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The Sixth Form Voluntary Service Programme at QE has become an important factor in enabling the School to fulfil its commitment to make a serious contribution to society and “to produce young men who are confident, able and responsible”.

Every pupil in Year 12 is expected to devote 40 hours during the year (or one hour per week) to volunteering.

Boys find their own placements: usually, their choices either relate to an individual’s planned career or make a contribution to his community.

The School receives very positive feedback from employers who participate in the programme. For their part, pupils benefit tremendously from the opportunity to work alongside people from different walks of life, thereby enhancing their social skills and, in many cases, gaining skills and knowledge that will prove useful to them in their future career.

Below are some case studies from current Sixth-Formers on their volunteering placements, collated by Sixth-Former Alex Davis. The photographs of the volunteers in action were taken by Alex’s classmate, Henry Yang.

Matthew Chew, acts as a Teaching Assistant at Brunswick Park Primary School and Nursery. He works with small groups of children in Year 2, varying from groups of seven to one-to-one, helping them with improving numeracy skills.

What are the benefits for you?

• Gaining leadership, teaching and communication skills with children
• Satisfaction of helping children learn

What do your employer and colleagues get out of it?

• Reduces the burden for teachers
• Allows children to get more individual help with difficult concepts

Why do you think volunteering is important?
“Volunteering not only helps to model future career aspirations, but it also allows us to give back to society. By teaching children, I’m able to pass on information that I have picked up along the way.”

Rohan Sathyanand helps with the running of a Cancer Reseach UK charity shop. This includes dealing with the shop Floor, checking use-by dates of the products and taking charge of the media section.

What are the benefits for you?

• Working with a range of interesting people; developing team-building skills
• Feeling of giving back to society

What do your employer and colleagues get out of it?

• The shop would not able to function without volunteers
• I introduced a restructured pricing strategy for media-related items to increase revenue for the charity

Why do you think volunteering is important?
“Volunteering goes one step further than simply donating. I initially moved to the UK with my family in 2004 and visited charity shops often when I was younger. Now, I am in a position to be able to help others who are in a similar situation.”

Vignesh Gopalan helps run Arts and Crafts classes at St Joseph’s Pastoral Centre, an adult learning disability centre. Adults receive one-to-one help with activities such as painting and pottery.

What are the benefits for you?

• Satisfaction of giving people opportunities they would otherwise not have
• Building relationships and having fun

What do your employer and colleagues get out of it?

• St Joseph’s are often short of volunteers
• Adults with difficulties get someone to talk to, which allows them to be expressive and creative

Why do you think volunteering is important?
“Our responsibility is to help others as we are in a fortunate position to be able to.  This charity is really very unusual as it goes beyond simply raising funds, actively bringing adults in.”

Jeremy Wong helps with the general running of Chipping Barnet Day Centre for the Elderly, as well as entertaining the elderly through board games, such as Scrabble, draughts and chess.

What are the benefits for you?

• Gaining medical work experience in geriatrics
• Developing communication skills with patients

What do your employer and colleagues get out of it?

• Day centre works more efficiently
• Elderly appreciate that people give up their free time to entertain and help them

Why do you think volunteering is important?
“There is very little money in institutions like elderly day care centres, and they can only continue to function successfully through the work of volunteers. It is also important to commit oneself to tasks whereby there is no personal reward directly.”

 

The Spring Term has seen instances of progress and achievement on a number of fronts at Queen Elizabeth’s School. These have included the success of our Year 13 boys in obtaining offers from Russell Group universities across a wide range of academic disciplines. Twenty-six pupils have gained places at Cambridge and Oxford, with those looking to study Economics, Engineering, Law and Natural Sciences faring particularly well.

In addition, 17 were placed in the ‘Cambridge Winter Pool’, meaning that they only narrowly missed out on securing a place at the university. Such success is the result of consistent hard work over a period of many months and of the support of others, including staff, parents and Old Elizabethans.

