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Sixth-Former John Otugade is being tipped as one of Britain’s hot prospects for the future, following his decision to drop football and focus on athletics. John was scouted by several London clubs and signed for Watford, but he continued to run for Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers, where his talent was recognised and he was persuaded his future lay in athletics.

“I’d been playing football since I was five and had represented Barnet Youth a year above my age group” said John. “It was quite a difficult decision, but definitely the right one, as in 2011 I had a very good athletics season.” In fact, John ended the 2011 season as the number one-ranked 100-metre U17 runner in Britain, with a season’s best of 10.87s at the England Athletics U17 Championships.

John puts his success down both to his decision to focus solely on athletics and to the coaching he receives from Tom McNab. Tom is renowned as a top British coach who developed a number of British Olympic training programmes – including the decathlon programme which produced gold-medallist Daley Thompson. He was also the Technical Director for the film Chariots of Fire.

“We do a lot of technical work in our drills and I’ve got great training partners. Tom’s got so many years of experience and he has a terrific ability to motivate,” said John.

This season, aged just 17, John has had to face the difficult transition to senior racing as he moved into the U20 age group. Despite competing against athletes as much as three years older than him, John achieved third place in the 100m at the Aviva England Athletics U20/U23 Championships and World Trials with a time of 10.85s – only slightly slower than his 2012 season and personal best of 10.77s.

Notwithstanding such performances, John himself has not seen this season as significant. “It’s been a transitional period into senior competition. My aim is to make a real mark in 2013 as a second-year U20 runner. The European Championships is my target; I think I’ll have sufficient experience then to have an impact.”

John very much enjoyed this summer’s Olympics and particularly the blue riband event, the 100m. “I admire all the sprinters and of course Usain Bolt but my favourite is Tyson Gay. I admire his conduct on the track and his work ethic.”

Athletics Weekly magazine, which recently featured John in its Young Athlete profile, predicts that he could very well make it to a future Olympics as a competitor.

The School has now been awarded the Prince’s Teaching Institute Mark (PTI) for five subjects: English, Geography, History, Modern Foreign Languages and Science. Of nearly 200 schools involved in the PTI Schools’ Programme, only a handful have achieved the Mark for five different departments.

The Mark is awarded retrospectively each academic year: the School has now been informed that Modern Foreign Languages successfully gained the Mark for 2011-2012. The Science department blazed a trail for QE with the Institute, successfully applying for recognition for 2009-2010. The following year, the English, Geography and History departments joined Science in meeting the criteria. To retain the Mark, each department must start afresh every year.

The aim of the scheme, which is open to all state secondary schools in England, is to recognise and reward school departments that commit to increasing the challenge of their subject provision. To gain the Mark, departments must demonstrate their commitment to increasing teachers’ subject knowledge. They must also show that they are furthering their students’ understanding of, and enthusiasm for, the subject, regardless of the students’ background or ability.

“The Mark recognises and rewards departments which develop inspirational ideas and activities to enhance teaching and learning, and which then apply them skillfully and systematically,” said Headmaster Neil Enright. “It is thus satisfying that, year on year, more of our departments are receiving the PTI Mark. It has always been part of our ethos that we never rest on our laurels at QE and that we encourage excellence and innovation.”

QE is the country’s top boys’ state school, according to the FT’s influential Top Schools annual rankings. The School has held its position as eighth overall among English secondary schools from both the independent and state sector.

Published later in the year than in previous years, the rankings are nevertheless based on 2011 A-level results, rather than those from this summer. They show that QE boys gained an average of 277 points per examination entry (with 300 points representing an A* grade and 270 for A) and that 85% of entries were graded A or A*. The methodology used in compiling the tables takes account only of core academic subjects, as defined by the University of Cambridge.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “I am very pleased that we have retained our eighth place in a table that carries considerable academic credibility. At QE, we pride ourselves on being a school where boys from any background may succeed at the highest level. Our success in pursuing that determinedly meritocratic approach is underlined by the fact that, as a state school, we have again outstripped many of the famous fee-charging public schools.

“I look forward to seeing how QE is ranked next year, when the tables will presumably be based on our 2012 A-level results, which were our best ever.”

