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I am pleased to report that the spirit of competition has been to the fore at Queen Elizabeth’s School throughout the Spring Term.

The celebration of excellence and the virtue of competition are ingrained into QE life from the very beginning of a boy’s School career here, as demonstrated recently by our fiercely contested Year 7 Music Scholarships and junior chess tournament. We are keen to foster competition through such regular events in our calendar; our Senior Awards ceremony is another important example.

Competition is a key aspect of our House system, which spans both academic and extra-curricular areas of School life. For example, through the House competition, boys who may not be picked for School teams can nonetheless enjoy the chance to represent their House in all the competitive sports played at QE. In other fields, too, our pupils are encouraged to prove themselves in numerous external competitive events and initiatives, whether at local, regional, national or international level.

Last year’s QE team in the Engineering Education Scheme achieved the highest score ever recorded in the national scheme’s 12-year history and have recently been talking to construction industry representatives about implementing their ideas for tower crane safety. This year’s entrants from Year 12 are also on course to do well.

QE has also reached the final for the first time in the prestigious Hans Woyda Mathematics Competition. Having knocked out Harrow School in the semi-final, we narrowly lost to St Paul’s School in the final. One of the team, Year 12 student, Gabriel Gendler, was also chosen to represent the UK at an international Mathematics competition in Romania, where the UK was placed third.

Also at an individual level, Madhi Elango’s success in reaching the Physics Olympiad training camp – a distinction achieved by only 16 candidates nationwide – is all the more impressive given that he is still in Year 12, whereas many other competitors are in the year above. Similarly, our former School Captain, Nigethan Sathiyalingam, has reached the last 16 in the Biology Olympiad. And Michael Zhao is the first-ever QE pupil to reach the final of the British Informatics Olympiad.

Competition is one important tool in motivating boys; inspiring them and broadening their horizons is another. This term we have been privileged to welcome a number of inspirational visitors to the School. They include Professor Chris Brink, Vice Chancellor of the University of Newcastle, our Guest of Honour at Senior Awards. He is not only a distinguished logician, but he also led the transformation of Stellenbosch University in South Africa from an institution closely associated with the former apartheid régime to an academically strong university that is playing a full part in the development of modern South African society. In a speech which resonated with our own ethos and aims, he told the boys: “It doesn’t matter where you come from; it is where you end up that matters.” As a young man, he grew up in a small town on the edge of the Kalahari desert and did not have the opportunity to travel or leave South Africa until he arrived in the UK at 24 to start his PhD at Cambridge. He also addressed the boys on the importance of overcoming not only disadvantage, but advantage too. “Those who overcome disadvantage make a better life for themselves, whereas those who overcome advantage make a better life for others,” he said. All at QE work to develop boys’ awareness that they achieve genuine fulfilment by seeking to make a contribution to society rather than pursuing only personal gain. In so doing, I believe the School satisfies Professor Brink’s final maxim: an institution should know not only what it is good at, but what it is good for.

Lord Sassoon, until very recently Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, gave Sixth-Formers an inside view of government when he spoke at our Year 12 formal luncheon. Baroness Coussins, who is part of the Peers in Schools programme, paid a welcome return visit. And Richard Peltier, of French education organisation Français Facile, gave our Year 10-13 pupils a useful day of immersion in the French language. Mathematics expert Matt Parker entertained all 180 boys in Year 10 with some ‘comedy’ maths, but with serious educational import. For our Sixth Form Extended Project Qualification science students, two post-doctoral researchers from Cancer Research UK covered the themes of DNA repair, while Professor Sarben Sarkar, of King’s College, London, (and the father of Year 7 boy, Robert Sarkar) spoke about astronomical black holes.

QE pupils have this year secured 29 offers to Oxford or Cambridge – our second-highest total ever, representing a good improvement on last year’s tally of 25. The recent trend for our boys to look towards a more internationally diverse set of university destinations continues: already Joseph Vinson has an offer to study at Yale in the USA, while Nigel Leung has been offered a conditional university place in Hong Kong. Given the introduction of tuition fees in the UK, I would similarly urge all our pupils at least to look at opportunities abroad – including any financial support that may be available – when they are considering their future academic path.

Our current major building project continues to progress well. I am pleased to announce that it will include an attractive new area to be known as Café 1573 – named after the year in which QE was established. (24th March was the 440th anniversary of the granting of the Charter by Queen Elizabeth I to found the School.) Set on a slightly lower level than the new Dining Hall and opening on to Red Square, Café 1573 will provide a coffee shop-style service for hot drinks and food, as well as a social area in which senior pupils can relax. It will also be used by the School for special occasions. The Dining Hall and Café 1573 are scheduled to open during the Autumn Term this year, with the Library on the floor above to follow.

I am working with senior colleagues, the Governing Body and the Trustees of the Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s on the further development of the School site. In the first place, we will be tackling an urgent maintenance issue: the leaking flat roof of the Fern Building. A planning application has been submitted to replace this with a new roof, which will include a curved roof on a large part of the building similar to that on the Martin Swimming Pool. We are also in the process of developing plans for improved accommodation elsewhere on the School site. These developments in our built environment are very much aligned with the outworking of the School’s strategic priorities for 2012-16.