At our recent Senior Awards, I was pleased to welcome as our Guest of Honour Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, who has risen from a relatively modest background to become Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University. He grew up on an estate in Cardiff from where he went on to the Welsh National School of Medicine before eventually rising to become Chief Executive of the UK’s Medical Research Council. In his speech, Sir Leszek celebrated academic excellence and cautioned against a utilitarian approach to education. For my part, I would re-iterate that our boys need not be concerned if their genuine academic interests do not lie within a discipline that immediately links to a specific profession. They should have the confidence to embrace the privilege that we enjoy in the UK of being able to pursue our genuine academic interests at the world’s leading universities. A challenging intellectual experience leads to a wide range of career opportunities and is attractive to prospective employers.

Given the recent controversy in the Press around the appointment of Professor Les Ebdon as Head of the Office for Fair Access, it is perhaps appropriate for me at this juncture to make clear my stance on university entrance: I firmly endorse the view that universities should select students purely on the grounds of academic merit, and regardless of their social or ethnic background.

A similarly meritocratic position on admissions has, of course, underpinned QE’s success. This will be further enhanced by our new Admissions Code, under which all pupils will be selected on the basis of academic merit through the entrance examination. Although this change involves the removal of the small number of places reserved for musicians who qualified for the second round of academic testing, the Governors and I are committed to Music remaining a strength.

I continue to be encouraged by the eager participation in Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s events, such as this term’s Chinese Extravaganza, and also by the generous giving to our Covenant Fund, which makes possible developments such as our current building project. I am delighted to confirm that the first phase of this is now complete. We are currently negotiating the next phase, which will provide a two-storey extension, new refectory and full-size library. It is necessary to pause construction for the examination season, but I hope work will start again soon. May I invite former pupils to support the excellent work of FQE by attending our Founder’s Day Fete on Saturday 16th June, which this year is on the theme of the Olympics?

One of the memorable events of this term was the visit of our Paralympian old boy, Tom Aggar (1995-2002), for the Sixth Form Luncheon. We will be following his progress keenly at London 2012. We are looking to develop our links with our old boys of all generations.

Another recent highlight was the School Play, All the World’s a Stage. This was both ambitious in its scope and impressive in its execution: our Co-ordinator of Drama, Elaine White, should be congratulated on a very successful production. It is my intention that drama should be a significant aspect of School life at QE.

We are currently working towards the School’s Strategic Development Plan to cover the period 2012-2016. The results of a recent survey conducted among our parents as part of the consultation over the plan were immensely encouraging and also gave us some interesting things to consider. Inter alia, these include a consensus that we should continue to invest in the development of technology in the School. September will see the launch of our new Technology Course for Key Stage 3 – one of a number of curricular changes that we are making as we take advantage of the freedom afforded us by our status as an Academy. Education Secretary Michael Gove’s recent decision to abolish the current national ICT curriculum marks a widespread recognition that the teaching of computing should be more creative and challenging. Replacing the previous ICT and DT courses, our new course will provide greater academic stimulation. From September, Latin will be re-introduced to the curriculum at QE, building on the success of our extra-curricular Latin. All the new Year 7 boys will begin a three-year course in the language. Our Science Department is currently preparing those in Year 10 for the respected Edexcel IGCSE, while boys currently in Year 9 and below will also be preparing for the IGCSE Mathematics qualification.

My best wishes to all our former pupils for a pleasant Easter holiday.

Neil Enright

 

This term’s major theatrical production marked another step in the renaissance of drama at Queen Elizabeth’s School. Entitled All the World’s a Stage, the play was written at the School and was based around Jaques’ famous Seven Ages of Man speech from Shakespeare’s As You Like It.

It featured scenes with familiar titles, such as Oh! What a Lovely War, Just William, and The Importance of Being Earnest. “In order to bring these scenes together, we used the long history of Queen Elizabeth’s School to weave an imaginary debate between past students about which scene best represents one of the Ages of Man,” explained Co-ordinator of Drama, Elaine White. “The initial project and ideas came from me, but as we rehearsed, the boys came up with both improvised and scripted scenes.”