In a specially written column accompanying the rankings, philanthropist Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust and of the Education Endowment Foundation, highlighted the dominance of independent schools in the FT league tables, notwithstanding QE’s high ranking.

Queen Elizabeth’s School has introduced after-school classes in Spanish so that boys can opt to study for a GCSE in the world’s most widely spoken Romance language.

Available to boys from the beginning of Year 9, Spanish will be taught over three years in hour-long lessons.

Spanish is spoken by more than 400 million people worldwide and is the third most commonly used language on the internet after English and Mandarin.

The extra-curricular classes are taught in a supportive, encouraging environment. Lessons include activities to enhance boys’ cultural knowledge of Spain and the Spanish-speaking world.

Those choosing to take the classes are expected to spend an hour a week learning new vocabulary and completing additional work to practise what they have learnt in class. In the first year, pupils develop their skills through listening, speaking, reading and writing exercises.

The Universal Music Group, led by OE Lucian Grainge, has won approval from the EU to acquire EMI Recording Ltd, bringing a number of artists into the music giant’s fold – including the Beatles.

As part of the deal, Universal will have to divest a number of other top artists including the likes of Coldplay, David Bowie and Blur. EMI Recording Ltd not only encompasses the EMI label, but also several other famous brands.

Asked in an interview with the UK website, This is Money, whether the deal was worth it, the answer from Universal CEO Lucian was brief and to the point: “You bet!” He added: “This deal has now been cleared in the three biggest music markets in the world – America, Japan and Germany. I am leading a business that now owns Capitol Music and the Abbey Road Studio as well as the EMI and Virgin labels.”

The Virgin back catalogue includes The Human League and the Spice Girls, with current artists Emeli Sande and Professor Green amongst others. With the acquisition of Capitol Records, Universal also becomes home to the recordings of Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and the Beach Boys.

Lucian, who was at the School in the 1970s, has acknowledged that savings of £100 million will need to be made, saying: “I can only grow this business by making savings and investing in the product – the artists and the music."

A group of QE Sixth-Formers who successfully undertook a gruelling Duke of Edinburgh Award expedition to Morocco have been praised for their initiative by their assessor.

Altogether 21 boys took part in the trip to Marrakech and the Atlas Mountains; 14 completed their DofE Gold award expedition, while a further seven took part in the trip purely for personal development.

The boys were accompanied by Christina Wu, Economics teacher and the School’s DofE co-ordinator, along with History teacher Laura Tobia and Biology teacher Martin Bassett-Jones. The bespoke QE expedition was a reward for the boys who were the first QE cohort to complete the Bronze and Silver awards in 2009 and 2010.

“The trip built on the trekking, navigation and campcraft skills the boys had learnt from their previous walking expeditions around the UK,” said Ms Wu. “With temperatures in the Atlas Mountains rising to 48°C at mid-day, Morocco provided a valuable and challenging experience for all of the Sixth-Formers. The strenuous trekking required a great deal of fortitude.”

Each of the four days of the expedition required eight hours of activity, with self-sufficiency a pre-requisite. In order to achieve the eight hours before temperatures became too high, the boys had to rise at 4am. They then shouldered their 20kg backpacks and walked to their next destination, contending with rugged terrain, high altitude and occasionally inaccurate maps.

The boys were trailed at a distance by a DofE assessor, an expedition leader from Outlook Expeditions (a company which organises tailor-made Gold award expeditions) and two of the QE staff members. With no campsites and no toilets, the boys had to wash in rivers, identify clean water sources for drinking and generally manage personal hygiene.

“Many of the boys displayed a maturity beyond that usually seen in a classroom context. Most strikingly, they showed that they had the ability to encourage each other and to look out for each other’s welfare,” said Ms Wu. “The DofE students passed their assessment with flying colours; the assessor especially praised their initiative, good humour and resilience in the face of the daunting weather conditions, notably the excessive heat.”

The second group of boys enjoyed the opportunity to meet new people and experience new cultures. They did not have to carry their own equipment, making use of mules for transporting it. They covered much of the same ground as the DofE group with an additional six-hour day of walking.

On their return to Marrakech, all the boys and staff enjoyed exploring the city and took a day for relaxation at a water park.

To see a Youtube video of expedition highlights, please follow this link: http://youtu.be/HoA3cSJX30I