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While the country woke up on Friday to news of a Labour landslide in the General Election, at QE the political landscape looks very different, though still with scant consolation for the Conservatives.

In the School’s mock election, the Liberal Democrats emerged as easily the biggest party, with 21 of the 46 seats in QE’s parliament.

However, since he has no overall majority, the Lib Dems’ Ayaad Salahuddin has already struck a deal with Labour’s Shrey Verma, in second place, so that he can form a coalition government.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “The mock election seeks to build awareness of the democratic process and get pupils engaged with campaigns, debates, polling and voting. My congratulations go to all the candidates for engaging so enthusiastically in the election process and especially to Ayaad on his victory.”

The run-up to the mock election included a hustings, where parties made their pitches and fielded questions from the audience. All the candidates were drawn from Year 12.

The boys have also been informed by visits in recent months of real politicians from all three leading parties. These were: Sir Vince Cable (former Liberal Democrat Leader and Business Secretary in the Coalition Government); Lord Michael Heseltine (former Conservative Deputy Prime Minister and long-serving Cabinet minister), and Labour’s parliamentary candidate (now new Chipping Barnet MP) Dan Tomlinson, following a previous visit from then local MP Theresa Villiers (Conservative).

Whereas in the country at large, the predictions of the exit poll proved quite accurate, at QE the story was very different: pre-election polling suggested the Conservatives would win, comfortably ahead of Labour, with the Liberal Democrats third. The actual result completely reversed this, giving the Lib Dems 21 seats, Labour 13 and the Conservatives only 7.

John Haswell, Acting Head of History & Politics, said: “The Lib Dems at QE ran a very successful social media campaign and built strong support among the younger year groups, where turnout was also higher.”

In fact, turnout among Year 7 was easily the highest, at almost 80%. Only small numbers of Year 11 cast votes, having recently completed their GCSEs, while Year 13 have already left (and no postal votes were available). One seat was allocated for each of the 46 forms in the School, excluding forms in Year 13.

In contrast to the overall School result, Year 12 gave strong backing to independent candidate Ayan Basharat.

The results were:

• Ayaad Salahuddin – Liberal Democrats – 21 seats (45.6%)
• Shrey Verma – Labour – 13 seats (28.3%)
• Uday Dash – Conservatives – 7 seats (15.2%)
• Arjun Mistry – Green Party – 3 seats (6.5%)
• Rohan Varia – Reform Party – 1 seat (2.2%)
• Ayan Basharat – Independent – 1 seat (2.2%)

Lord Simon Woolley, Principal of Homerton College, Cambridge, challenged this year’s leavers to make the world a better place when he came to QE as guest speaker for Valediction.

All of Year 13 gathered in the Shearly Hall with their parents for the ceremony – a last chance to celebrate the contribution of the Class of 2024 to Queen Elizabeth’s School and to mark the start of their new status as Old Elizabethans.

As well as presentations to all leavers and music played by the School’s senior musicians, the afternoon included a prizegiving for those who had excelled in their studies and extra-curricular activities.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “This was a super afternoon, with a great atmosphere. Lord Woolley was a brilliant and charismatic guest speaker. Amusing and inspiring in his address, he then happily spent time at the afternoon tea reception speaking to the students and their families.

“Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, even if, after all the miserable weather we’ve had this year, it was possibly just a little too hot and sunny for some!”

In his address, the Headmaster told the leavers: “You sit here holding the most spectacular array of university offers of any Elizabethan cohort to date. Collectively, you’ve received offers from 46 UK institutions across 187 individual courses, including from 22 of the 24 Russell Group unis. We know that this year has seen a record 62 Oxbridge offers and, perhaps even more staggeringly, 55% of you hold offers from a World Top 5 university.”

Not only did many of them, now 18, have their first opportunity to vote in the forthcoming General Election, but many more opportunities were now available to them in life more generally.

“You are always welcome at Queen Elizabeth’s and can be part of our community for as long as you like. There is a growing network, online and in person, from which you can hopefully benefit. Do keep in touch,” the Headmaster concluded.

Year 13’s Darren Lee, who was School Captain in 2023, delivered an entertaining speech: “Though some of us may look different, with growth spurts and beards, we are the same 192 who sat the entrance test and joined in Year 7….. We did it and we did it together.”