I wish all our former pupils a pleasant Easter.

Neil Enright

As a successful diplomat Sir Leslie Fielding travelled the globe, yet it was QE that made him "blissfully happy".

Sir Leslie Fielding, KCMG, MA, Hon LLD, FRSA, FRGS (OE 1943-1951) graduated from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, with a First in History; he studied Persian at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and was a Visiting Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford.

Following his graduation in 1956, Sir Leslie was placed second in the open competition for the Foreign (now Diplomatic) Service. For his reference, he turned to his old QE headmaster, E H Jenkins, who wrote: “His character is sound, he has personality and polish, and he has an active mind in which seriousness and humour are combined. In short, he is, in my opinion, a really good candidate.” He also described his former pupil as “an able and public-spirited all rounder”.

When in his late fifties, he was offered the post of Master at Emmanuel and Warden at St Antony’s. Although he had been fairly content at both, he declined the offers "without much more than a second thought". He said: "It was QE, where I was blissfully happy, that made me, and opened up my careers."

Sir Leslie’s career as a diplomat has taken him to Tehran, Singapore, Cambodia, Paris, Brussels and Japan.

He joined the External Relations Directorate-General of the European Commission in Brussels in 1973 as the Director with special responsibility for Europe's relations with the US and the Commonwealth. He subsequently became EC Ambassador in Tokyo for five years, returning to Brussels as Director-General of External Relations from 1982 to 1987.  He was knighted in 1988.

After retiring from the diplomatic service he returned to England, where he was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sussex from 1987 to 92. He was for some years a non-executive director of IBM (Europe) and a Special Adviser to Panasonic (Europe). He chaired the Geography Working Group for the National Curriculum in Schools and served for ten years as Honorary President of the University Association for Contemporary European Studies. He received his knighthood in 1988 and was elected an Honorary Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1990.

He has been a Lay Reader in the Church of England for 30 years: in Exeter, Tokyo, Gibraltar, Chichester and Hereford dioceses, serving also on the General Synod. He was made a Reader Emeritus by the Lord Bishop of Hereford in 2007. After some initial scepticism he now very much approves of women priests.

In recent years he has been busy writing and publishing – mostly on international relations, but has also produced a novel and a screenplay. His work includes Mentioned in Despatches … is Diplomacy dead? which was launched in paperback at the Oxford Literary Festival in 2012.

More recently, he was invited to contribute to a volume of reminiscences by British civil servants and diplomats who were in the first wave to be sent to Brussels 40 years ago, in 1973, on UK accession to the then-European Community. In his article, he refers to the exhaustion of speaking French all day - “different facial exertions”- and attributes linguistic abilities to his education at QE.

Sir Leslie is married to the eminent mediaevalist Sally Harvey and they have two children, Emma and Leo.

Oliver Todd acknowledges his debt to the School as he looks to break into the competitive world of journalism.

Oliver (OE 2005-2010) has successfully combined his studies at the University of York with his commitment to journalism. In 2012 and 2013 Oliver was shortlisted for two individual student journalism awards and was on the winning team for a best publication award.

He was nominated for The Guardian’s award for best Student Journalist and for the National Union of Students’ (NUS) Student Journalist award – which effectively placed him in the top six in the country in both categories and credits the School with helping him to learn how to keep focused, particularly in the Sixth Form.

He received a Special Commendation from the NUS for his work and led his student newspaper, York Vision, to the runners-up spot in the Best Student Media category at the NUS Awards. He was also involved with the same publication the previous year when it was awarded Best Student Publication at the Guardian Student Media Awards.

Oliver has undertaken a wide range of work experience with national media organisations, including The Guardian, the Daily Mail, Sky News and Sky Sports and is aiming to pursue a career in the industry once he has undertaken more training.
 

Kwamina Korsah is inspiring the next generation through an élite teacher-training scheme targeting the socially disadvantaged.

He is taking part in Teach First, a programme run by a registered charity which aims to place the brightest graduates into some of the toughest and most socially deprived schools in the country.

Kwamina (OE 2000-2007) read History at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and then joined a brand consultancy on graduation, but after 18 months he took some time out to travel and re-evaluate. Needing a new challenge and finding the ethos of Teach First inspiring, he signed up to the programme.

Teach First begins with an intensive six-week course. Almost the whole of the two years of the programme are then spent teaching in placement schools – in Kwamina’s case, Hatch End High School, a mixed comprehensive in Harrow with 1,800 pupils, and the Mossbourne Community Academy in inner-city Hackney. Essays must be written and the theoretical side mastered during the holidays. During his placements, in addition to teaching his subject he is expected to deal with frequent pastoral issues.

Kwamina also spent a week of the programme at QE, gaining valuable experience of working with very able children. He values the transferable skills gained through participation in Teach First, such as organisation, presentation, communication and time-management.
 

