Viewing archives for Uncategorized

The School has been awarded bronze-level Champion School status by the gay rights’ campaigning and lobbying organisation Stonewall – and now aims to work towards silver.

The School Champions programme requires participants to provide evidence that they offer an inclusive learning environment, enabling pupils and staff to celebrate differences and challenge prejudice. QE’s application was put together by Sarah Westcott, Head of Pupil Progression.

“We were delighted to receive the Bronze award,” said Dr Westcott. “QE is a forward-looking school which is committed not only to educating our boys to the highest possible standard, but also to producing young men who are confident, able and responsible. This clearly includes ensuring that they are sensitive to issues surrounding acceptance and inclusion and the celebration of individuality.”

Pupils have taken part in lessons in their personal development time which have specifically looked at the issue of homophobic bullying, the need to use respectful language and the importance of not becoming a bystander but instead standing up to all forms of bullying and name-calling. Pupils also discussed the broader topic of sexuality and sexual stereotypes.

The boys looked at the campaigning work of Stonewall, and discussed what made the charity so effective. As part of this, they undertook a project to design an awareness campaign about different sexualities.

To receive the award, the School had to demonstrate that:

• Inclusive policies are in place explicitly addressing homophobic bullying
• Students know homophobic language is unacceptable
• Lessons have included LGBT issues
• Local/national support services for LGBT young people are advertised
• Library books are available with LGBT themes
• There are posters and displays highlighting LGBT issues and role models
• Training is in place for teaching staff
• Homophobic bullying is recorded and monitored.

Posters were put up in The Queen’s Library pointing pupils to information about sexuality and relationship advice, and age-appropriate fiction and non-fiction works have been displayed.

“When we were informed by Stonewall that we had been awarded the bronze-level status, the charity also told us that we had fulfilled some of the criteria for the silver award, too,” said Dr Westcott. “In fact, as our ethos embraces diversity and inclusion, our aim is now to work towards the next level.”

QE boys involved in a digital film-making workshop are looking forward to seeing their work on the big screen this September in a premiere at the famous Odeon Cinema in Leicester Square.

Eight Year 9 boys are the latest QE group to take part in the course run by Film Skool, a Barnet-based company which works with a small number of independent and state schools across London. In total, 26 QE boys from Years 7–11 have attended Film Skool workshops in recent months.

The course gives young people the opportunity to learn about the film-making process, make professional short films spanning different genres and then have their film showcased at leading cinemas, where they can invite along family and friends. Last year, nearly 300 guests, including QE families, came to one of Film Skool’s premieres at the Curzon Mayfair Cinema.

The groups taking part have one day to shoot their film and they then spend a weekend editing it using professional editing software in a media suite.

Film Skool is run by Mo Alam, who has also been teaching Media Studies and Film Studies at Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School for ten years. He explained that the brief allowed the boys a great deal of autonomy, stipulating only that the finished film had to be approximately five minutes long. “They also needed to be realistic, using locations that they could control and ensuring that props and actors were believable,” he said.

Mr Alam is currently working in television and in feature film-making. He is  developing a teenage comedy series with an independent London-based children’s entertainment company called Zodiac Kids, as well as working on an action film based in India and China.

The eight QE boys wrote their own script. The plot was as follows: ‘Boy meets up with old school friend who seems to be doing well financially and suggests they meet up with a contact of his if they want to make money. They get involved with selling something that is illegal and an innocent family member dies. There is a moral at the end referring to choices and consequences. There is an indirect reference to drugs, although the word “drugs” is not mentioned.’

The day of filming took place on a Saturday based at the home of one of the boys, Sajeev Krishnathasan, with shooting also taking place at a local pizza shop. The finished film was edited at QE Girls’ School.

Mr Alam praised the boys’ “really good script” and said afterwards that they had produced some of the best acting he had seen all year.
The workshop was organised at QE by Jeanne Nicodemus, Art teacher, and Charlotte Coleman, History teacher, who also runs the School’s extra-curricular film-making club.

