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Harrisons’ House swept past last year’s winner, Broughton, to win the Eric Shearly House Cup.

The announcement came at the end of the traditional end-of-year assembly, with Headmaster Neil Enright presenting the cup.

The 2023–2024 House competition went down to the wire, with Broughton besting Stapylton by just three points, but in this year’s competition, the 1,656 points amassed during the year by Harrisons’ placed it comfortably ahead of Broughton, on 1,625 points.

Pearce was in third place, followed by Underne, Stapylton and Leicester.

Mr Enright said: “My congratulations go to the Harrisons’ pupil leadership and to the whole of the House on this achievement, which is the result of consistent high performance throughout the whole academic year.”

Many of the points awarded to QE’s six Houses are gained through House competitions covering a huge spectrum of activities, ranging from quizzes and chess to sport and music.

Points are also secured according to the total number of merits and good notes earned across the year groups.

Harrisons’ was founded in 1954 and was the fifth House to be established, as the School underwent rapid expansion in the 1950s.

It is the only House to honour two people in its name.

Firstly, there was G W N Harrison, who taught at the School for 41 years from 1888 until his retirement in 1929. He died the following year.

The second person was another long-serving and dedicated member of staff, E W Harrison (no relation), who served from 1931 until his death at the age of just 45 in 1950. At the time of his death, he was a senior Mathematics teacher and Second Master Designate.

The House colour is brown. The Harrisons’ team is pictured above.

Founder’s Day 2025 drew large numbers of visitors for the afternoon fete, who helped smash a £25,000 fundraising target.

The day, a traditional highlight of QE’s calendar, began with a service at St John the Baptist Church. That was followed by the formal Roll Call and Reading of the School Chronicle in front of QE’s Main Building.

Then it was time for the Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s Fete to begin on Stapylton Field, where visitors could enjoy dozens of attractions, ranging from a plants stall and coconut shy through to barbecues and tents offering cuisine from around the world.

Headmaster Neil Enright: “Founder’s Day 2025 was a tremendous day from start to finish. The fete was very enjoyable, with great food and diverse cultural entertainment on the stage. Even the weather seemed to be on our side: although it was a hot day, we were blessed with a little cloud and even some (unforecast) light rain – it all helped keep everyone cool.”

“I am extremely pleased to be able to report that we have raised £40,904.50 – and still rising! That is a magnificent sum significantly exceeding both this year’s £25,000 target and the amount raised last year. My thanks to everyone who gave generously.”

“I congratulate and thank all those involved in making Founder’s Day 2025 such a terrific success – especially the FQE Fete Committee, who have spent countless hours organising the fete over many months, and their small army of parent volunteers who turned out on the day. I should also mention our prefect team, who also worked tirelessly throughout the day.”

The service at the parish church featured a selection of hymns and readings, as well as music from the School Choir, Junior Barbershop Group and three young organists – Arthur Wang, Year 7; Gabriel Ward, Year 8; and Zach Fernandes, of Year 9.

The guest speaker was 2015 School Captain Norbert Sobolak. He spoke powerfully to the Year 7 boys in the congregation, reminding them of the achievements of Old Elizabethans Demis Hassabis (1988–1990) and Mustafa Suleyman (1995–2002). The pair were among the three co-founders of leading AI company, DeepMind, while last year, Sir Demis won a Nobel prize for Chemistry.

“Dream so big it scares you,” Norbert said. “Build your own path, even when the world says no. Never, ever give up. And I promise you: you will not just change your life; you will change the world.”

After the service, the staff, dressed in academicals, made their way to the School with the rest of the congregation for the lunchtime Roll Call and Reading of the School Chronicle (a history of notable events in the School’s history) in front of Main Building.

The fete was well attended. The programme includes more details about the event, as well as articles and advertisements from the fete’s supporters.

Among the most popular attractions was the bowl-at-a-teacher stall, making use of the cricket cage. As well as music from QE ensembles, there were colourful displays of dancing on the stage, while the Main School Hall housed an archival display that included QE’s founding charter of 1573.

Among those who enjoyed the chance to examine the charter were representatives of the QE Global Schools programme, from Global Education (GEDU), who attended the celebrations and supported the day.

As well as takings on the day, the fundraising total was boosted by the sale of advertising, by giving online, and by sponsored House competitions held by both the Music and PE departments.

Funds raised will be put towards the complete refurbishment of two Biology laboratories, helping QE to respond effectively to the growing demand for subject-specific science laboratories as the numbers taking A-level sciences has risen in recent years. There is still time to donate: the dedicated Founder’s Day JustGiving page remains open.

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The School’s top chess players of all ages are looking forward to doing battle in the new term in the regional finals of the English Schools’ Chess Championships, after emerging triumphant from a qualifier. 

QE’s A team, comprising players from the senior years, successfully took on teams from Aylesbury Grammar School, the Lycée Internationale de Londres, University College School, and from the hosts, Harrow, to secure first place in the regional qualifier.  

