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The audience at this year’s Charity Christmas Concert enjoyed a wealth of seasonal music performed by a number of the School’s music groups. The annual fund-raiser is run in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Barnet (RC Barnet) and its proceeds support a number of causes in the community.

This year’s President of RC Barnet, Saiful Shamsad, commented on the 20-year association between the club and QE, and welcomed the audience to the concert: “The considerable pool of talented pupils will ensure that you are treated to an evening of fine entertainment.”

The programme was eclectic, ranging from traditional festive favourites  – including movements from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, and pieces by Bach and Corelli – to an arrangement of H Gregson-Williams’ and S Barton’s The Chronicles of Narnia, arranged by Year 13 student Chris Wong.

There were performances from the String Camerata, the Concert Band, the Senior String Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra and the Junior Indian Ensemble as well as the Choir and Chamber Choir. The Concert was rounded off with a selection of carols, with the audience joining in.

Director of Music Kieron Howe said: “It is particularly pleasing that the boys not only performed to such a high standard, but have also been key contributors as both arrangers and directors. Praveen Prathapan and Janan Sathiendran have been running the Indian Music Ensembles for two years now with wonderful levels of success, reflected in the performance at the concert.”

The Charity Christmas Concert supports a number of local groups, including Youth Makes Music; Youth Speaks, Young Chef and Young Engineer. “Youth Makes Music is a venture which gives boys and girls from across London the opportunity to further their musical experience through performing at wonderful venues such as the Royal Festival Hall,” said Mr Howe.

Mr Howe thanked the boys and staff for all the hard work, preparation and practice that had gone towards making the event such a success.

Eleven Year 13 students from QE attended lectures on King Lear delivered by top-flight academics. The lectures, which are part of a series intended to enhance the boys’ A-level studies, were given by academics from the universities of London, Birmingham and Manchester, as well as by a Fellow of the Shakespeare Institute.

“While there may be a perception that A-levels are now somehow easier than in years gone by, such study days remind us that there is real academic rigour at the heart of the courses that our students continue to take,” said David Ryan, English teacher and Assistant Head. “Lecture programmes such as this one push our students to consider literature from a range of perspectives; they will act as excellent preparation for the way in which they will be taught at university.”

The topics were diverse and included The Poetry of King Lear and Suffering in the Play. “There was significant emphasis on the impact of history on the performance of the play,” said Mr Ryan. “Between 1650 and the 1830s, directors changed the ending of the play to a happy one. Since 1945 there has been a greater desire to focus on the play’s interpretation of the challenges of human existence.”

The Sixth-Formers will now go on to study Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath and Webster’s The White Devil as part of a paper entitled Poetry and Drama 1800. 

A number of departments at QE take senior pupils to such lectures, which take place at venues including the Quakers’ Friends House at Euston and some of London’s most important academic venues. The King Lear lectures were held at the Conway Hall in High Holborn, which is owned by the South Place Ethical Society. It is renowned as a hub for free speech and independent thought, and hosts a wide variety of lectures, classes and performances. The society’s library, known as the Humanist Reference Library, is the largest and most comprehensive research resource of its kind in the United Kingdom.

With a wide range of public musical performances and their traditional Christmas lunch, QE boys enjoyed a busy but satisfying end to the term, reports the Headmaster.

The Saxophone Quartet were invited to perform at the Borehamwood Rotary Club’s Christmas Concert. The Top Brass ensemble and members of the Chamber Choir were in demand to perform carols in the local Spires shopping centre (in aid of Cherry Lodge Cancer Care) and at the Thomas Watson Cottage Homes in Barnet.

“The annual Christmas Concert in Shearly Hall was very well received by the audience, who enjoyed the eclectic programme, which included movements from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and pieces by Bach and Corelli,” said Neil Enright, Headmaster.

There were performances from the String Camerata, the Concert Band, the Senior String Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra and the Junior Indian Ensemble as well as the Choir and Chamber Choir. The Concert was rounded off with a selection of carols, with the audience joining in with great enthusiasm.

The School’s traditional Service of Nine Lessons & Carols, in the Parish Church, was a fitting musical finale, with its blend of choral pieces and congregational carols.

On the penultimate day of term, a festive atmosphere reigned as boys and staff enjoyed a traditional Christmas dinner of turkey and trimmings, with a vegetarian alternative. This year, the lunch was held in the School’s temporary dining facility, the Atrium. Next year, the Headmaster added, the School is looking forward to celebrating the season in the new dining room, which is currently under construction.

A British 100m finalist from the 2008 Beijing Olympics led a sprint workshop with a group of 14 QE athletes of mixed ages.

Jeanette Kwayke’s visit to the School was part of a special initiative aimed at boosting confidence and increasing attainment. She spent the day at QE working with boys ranging from Year 7 to Year 13, including John Otugade, who is hotly tipped as an Olympic prospect himself.