Ms Nicodemus met with the group before the shoot to discuss expectations. She also ended up with a bit part in the film herself. “They all worked really hard and we had a long day, finishing at 6.30,” she reported.

In addition to Sajeev, the boys involved were: Muneeb Faiz; Shivam Masrani; Marc Hill; Kumarran Mathisekaran; Xin Yuan He; Mipham Samten and Dylan Nakrani.

Six QE Year 12 pupils have won Jack Petchey Foundation Achievement Awards after being nominated by younger pupils at the School for showing exceptional leadership.

Mr Petchey, a London entrepreneur and philanthropist, set up the awards for schools throughout London and Essex to help young people “raise their aspirations, believe in themselves and make a contribution to their society”.

QE Extra-Curricular Enrichment Tutor Martin Bassett-Jones said: “We value these awards because through them we are able to celebrate and reward the outstanding leadership that our Sixth-Formers give to their peers in younger years. It is especially valuable that the nominations are made by the younger boys themselves.”

Pupils made their nominations online at the eQE Learning area, with one for each month from January to June. They were asked to give their reasons for each nomination.

As a gold-level participant in the awards, QE is able to offer nine awards each year – these six, plus up to three more in the autumn. Each award-winner receives £200 to spend on items that benefit other people.

QE first took part in the awards scheme during the autumn of 2014, when Alex Chinweze was the School’s inaugural winner, taking the award for November.

After compiling and evaluating the nominations and checking with QE’s Senior Leadership Team, Mr Bassett-Jones announced the latest winners and presented them with their award certificates. The names of the winners and the reasons given for each nomination are listed below:

• January: Sahil Handa – “Outstanding coach captain, peer mentor, drama and ‘lifestyle coach’. He has made a significant impact on younger and less robust pupils’ development, both physically and mentally, through his support in the above capacities.
• February: Matthew Norman – “Outstanding in Combined Cadet Force leadership and as House Captain; boys speak of him as being extremely helpful whilst maintaining high CCF discipline. He breaks in younger boys easily and is constructive when mistakes are made. He has also been looked up to as a House Captain, charity fundraiser and sports leader.
• March: Shiras Patel – “Outstanding coach captain, peer mentor and performing arts supporter. Shiras has been extremely generous with his time in a wide variety of extra-curricular activities, largely behind the scenes but very visible to those he works with.”
• April: Akhil Shah – “An inspirational cellist who has given up much of his time helping out with junior strings and many other groups in the Music department. Not only is he a really kind person, but he is also an amazing representative for Underne House.”
• May: Sam Carling – “Sam has been an inspirational House Captain that younger boys look up to, as he 'helps people in trouble'. He has given freely of his time to encourage participation in charity events and sports. His achievements in water polo, representing GB, are encouraging others to participate in this sport.”
• June: Prahlad Das Patel – “For being a friendly face and role model for younger boys on the coach to and from School. Someone to whom they could turn for advice to help them with the big decisions at key points in School life. A real-life peer mentor.”

All six were invited to attend the award ceremony at The Arts Depot, Finchley, but only Shiras was able to be there. He is pictured carrying his Jack Petchey Foundation Achievement Awards medal with the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Mark Shooter.

A QE team has won a national award for its efforts in raising awareness of a charity’s education work in the developing world.

The Year 9 team, named Be the Change, triumphed in the Community Action category in The Wings of Hope Achievement Awards (WOHAA) and were presented with their award at a ceremony at the Royal College of Surgeons, London.

The six boys arranged events including book sales at Queensmead School, Barham Primary School and London Tamil Market. They raised £1,295 and increased awareness of the work of Wings of Hope to improve educational facilities in two schools in India and Malawi.

They had previously given a presentation at the House of Lords to a panel of judges who included actor Sir David Jason as well as Old Elizabethan Christopher Sandamas (1978-1983), Chief Clerk in the Private Secretary’s Office at the Royal Household.