The younger B team came fifth, with both the teams successfully going through to the regional knockout stages. 

The successes capped a term in which no fewer than 168 boys took part in in-School tournaments for Years 9, 10 & 11. 

Teacher in charge of chess Geoff Roberts said: “My congratulations go to our A team, who played superbly at Harrow, winning four matches, and to the B team, who also put in a very creditable performance, winning two and drawing one of their four matches.    

“There were particularly strong performances from the A team’s Daiwik Solanki and B team’s Hubert Bates, who both won three of their matches and drew the remaining one. Well done, too, to Nishchal Thatte, Joshua John, Jason Tao, Rithwik Gururaj, Callistus Bhattachrya and Karthik Kalairasan, who also notched up three wins apiece.” 

Eighteen teams took part in the regional qualifier. 

In QE’s own tournaments, Rithwik, of Underne House, and Nishchal, of Leicester, were joint winners of the Year 11 tournament.

Rohan Katkar won the Year 10 tournament and Yue Song secured first place in the Year 8 event. 

Tournaments for Years 7 & 9 will be played in the first half of the Spring Term.   

The School A and B teams were as follows:   

A team 

Joshua John, Year 13
Andreas Angelopoulos, Year 13
Jason Tao, Year 13
Daiwik Solanki, Year 12
Rithwik Gururaj, Year 11
Nishchal Thatte, Year 11 

B team 

Karthik Kalaiarasan, Year 12 
Callistus Bhattacharya, Year 10
Aayush Dewangan, Year 9
Bharat Jayakumar, Year 9
Elliot O’Donnell, Year 9
Hubert Bates, Year 7 

The Robert Dudley Studio, QE’s new facility for drama and the spoken word, has been demonstrating its flexibility in a string of events. 

The studio, created from two existing large rooms towards the rear of the Main Building, hosted early rounds of the English Speaking Union’s Schools’ Mace debating contest and of the national Performing Shakespeare competition. 

Two events were held there as part of a new partnership with the English National Ballet, while it was also the venue for a special English lesson exploring dramatic imagery and language. 

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “With the installation of audio-visual equipment, The Robert Dudley Studio has really begun fulfilling its potential for helping us develop oracy in our pupils.” 

At the Mace, the country’s oldest and largest debating competition for schools, a senior QE team – including School Captain Chanakya Seetharam, as well as Zaki Mustafa, and Koustuv Bhowmick, all from Year 13 – took on Haberdashers’ Girls’ School. Other leading schools from North London and Hertfordshire also competed.  The QE team won the event to progress to the second-round heats in January.  

For the Performing Shakespeare competition, every boy in Year 8 learns a speech to perform in class. The 12 winners from across the six Houses fought it out in the School final, held this month in The Robert Dudley Studio (RDS). 

Head of English Robert Hyland said: “There are some things which reading Shakespeare simply as words on the page can never give – so much of the impact of his work comes from how performers have chosen to interpret, following the rhythms and the imagery of the poetry to bring the words to life.  

“Year 8 have done a brilliant job this year in not only choosing a wide range of speeches from across Shakespeare’s plays, but in showing an audience how they understand the text in a way which essay-writing can never replicate.  

The top three performers were:  

• Param Jani, of Underne House, in first place with Is this a dagger I see before me?  from Macbeth 

• Sai Rushil Manchiraju, of Pearce, the runner-up, with Hamlet’s To be or not to be   

• Kavin Rajan, of Harrisons’, who took third place with Henry V’s Once more into the breach dear friends. 

 “The standard overall was very high,” said Mr Hyland. “Param’s speech from Macbeth was a worthy winner, allowing the audience to see and viscerally feel the conflicting emotions and feelings that Macbeth is experiencing at this point in the play.”  

The top two go through to the regional round in the Spring Term.   

The special English lesson held in RDS also focused on Shakespeare, looking at scene 3 from act 3 of The Tempest, where Ariel (under instruction from Prospero) is creating visions for the royal court. Some members of the court are responsible for deposing Prospero from his Dukedom in Milan before the play starts.

Mr Hyland said: “The focus was on the language of the royal court as it was expressing amazement at natural phenomena, and then on how tableaux could be used to depict the key visual moments of the natural world interacting with humanity (Ariel appearing as a harpy, the vanishing banquet, and so on).

“We subsequently returned to the language, thinking about the delivery of the speech which Ariel gives, and what key or words ideas come to light when presented dramatically.”  

Finally, the studio’s versatility came to the fore for the English National Ballet partnership events. 

First, a screening for 30 Year 9 boys of the ENB’s and choreographer Akram Khan’s award-winning production of the classical ballet, Giselle, was held in RDS. Then, the boys toured the ENB’s design and rehearsal studios in Canning Town, learning about the many jobs associated with ballet and meeting some of the creative team behind Giselle.   

