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Every Year 7 boy had the opportunity to receive a free book of his choice as part of a national project aiming to foster a love of reading. Now the Booked Up scheme at QE has been hailed as a great success by English teacher Chloe Orchin.

Launched in 2007 and run by the Booktrust independent charity, Booked Up is supported by children’s publishers and part-funded by the Department for Education.

All QE Year 7 pupils were given the opportunity to view a DVD highlighting a range of new titles aimed at their age group. The film included footage of the author presenting his or her book, as well as reviews by pupils from across the UK.

Each boy was then asked to select the book which appealed to him most, and the eagerly anticipated books were sent a few weeks later.

“The English Department were keen for our youngest pupils to be involved in the scheme, not only because it complements our own lower school ‘private reading’ programme, but also because we recognise the importance of encouraging and promoting a love of reading to a generation in which this essential practice is increasingly and dramatically falling,” said Miss Orchin.

The books chosen ranged from factual texts to graphic novels. The boys were encouraged to read, debate, review and swap their books so as to benefit fully from the shared literary experience which the scheme offered.

Among the beneficiaries was Abhishek Srivastava, who said: “Booked Up was brilliant – I can’t believe that we got to choose a book for ourselves for free! I chose The Invisible City by M G Harris. It’s exciting and mysterious.”

“All in all, Booked Up was a huge success,” Miss Orchin added. “From a teaching perspective, it was so encouraging to see the boys becoming so enthusiastic, entertained and genuinely excited by what they were reading. I certainly look forward to seeing the results of this in their lives and learning as the year progresses.”

Two QE boys have been jointly named as Barnet’s Young Sports Person of the Year. Ken Kawamoto and David Medzinskii, both national champions at judo and leading sportsmen at the School, were among four QE students honoured at the Barnet Celebrating Sport Awards. QE students honoured at the Barnet Celebrating Sport Awards.

Chandi Uduwawala, of Year 11, and Priyesh Patel, Year 13, also won prizes.

PE teacher Nick Bird said: “The most fiercely contested award of the entire evening was the Young Sports Person of the Year award in which we had both Ken and David shortlisted! Incredibly the judges were unable to separate them and they were both named Young Sports Person of the Year 2010.”

Ken is the five-times English National Judo Champion in his age and weight category. He is also the holder of the gold medal from the London Youth Games in the U60kg competition. David’s status as a National Champion follows his gold medal success at the National Junior Championships earlier this year.

Priyesh received both the Bronze and Silver awards for Step into Sport Volunteering, while Chandi won his award after representing Barnet in the London Mini Marathon against athletes who were a year older.

QE pupil David Alam achieved the highest mark in the country in his Geography GCSE, the School has been informed.

David, who is now in Year 12, gained a point score of 197.6 out of 200 in last summer’s OCR examination – the highest score ever recorded in the School. It is the third time in four years that a QE boy has achieved OCR’s highest GCSE Geography mark.

“This is a fantastic achievement,” said Head of Geography, Anne Macdonald, who was David’s GCSE teacher. “David is a very talented geographer – he is quick-thinking, well informed and hard-working. He thoroughly deserves this award and we are very proud of him.”

Now in Year 12 and a senior prefect, David has received an award and a £30 prize from the Royal Geographical Society, which is to be presented in assembly by the Head of Year 12, David Ryan.

In the past, Benjamin Yadin and Joseph Phelan also achieved the top mark and received the RGS award.

Queen Elizabeth’s School Headmaster Dr John Marincowitz met the Prince of Wales at a Clarence House reception held to celebrate the work of the Prince’s Teaching Institute in encouraging inspirational teaching.

Earlier this year, QE’s Science Department became one of only 194 departments in 126 schools nationwide to be awarded the Prince’s Teaching Institute’s (PTI) Schools Programme Mark. The Mark, which is awarded after a year-long evaluation process, recognises teaching that challenges and stretches students. The School hopes that in 2011 the English, Geography and History departments will also gain the award. In a further link, QE’s History Department recently hosted a PTI teachers’ conference on the Cold War.

Speaking at the reception, the Prince explained why the PTI was established: "All of a sudden, in the 1960s, anything which might conceivably be described as a timeless principle was abandoned on the basis that all we had known and learned had suddenly become irrelevant, old-fashioned, out-of-date and definitely not modern. Frankly, I thought this was bonkers and likely to end in tears."

He therefore helped create a series of summer schools to provide a forum for teachers to step away from the classroom and discover new ways of teaching. Two years ago this three-day event was developed into the PTI, a full-scale charitable enterprise, with more than 20 per cent of secondary schools in England sending their staff on the scheme’s courses.

Prince Charles added: "The teaching of bodies of knowledge is a crucial part of a young person’s development, which ensures that when they leave school they do so equipped with a thorough understanding of a whole range of subjects, and with curious minds, whether they be geared towards the academic or indeed vocational. This is the vital task that the PTI concentrates on."

Flying Officer Jack Humphrey (2000-05) has gained his Pilot’s Brevet as an RAF helicopter pilot.

Jack was awarded his brevet on completion of Multi-Engine Advanced Rotary Wing Training. He has been posted to 18 Squadron, RAF Odiham in Hampshire to fly the CH-47 Chinook.

While at the School, Jack excelled as a musician. He was an accomplished flautist, playing as First Flute in the Concert Band and Symphony Orchestra. He also played in the Big Band, participated with some success in House instrumental competitions and achieved an A grade at GCSE Music.

Year 11 pupil Sergei Batishchev has secured a place as a violinist in the National Youth Orchestra.

As a result, he will be performing with other élite young musicians from around the country at high-profile National Youth Orchestra concerts in Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall and London’s Barbican Hall in January 2011.

Sergei plays a significant part in the musical life of Queen Elizabeth’s School, which is a specialist Music college. In addition to his GCSE Music studies, he leads the String Quartet and plays in the String Camerata and the Symphony Orchestra.

His NYO appointment confirms the early promise he showed at QE in 2008 when he won the Senior House Instrumental Competition – a feat he followed up with a second place in the same competition this year.

Sergei has been augmenting his musical studies since 2007 by attending, on Saturdays, the junior section of the Royal Academy of Music, London.