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Outgoing Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe spoke to the whole of Year 10 on his much-awaited visit to QE.

Sir Bernard, who announced in September 2016 that he was planning to retire this February, not only delivered a wide-ranging talk in a special lecture, he then stayed and happily answered boys’ queries in an extensive question-and-answer session.

His visit came thanks to the persistence of one sixth-former, Adrian Burbie, former president of QE’s Politics Society. "When I first emailed Sir Bernard in March 2016, inviting him to QE, I never expected him to take me up on my offer. One hundred and eleven emails and ten months of planning later, I was glad to see that the event was a success.”

Headmaster Neil Enright thanked Sir Bernard for his visit: “His inspiring personal story and insightful thoughts on policing in London gave our boys considerable food for thought. I am especially grateful that he was so generous with his time, responding patiently to the boys’ many questions.”

Sir Bernard told the boys that he had left school with A-level grades that were not good enough for university. He worked in an NHS laboratory for a few years, but found the routine boring. He found his métier when he joined South Yorkshire Police, where he was identified as a ‘high-flyer’ and sent to Merton College, Oxford, to study Law. He later gained a PhD in Applied Criminology from Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.

Sir Bernard rose through the ranks of the South Yorkshire force and, subsequently, of Merseyside Police, before he was appointed Metropolitan Police Commissioner in 2011 – a post regarded as the highest police position in the UK. He was knighted in the 2013 New Year’s Honours list for services to policing.

“No city has more influence than London,” Sir Bernard told his Year 10 audience, but added that its diversity and the pace of change – including 1 million new people in the last ten years – create challenges. He rehearsed some of the issues involved in policing a large metropolis, including the emergence of modern crimes which are harder than conventional ones to prevent, such as cyber-crime, hi-tech fraud and child grooming on the internet. However, he pointed to successes, too, including falling rates of murder, burglary and other ‘conventional’ crimes in the capital.

Eighteen years after Sir William Macpherson described the Met as ‘institutionally racist’ in his report on the murder of Stephen Lawrence, Sir Bernard reflected on the position today, concluding that the real barometer of whether the force is still institutionally racist or not is whether people perceive it to be so.  Since people did still perceive institutional racism, he had been seeking to improve the racial diversity of the police force in order to restore the confidence minority communities had in it.

Sir Bernard said he felt that the Met’s failure to clamp down on the first day of the London riots in 2011 had contributed to the riots spreading on the following days as opportunists joined in.

After highlighting the role of the Met in policing not only London, but organising nationwide counter-terrorism operations and security for the Government, Sir Bernard encouraged the boys to think about a career in the Met if they enjoyed meeting people and gaining new experiences. Hard work and being a team player were crucial to success in the police and qualities he looks for, he said. Flexibility was important, too: “Never say ‘that’s not my job’.” And he added that leadership in the police, as in any large organisations, was about “explaining clearly what you stand for”.

Thanking Sir Bernard for his visit, Adrian, of Year 13, said: "Judging from the sheer volume of questions, the pupils enjoyed the opportunity to ‘grill’ such a high-profile figure, and it was good of him to devote so much time to answering them so diligently."

Year 11 pupil Shivam Masrani and five classmates joined in a 10km run to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

Shivam has received treatment at the famous hospital over the past year and on his visits there he has been moved by the sight of children with serious medical problems that, as he says, “no child should have to live with”.

He and his five Year 11 friends – Rohan Rangra, Oliver Than-Lu, Sachin Nayar, Rawan Ebrahim and Faraz Rezai – trained together at lunchtimes and during the recent half-term break for the first Run London 10km event in Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets. It was the first run of that distance for several of the group.

They aimed to complete the distance within an hour and all succeeded: their finishing times ranged from 49 to 59 minutes, with Shivam himself finishing in 55:53. The six have already exceeded their initial fundraising target of £1,000, but are now appealing for donations to take the total as high as possible.

Shivam suffers from dystonia – a term for a range of movement disorders that can cause muscle spasms and contractions. It is thought to be a neurological condition and Shivam has thus been receiving treatment from GOSH’s Neurology department.

On his Just Giving web page, he writes: “Over the past year I have been getting treated at Great Ormond Street Hospital for a small condition called dystonia. The hospital was able to diagnose me quickly and put me on medication to prevent these symptoms.

“On each visit there I have seen children who have unfortunate disabilities that no child should have to live with… We are so fortunate compared to these children so we should do our part to help them. We are not asking for large donations from everyone but every small amount will go a long way so please do your part to help.”

The money will be used by GOSH will help redevelop the hospital, to fund research and to provide equipment and accommodation so that more sick children and their families can be cared for.

• To donate, visit Shivam’s page at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/Great-Ormond-Street-Charity-Run before the appeal closes on 7th March.

QE’s senior water polo team have qualified for their sport’s national finals after beating several leading schools to secure their place.

The team saw off Warwick School, Cheltenham College and hosts Northampton School for Boys in the semi-finals.

Physical Education and Games teacher Richard Scally said: “We finished second in our group to take our place in the national finals, losing only to our local rivals, Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’, who we narrowly lost to by a single goal – something we are hoping to reverse in the finals.”

Water polo is played in a deep-water pool by a team of seven – six outfield players and one goalkeeper – with six substitutes. Frequent substitutions are required because of the high physical demands of the sport.

