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A leading humanist campaigner spoke to QE’s younger boys in the latest in a series of lectures delivered by experts from a range of fields.

Andrew Copson, the youngest-ever Chief Executive of the British Humanist Association (BHA) when he was appointed in 2010 at the age of 29, addressed boys from Years 7–10 gathered in the Shearly Hall.

His lecture gave an introduction to humanism by covering fundamental areas such as the nature of reality, morality and the meaning of life. It was followed by a question-and-answer session with the boys.

School Librarian Ciara Murray, who co-ordinates the lecture programme, said: “We are extremely grateful to Andrew for giving up his time to come and explain these complex and challenging ideas about human existence that are so relevant to all of us, in such an accessible way.”

Founded in 1896, the BHA promotes a secular state, works on behalf of non-religious people and opposes faith schools. In 2015, it launched a youth arm, Young Humanists.

The lecture complemented the study of all major world religions undertaken by boys as part of their Religion & Society course. All boys then work towards a Short Course Religious Studies GCSE at the end of Year 10. QE also has a number of very active religious societies, which often have visiting speakers – the Christian and Jewish societies have an external speaker every week, for example.

Mr Copson, who read Classics and Ancient and Modern History at Oxford, began with a humanist understanding of reality – that the world is a purely natural phenomenon which can be studied in a scientific manner, and that there is no supernatural layer of reality that exists beyond what we can directly experience. Humanists do not, therefore, believe in an afterlife, he explained.

Morality, humanists believe, is derived from human collective experience, cultural and societal norms that have developed over the thousands of years that human society has been in existence. Mr Copson said there is “no need to rely on an authority figure laying out rules”, whether these rules are on the basis of “tablets of stone, a sacred book, or dreams and visions sent from this ‘other’ layer of reality”.

Humanists believe that the question about whether or not it is right to do something should be answered by considering whether or not people will be harmed by the action, and what is best for human society as a whole.

Meaning in life is something that humans themselves create, rather than a tangible thing that has always existed and can be discovered in the manner of an “Indiana Jones-style quest”, Mr Copson added. The meaning of life is, therefore, not handed to humans by some external agency or divine force, but is created by humans from all the things they experience as an organism, “whether that is deriving meaning from a beautiful piece of art, or a piece of music – or from this talk!”

Mr Copson has acted as a representative of humanist organisations to the United Nations; he contributes regular articles to magazines and newspapers, and he considers the teaching of religion in schools “one of the biggest debates of our time”.

In the question-and-answer session, Vhalan Anandarajah, of Year 10, asked: “If there is no reward or punishment in the afterlife, and a mass murderer is judged no differently to a moral person, why should we behave in a moral way?”

Mr Copson’s answer was that the notion of what makes a good life is an intensely personal question, and that his personal view is that the universe is indifferent to our behaviour – so that we must make our own decisions about how best to act. Humanism’s moral code is based on considering the impact that our actions will have on other people – a kind of social obligation to one another as human beings.

If it was true that more people were turning towards humanism, why was this so? another boy asked. It is partly, said Mr Copson, because people are drawing the conclusion that many of the things their ancestors deduced about the universe and how things operated were wrong. Huge advances in science over the last 150 years and the fact that in recent decades, society has become so much more interconnected mean that it is now much easier to communicate with like-minded individuals and to have one’s own worldview supported and justified. By contrast, people living on an isolated island would have little reason – or ability – to look outside their community’s culture to define their identity and belief system, he pointed out.

Ms Murray concluded: “The questions that the boys asked showed that they had really engaged with the talk. I hope that this experience will encourage them to take the time to reflect on and explore their own outlook on the world.”

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.”