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QE pupils drew praise from faith experts and educationalists alike when they spoke at the launch of Barnet’s new Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education and in presentations to local primary schools.

Sena Lai-Fujiwara and Vignesh Rajiv, of Year 9, and Saifullah Shah, of Year 13, who are all members of the long-running Faith Ambassadors project at QE, gave presentations on their faiths at the meeting of Barnet SACRE (Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education) at Hendon Town Hall.

QE boys also spoke to primary school pupils as part of the project, which has now been running at the School for some years. It involves pupils of different faiths working together to produce a short presentation on some aspect of their faith, which they then deliver in primary schools as part of QE’s community outreach work.

After the presentations at the SACRE meeting, the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Caroline Stock, was keen to discuss the project with the trio and to congratulate them on their work, while a letter sent subsequently to Headmaster Neil Enright brought fresh messages of congratulation.

The joint letter from Dr Anna Sallnow, a Religious Education consultant representing the local authority, and Kevin McSharry, Chair of Barnet SACRE, said: “It was quite a daunting task to speak in front of such a distinguished audience. However, your students rose to the challenge magnificently. They spoke with clarity, enthusiasm and understanding… [and] listened respectfully while other participants spoke. They all showed how much they enjoy their RE lessons and the importance of being religiously literate in our ever-changing world.”

QE’s Head of Philosophy, Religion and Society, Jack Robertson, said: “The Faith Ambassadors project gives our boys an opportunity to share with others details of their faith which they are passionate about, while at the same time working on their presentation skills. Primary pupils then get to hear about a particular religion from a QE student’s personal perspective, which can greatly enrich their understanding of a religion.

“Barnet is one of the most religiously diverse boroughs in England, and the make-up of QE’s Faith Ambassadors reflects this diversity: this year, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh pupils all participated in the project, visiting schools in Barnet and Finchley.

Faith Ambassadors Saifullah Shah and Ben Domb (Year 13) spoke afterwards about their experiences, with Saifullah stating that it had been “a golden opportunity that enabled us to inspire others” and Ben saying it had been “a rewarding process [that] allowed me to explore my religion in a way that I hadn’t thought about before”.

Budding Sherlocks from seven local primary schools enjoyed the opportunity to use QE’s cutting-edge scientific equipment to unravel a murder mystery set up at the School.

More than 30 Year 5 & 6 pupils were invited to try their hand at forensic techniques to help them solve the ‘crime’.

In the scenario, QE Headmaster Neil Enright was the unfortunate victim, with clues pointing to a number of suspects, all members of the Science department.

At the start of the day the visitors were introduced to the crime scene. They were from: Martin Primary School, Livingstone Primary & Nursery School, Foulds, Trent CE Primary School, Church Hill Primary School, Woodridge Primary School and Northside Primary School

To unravel the whodunnit mystery, the children had to conduct a series of experiments, including hair-sample analysis using a microscope, blood-splatter analysis, fingerprint analysis and chromatography, which was employed to identify the pen used to write a threatening note to Mr Enright.

Most of the groups correctly solved the crime and, at the end of the day, were invited to give a presentation of their findings.

Physics teacher Gillian Deakin said: “Our visitors obviously enjoyed using the scientific equipment here, much of which is not readily available in primary schools. We chose Livingstone as overall winners as they gave an excellent presentation which evaluated very well the evidence they had.”

“We organised the day to engage pupils from local schools in different aspects of Science, as well as to encourage the visiting boys to apply to QE, having had a taste of what we offer. The visiting teachers said that they and their charges had all enjoyed the day and that they hoped to attend again next year,” added Miss Deakin.

From spelling and writing poetry to solving number and logic puzzles, more than 50 visiting Year 5 pupils faced a busy schedule when they took part in QE’s Primary Challenge Day.

Now in its fifth year, the event attracted entrants from a record-equalling 14 local schools, who each sent a team of four competitors.

The challenge is organised to offer local pupils the opportunity to compete in an enjoyable and stimulating setting; it involves activities focusing on English and Mathematics. Each round of the competition brought a fresh, often interactive, challenge.

Teachers Philip Brady and Marco Saccardi, of the Mathematics Department, and Sarah Snowdon and Panayiota Menelaou, of the English department, helped throughout the morning by running one of the rounds each and chatting to the participants. In addition, all the teams were allocated a Year 7 QE pupil to help them feel at home and support them.

The overall winners were Woodridge Primary School. Trent CE Primary School won the Limerick round, while the Shuttle round went to Underhill School. Foulds triumphed in the Spelling Bee and the Crossnumber round was won by Colindale Primary School.

Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung said: “The visiting teams clearly thoroughly enjoyed themselves. I have to thank all the staff and QE boys who worked tirelessly to make the event such a success and make our visitors feel welcome. A number of our Year 7 boys also acted as runners on the day. It’s a less glamorous job but was vital, nonetheless, in ensuring the day ran smoothly and that our guests were well looked after.”

The event was started by Assistant Head Michael Feven, who stressed to the Year 5 pupils that the main aim of the challenge was for them to have fun and enjoy themselves. At the end, Headmaster Neil Enright congratulated all the participants and presented the winners with their certificates.