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The President and Principal of King’s College London had some inspiring and very ‘relatable’ advice for the prize-winners at Senior Awards – one of the highlights of the Queen Elizabeth’s School calendar.

The formal ceremony in the Main School Hall was this year held in its full format, following the pandemic-restricted event of 2021, with Professor Shitij Kapur the Guest of Honour.

Pupils from Years 10-12 were awarded a total of around 80 prizes covering all the academic subjects, as well as a range of other areas, including academic excellence, debating & public speaking, contribution & responsibility and chess. In addition to a number of speeches and the prizegiving, the evening was punctuated by a series of musical interludes performed by the boys.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “It was very good to be able to invite everyone to Senior Awards this year – and what a return to form! Professor Kapur was a wonderful guest speaker, and I was so pleased that parents, governors and other friends of the School were all able to join us to see some of our brightest and best receive their awards.”

Professor Kapur, who was accompanied by his wife Sharmistha, spoke about his career path, which has seen him work in academic environments in five countries across four different continents.

Interlacing the account with words particularly relevant for the boys, he urged them to be brave, ready to take risks and prepared for sudden changes of direction. He recounted being invited by King’s College London to join them for the first time when he was living in America. His wife’s response was “Well, why not?” – and that, he said, is the attitude we need if we are to embrace new opportunities.

He urged the reading of books, rather than blog posts or articles, and also spoke about how we make decisions in context, pointing out that unpredictable events and developments often govern that context.

“Show a passionate dedication to the pursuit of short-term goals,” he said, an attitude he characterised as being “micro-ambitious”.

Alluding to the famous maxim of Apple’s Steve Jobs – “you cannot connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward” – Professor Kapur concluded: “Start plotting the dots, and your life will be a grand story that will only make sense in hindsight.”

The idea is that you’ve got to be able to accept that and roll with it, being ambitious in terms of shorter-term goals and doing whatever you are doing now with pride, he explained.

In his speech, the Headmaster highlighted a number of qualities of effective leadership, including bravery, hard work, high standards, low tolerance of bad behaviour, and kindness.

Examples of poor leadership are legion, Mr Enright said. “This is why images of President Zelensky on the streets of Kyiv, or Her Majesty The Queen sat alone, socially distanced, at her husband’s funeral, have resonated, moved and inspired so strongly.”

Turning to the prize-winners, he added: “Boys, you’ve set your own high standards, so endeavour to stick to them or raise them still further.

“Your awards recognise past performance, so try to earn them again each day. Ensure that you remain worthy role models and leaders for your peers.”

Guests included the Deputy Mayor of the London Borough of Barnet, Councillor Saira Don, who also spoke during the ceremony.

The current School Captain, Theo Mama-Kahn, gave the vote of thanks.

Music performed by the School’s senior musicians included works by Handel and the Renaissance Italian composer, Gastoldi.

Teams from across the south of England battled it out in the 46th Queen Elizabeth’s School Sevens Tournament – the first running of the event since 2019.

The day brought overall victory in the U16 Cup to Trinity School, Croydon, while tournament newcomers Woodlands School were convincing winners in the Plate competition (for sides achieving second place in the group stages), beating Tonbridge School 36–7 in the final.

Although ultimately thwarted in their three matches, QE’s own U16 side battled hard, their playing punctuated by sparkling individual performances, especially from rising star Taro Niimura, of Year 11.

They were cheered on by a good turn-out of Old Elizabethans, their numbers swelled by 2001 leavers who took the opportunity to gather for a reunion.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “It was splendid to be able to host the tournament after a two-year break imposed by the pandemic, and to enjoy a super day of competition: there really was an abundance of skill, tenacity and physicality on display.

“My congratulations go to Trinity School on achieving overall victory in a close-fought final against Wellington College, and to Woodlands School on their triumphant debut.”

“Although we were disappointed that the U14 competition had to be cancelled because poor weather led to a reduction in the number of pitches available, we nonetheless look back on a successful day. My thanks go to the referees, St John Ambulance and the sponsors, Inspire Sports.”

QE’s Head of Rugby, James Clarke, said: “It was great to have the tournament back after Covid! There was plenty of excellent rugby on display, despite some challenging conditions.”

