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More than 100 prizes were awarded to younger boys at the School’s Junior Awards ceremony.

Prize-winners gathered in the School hall with their parents and teachers and received their prizes from Guest of Honour and old boy Dr Benjamin Lichman (2000­–2007).

The ceremony rewards boys in Years 7, 8 and 9 for their achievements. It features musical interludes which this year included pieces by Mozart, Fauré and Devienne. VIP guests included the Mayor and Mayoress of Barnet, Cllr David Longstaff, and Ms Gillian Griffiths.

In his speech, Benjamin urged on the boys the importance of asking questions. He illustrated this by recalling in some detail the famous story of Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin. Fleming, instead of throwing away agar plates which had accidentally become contaminated, was curious enough to ask what the effects of the fungal growth had been on the bacteria that had previously been spread on the plates. “And experiment followed by question followed by experiment (and on and on) eventually led to…the birth of the golden age of antibacterials, which saw the elimination of many types of infectious disease.”

It was important, too, that the boys persevere in asking questions, Benjamin said. The question “Are antibiotics good for human health?” would have been answered with a simple “yes” ten years ago, he pointed out, yet as the use of too many antibiotics has enabled some bacteria to gain resistance and become superbugs, it is now clear that that answer is not entirely true.

Benjamin followed in the footsteps of two older brothers when he came to QE. He was a keen flautist at School, playing in various QE ensembles, while also being involved in debating.

After gaining straight As in his A-levels, he went on to gain a first-class degree in Natural Sciences at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Benjamin recalled his own first academic award: a Year 7 prize for public-speaking. Praising the School, which he said had been “central to my journey”, he urged the prize-winners not to be complacent in the future and warned them against excessive competitiveness and viewing their successes in comparison with others.

Benjamin arrived at Junior Awards just a few days after himself being a recipient at an awards ceremony – in his case, receiving his doctorate in Biochemistry from University College London. Writing his thesis, which comprised 316 pages and 86,729 words, had been a lengthy and laborious process, he told the assembled boys: “The whole four years involved working on an enzyme found in plants which helps create some of humanity’s most valuable medicines. You study so many different subjects. I think you are very lucky – I just spent the last four years studying a single molecule!”

He recently took up a post-doctoral appointment at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, which is home to one of the world’s leading groups in the study of natural plant products.

Earlier in the afternoon, the Headmaster, Neil Enright, thanked Benjamin for attending and he spoke on the importance of reflection. Alluding to the annual appraisals that are a standard feature in the modern working world, Mr Enright said: “This time to stop and reflect is valued by both employers and employees alike, giving the opportunity to ask the questions that American poet and writer Carl Sandburg felt were so important to reflect on: ‘Who am I, where have I been, and where am I going?’”

The Mayor gave a memorable speech about taking opportunities. The prize-winners should, he said, be very proud of themselves: they had been chosen as the top performers in one of the top schools in the country, an accolade indeed.

The musical interludes included performances from three soloists from Years 7, 8 and 9 respectively. Cellist Raphael Herberg played Fauré’s Elégie, pianist Guy Flint performed Mozart’s Allegro, movement 1 from Sonata in G, while Bhiramah Rammanohar tackled Francois Devienne’s Adagio, movement 2 from Sonata in B flat. All three boys featured among the prize-winners.

After the ceremony, refreshments were taken in the Main Hall, rather than the front field, because of the weather, but this did not dampen the celebratory atmosphere: winning boys and their families enjoyed chatting and mingling with their teachers and the Headmaster.

Year 7 boys are enjoying learning about computer coding at a new QE club linked to a BBC initiative.

Every Year 7 child in the country is eligible to receive from the corporation a free Micro:bit – a handheld, fully programmable computer. Head of Technology Sheila Patel and Year 12 pupil Sam Friend are running a Micro:bit club every Monday, with 25 Year 7 boys attending so far.

“Pupils who attend will have an opportunity to discover programming at whatever level they feel comfortable,” said Ms Patel.  “Members have already programmed their Micro:bits to do a whole variety of things, from flashing messages to coding an actual game.

“With today’s growing programming trend, the club is a fantastic opportunity for our Year 7s to explore what coding is all about and, more importantly, have a go at it themselves and get real end-results.”

The Micro:bit includes motion detection, a built-in compass and Bluetooth technology, yet it is both 70 times smaller and 18 times faster than the original BBC Micro computers that were widely used in schools in the early 1980s.

Other Micro:bit features include 25 red LED lights that can flash messages and two programmable buttons that can be used to control games or pause and skip songs on a playlist. The device can detect motion and tell you which direction you are heading in, and it can use its low-energy Bluetooth connection to interact with other devices and the internet.

Users can choose between various programming languages and editing software, such as Java Script, Microsoft Block Editor, Microsoft TouchDevelop and Python.

