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Mev Armon left QE’s CCF fighting fit as he started a new role with Hertfordshire constabulary.

The Headmaster says: “For more than a generation, Mev has been an inspiring, supportive and charismatic teacher and colleague. His service to our cadets has been immense, and he has been something of a legend as a form tutor. We wish him all the best as he continues his public service in a new role.”

Captain Armon (formerly Major Armon) leaves after 30 years in the Biology department and 23 years with the Combined Cadet Force. The CCF contingent held a special parade in the Main Hall, where they honoured his service.

The parade was also a celebration of those cadets gaining a promotion. With more than 50 cadets attending, it was an indication of the CCF’s current strength. “That strength is due in no small part to Mev’s dedication over the years,” Mr Enright said.

QE is one of very few state schools to have a CCF. After the celebrations, Mr Armon spoke of how the CCF develops key skills such as leadership, teamwork and resilience, transforming boys into young men who are – in the words of the School’s vision – confident, able and responsible. He will continue to be an occasional volunteer with the QE CCF.

Among those wishing him well were a large number of Old Elizabethans. Here is a selection of these comments:

• Abhinav Vepa (2003–2010): “I always looked forward to your classes and CCF because you made us all laugh a lot with your great sense of humour! Good luck in the new role. Thanks for everything you offered to me, CCF, and the School.”
• Kiran Patel (2000–2007): “I had the privilege of being taught Science or Biology in almost every year during my time at QE by Mr A: Mev Armon, your contributions to your students’ development have been immense, and have inspired and encouraged so many of us particularly in the study of the sciences and medicine, not to mention CCF. “
• Anirudh Bandaru (2009–2016): “Mev Armon is the best! His teachings stuck with me when I deployed on operations, and I wouldn’t have joined the Army if it wasn’t for Sir’s encouragement and mentorship.”
• Ben Swart (1994–2001): ” I have core memories of that smile, of many conversations with him as our form tutor, and of the funkiest car alarm I could ever remember.”
• Kartik Gohil (2004–2011): “You were the heart and soul of the CCF.”

Click on the thumbnails to view the images below.

It is just two years since Sudhamshu Gummadavelly and Ashwin Sridhar won the Elizabethan Union Dinner Debate as sixth-formers in the School’s 450th anniversary year.

Now the young alumni, who both left the School in 2023, have repeated the feat, successfully opposing the motion – This House believes social media is harming our democracy – which was proposed by Year 13’s Saim Khan and Zaki Mustafa.

The motion generated extensive debate, with many boys contributing from the floor to this, the 58th annual debate. A relaxed, convivial evening, it gives senior boys an opportunity to experience the sort of occasion they may later encounter at university and beyond.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “This was a very high-quality debate from both teams, with many judicious, thoughtful contributions also coming from the floor. With contributors proving responsive to the points made by others, it made for an intellectually exciting discussion.

“Our thanks go to all those involved, particularly our returning OEs, who I am sure enjoyed the opportunity to relive past glories as a winning team once again!

The debate was chaired by Year 13’s Rohan Kumar, with the toasts at dinner presided over by 2024’s Chanakya Seetharam, also of Year 13.

Here is a summary of points made during the debate:

Saim (proposing) stated that fake news reached 1,500 people six times faster than true news in a study and pointed out the centralised control of social media channels by figures such as Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.

Ashwin (opposing) gave examples of social media being used to expose truth in the face of state oppression and propaganda and its use in giving a voice to the voiceless, citing the #MeToo movement.

Zaki (proposing) waxed historical, pointing to the story of Emperor Nero blaming everyone else when Rome burned in AD64, the salient point being that he was able to control the flow of information and thus turn people against each other. In like fashion, social media gives a platform to neo-Nazis and other extremists peddling misinformation and hate, such as those behind the January 6th riots in the US, and is not infrequently misused by national actors, such as China and Russia. Far from being neutral, it is the platforms which decide which material goes viral and who is silenced. Social media is purposely addictive and – with anger generating clicks – divisive.

Sudhamshu (opposing) countered that misinformation was entirely possible without social media, suggesting, in fact, that the proposers had promulgated misinformation in their speeches! The power of social media, he said, is that it is a conversation – two-way communication, able to be answered. In a world without social media, people would be less able to challenge politicians directly and governments would find it easier to control the populace.

Points and questions from the floor included:

• Is more free speech necessarily good? Much of the debate online is lazy and low quality.
• The tone online is often argumentative, which provokes people to reinforce their own views, leading to entrenchment and retreat to separate groups.
• Social media is used to organise violence, such as mosque attacks and attacks by the English Defence League.
• Counter examples were given of social media exposing corruption, particularly in developing countries.
• With algorithms driving social media, what you see is determined for you.
• Echo chambers were not a side effect, but the driving purpose of social media – pushing your own beliefs back at you.
• On social media you can publicly comment on and critique things. By contrast, if you send an email or letter to a newspaper, its staff will decide whether to publish it.
• Head of English Robert Hyland asked: “Who guards the guards?” Traditional media has editorial boards and regulators, but social media does not. However, his caveat was that perhaps the proposers were living in the past, harking back to what democracy used to be. Does it not evolve, with social media showing the robustness of that evolution?

The end result of the debate was a vote of 40% in favour of the motion, with 58% against, and 2% abstaining. Thus, the narrow lead for the proposition at the outset of the debate was overturned.

Earlier, a three-course dinner, with a vegetarian option was served.

• Click on the thumbnails to view the images.

QE has become only the second state school nationally – and the first in the south of England – to be accredited by the Royal College of Organists.

A rare and prestigious accolade, the accreditation represents the establishment of a more formal partnership between the college and the School, following growing links over the past two years.