He acknowledged the facilities and extra-curricular opportunities the School provides, as well as the care of the teachers, while noting that some of the best ‘lessons’ came from spending time with each other: the experience is as much about the moments around and between lessons, as what happens within them, he said. He implored his peers to keep in touch.

The guest speaker, who is Baron Woolley of Woodford, became Principal of Homerton in October 2021 ­– the third Black person to be elected head of a college at Cambridge or Oxford. He sits as a cross-bencher in the House of Lords. He has a focus on building consensus across political and community lines, and is passionate about educational access and supporting those with potential who are marginalised.

Lord Woolley began by celebrating the role of parents and families, asking them to stand up to be applauded by the boys. Having an 18-year-old son of his own, he identified with them, saying he knows it is not always easy, but is absolutely worth it. He celebrated the staff of the School, reminding the leavers that they turn up each day “to educate you, but also to make you shine”. They genuinely care and want you to succeed, he said.

He also called back up some individual students who had caught his attention: Darren Lee (“Our future Prime Minister!”) for his leadership and eloquent speech; Isher Jagdev (Latin prize winner) to help him with the Latin that he will need on Saturday when he conducts the graduation ceremony for Homerton undergraduates at the Senate House in Cambridge; and Nathan Woodcock (“Mr 100%”) whose perfect attendance had been noted. “To achieve change you have to be present; you have to turn up. He’s someone I’d want on my team.”

He spoke a little about his journey from a tough council estate in Leicester, where you had to learn to fight and where “the reason to go to school was to see your mates”. No one went to university from his school, but, he told the leavers: “You are going to the best universities on the planet.” Coming to Queen Elizabeth’s School was like being among the winning children in Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: “You’ve had the golden ticket. Not everyone gets that chance, so the question is: what are you going to do with it?

“Be the people to stand up to inequality, to help people out of poverty, to find the cure, or build something better. The Headmaster and I are not asking you to be brilliant, to share your abilities, to make an impact on the world… we are demanding it. Not everyone can be the principal or the CEO, but every one of you can do something that makes a difference.”

The music during the afternoon included a remix composed by Indrajit Datta, as well as a medley of popular hits that had formed the soundtrack to their school years, played by Indrajit’s Year 13 peers.

Music during the afternoon tea outside following the ceremony was played by the Year 8 and 9 Music Colours winners.

• Click on the thumbnails below to view the images.

Having won QE’s internal round of the national Performing Shakespeare competition and made it through the London heats, Year 8’s Vihaan Pal then performed strongly in the regional final held at the School.

Vihaan, pictured here and  top, delivered the speech from Romeo and Juliet given by Romeo as he lay dying – giving a repeat of his performance in School, which was praised for its maturity and sensitivity.

The regional heats and final were both hosted by QE, in the Main School Hall and Friends’ Recital Hall respectively. Two boys had reached the semi-finals, Vihaan and Daiwik Khedekar, with Vihaan progressing to the regional final.

Head of English Robert Hyland said: “Performing Shakespeare is integral to student understanding: as we remind the boys, Shakespeare’s plays were written not to be studied in class, but performed in theatres. Learning and performing a speech requires students to make judgements about what a character is saying, and how this will affect things like their movement, their vocal tone, and their interaction with the audience, in a way which analysing in an essay is not able to.

“We were therefore delighted to host two rounds of the competition. Although Vihaan did not progress through the regional final, he did very well to make it through the semi-finals and is to be congratulated on a series of accomplished performances.

“At QE, we recognise the importance of oracy and the ability to perform in front of others as important skills that will help our boys in their later lives and careers. That is why the School has invested heavily in the new Robert Dudley Studio for drama and the spoken word, which is now nearing completion.”

All Year 8s were invited to take part in the internal round of the competition and could choose any speech from a Shakespeare play. They initially learned their speeches during the Autumn Term (alongside their studies of Macbeth).

The boys were judged not only on their physical performance and their vocalisation, but on how far their performance suited the speech, and how far their interpretation of the speech met their artistic intention.

Vihaan said: “The reason I chose my piece [Romeo’s Dying Scene from Act 5 Scene 3] is because I found it inspiring that the message is so simple, clear in its affirmation of the power of love over hate, and showing the strong loyalty Romeo had for Juliet. Although it is different from the classic booming speech with loud expressions, I felt that the acting of this piece with the sad tone, the detailed imagery, and the soft movements made me feel like I was really there.”