QE operates its water polo in partnership with Watford Water Polo Club, through which it secures coaching from the club’s Head Coach, Edi Brkovic.  The club’s Chairperson, Nikki Baker, congratulated the team on qualifying for the finals: “To be one of the top six schools at senior level in the country is an awesome achievement.”

Mr Scally said the boys were fortunate to have use of the excellent facilities provided by the School’s Martin Pool for their training.

The Queen’s Library ran its own Hunt the Horcruxes event – a Harry Potter extravaganza held as part of the national celebrations surrounding the annual Harry Potter World Book Night.

Twenty-four boys from Years 7–9 who scored top marks in a recent trivia quiz held on eQE – the School’s online portal – were invited to take part in the lunchtime event, together with the Hogwarts Prefects, aka QE’s pupil librarians.

“It was great to have an opportunity for inter-year competition between boys who all share a love of JK Rowling’s magical world,” said Librarian Ciara Murray, who hosted the event together with her fellow Magic for Muggles Administrator, Library Assistant Leena Shah.  “There was lots of excitement and competitive spirit – and I think they found the clues more challenging than they expected!”

Boys were sorted into houses by the Sorting Hat (pupil librarian Saifullah Shah, of Year 10) and competed as Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. These houses then competed to be the first to find and destroy six horcruxes – parts of Voldemort’s soul – that were each hidden inside a book. To find the books, boys had to solve a riddle or clue, giving them the title and author.

“Gryffindor were the apparent winners, but it later emerged that they had failed to destroy all their horcruxes – and some suspected foul play! – meaning that, contrary to all expectation, Slytherin were the moral victors!” said Ms Murray.

Boys also had the opportunity to try creating a wand and to borrow mystery books from the Flourish & Blotts bookstore (proprietor: pupil librarian Des Ganeshamoorthy, of Year 9) that had been carefully selected to appeal to Harry Potter fans.

They then competed in their year groups in another fiendish quiz, in which Years 8 and 9 tied for first place, showing impressive knowledge of even the most obscure Harry Potter trivia.

The Hogwarts Prefects with their respective houses were: Gryffindor – Charan Kumararuban (Year 9) and Ciaran Price (Year 8); Ravenclaw – Ethan Solanki (Year 8) and Rishi Shah (Year 10): Hufflepuff –Janison Jeyaventhan (Year 8) and Arjun Patel (Year 8), and Slytherin – Kritik Pant (Year 8) and Sultan Khokhar (Year 8), while Hector Cooper (Year 10) was Mr Ollivander.

“A special thank you to the pupil librarians who helped out, and congratulations to Slytherin (aided by the Sorting Hat) for being the only team to solve every clue,” Ms Murray concluded.

A comedy performed in German explored the fraught question of whether a friendship would survive a camping trip.

The play, performed by visiting specialist theatre group Onatti Productions, provided plenty of mirth for the audience of Year 9 pupils as the German campers, Jürgen and Sophie, thrashed out their difficulties in Auf dem Campingplatz (At the Campsite).

Not only were the boys engrossed in the action, but some were invited to take part in the play, thus putting their German skills to good use.

It was the fourth year that the Gloucestershire-based troupe have visited QE. The company produces plays in French, Spanish, German and English for pupils who are studying languages. Its actors are all native speakers. Before a visit, schools are sent a vocabulary list and part of the play script.

QE’s Head of Languages, Chris Kidd, said: “This was an excellent opportunity for our boys to put to use what they have learnt in the classroom. Once again, the theatre company was impressed by how well our students participated and their high level of understanding.”

A Year 9 pupil took part in a team fund-raising drive culminating in a special theatre concert, raising more than £2,000 for an international children’s charity.

Senthuran Jeevan worked with three friends from other schools as Team Oak to raise money for The Wings of Hope in a money-raising campaign spanning almost a year.

Headmaster Neil Enright was invited as Chief Guest to the concert at Rickmansworth’s Watersmeet Theatre. QE boys have now been involved in fundraising for The Wings of Hope for several years.

Since Team Oak was formed last April, the four boys have engaged in a range of pursuits, including car boot sales, selling food and flowers at temples, Halloween sales, cake sales and door-to-door collecting to raise money for the North London-based charity.

The concert programme featured music and dance – including a performance by a number of QE musicians – as well as speeches from Mr Enright and from Team Oak themselves, who spoke about The Wings of Hope. Team Oak had been working on the concert since October, winning sponsorship and selling advertisements in the programme.

Senthuran said: “We are raising funds for this truly amazing charity as we believe our lives should not only be enjoyable for ourselves, but useful to others as well. We believe it is a great cause and we are honoured to have the opportunity to support it. At the same time, we are also developing great new skills.”

Speaking afterwards, Mr Enright said: “I commend Senthuran and his fellow Team Oak members for a tremendous effort in a very good cause. Not only have they been industrious and creative in organising such a variety of events, but they have also worked hard to raise awareness of the charity’s work through a number of social media channels.”

The Wings of Hope’s work includes the support of children in India and in Malawi. In India, it provides a free education to children whose families could not otherwise afford to send them to school, as well as arranging tuition evenings in North Chennai for some children living in slums. In Malawi, its work involves not only education but also providing poor and orphaned children with the basics of life – food and clothing – and with the stationery they need to attend classes.