ENB dancers and a musician later came to QE and gave the boys a two-hour contemporary ballet workshop, testing the RDS’s audio equipment to the full. They explored ways of moving, inspired by the plot, characters and choreography of Giselle – and all to live beats and rhythms. The boys gained an insight into the coordination, balance and agility needed in ballet. 

Assistant Head (Pupil Involvement) Crispin Bonham-Carter said: “It was brilliant to see the studio being used flexibly as both a fantastic surround-sound cinema and then, with the seats retracted, a fantastic dance studio!

“Best of all though was the enthusiasm and energy the boys put into their dancing. Who knows – maybe the next Akram Khan has just learnt his first dance steps? 

“Having a dedicated space for performing arts helps facilitate such work, but also provokes staff to seek out new and creative opportunities for the boys.” 

Broughton just pipped last year’s winner, Stapylton, to become QE’s champion House, with 1,592 points, against Stapylton’s 1,589.

Headmaster Neil Enright presented the Eric Shearly House Cup to Broughton’s leaders as the climax to the traditional end-of-year assembly.

“My congratulations go to House Captain Robin Bickers, Deputy House Captain Zeyuan Wu, and to all the members of Broughton House,” he said. “As the points totals attest, this was a closely fought contest. Points are amassed from many different areas of School life, and Broughton’s achievement thus demonstrates considerable commitment, as well as consistency across a broad range of endeavour.”

Underne came third in this year’s competition.

The cup is awarded based on points that are awarded to QE’s six Houses throughout the academic year. They include points gained through a large number of House competitions. Points are also gained according to the total number of merits and good notes earned across the year groups.

Broughton has the distinction of being the only House named after an Old Elizabethan. William Grant Broughton was educated at QE in the late 18th century and was appointed Archdeacon of New South Wales in 1828, having been noticed and assisted by the Duke of Wellington. He went on to become the first (and only) Bishop of Australia of the Church of England.

The trophy Broughton received, the Eric Shearly Cup, is named after Eric Shearly (1920–2005), who dedicated 76 years of his life to QE, where he was both a pupil and a teacher. He was an enthusiastic advocate of extra-curricular activities, having himself been a highly successful QE athletics captain in the late 1930s.

The special assembly was introduced by Assistant Head (Pupil Involvement) Crispin Bonham-Carter, who leads the QE Flourish extra-curricular programme.

He told the boys that QE Flourish this year included no fewer than 200 trips, 33 of them residential. Every single member of QE’s teaching staff took part in at least one School trip. Six hundred and fifty boys had seen a live show. In total, the programme had delivered 13,508 experiences to individual pupils, Mr Bonham-Carter said.

The assembly celebrated many of the year’s achievements and House competitions. Areas covered included charity work; the environment (including autumn tree-planting and bulb-planting as part of the 2023 450th anniversary celebrations); EDI (equality, diversity and inclusion); QE Together (the pupil-led community partnership with Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School); debating; Music; chess; drama; and sport.

The boys were told that £500 was raised for the Noah’s Ark Hospice and another £500 for overseas charitable work, split between the School’s long-running Sai School Appeal supporting a rural school in Kerala, India, and Teach Sri Lanka, which supports the education of children from all communities and all backgrounds in that nation.

The assembly also celebrated a busy year for the School’s musicians, who have been involved in eight concerts, QE’s May the fourth be almost with you Music festival, trips, charity performances, and this month’s tour to Vienna, as well as providing musical support for several formal School occasions.

With chess thriving at QE, especially in the lower years, there was the announcement of 20 boys winning junior colours, seven winning intermediate and seven winning senior, as well as a large number of commendations.

In sport, 23 teams represented the School this year. There were more than 119 fixtures, with a total of 407 different boys playing for QE.

Stapylton House beat rivals Broughton at Sports Day 2024 in the closest contest for years.

The blues of Stapylton emerged victorious by the narrowest of margins – a single point – thus bringing to an end the multi-year Sports Day dominance of red rivals Broughton.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “With Stapylton winning by 587 points to Broughton’s 586, the competition could hardly have been any more exciting! Well done to all the hundreds of boys who competed and to our winners.

“My thanks go to the PE & Games department for successfully putting on a one-day festival of physical activity that was a great deal of fun.”

Sports Day covered a wide range of disciplines, including individual track and field athletics events, rowing, triathlon, badminton, table-tennis, Eton Fives, tug-of-war and volleyball.

It involved every pupil from Year 7 through to Year 10. Large numbers of staff were on hand to make sure everything ran smoothly, with the Year 12 Sports Leaders also playing an important role in the administration.

The event was the swansong of Head of Rugby James Clarke, who leaves the School this summer after working in the department for a dozen years. As an Old Elizabethan (1999-2004), if he felt some disappointment that his own House, Broughton, missed out, there was at least consolation in the fact that he anchored the staff team to victory in the traditional finale to Sports Day – the QE Mile, a 16 x 100m relay.

Pictured, top, is Year 10’s Faaiz Adil, one of the School’s leading young sportsmen, quite literally throwing himself into his race.

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