Their classroom teachers judged the QE boys’ initial attempts, while the judges in the School final were Kanak Shah, Extra-curricular Enrichment Lead and an English & French teacher, Head of Year 8 Andrew Collins, and Sixth Form actor Keiaron Joseph.

Ms Shah praised the work that the QE boys put into their performances. “I was amazed by the vulnerability of some of these speeches and the maturity and sensitivity with which they were delivered. These qualities were particularly obvious in the speech of our winner Vihaan, who chose Romeo’s last speech to Juliet. He conjured Juliet’s body out of thin air with his delivery of Shakespeare’s words, and his choice of a vulnerable speech was a brave one.”

Dr Collins said that the boys had shown the full range of emotions when they took to the stage, “from rallying battle cries to internal moments of anguish”. He added: “It was extremely difficult to come up with a winner; Vihaan’s portrayal of Romeo was very tender and he showed great power on the stage even when in such a compact physical form on the floor  – a very worthy winner.”

A Sixth Form musician’s composition is to be performed at the world’s longest-running music festival, after he won a place on a highly regarded programme for young composers.

Harrison Lee’s piece, Ego Flos Campi, will be sung by the acclaimed ORA Singers amid the medieval magnificence of Worcester Cathedral as part of the famous Three Choirs Festival.

The A-level Music student was one of only ten successful applicants to have secured a place on the ORA Singers Young Composers scheme.

Director of Music Ruth Partington said: “We are thrilled that Harrison gained a place on this prestigious scheme, and that all the hard work he puts into his composition has been rewarded.

“We have already performed one piece by Harrison this academic year and look forward to the next one!”

Ego Flos Campi will be heard at a showcase concert on 2^nd August 2024 held as part of the festival, which rotates between the cathedral cities of Hereford, Worcester and Gloucester. The title of the piece is taken from the Latin first words of the Song of Solomon in the Bible, meaning ‘I am a flower of the field’.

As part of the programme, and in preparation for the concert, Harrison has  been receiving ten hours of mentoring from Kemal Yusuf, a young British composer who has composed more than 150 works for various ensembles, films, dance productions, and solo performances.

Harrison’s piece has already been the subject of a workshop by the ORA Singers, with guest composer Oliver Tarney, best known for his work with filmmakers Ridley Scott and Paul Greengrass. The award-winning vocal ensemble, which is also a world-leading commissioner of choral music, is directed by Suzi Digby, Baroness Eatwell OBE, who is a choral conductor,  music educator and visiting professor at the University of Southern California.

After the concert, each of the ten successful young composers will receive detailed feedback from the panel, along with a video-recording of their piece, which is provided for them to use to kick-start their musical portfolios. The concert will also feature a prize-giving ceremony.

Harrison, who is in Year 12, said: “It’s such a great opportunity to be working with singers of this calibre, and I think it has helped me to develop my composition skills a lot more. I have learned a lot from this programme and it will definitely help me with my ambitions of being a composer.”

Last term, his Magnificat was one of the highlights of QE’s Chamber, Choral and Composition Concert. Performed by a full orchestra and the Chamber Choir, and conducted by Harrison himself, it filled the The Friends’ Recital Hall with sound (pictured top).

Having previously won Senior Music Colours, Harrison this year had a bar added to those colours for his exceptional contribution to music at the School: Headmaster Neil Enright presented it to him in March. Harrison was also the winner of this year’s Music (academic) prize for Year 12 at the School’s Senior Awards ceremony.

QE’s Paarth Aggarwal spent three days at a European Space Agency base in Italy after being named the UK winner in an international competition.

Paarth, of Year 10, triumphed in the ESA’s Climate Detectives challenge after impressing judges with his AI-driven study into tackling electronic waste in Barnet.

His three days at the ESA Centre for Earth Observation at Frascati, near Rome, included a tour of the facility – “the main highlight for me personally” – and an awards ceremony where he received his prize “with bigger audiences than I had possibly imagined”.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “My sincere congratulations go to Paarth on this great achievement: he showed initiative in applying for the competition, perseverance in pulling the project together, and great ability in completing it to such a high standard. And what an opportunity it was to spend time at one of Europe’s leading space research facilities!”

The competition brief allowed entrants not only to focus on climate change, but also on all aspects of caring for the planet. Paarth’s Next Gen Ninja entry was among winning submissions from 18 European countries; all the winners were invited to Frascati as their prize.