It comes as the School consolidates its commitment to the instrument with the announcement that Year 9’s Zach Fernandes (pictured top) has been awarded an organ scholarship under the partnership established between QE and Barnet’s St John the Baptist Church last year.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “This accreditation is a significant honour for our School. It was awarded only after the RCO’s senior management team carefully considered our application and recognised our commitment to effective teaching and learning in pursuit of high standards in organ-playing and choral directing.

“It places us in some exalted company: only 16 other institutions have been awarded accreditation, and they include specialist music organisations, alongside some of the country’s leading public schools, such as Eton, Rugby and City of London School.

“My congratulations go to Zach on his scholarship. I hope he will enjoy it and get a great deal out of the opportunities it presents to him,” Mr Enright added.

Links between the RCO and QE have been growing since the college supplied the School with a Viscount Chorum 40-S electric organ at the start of last academic year under its Organs in Schools programme for state schools. RCO Chief Executive Sir Andrew Parmley and regional director Simon Williams also came on a visit to Queen’s Road. QE pupils are due to play at an RCO Young Performers concert at St Lawrence Jewry next Guildhall Church in the City of London on 23 September.

Last spring, the School’s organ scholarship scheme with the parish church was launched. It gave the first Organ Scholars, Joel Swedensky and Noah Morley, opportunities to play the organ at church services and to rehearse the church choir, alongside their involvement in extra-curricular music at QE. The scholarships include an honorarium. With Joel now in Year 13 and thus leaving this summer, Zach has been appointed as his replacement.

Noah, who is in Year 11, continues in his role. “It’s been an amazing first year as an Organ Scholar,” he wrote. “Learning new skills each week alongside singing with the choir has been wonderful.”

“The past 12 months have been filled with a wealth of musical experiences, from accompaniment, improvisation, psalmody, choral conducting and even the mechanics of organ, taking a look inside the currently dismantled instrument at St John’s [pictured].”

One specific highlight had been William Mathias’ setting of the traditional carol, Sir Christèmas, on Christmas Eve.

“A huge thank you to Patryk Korczak [St John’s director of music] for his invaluable lessons; and to the QE Music department and the Headmaster for offering this opportunity and their ongoing support.

“My first year opened so many doors, and I can’t wait to see what this year brings.”

Two Old Elizabethans have won Organ Scholarships from Cambridge in the 21st century – Drew Sellis (OE 2013-2020) and Peter Yarde Martin (OE 2002-2007), who is now a peripatetic Music teacher at the School.

The cast of Richard III enjoyed the honour of being the first to put on a drama production in QE’s new Robert Dudley Studio – before attracting a rave review when they repeated their performance at North Finchley’s Artsdepot.

Although the play is one of Shakespeare’s longest, depicting the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of the eponymous king, it was performed as an abridged version for the Shakespeare Schools Festival.

And in line with one of its most famous quotations – “’Tis better, sir, to be brief than tedious” – in its 30-minute form it lost none of its impact. According to theatre and opera director Callie Nestleroth, all the actors, including Year 13’s Robin Bickers in the title role, impressed with the “depth and emotional complexity” they brought to the production.

Callie, who wrote following the ensemble’s Artsdepot appearance, described the performance as “brilliant” and “a joy to watch”. Originally from the USA, she is currently working as a director with numerous organisations, including Opera Holland Park, Streetwise Opera and Royal Academy Opera.

Her 350-word appraisal addressed to the School picked out a number of aspects of the production:

• “Your fresh and inventive take on Richard III. The way you streamlined and modernised the play felt both bold and inspired, breathing new life into a classic text.”
• “The creativity you brought to the battle scene…was a standout moment. Instead of relying on props as weapons, the actors’ physicality and movement became the primary means of establishing threat and violence”
• “The truly collaborative atmosphere. It was evident that you all worked together to bring your vision of the play to life.”
• “The layers within your performances were numerous and intricate. Despite the underlying tension, you managed to bring humour and wit to many moments, making it both gripping and surprising at every turn.”

Stating that she was already looking forward to seeing next year’s QE Shakespeare Schools Festival production, she said: “This was an edgy, nuanced, and poignant Richard III from a professional and creative cast.”

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “The Robert Dudley Studio is a great addition to our facilities here, and it is great to have been able to inaugurate our own drama productions there with such an impressive performance. My congratulations go to all the cast and to colleagues involved in staging this memorable production.”

• Click on the thumbnails below to view the photos.

Venture capital investor Jonathan Kruger has led a Series B* funding round that raised around £12m for pet insurance firm Napo.

Jonathan (OE 2000–2007) is an Investment Associate with Mercia Ventures, a £2bn fund that is one of the one of the UK’s most active VC capital investors.

Before joining Mercia two years ago, he spent three years at Google, supporting high-growth seed-stage businesses with go-to-market strategy and execution. And before that, he co-founded and scaled his own VC-backed direct-to-consumer business, The Drop, which uses machine-learning to produce on-demand made-to-measure men’s fashion.

Napo was founded in 2021 by Ludovic Lacay, a Product Lead at global internet giant Meta, and Jean-Philippe Doumeng, an executive at former health service provider Babylon Health.

The funding will enable it to scale further, including making further investment in its AI-driven claims process and other technology.

Jonathan said he was very excited to have led the funding round and was “looking forward to working with Jean-Philippe Doumeng, Ludovic Lacay and their incredible team for the next stage of the journey”.

*Series B funding is the third round of equity financing for start-ups. At this stage, the company has found product-market fit and needs capital to scale. The goal is to expand into new markets, develop new product lines, and prepare for potential exits. Investors provide capital in exchange for preferred shares.
Investopedia.com