Two QE contemporaries went to the same two universities and now work in the same prestigious architectural practice.

OEs Andrew Grethe and Devan Mistry, pictured at the top of the Shard skyscraper in London, both joined the School in 2000 when they were placed in the same form and the same House (Leicester). They then moved up through the School side-by-side, both taking Art and Physics at A-level, before leaving QE in 2007 to pursue their studies together at The University of Nottingham and the London Metropolitan University.

The two then went on to take up employment at Terry Farrell and Partners (‘Farrells’), which is one of the UK’s most prestigious practices and has offices in London, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Known for its expertise in urban regeneration, its famous projects include Charing Cross railway station, the Greenwich Peninsula and Newcastle Quayside.

Devan avers that his time at QE was important in nurturing the skills required for his future career and acknowledges the role played by his Art teachers in helping him to develop a keen eye for composition. During his spare time, Devan would travel to various art galleries across London to sketch sculptures, artefacts and people passing by. From that he moved on to draw the external facades and three-dimensional forms of many buildings and structures in and around London.

Devan’s first contact with Farrells came when he gained a two-week placement in the summer after completing his GCSEs. He continued working at the firm in his vacations during his three years at Nottingham, and spent his compulsory one-year placement there. During that year he worked on several high-profile projects, such as the redevelopment of the prestigious St Ermin’s Hotel in London and the design of a new masterplan for the Nine Elms area in Battersea.

In 2012 he spent five months in Farrells’ sister office in Hong Kong where he gained international experience working on major design projects such as The Springs in Shanghai, China (a key retail and residential quarter for one of the fastest growing cities in the world), West Kowloon Cultural Masterplan, Hong Kong (“probably the equivalent of the Southbank Centre in London multiplied ten times over”) and a new banking headquarters for Vattanac Capital in Cambodia.

For his part, Andrew has worked on three large-scale residential projects with part-retail elements: Bicester Eco Village; Skylines, Canary Wharf and Convoys Wharf, Deptford.

Both agree that their working relationship and friendship can be ascribed to their education and the atmosphere created for them at Queen Elizabeth’s. Ultimately they hope to form their own architectural practice.
 

This year’s Founder’s Day guest speaker, Christos Karaolis, related how he found himself caught up in a national media storm when he was photographed playing croquet with John Prescott.

After leaving QE, Christos (OE 1995-2002), pictured second from left, completed a degree in Law at Trinity College, Oxford (where he also learned to play croquet) and then worked for a period as a political writer for the then-Deputy Prime Minister.

His first involvement in politics had come in 2001, when, as a Year 12 pupil, he volunteered to be the Labour candidate in the School’s mock election, held to coincide with that year’s General Election.

He told the congregation gathered in Chipping Barnet Parish Church for the Founder’s Day Thanksgiving Service: “In 2006, we were at our office away-day at the Deputy Prime Minister’s country residence, and when it was suggested that we play croquet, I thought, ‘why not?’

“As it turned out an eagle-eyed photographer with a long lens camera was waiting at the bottom of the garden, and well, we discovered ourselves on the front page of every newspaper the following morning, and something of a laughing stock for the nation.” The episode led to calls for Mr Prescott’s resignation.

“The lesson to learn – sometimes in life, things just don’t go as you had intended,” said Christos. “The answer, of course, is to realise that it happens to everyone and that you should bounce back as soon as you can.

“My experience in the political world was a good one and it taught me a crucial lesson for my adult life; that you can disagree, sometimes strongly, with someone for their views or beliefs, but still respect, and indeed like them, for their hard work and commitment to what they do, even if your perspective may be significantly different.”

He also spoke on the importance of friendships forged and lessons learned during his time at QE: “To this day, I still regularly see my friends from School who have gone on to have successful and diverse careers … our common thread is the School that gave us so much and put us on the road to those successes.”

And he advised the boys: “Use the advice of more experienced people – older boys, Old Elizabethans and those who you might just see as old; your teachers and parents; as I know their ideas and inspiration count for so much.”

After his brief stint working in politics, he went to law school, completed his Bar examinations and qualified as a Barrister.  He recalled how much he had gained at QE from the Young Enterprise scheme and how he applied knowledge acquired then on a daily basis in his current employment as a business strategy consultant.

For the last six years, he has also led a 15,000-member global organisation for young Cypriots. “What I love about London, our city, and indeed about QE, is that we are such a wonderfully multi-cultural society where there are so many ways that we can celebrate and share that diversity.”

After the Thanksgiving Service, rain started to fall as the Headmaster began the traditional roll call in front of the School; it continued during the afternoon. The Stanley Busby Memorial Cricket Match between an old boys’ team and the current First XI, which was revived last year, had to be abandoned. There was therefore little opportunity for OEs to enjoy their new refreshment tent. However, a good number did come along and savoured the attractions of the Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s Founder’s Day Fete, including the ever-popular international food tent. The Concert Band ignored the rain and played with considerable composure, demonstrating their musical abilities despite the conditions.