“My inspiration to enter stemmed from my deep concern for the environment and my passion for leveraging technology to combat climate change,” said Paarth. “The competition presented a unique opportunity to contribute to a cause that I care deeply about, using technology to address one of the most pressing issues of our generation.”

His study focused on the disposal and recycling of electronic devices, taking into account the significant environmental and health risks if improperly handled. More specifically, he explored the design and implementation of initiatives aimed at empowering Barnet residents to address e-waste. “By understanding how such initiatives can effectively raise awareness, educate residents, and promote sustainable practices, the study sought to identify strategies that foster meaningful engagement and action…ultimately, the goal is to promote a more sustainable future for Barnet.”

Paarth sent out a survey to residents: the results, he said, were “shocking”, with only a small percentage aware of the hazards of e-waste. Problems he identified included limited access to relevant information on a community website. “Moreover, the waste facilities lack specialised equipment and trained personnel to safely process and recycle e-waste.

“These findings highlight the necessity for a dedicated information centre and for a focus on developing and implementing more accessible e-waste collection and efficient processing systems.

“Throughout the competition, I honed several key skills, including data analysis, and enhanced my knowledge of the development of AI-powered chatbots. Working with satellite and local data gave me valuable experience in interpreting data effectively.”

The facility in Italy has over the past three decades collected EO (earth observation) data from ESA satellites looking at factors such as water content in lakes and algae concentrations to understand Earth’s changing geology. Available free to anyone, the data is used by research organisations and government institutions in areas such as: the prediction and analysis of climate-related disasters; rural urban management; agriculture; forestry management; the study of glaciers;  and mining.

“In a workshop, I learned the use of EO data gathered from satellites such as Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3. ESA taught us how they are using the data to save numerous human lives across the globe by predicting climate-related disasters, such as wildfires,” said Parth.

“Being named a winner was an overwhelming and humbling experience. The acknowledgment from ESA, a leading space organisation, was particularly rewarding.”

Use of AI: the technical details

Paarth is an enthusiastic advocate of AI. Here he sets out the important role the technology played in his competition entry.

“Using Microsoft Azure OpenAI cloud environment, I deployed a GenAI-powered chatbot to provide residents with easy and 24/7 access to information when they ask questions in natural language regarding e-waste, helping them make informed decisions.

“I also developed a PoC (Proof of Concept) for an AI-powered app which can: help to detect the waste type through an ML model; incentivise residents for responsible disposal; and allow councils to proactively plan for the e-waste collection, enabling them to be economical and efficient in the waste collection process.”

A Year 7 QE boy has won the Greater London prize for German for his age group in a prestigious translation competition.

Saran Anderson took the award for his translation of Grashüpfer (Grasshopper), a poem by the 19^th-century poet, writer and engineer, Heinrich Seidel.

Saran was among a group of QE linguists who entered the Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators – a competition run from The Queen’s College, Oxford, which attracted 16,000 participants from 300 schools nationally.  It challenges children to translate a text with precision, creativity and cultural sensitivity.

Head of Languages Helen Shephard congratulated Saran: “He impressed the judges with his flawless rendition of a German poem into English.”

She added: “Our students embraced the challenge wholeheartedly, demonstrating their passion for languages and their commitment to excellence. Their success inspires us to continue to nurture language enthusiasts and celebrate the beauty of words across borders.”

The competition is organised by The Queen’s College Translation Exchange and named in honour of renowned translator Anthea Bell, who specialised in translating children’s literature and is perhaps best known for translating the Asterix comic books from French. She died in 2018, aged 82.

Saran said: “I think everyone should have entered; the benefit is learning the language in a different way – not just translating it. It gives you a little taste of ‘more than the basics’ and, most importantly, is super fun!”

Two other Year 7 entrants, Hardit Gulati and Rachit Banker, also reflected on their experience of taking part.

“It was an exciting competition,” said Hardit, “testing not only our language interpretation skills, but also our creativity and comprehension skills on how to keep the feel of the poem in a different language!”

Rachit added: “Participating in the competition was an absolute thrill; you get to enhance your translation skills, while it also assesses your imagination, creativity and vocabulary skills. It was really exciting to keep the essence and meaning of the poem when translating from one language to another!”

QE boys have enjoyed repeated success in the competition since it was first held in 2020: like Saran, last year, Jason Tao (then in Year 11) and Olly Salter (then in Year 13) were Greater London German winners for their age groups.

• Saran is pictured with other QE entrants in the 2024 competition.