellow Elizabethans to join.