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Four members of staff and 47 Year 12 geographers enjoyed a very successful trip to Eagle’s Nest in the Cevennes National Park in South Central France.

The boys carried out the full fieldwork process in preparation for the A Level examination in January, including site selection, methodology, piloting, data collection, data presentation/analysis, drawing conclusions and evaluating their work. Temperatures were freezing, as the centre is located at the same height as Ben Nevis.

“The boys were exceptionally well behaved and worked hard all week. I am sure they will remember the trip for a long time – but hopefully at least until the examination in January!” said Anne Flook, Head of Geography.

To view these photographs, click on one of the thumbnails to start a slideshow.

Year 11 Business Studies students Stefan Chiu, Yau Pui Tsang, Jack Jacobs and Adrian Marioghae secured a place in the regional final of the ‘Make Your Mark Challenge’.

The Make Your Mark Challenge is the largest one day enterprise competition in the UK. The boys from QE developed a product called ‘Get-Fit Week’ which is an innovative idea where retired or inactive athletes of past Olympic Games attempt to coach young Olympic hopefuls to success in 2012. The boys based their plans around six of the seven Olympic and Paralympics values: excellence, friendship, courage, determination, equality and inspiration.

The School chess team, captained by Year 12 pupil Akshaya Ahuja, produced their best-ever performance to finish as runners-up at the Millfield International Chess Tournament.

There were some outstanding individual performances, with three boys winning prizes for the leading performance on their board: Luka Sugita, of Year 11; Year 8 boy Madhi Elango and Joseph Levene, of Year 7, who won all his games. The tournament at Millfield School in Somerset has been running since 1984. “We had an excellent weekend of chess, which ended with the School’s best-ever finish in over a decade of attending this prestigious tournament,” said teacher Geoff Roberts. "Our score of 23 out of 24 points in the qualifying rounds was phenomenal."

“As a captain is a director of a whole boat, so reason joined with knowledge, is the guide of life.” Plato

This term saw the first meeting of the Williams Society, Queen Elizabeth’s prestigious new academic society for talented humanities students.

The society, open to members of Year 12, fosters analytical thinking, broad cultural and historical awareness and language and textual analysis skills. Through weekly classes and tutorials, participants will cover such topics as informal logic, literary theory and the analysis of concepts.

Participating students, known as Senior Members, are selected on the basis of their academic performance and teacher recommendations; indeed the entrance standards are so high that only around 15 boys have been nominated to join the society. As well as attending classes, Senior Members will take part in trips, attend in-school lectures from renowned public and academic figures and make their own presentations on topics of particular interest to them. The skills developed on the programme will assist participants with applications to Oxford and Cambridge.

In keeping with the heritage of the school, the society has been named after the pre-eminent Elizabethan scholar John Williams. He entered Oxford as a scholar of Corpus Christi College in 1569, gaining a BA and MA, and was subsequently elected Fellow of All Souls in 1579. He was later appointed Margaret Professor of Divinity, Principal of Jesus College (the only Oxbridge college founded in the time of Queen Elizabeth), and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 1604.

The strength in depth of music at Queen Elizabeth’s School was amply demonstrated by the House Instrumental Competition this term. A total of 123 performances were adjudicated for the intermediate and senior classes.

To qualify for the senior classes, boys had either to have passed Grade 8 or to have succeeded in an entry audition. The competition adjudicator was James Williams MBE, who conducted the Barnet Schools’ Wind Orchestra for 14 years and has been involved in brass bands since 1944.

Director of Music Kieron Howe said: “There was a very high standard throughout: Jim Williams described our intermediate woodwind and brass as ‘outstanding’, which is quite an accolade. We emerged with some very worthy winners.”

In the senior competition, Year 9 violinist Sergei Batichtchev took first place for his performance of Pablo Sarasate’s Malaqueña, with Year 11 boy Luka Sugita and Upper Sixth-Former Benjamin Yadin jointly taking second. Luka also won the Piano Cup. The overall winning house for the whole competition was Broughton.

Individual highlights this term included a first performance by Year 12 violinist Eigo Takeda in the English Schools’ Orchestra performance at the Cadogan Hall in central London – an experience he described as "fabulous".

There was a first performance by the newly formed Chamber Choir at the Carol Service. The breadth of the repertoire performed at QE was reflected in the Christmas Concert programme, which ranged from The Simpsons theme tune to Fascinatin’ Rhythm by Gershwin and – to mark the 50th anniversary of the composer’s death – the First Hymn Prelude by Vaughan Williams.

QE’s work as a specialist Music College continues to thrive. The programme included a visit to Christchurch Primary School by 15 boys and three members of staff to give instrumental demonstrations to Years 2-5 as part of this partner school’s Arts Week.

After another year of competitions that saw Underne again come out on top to win the house cup, QE’s thriving house system has this term played a key role in raising money for local charities.

While the School as a whole raises funds for India and the Poppy Appeal, the houses, led by Charities Officer Jack Scannell, have focused on good causes closer to home. Harrison’s House, led by Reece Beekmeyer, conducted a teachers vs. Sixth Form football match for MIND to help those with mental illnesses in Barnet. Stapylton House, under Michael Dominic’s leadership, ran a successful QE’s Got Talent competition to aid the Marie Foster Centre in Barnet. Jugal Suthar’s team of Pearce House prefects organised a teachers’ volleyball match which raised money to benefit the North London Hospice.

New house competitions have been launched recently in Drama and Mathematics. And, with the new multi-purpose hall soon to be finished, an even greater number of house competitions can be introduced, including badminton and table tennis.

This term has also marked the end of three years of pupil conferences. Form Captains, Deputy Form Captains and House Representatives have met with their House Captains to discuss school, form and environmental issues to be later taken to the
Headmaster for review.