Two lunchtime recitals gave Year 10 boys the chance to perform to an audience, but without the pressure of a formal concert.

Eleven boys from the GCSE Music group gave solo performances to classmates and members of staff in the first concert held in the Music block, followed by ten in the second.

GCSE candidates are required to give solo performances as part of their coursework; their final attempt next Easter will be recorded.

Among those playing were Robert Sarkar, on clarinet, pianist Jimmy Shi and alto saxophonist Oliver Than-Lu. Other instruments played ranged from the violin to the electric guitar and keyboard. The most commonly played was the piano, on which ten boys performed.

Music teacher Thomas Jack said: “The Year 10 recitals allowed GCSE students to perform solo items as a ‘dress-rehearsal’ of sorts for their final coursework performances in the second term of Year 11. It was an invaluable opportunity to try out their pieces, but also to gain experience in performing in a semi-formal setting in front of their peers, with all the ensuing nerves – and excitement!”

Boys learned about life as a Roman soldier by taking part in drill practice – with the orders given in Latin.

Visitor John Eagle, an expert in the Roman way of life and in Roman warfare, put the Year 7 pupils through their parade-ground paces at the end of a highly interactive Latin session held as part of QE’s inaugural Enrichment Week.

Lining the boys up in formation, Mr Eagle called out orders to “turn left”, “turn right” or “about turn” in Latin, and those who got it wrong were asked to sit down. The pace of his instructions quickened as he went along, but by the end, a large group of boys were still not ‘out’.

Earlier in the session, Mr Eagle showed the boys a range of swords, shields, knives and spears, demonstrating how and when they were used in battle. Boys were also invited up to the front to try on various helmets and pieces of armour, including chain mail.

Latin teacher Dilprit Kaur, one of the day’s organisers, said: “It was a wonderful, interactive session which brought to life a fascinating aspect of ancient Roman life.

Mr Eagle’s organisation, Legion 14, has been around for many years and is highly respected, often providing advice, costumes and people for television programmes about the Romans.”

QE’s new Enrichment Week aims to build further on the School’s very wide range of extra-curricular activities – an important facet of QE life. It features sessions arranged by the academic departments in order to develop academic, personal and thinking skills in pupils from Years 7–10.

Year 9 boys felt the thrill of fear when they visited the West End production of a Gothic ghost story.

Forty-three pupils made the journey to the Fortune Theatre to see The Woman in Black, the play dubbed ‘the most terrifying live theatre experience in the world’.

English teacher Lucy Riseborough, who organised the visit, said: “Whilst the boys like to pretend the play was ‘not that scary’, the screams that erupted from our section of the audience told a rather different story!”

With the boys having studied Gothic stories during the first half of the Summer Term, a trip to see one of the most famous examples of the genre served to round off the topic.

The Woman in Black has been running for almost 30 years, making it one of the longest-running plays in London. The script is adapted from Susan Hills’ 1983 novella, which is written in the style of a traditional Gothic novel.  It shows the elderly Arthur Kipps telling a real-life ghost story to a young actor, who turns it into a drama – a play within a play.

The actor plays Kipps, whilst Kipps himself plays all the other characters, creating a sparse cast of only three actors, which, Miss Riseborough reports, generates a disturbingly solitary atmosphere.

In the story, Kipps, a solicitor in the remote town of Crythin Gifford, has to visit a mysterious house in the marshes to tie up a dead woman's affairs – discovering too late why the villagers recoil from the residence.

“Using psychological mind tricks, the play lures you into a false sense of security before unleashing the sheer terror of the ‘woman with the wasted face’: the woman in black,” said Miss Riseborough. “Its spine-chilling, blood-curdling, harrowing nature penetrates your very bones and is the stuff of your most insidious nightmares.”

Poetry and number puzzles were among the activities enjoyed by local children at QE’s 2016 Primary Challenge Day.

Now in its second year, the day gives Year 5 children from local primary schools the opportunity to find out about life as a QE pupil.

Teams from four schools entered this year. They spent their visit taking part in a range of English and Mathematics activities, including a number of competitions.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “At QE, we draw our pupils from a wide area, but we are always very keen to receive applications from local boys. Our Primary Challenge Day gives us the chance to welcome in girls and boys and girls from this area, giving them a taste of what being a pupil here is like. They engage in a little friendly competition in an enjoyable and stimulating setting. We also take the opportunity to remind them of the importance of applying for places – because, of course, only those who families from the local area who actually make an application are in with a chance of winning a place.”

The day’s competition, organisd by Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung, included interactive games and tasks comprising a spelling competition, a poetry-writing challenge, number puzzles and logic problems. The limerick round was won by Woodridge School, the crossnumber round and the spelling bee were both won by St John’s School and the logic round was won by Monken Hadley School. However, the overall winners were Foulds School.