The home side faced a tough opening fixture against Wellingborough School. “Wellingborough showed a good turn of pace in finding any gaps in the QE defence and exerting significant pressure, resulting in our team struggling to retain possession for multiple phases,” said Mr Clarke.

“However, the match was lit up, from a QE perspective, by a brilliant solo try from Taro Niimura. Having been put through a gap by a well-timed pass inside the QE 22 metre zone, he ran the length of the pitch, beating at least three defenders on the way. One of the tries of the tournament! Whilst only a consolation in the context of the match, which was lost 29-7, it was a worthy moment for the home support to celebrate – including the OEs gathered on the touchline.”

The next QE game, against New Hall, brought “a skilful and spirited performance and a big improvement on the first match,” said Mr Clarke. “Momentum swung this way and that, with QE overhauling an early deficit to lead 14-12 at one stage. A clean break from New Hall had them charging, seemingly unstoppably, to the line, only for Taro to make another stand-out contribution, this time in defence. Sprinting back 70m or so, he made up ground to tackle his opponent just a few feet short of the try line – an incredible effort and demonstration of desire.

“Unfortunately, the supporting New Hall player was able to pick and go from the breakdown and get over the line for what proved to be the winning score. QE thought they may have won the game when an overlap put Year 11’s Dharun Thambiayah through to score, only for play to be brought back for a marginal forward pass. Whilst the boys were disappointed to lose a match that really could have gone either way, there was pride in the performance.”

After this narrow 19-14 defeat, in their final fixture, QE took on Dulwich College and put in “a resilient battling performance in which the rub of the green went against QE. The match got off to the worst possible start, with Dulwich reclaiming their own kick-off (think Mack Hansen for Ireland v France in this year’s Six Nations!) to score immediately. QE played themselves back into the game, crossing for a first-half try of their own. An unfortunate yellow card for a trip tackle saw QE down a man, but the two-minute period was well-handled, with no loss of score.

“In the second half, just one score behind, Niimura again seemed to be away down the wing with a clear 60m to the try line, only for play to be brought back for a QE penalty – the referee not realising the advantage was with QE in that moment. With QE pressing hard for a try, Dulwich managed to secure a third to kill off the match and win 17-5.”

Mr Clarke congratulated Year 10 boys on stepping up to compete alongside the Year 11s.

This year’s tournament featured a Coaches Corner for the first time, where there were stalls from a number of companies, including the sponsors, Inspire Sports.

The 2022 winners will receive tickets to a Premiership rugby match.

Among the supporters backing the tournament winners, Trinity, was USA Sevens’ Head Coach, Mike Friday. Former Sevens coach for England and Kenya, and a former professional player with London Wasps who captained the England Sevens, he has taken the USA to its current position as one of the very best teams in the world.

The group of 2001 leavers not only enjoyed the rugby together, but also went on a tour of the School with the Headmaster and with Development Officer Sharla Worrall.

Also among the spectators were other staff and boys, while teams of helpers comprising senior boys and some Year 7s supported Mr Clarke and his colleagues in running the event.

• For full results, visit the tournament microsite.

Businesswoman, author and coach Gifty Enright explained to sixth-formers how ‘gender bias traps’ blight the world of work – and set out ways in which men can act as allies and support women in escaping them.

Her virtual talk was one of a number of activities held at the School during the week of International Women’s Day (IWD), which this year had the theme of #BreakTheBias.

Several discussion societies run by pupils held IWD-inspired sessions, while tutors also covered IWD topics during boys’ Personal Development Time lessons.

Headmaster Neil Enright (no relation) said: “My huge thanks go to Gifty for her insightful and informative talk that highlighted exactly why International Women’s Day is both relevant and important in an all-boys’ school such as ours. Not only did she raise awareness of the issues that women continue to face routinely in society and the workplace, but she also had some very practical suggestions for how young men could make a positive contribution in challenging conscious and unconscious bias in a range of situations.

“Her talk and the other activities during the week complement the work we have been doing to encourage boys to adopt the stance of ‘active bystander’ and thus to oppose injustice and prejudice across society. Hearing from external expert speakers, with their different perspectives and experiences, is a very useful way for our boys to gain a deeper understanding, provoking both reflection and discussion.”

Born in Kumasi, the ancient capital of the Ashanti people in Ghana, Gifty Enright has lived in Hertfordshire for the past 35 years. Having trained as an accountant, she later moved into Information Technology and is today the managing director of a sports events company, and also provides IT consulting services on major transformation programmes to multi-national companies. She is married with two children.

