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The QE senior Saxophone Quartet has taken first prize in the Popular category of the Spring Grove Music Festival.

“The boys performed their pieces beautifully, overcoming a high-quality field to take first prize,” said QE’s Director of Music, Kieron Howe. “We’re very proud of their achievement.”

The quartet beat a brass group from William Ellis School and two ensembles from The Henrietta Barnett School to win the trophy and a £350 cash prize for the Music Department.

Adeel Haque and Alexander Liangas of Year 12, Kieran Eatough from Year 10 and Year 13 student Bhaven Murji performed Eddie Harris’s Cold Duck Time and Pablo Beltran Ruiz’s Sway. The boys had to perform one or more non-amplified pieces with a maximum duration of just 10 minutes.

The competition benefits the elderly and is run under the auspices of the Springdene Care Homes Group. Many Springdene residents were present at the performance. The judging panel was made up of invited music professional including professional pianist Tessa Uys, RSC Director Janet Suzman and BBC Radio 3 presenter Lucie Skeaping.

QE’s 46th annual dinner debate was “arguably the most interesting and engaging of the last few years”, according to the teacher in charge of debating, Nisha Mayer.

Old Elizabethans Aaron Sonenfeld and Zaid Belbagi proposed the motion This House believes universities have become too expensive and were up against current QE debaters and Year 12 pupils, Calum O’Sullivan and Krishan Shah.

The 150 Year 12 boys and 20 guests and staff enjoyed a lively debate in the Old Hall, after dinner in the Refectory. “It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening,” said Mrs Mayer. “Unsurprisingly, the motion was carried, gaining the most votes,” said Mrs Mayer. “But Calum and Krishan, opposing the motion, put up a spirited argument and in the vote taken at the end of the debate had increased their share compared to the vote at the beginning.”

OE Aaron Sonenfeld was School Captain in 2006-7 and a major figure in School rugby. He read Social & Political Science at St John’s, Cambridge, before taking up a post with Goldman Sachs.

Zaid Belbagi was a keen debater at School and initiated the first QE involvement in a Model United Nations Assembly and was also involved in a youth European Parliament. He graduated in International History at the LSE and is currently studying towards a Masters Degree in Politics and International Relations at Oxford.

Ofsted has once again praised Queen Elizabeth’s School in its latest assessment – effectively giving the School its fifth consecutive ‘outstanding’ rating.

HM Chief Inspector of Schools, Christine Gilbert, has written to QE parents to give them the results of an ‘interim assessment’ which looked at factors including academic performance and attendance. QE last received a full inspection in January 2008, when it was judged ‘outstanding’ against all 26 of Ofsted’s criteria.

Following a change in legislation, schools with ‘outstanding’ ratings are no longer to be routinely inspected unless concerns are raised about their performance.

“I am pleased to inform you that our interim assessment indicates performance has been sustained and that we will not be inspecting your School unless we receive further information that raises concerns,” wrote Mrs Gilbert.

The Headmaster, John Marincowitz, welcomed the findings: “The School is almost unique in that it has now had five consecutive ‘outstanding’ Ofsted ratings since 1994. I am sure parents will be most pleased to see that in the opinion of Ofsted, standards are being maintained.

“Such a record is the result of the consistent hard work and application of our staff and students,” concluded Dr Marincowitz.

Year 13 pupils Anton Bridge and Arjun Sajip represented QE at a French debating competition held at The Henrietta Barnett School.

“I was most impressed with both the boys,” said Head of Modern Foreign Languages Caroline Mulderij. “They came across as exceptionally confident speakers, with excellent body language, and they both used a fantastic level of French.” Mrs Mulderij also added that the other schools taking part had clearly done a lot of work in class for the debate, whereas Anton and Arjun had done much of the preparation for the debate on their own, which made their performance even more impressive.

The two motions that the QE boys spoke on were "International Women’s Day is a waste of time" and "A good education can only be had in a private or selective school".

In the round-robin stage they were grouped with teams from The Henrietta Barnett School and Mill Hill County High School. The QE boys won their first debate, but did not accumulate sufficient points to progress to the semi-final.

A team of QE boys came in the top 10 of a national Chemistry competition – the first time the School has progressed beyond the regional level of the Top of the Bench competition.

Mehul Jesani, of Year 11, Aniruddh Raghu, Year 10, and Year 9 boys Tianlin Zhang and Alex Zanre won the regional final of the competition, beating off a high-quality field including last year’s winners, Harrow School.

At the final held at Imperial College the QE team came ninth out of 29 teams. “This is an amazing achievement,” said QE’s Head of Science Dr Malcolm Russell. “It is the first time we have reached the national final and there were a lot of teams present with much greater experience than us. The boys were a credit to the School and conducted themselves brilliantly. Our success was due in no small part to the preparation of the team by Dr Elizabeth Kuo.”

The competition was organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry. In the final, contestants had to complete a short test of factual chemical knowledge and a practical, chemical, problem-solving, team exercise.

QE Music Technology teacher Tim Adnitt has won acclaim for his work as a professional recording engineer on a recently released Robin Jones and King Salsa album.

The CD of Latin music, entitled Sabroso Mambo, was largely recorded in QE’s recording studio in the Music Block. The studio has state-of-the-art equipment including a Pro Tools HD system, a Midas Verona 320 console and Neumann and AKG microphones. Mr Adnitt, who was at the School as a pupil between 1988 and 1995, recorded, mixed and co-produced the CD.

Sabroso Mambo has been released to very positive reviews in the music press. “It’s always a joy to receive a new CD from the UK’s Godfather of Latin music – percussion maestro Robin Jones,” wrote the reviewer in bluesandsoul.com. “A special mention must go to the recording and mixing, which really enhances the strong songs, taking them on to another level.” Similarly, Jane Cornwell, writing in Songlines magazine, praised it as “a record that pulses with energy and experience”.

Bandleader Robin Jones is well known in UK Latin music, with a playing career that includes working with Charlie Palmieri, Machito, Mongo Santamaria, Alfredo ‘Chocolate’ Armenteros, and Arturo Sandoval as well as jazz stars Stan Getz, Chet Baker, Sonny Stitt and Lalo Schifrin. King Salsa features a cast of international stars including Bosco De Oliveira (Brazil), Carlos Fuentes (Chile) and lead vocalist Enrique Bringas (Cuba), as well as a driving rhythm section and five-piece brass section.

Sabroso Mambo pays homage to many of Robin Jones’ influences and friends, including legends of the Latin scene such as Tito Puente, Ray Barretto and Moises Simons, as well as introducing new charts written by Chris Kibble, Gavin Broom and Bosco De Oliveira.

In addition to teaching the School’s Music Technology course, Mr Adnitt is a composer, sound designer and audio engineer. He recently co-produced and mixed the Loose Tubes album, Dancing on Frith Street – Jazzwise’s Archive Album of the Year 2010 (Critic’s Choice).

Weave Records, the record company which released the album, is one of QE’s Music Department sponsor companies.