The connection with the School’s history was further emphasised by the projection of photographs of previous headmasters during the production itself and by a special presentation during the interval featuring photographs of old boys in QE drama productions of the past.

The current Headmaster, Neil Enright, congratulated Mrs White, her colleagues and the boys on their efforts. He added: “There is a long tradition of an annual play at the School and I am delighted that we have been able to strengthen this in the past couple of years. Last year’s production of The Tempest was a significant development, and I feel confident that All the World’s a Stage marked another step forward for drama at QE, not least because it was the first play to be staged in the Shearly Hall.”

 

I write this having recently bidden farewell to our Year 13 leavers and having also enjoyed meeting many Old Elizabethans at the 2012 Founder’s Day Fete organised by the Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s.

More than ever, I am sensible of the great contribution made to the wellbeing of the School by the wider Elizabethan community, including alumni of all generations, parents and other supporters.

Founder’s Day amply demonstrates that contribution. This year, our guest speaker at the service, Piers Martin, Director and CEO of British Fencing, gave an illuminating address in which he discussed the British Olympic fencing team and the steadfast dedication necessary to succeed at Olympic level. Piers was a QE pupil from 1987 to 1994, while his father, Barrie Martin, is Chairman of the Governing Body. On a personal note, I enjoyed my first opportunity as Headmaster to preside over the traditional Roll Call and give the reading of the School Chronicle on Stapylton Field. We were also pleased to be able to revive an old QE tradition – the playing of a Founder’s Day cricket match between the School First XI and an old boys’ team.

Other highlights of the term have included a number of events through which the School celebrated the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Our Kings and Queens Concert was a memorable success, as was the special Jubilee-themed lunch in a bunting-decked Refectory. It was good to welcome back QE old boy Claude Francois Muhuza (2001-2008) as guest speaker at Junior Awards.

I have also been encouraged recently by the early success of the Old Elizabethans Business Club, which is very ably led by Michael Galluci (OE 1981-88). Launched in January last year on the LinkedIn social media platform, the club has attracted a good number of members. Its aims include providing opportunities for old boys across the world to get to know each other, share business advice and news, to get together at various functions and to support the School.

Earlier this term, I relished the opportunity to meet some older alumni when I attended the popular Forty Society Luncheon Club, which, as most of you will doubtless know, is for those who left the School 40 or more years ago. Included in the society’s ranks are a number of Old Elizabethans who took part in one of the more remarkable events in the School’s history which took place 50 years ago this summer: the 1962 QE expedition to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

Such links with our past are tremendously important, as are the regular visits to the School by our old boys. We see our alumni as a significant element in the future development of Queen Elizabeth’s School. This is set out in our four-year plan, entitled School Priorities for Development 2012-2016, which has just been fully endorsed by the School’s Governing Body.

We are, of course, looking forward to the Olympics. Tom Aggar (OE 1995-2002), has become quite a familiar face at QE and I will be cheering him on in the rowing as he aims to repeat his gold-winning performance of the Beijing Paralympics. I will also watch with keen interest the performance of Piers Martin’s fencers.

Finally, I am delighted to be able to bring you positive news regarding our buildings. Firstly, the new Food Technology suite is now complete and is currently being tested before we bring it into full use in September this year. Secondly, the Trustees recently gave their formal assent to the next phase, which will involve the creation of our new Library and Dining Hall. Work began recently and the new facilities are scheduled to be ready for use in September 2013.

May I wish you all an enjoyable summer.

Neil Enright

 

Service and sacrifice informed the special remembrance assembly held at the School to mark the centenary of the Armistice in 1918.

All boys from Years 7–10, together with staff and many senior pupils, took part in the ceremony, which featured music, poetry and a procession by the Combined Cadet Force.

In an address to the assembly, Old Elizabethan and Governor Ken Cooper (1942-50), a former officer in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, charted the course of the war, making clear the scale of the conflict and its great cost. He explained how the emergence of trench warfare on the Western Front led to combat that lasted for months and years yet resulted in minimal or no territorial gains for either side.