In her Zoom lecture to Years 12 and 13, she outlined six gender bias traps that women face. In each case, she gave a scenario to explain how the trap might play out and then challenged the sixth-formers with a suggestion on what they could do to ameliorate the situation.

Under the topic of ‘attribution’, for example, she gave this scenario: “A female colleague says something in a meeting and is ignored but a male colleague says the same thing and everyone jumps on the idea.” The challenge she passed on was this: “Remind everyone that the idea originated from the female colleague.”

For ‘maternal’, the scenario imagined someone in a business setting discussing whether a particular woman should be entrusted with a major project in these words: “Do you think it is a good idea to burden her with such a big project straight out of maternity leave?” The challenge she gave was to respond in this way: “She still has the same skillset she did before her leave. How can we best support her?”

In a question-and-answer session afterwards, boys asked for advice on practical things such as their approach to what they read, what music they listen to and how that can impact upon their understanding of the issues facing women. Gifty replied that people should read and watch what they enjoy, but try to engage with material from a wide range of artists, including those of different genders, races and backgrounds.

Boys also asked about what she thought the impact of the war in Ukraine may have on women and on gender inequality. She responded that in such situations, gender inequality is usually exacerbated, whilst noting how dreadful the current situation is for everyone there.

With the BAFTAs fresh in everyone’s mind, QE’s stars of the small screen have been picking up their own awards for their work to help fellow pupils.

In a first for the School, QE’s team of peer mentors this year produced a series of short videos to share their wisdom and experience with younger pupils, providing useful tips and advice on topics ranging from coping with stress to how to use a homework diary.

To reward these senior pupils’ talent and commitment, the best of their work was recognised in an informal awards ceremony, when a number of prizes were awarded.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “Over the years, our teams of peer mentors have made, and continue to make, a great contribution as a much-valued part of the wider support network at the School. Both mentors and mentees routinely take a lot away from these relationships.

“There was great creativity and skill on display in these bite-sized videos, which communicated some very important and insightful messages. Everyone involved with any of the videos should be proud of their efforts and the way they are helping to support others.”

The peer videos project was organised by Head of Extra-curricular Enrichment Rebecca Grundy and Head of Year 10 Micah King, with the explicit purpose of widening the number of pupils who could benefit from the guidance of peer mentors. The peer mentors began working on their films in November, each selecting a topic that had been identified as a need for pupils within the School, and then teamed up to script, film and edit their videos.

“The boys worked incredibly hard together to produce such high-quality videos, and one particular joy of this project was watching older and younger peer mentors collaborate to share their wisdom with our QE community,” said Mr King. “Each team had to create project proposals and submit multiple drafts of their videos – and  the end results speak for themselves: they are an excellent collection of videos and the boys are a credit to the School.”

• The award for best film overall went to the Year 13 team of Paul Ofordu, Miguel Nieves, Manomay Lala-Raykar and Aadarsh Khimasia, which Paul and Manomay directed, with Paul additionally producing and editing the video, Managing Stress and Anxiety. Paul also took the best actor award for his role in the three-minute production (pictured top). To combat stress, they recommended meditation, journalling, controlling one’s own social media use, sleep and healthy eating. The judges’ comments were: “This film combined superb advice, with great editing, cinematography, acting and presenting. The Year 13 producers of this film are a credit to this school, and their film epitomises the wonderful help, wisdom and guidance they have given to QE. “The judges also commented that: “Paul is a great role model for students on camera. His acting skills are compelling, while he presents great advice wonderfully.”
• Adam Khaliq and Rudra Thakkar, both of Year 12, won the award for best cinematography with their film, Making friends at QE. “This award was given in recognition of the joy that was captured on film,” the judges wrote. “This advice guide would cheer and support students who are struggling, and the filming was creative and adventurous.”
• The best editing award went to Shuaib Adam, of Year 11, whose film was entitled How to prepare a study space at home. The citation for this was: “When we first watched this, Ms Grundy remarked that you could imagine seeing this on the BBC. Superb use of speed up/slowed down footage, great voiceovers and text overlay. A masterful piece of editing.”
• The best producer award went jointly to the Year 12 pair of Haipei Jiang and Nivain  Goonasekera, for How to manage your homework. It was, the judges wrote, an “Excellent stop motion video, which combined great advice with a fun, entertaining and wonderfully produced guide.”
• Darren Lee, of Year 11, was also recognised for his graphic design, with the judges commenting that this work was: “Creative and professional. Darren’s graphic design is outstanding, managing to maintain the School’s branding in his banner, while demonstrating his own creativity in the buttons he designed.”

