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Queen Elizabeth’s School has maintained its position as the country’s top boys’ state school in the Sunday Times’ 21st annual Parent Power schools guide.

QE was second overall, with a girls’ school, The Henrietta Barnett School in Hampstead, taking first place. The primary measure used in compiling the tables was the proportion of A-level grades at A*-B. HBS, on 98.4%, was closely followed by QE on 97.7%, with third-placed Wilson’s School in Wallington further behind on 93.0%.

The table also recorded the percentage of A* and A grades at GCSE. Here, QE’s 90.1% was marginally ahead of HBS (90.0%).

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “This summer’s examination results at both A-level and GCSE were very strong indeed and represent a tribute to the sustained hard work of our students and also to the dedication and expertise of our staff. It is gratifying to see those efforts recognised nationally.”

QE’s success in the Parent Power table is the latest in a number of recent national accolades for the School. In March this year, it was ranked as the top state school in the Financial Times’ top 1,000 schools table. The FT’s is the most demanding of all league tables as it measures the schools’ performance in difficult “core” academic subjects.

During the summer, research published by the Sutton Trust revealed that Queen Elizabeth’s sends a greater proportion of its students to Oxford or Cambridge than any other state school in England. The research also found that, in terms of placing students at the country’s leading 30 universities, QE is the top state school. In fact, it is the only state school among the top 37 schools nationwide, sending 87% of its pupils to the most selective universities.

QE has been awarded the Geographical Association’s Secondary Geography Quality Mark (SGQM). The Award reflects the high standard of teaching and learning in Geography at the School as well as effective leadership and management in the subject.

“I am very pleased that we have achieved the Quality Mark,” said Headmaster Neil Enright, who is himself a geographer. “Geography is a very popular subject at QE and each year many boys achieve top grades at both GCSE and A-level. The Award reflects the quality of leadership of our Head of Geography, Anne Macdonald (also one of the School’s Assistant Heads), the commitment of the teachers and the enthusiasm and hard work of our boys.”

The Geography Department underwent a rigorous moderation process to gain the Mark. It involved the completion of a self-evaluation exercise to identify areas for development and improvement, before external assessment. The Quality Mark is valid for three years.

The Quality Mark will be officially awarded at the Geographical Association’s Awards Ceremony at the University of Manchester in April 2012.

The School’s Combined Cadet Force is celebrating after a successful biennial inspection.

The Reviewing Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Alan Cliffe, of the Royal Engineers, commended the cadets’ “exceptional personal standards” and the unit’s “cohesion and enthusiasm”. He concluded his report: “Queen Elizabeth’s School is a first-class example of how cadet units can produce first-class young men. With co-ordinated support, I am certain that the unit will continue to flourish.”

The unit’s Captain, Mev Armon, who also teaches Biology at the School, was singled out for praise for “his inspiring personal leadership style and sacrifice, which, together with the School ethos, sees the cadets being given responsibility and developing very good leadership and military skills”.

Headmaster Neil Enright has welcomed the inspection report: “Many boys are involved in the Cadet Force; more than 120 were on parade for the inspection alone. It is very unusual to have such a strong CCF in a state school and it is gratifying to receive such a commendation from the assessor.”

The report was ratified by Army HQ Cadet Staff who wrote: “In terms of motivation, strength and in many other respects this is an excellent contingent, as evidenced by their enthusiasm and numbers.”

Harrisons’ has won the School’s 2011 Inter-House Music Competition in style – having already run away with the contest by the end of the Junior and Beginner classes.

A combination of the number of Harrisons’ performers entered and their high placings left the other houses trailing in their wake. “The Harrisons’ senior performers were both placed, although their house could not have been caught by the others in any case,” said Director of Music, Kieron Howe, after the Senior Class performances in the Main School Hall brought this year’s competition to a conclusion.

This term’s Intermediate, Singing, Ensemble and Senior classes were all held recently on the same day. The Beginner and Junior classes were held in July.

The adjudicator for the Intermediate, Singing and Ensemble classes was Richard Morrison, Senior Music Critic of The Times, who enjoyed a broad programme with works from Saint-Saëns and Vivaldi to Jardanyi and Bernstein. Ian Hope, the Director of Music at St Margaret’s School in Bushey, was the adjudicator for the Senior Class. Mr Hope has directed, arranged and composed for a huge variety of groups across the country, including the English Schools’ Choir and QE’s own Concert Band.

For the Senior and Intermediate class competitions, Sixth Form house members were given responsibility for selecting some of the soloists and for forming ensembles. They also had the task of organising and directing the rehearsals with no help from any member of staff. “The standard of the performances was excellent and a huge statement to the quality of musicianship in our Sixth-Formers,” said Mr Howe.

The performers were accompanied by Danielle Salamon, one of the Music Department’s instrumental teachers. In recent years she has performed and lectured in London, Paris and across Australia.

The individual winner from the senior competition was Year 12 student, Praveen Prathapan (pictured).

For the second year in a row, a QE team has beaten off stiff opposition from leading schools to secure a place in the national finals of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Top of the Bench competition.

Across eight rounds of the Chilterns and Middlesex heat, the four QE chemists amassed 93 points – comfortably ahead of next-placed Harrow School and Merchant Taylors’, both of which had 84. QE now progresses to the national finals at Imperial College in March.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “This victory is a fitting accolade for an outstanding Chemistry department, which prepares boys meticulously for exceptional achievements.” Mr Enright congratulated Chemistry teacher, Dr Elizabeth Kuo, and the School’s Head of Science, Dr Malcolm Russell, “on guiding the boys to success again in this prestigious competition”.

Teams in the competition must comprise two Year 9 students and one each from Years 10 and 11. For QE, these were Pranesh Varadarajan and Alexander Wingrave (Year 9), Bhavik Mehta (Year 10) and Abhishek Mukherjee (Year 11).

The competition requires entrants to demonstrate subject knowledge beyond what is required for the curriculum for their age. The national finals will involve them carrying out practical work and solving problems.

Dr Kuo said: "Our team did really well, hardly dropping a point.” She added that one of last year’s successful team, Mehul Jesani, who is now in Year 12, had given up his time to help the boys prepare.

Lieutenant Charles Russell (1997-2004) returned to the School to give two groups of pupils the opportunity to learn at first-hand about army life on active service.

Charlie graduated from Durham University and RMA Sandhurst and now serves with the 1st Royal Gurkha Rifles. His first posting after passing out of Sandhurst was as a platoon commander in Helmand Province in Afghanistan, where the mission was to secure a village that had been largely vacated due to Taliban intimidation.

Addressing the History Society, Lt Russell spoke of the history of Afghanistan from Genghis Khan, through the Russian invasion of 1979 and the September 11th attacks in 2001 to the present-day work undertaken by American, British and other troops. He outlined the area of operation for the battlegroup and worked his way down through the company, platoon and the responsibilities of his ‘multiple’. He then detailed the work his platoon had done in securing the village in which they were based. Fourteen houses there had been vacated due to Taliban murder, intimidation and the laying of improvised explosive devices: not only have these now been re-inhabited, but five shops have been opened and are flourishing.

His talk to the School’s Combined Cadet Force after school focused on the daily practicalities of life as a soldier and on operational matters.

“The boys found the talk incredibly interesting – it opened the window to a view that people outside the army rarely get to see,” said the School’s CCF Unit Captain, Mev Armon.

QE’s CCF was recently praised in its biennial inspection for producing first-class young men, and for the motivation and enthusiasm of its cadets and officers.