The Headmaster read aloud the names of the 48 Old Elizabethans killed during World War I, whilst the names of the 65 who died in World War II were projected on to a screen. The two-minute silence at 11 o’clock was heralded by six of QE’s senior trumpeters sounding the Last Post.

At the end of the assembly, the CCF contingent marched with the commemorative wreath to the War Memorial located in the Crush Hall, where it was placed.

Separately, Year 12 historians had a special tour of the Imperial War Museum’s World War I centenary exhibition, courtesy of alumnus Dr Ian Kikuchi. Ian (OE 1997-2004) curated the exhibition and answered questions both about the war and about the logistics of curating major exhibitions.

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Alumni continue to support QE by giving careers talks. This term’s included a lunchtime lecture by Samir Manek (OE 2001–2008), a litigator working at the heart of the UK’s financial regulatory system as an Associate (Solicitor) with the Financial Conduct Authority. He urged on QE’s aspiring lawyers the importance of a genuine passion for the Law.

Two younger lawyers, Suraj Sangani (OE 2005-2012) and Izzet Hassan (also 2005-2012), gave boys in Years 11-13 insights into how to pursue a career in Law, with both stressing the importance of preparation and persistence. Izzet, who is a Future Trainee Solicitor at London-based multinational firm, Slaughter and May, graduated with an LLB in Law from the University of Warwick before completing an MPhil in Criminology at Cambridge. Suraj followed an alternative route, reading History at Warwick before being recruited by Hogan Lovells, which has joint headquarters in London and Washington, where he is a Trainee Solicitor.

And Civil Service economist Andrei Sandu (OE 2007-2014) told senior boys that he was already advising a Government Minister at a European summit, just a few short months after starting his job. Andrei joined the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) as part of the economists’ group of the Civil Service Fast Stream in August last year. In the autumn of 2017, he was called upon to attend a Council of Ministers summit in Brussels, where he advised Lord Henley, of BEIS, throughout the session.

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Piers Martin was part of a relay team that successfully swam the English Channel in rough conditions and raised more than £6,000 for Autism East Midlands. Yet, even though the team were eminently suited to the challenge – Piers (OE 1987–1994) is a high-performance sport and business consultant and a former national-level swimming champion, while two of his fellow team-members are water polo coaches – the swim almost didn’t happen. Because of worsening weather, the authorising organisation, the Channel Swimming and Piloting Association (CSPA) had called off the swim, only to give the team an eleventh-hour reprieve after they had already left Dover and were heading home.

George the Poet (George Mpanga, OE 2002–2009) has raised his already-high profile still further by appearing on TV screens in both the public and private spheres. A keen advocate of social justice, George investigated how and why the capital’s poor residents are losing out as council homes disappear for an Inside Out London current affairs programme on BBC1. He also starred in a new commercial for O2 reflecting on the wonder of Planet Earth and the transitory nature of human life.

Akshay Ruparelia’s fast-expanding online estate agency, Doorsteps.co.uk, launched a second crowdfunding round during the autumn – and smashed its £400,000 target within seconds of the offer going live. Akshay (OE 2009–2016) made national headlines last year after the first fundraising, with the young entrepreneur’s age attracting journalists’ admiration.

Fronting the latest fundraising drive, he explained that the money raised, which eventually came to nearly £900,000, will pay for more staff and additional investment in technology as the company grows.

Performance coach Kam Taj (Kamran Tajbaksh, OE 2004–2011) has published a new book offering students his own innovative and detailed holistic approach to achieving success as a student.

Entitled The Ultimate Guide to Exam Success, the book is the latest in a series published through UniAdmissions, an education consultancy which helps students applying to Oxbridge and medical schools.

The first four chapters of the 182-page paperback are on: time-management, study tools & techniques; mind-management and on-the-day performance. “Unlike any other book on exams, the final four chapters are on optimising our lifestyle so we can stay physically and mentally healthy throughout our studies,” Kam adds.

Announcing its publication, Kam told his Facebook followers: “In many ways, I wrote this book for my younger self – it’s everything I wished I knew as a student and teenager.”

This term began with Queen Elizabeth’s School still in celebratory mood following our superlative results at both GCSE and A-level.