Jeanette, who graduated from Loughborough University with a degree in Politics & Economics, was the only European to make the final of the 100m Women’s Sprint in Beijing. She finished in sixth place with a personal best time of 11.14s, having become the first British woman to reach the Olympic sprint final since 1984.

Her finest performances include smashing the British 60m record with a time of 7.08s in the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships. She finished 2008 as number 2 in the world’s women’s rankings. She suffered a career-threatening injury in 2010 and missed out on the opportunity to compete at London 2012.

The visit to QE was part of her role as one of Sky Sports Living for Sport Mentors. It came about following an application from PE teacher James Clarke.

The initiative is designed to motivate and inspire pupils to participate and succeed in their chosen sports. It uses sports stars and sports skills to improve the lives of thousands of young people.

“Sport helps people think, helps people listen, helps people to speak up and helps people work together,” said Darren Campbell, Sky Sports Living for Sport Ambassador. “Different sports inspire different people but one thing is true: there's a sport for everyone and it can change your life."

The boys who took part in the workshop, carrying out drills and training exercises, were: Patrick Owen, Ifeatu Obiora and Isaac Morrison, of Year 7; Liam Hagley, Abbas Adejonwo and Ola Ogunade, of Year 8; Nabil Haque and Nivedth Radhakrishnan, of Year 9; Niruban Rajendram and Eben Karikari Sarpong, of Year 10; Daniel Soyode, Onyekachi Oguike and Yemi Falana, of Year 11 and John Otugade, of Year 13.

As part of Living for Sport, Jeanette is due to return to the School in 2013, to work with the sprinters once more, as well as with the Fit Club boys. She will also lead an assembly.

Gifted and talented boys from Year 11 joined their peers from a leading girls’ school in a series of academic symposia that shadowed the judging of the 2012 TS Eliot Prize for poetry.

The pupils from QE and the North London Collegiate School debated the merits of the shortlisted works for the prize, which is organised by the Poetry Book Society.

“The events were targeted at pupils who have shown a particular talent for English combined with a demonstrable ability to think independently,” said Head of English, Susannah Sweetman. “During each session of the symposia, pupils explored, analysed and discussed two of the short-listed poets. This led to thought-provoking and stimulating debates, providing the participants with a taste of English study at A-level standard.”

The QE and NLCS pupils looked at the ten volumes selected for this year’s shortlist from the 131 works submitted by publishers. They are: Simon Armitage The Death of King Arthur; Sean Borodale Bee Journal; Gillian Clarke Ice; Julia Copus The World's Two Smallest Humans; Paul Farley The Dark Film; Jorie Graham P L A C E; Kathleen Jamie The Overhaul; Sharon Olds Stag's Leap; Jacob Polley The Havocs and Deryn Rees-Jones Burying the Wren.

The symposia were chaired by QE Year 13 student Sheharyar Hasan, who hopes to study English at university.

Miss Sweetman added: “I have been thoroughly impressed by the quality of the debates and discussions regarding the poetry. It has been a rewarding experience for students at both schools who have developed confidence and passion in putting across their personal view.”

This year’s judging panel for the TS Eliot Prize is Carol Ann Duffy (Chair), Michael Longley and David Morley. The winner will be announced at a ceremony in the Southbank Centre’s Festival Hall in January.

After an outstanding season in which he set personal bests in two disciplines, Sixth-Former John Otugade is setting his sights on a Team GB place for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

John achieved notable success at the European Junior Team Championships in Slovenia in September 2012, where he was part of the Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers’ squad representing Great Britain. He won the individual 100m and 200m events and was in the 4 x 100m relay team, which secured second place. His performance helped seal a five-point win for the team over Turkish rivals Enka Spor Kulubu Denegi.

“I was a little disappointed with my time in the 100m,” said John in an interview with European Athletics. “But I was delighted with my time of 21.84 in the 200m, which was a big PB [personal best] for me. It was a quick turnaround between the 100 and 200 – only about 20 minutes – but the 100m acted as a bit of a warm-up for the 200m.”

In fact, even in the 100m his winning time 10.78 was just .05 of a second outside his personal best, set at Lee Valley in August 2012.

The Manager of Shaftesbury Harriers, Geoff Morphitis, has tipped John for future success. “John has a lot of talent. He is not going to be one of those sprinters who runs a ridiculously quick time and then disappears,” he told the North London Press. “He is a very intelligent lad and is going to get better and better.”

John himself feels there is much more to come. “At the moment I’m studying hard for my A-levels and have to balance my training with that, but I’m confident that in the future I will be able to push for times that will compete with the best. I’d like to be a professional sprinter and believe I could compete at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.”

Athletics Weekly magazine has tipped John as an athlete who could very well reach a future Olympics as a competitor.