Teacher and extra-curricular enrichment tutor Martin Bassett-Jones said: “These boys have shown determination and perseverance, despite busy school schedules, to raise awareness for WOHAA. The success they have had is down to their own initiative and they have considerably developed their skills in communication and working. The events they have organised have been varied but all have been successful in raising funds and awareness.”

The six boys were: Shiva Pingle; Vikrant Rasalingam;  Sujen Ravindra; Eshan Patel; Michael Levitt and Rohan Rangra.

Nearly 300 guests attended the awards ceremony at the prestigious venue, including teachers, parents and students. Co-founders Dr Sri Ram and Mrs Rajni Sriram gave inspirational speeches about the Wings of Hope’s vision as it enters its tenth year. Over 25,000 students from more than 400 schools have taken part in the awards since 200, which are open to pupils from Year 9-13.

Winners and runners-up were treated to an Oscars-style evening, with trophies, video montages of their work and on-stage photographs. Trophies were presented by VIPs including BBC TV newsreader Babita Sharma, Neil Roskilly, CEO of the Independent Schools Association, and Dawn Butler MP.

In their press release on the awards, the charity highlighted the “stellar robot-esque breakdancing performance” given by Year 10 QE boy Abhinav Vudathu, who was a member of a previous QE team which reached the awards semi-finals.

Two QE boys battled it out to become the London schools U13 table tennis champion.

Year 8 pupil Zaiim Premji emerged as boys’ champion for his age group after overcoming classmate Jamie Watkin–Rees in the final of the Jack Petchey London Schools’ Table Tennis individual finals at the University of East London’s SportsDock.

Zaiim did not drop a set in the whole competition, but the final was nevertheless close; he beat Jamie 11-9, 11-9, 13-11.

Interviewed by Table Tennis England’s Paul Stimpson after taking his first title, Zaiim said: “I feel really pleased because I haven’t won it before and I think I had some really good competition.

“It’s always hard when you play someone from the same school, and we train at the same club as well (Urban).”

He was congratulated by Mr Petchey, a London entrepreneur and philanthropist, who posed for photos with all the winners and runners-up.

Urban Table Tennis Club operates at a number of different venues and schools within Barnet and South West Hertfordshire and visits QE to run master-classes.

Two QE debaters have been asked to attend future international sessions of a prestigious debating competition.

School Captain Norbert Sobolak and fellow Year 13 pupil Sahil Handa received the request from the lead juror after performing strongly in the four-day national final of the European Youth Parliament competition in Liverpool.

The pair were members of the nine-strong Year 12 team who took part in the final with around 130 delegates from other schools. The QE team had reached this stage by overcoming strong opposition in the regional final.

In the national final, each student delegate from every school was put in a committee group with 9-11 other students from other schools. This group then represented one committee of the EU Parliament, such as the Committee for Civil Liberties and Justice or that for Foreign Affairs.

On arrival, the students took part in a series of activities and games to get to know their new team mates. Then on the evening of the first day, each team represented a country at the Eurovillage Food Fair, while auditions also took place for the Euroconcert taking place the following evening.

On the first full day, pupils spent the time engaging in committee work, which was centred around writing resolutions on European affairs to do with their committee.

Pupils attended the EYP General Assembly on the following day, where they defended and debated the resolutions they had spent the previous day preparing.

Two private schools – Howell’s School and Warwick School – were selected to represent the UK at an international session of EYP in Belfast and Dublin next year.

Although the team were disappointed not to reach the international session, they enjoyed taking part in the competition and gaining a flavour of university life through staying at the Liverpool Hope University campus.

Besides Sahil and Norbert, the QE team comprised Ali Humayun, Calum Johnson, Jun Ming Shik, Raj Singh, Pranesh Varadarajan, Jason Yau and Ryun Pang.