All the videos are in the support and advice section of eQE, the School’s e-platform and learning platform.

A performance of Othello by the School’s senior actors has been roundly praised by a representative of the Shakespeare Schools Festival.

The production of the tragedy, performed during the SSF at the Arts Depot in Finchley and then again in School to Year 11, was a central part of the inaugural QE Shakespeare Festival. This week-long celebration of the works of England’s greatest playwright was brought to an end by an “inspiring” and “hugely entertaining” lecture to Year 10 from John Mullan, a professor of English at University College London.

In her written appraisal of the performance addressed to the cast of 18 boys from Years 9–13, Lisa Ors, of the SSF, said: “Congratulations on a dramatic, dynamic and deadly production. Staging a Shakespeare play in these changing times takes extra courage, tenacity, and creativity. You should be incredibly proud of what you and your teachers have achieved.”

Praising their “brilliant evening of theatre”, she singled out various elements, such as: their use of space and the “wonderful stage pictures” they created “including the opening scene on a motorbike”; the “effective use” of lighting and sound; their “fantastic” characterisation; their use of gesture, and their deployment of “varied vocal qualities to convey emotion with clarity”.

QE’s Othello was also lauded by the School’s Assistant Head (Pupil Involvement), Crispin Bonham-Carter, whose own background is as a well-known professional actor and theatre director.

“Our boys’ performance of Othello at the Arts Depot and again at School was a dark journey into the psychology of jealousy and revenge.  Patrick Bivol [Year 11] played Iago with a hands-in-pockets insouciance that made his lies and plotting deliciously painful to watch, while Sultan Khokhar [Year 13] gave the Moor [Othello himself] a calm nobility as he met his tragic downfall.

“The protagonists were brilliantly supported by one of the strongest ensembles we’ve seen in QE drama. Keiaron Joseph [Year 11] was particularly moving as the faithful Desdemona, and Augie Bickers [Year 10] set new standards in drunk acting as the reputationally challenged Cassio.

“This was a genuinely entertaining piece of theatre and is a great reflection of the progress that drama here has made in recent years. Our resident director, Gavin Molloy, treats the boys as professionals, and this cast should be extremely proud of themselves.”

In his talk to Year 10, Professor Mullan, Head of Department and The Lord Northcliffe Chair of Modern English Literature at UCL, asked the boys: “What links the following words: assassination, bloodstained, cold-blooded, deafening, fashionable, lonely, undress, vulnerable?”

The answer is, of course, Shakespeare, he said. “He invented nearly 2,000 words never seen before in the English language.”

Professor Mullan is a regular TV and radio broadcaster and a literary journalist; he writes on contemporary fiction for The Guardian and was a judge for the 2009 Man Booker Prize.

Mr Bonham-Carter said: “Professor Mullan was hugely entertaining and made a passionate case for further literature studies, noting, in passing, that his English Literature graduates were going on to the highest-earning jobs of all UCL’s departments…”

“Year 10 listened intently and asked many intelligent questions.”

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “My thanks go to my colleagues and the boys for making our inaugural QE Shakespeare festival a resounding success, with Othello an undoubted highlight and Professor Mullan’s visit constituting a very satisfying conclusion. A perusal of our archives at QE Collections will reveal that the resurgence of drama in recent years picks up on an older tradition of offering high-quality productions here.

“In fact, our connections with the theatre go back to the time of Shakespeare himself, and even a little before that. Court favourite Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who successfully petitioned Queen Elizabeth I for the School’s founding charter, granted in 1573, was an important patron of theatre in Tudor England, supporting his own troupe, Leicester’s Men, and the establishment of the Theatre in Shoreditch, forerunner of London’s famous Globe Theatre.

“As we approach our 450^th anniversary next year, I am very proud to see current Elizabethans take up the mantle of delivering excellence in areas such as drama, oratory and debate.”

• Next up for QE’s thespians is courtroom drama, with a production of Twelve Angry Men planned for the Summer Term.