New records were set in August, with the number of GCSE examinations awarded the A* grade hitting 78%. At A-level, we recorded our highest-ever total of A* grades, while 2018 was the 13th consecutive year in which the proportion of examinations awarded A*–B grades – a commonly used benchmark figure – has topped 95%.

Since then, external sources have further confirmed and corroborated our success. First came a Government league table showing that QE is the top selective school in England when measured against the Department for Education’s Progress 8 figure, which records progress between the end of Key Stage 2 (the last year of primary school) and GCSE results in Year 11. Our Progress 8 figure of 1.22 placed us ahead of any other grammar school and 15th out of the 6,530 schools and colleges measured. Furthermore, the School comfortably outperformed all 14 schools above it when compared against two other Government measures, Attainment 8 and the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), both of which are methods of recording pupils’ achievement in key GCSE subjects.

That was followed by evidence of the School’s success in providing high-calibre careers education emerging in a national survey conducted by recruitment consultancy Rare. This found that more boys from QE apply to graduate recruitment programmes run by blue-chip law, finance and management firms than from any other state boys’ school.

More recently still, QE was crowned the country’s top state school in the Sunday Times Parent Power survey, overtaking the 2017 winners, The Henrietta Barnett School, to head the table comprising the 150 leading state schools. This highly influential survey determines ranking based on the percentage of examination entries gaining A* to B grades at A-level (which is given double weighting) and the percentage of entries awarded A* and A grades at GCSE.

QE may perhaps with some justification now lay claim to being considered the UK’s leading state school. Precisely because of that, it is important that our horizons as a school are broad and expansive, and that we encourage, train and nurture our pupils so that they can excel in our increasingly interconnected world. This term’s commemoration of the centenary of the 1918 Armistice stands, among other things, as a warning, a sobering reminder of the potentially disastrous consequences of narrow nationalism. And whatever the outcome of the current turbulent period surrounding Brexit, Britain’s future leaders in society, commerce and academia will need to be equipped to thrive both in Europe and beyond.

Major employers frequently lament the dearth of readily employable graduates who are globally-minded, cross-culturally competent, and, preferably, able to speak another language other than English. To gain such a global perspective, boys need to acquire ‘soft skills’ such as open-mindedness, the ability to listen carefully to others, interest in other cultures, adaptability and curiosity. All of these attributes are in fact adumbrated in aspects of our mission, which, for example, enjoins the School to encourage “independence of thought” and to focus “the boys’ attention on their own development and aspirations, both at the School and beyond”.

It is tremendously important that boys develop and maintain a broad outlook alongside their achievement of very strong academic results if they are to thrive. One foundation of such a holistic approach is that boys begin reflecting upon their own lives and attitudes as they start finding their place in the world. Two of our alumni, poet Anthony Anaxagorou (OE 1994–1999) and Bilal Harry Khan (OE 2003–2010, featured elsewhere in this newsletter) explored the sometimes-tricky areas of identity, masculinity and gender roles when they visited this term, with Bilal speaking to Year 11 and Anthony delivering a Sixth Form assembly. Alongside and related to these areas, we recognise the importance of boys looking outwards in their relationships, adopting habits of kindness, thoughtfulness and respect for others. By so doing, not only do boys establish better relationships, but they also stand to gain themselves.

For those seeking to learn how to operate effectively in a global environment, it is important, too, that their relationships include some with people from other walks of life and from other cultures. There are frequent opportunities for boys to broaden their horizons through purposeful international travel. Whether these are sports tours or subject-related trips organised by academic departments, such visits always deepen intercultural understanding.

For our senior boys, we are encouraging the increasing aspiration of many to study abroad. A sizeable group of our Year 12 boys have been working this term with our visiting interns from the University of Connecticut and others as they prepare to submit applications to US universities. Visits from recent leavers, such as Valavan Ananthakumaraswamy (OE 2009-2016), the first QE boy ever to be offered a place at Stanford University, provide further inspiration.

I wish all our alumni a Merry Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

Neil Enright