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The First XI has won the Read Cricket Trophy for the fourth consecutive year. The annual tournament involves QE, Hutton Grammar School, Aldenham School and Liverpool College, who were this year’s hosts.

Head of Games Mark Peplow said: “This was another impressive performance by our boys away from home.

“Hutton posted a scored of 149 for 9, with Sebastian Feszczur-Hatchett turning in another high-quality bowling performance, taking 3 wickets for the loss of just 3 runs, supported by Kishan Patel, of Year 12, who took 3 for 42. QE scored 26 for no loss, establishing a sound platform, before rain stopped play.

QE beat Liverpool College by five wickets after economical bowling restricted them to a total of 97 all out, with Shanil Model, of Year 11, returning figures of 3 for 17.  Neil Gujar, Year 13, was top scorer in QE’s reply of 99 for 5, with 30 runs.

“Batting first against Aldenham, Janiel Nakrani, Year 13, contributed 52 runs and was ably supported by Year 13 Chandi Uduwawala’s useful 33 in a total of 131. Excellent bowling from Shane Mahen, Year 13, who took 4 wickets for just 16 runs, and from Year 12’s Sebastian Feszczur-Hatchett, with 3 for 17, restricted the opposition to a total of just 56 runs and resulted in a QE victory by 75 runs,” Mr Peplow added.

Sixth-Former Mital Dodhia enjoyed the opportunity to carry out work experience at a newspaper whilst on the Aachen exchange. Mital spent his time shadowing a sports reporter on the regional paper, the Aachener Zeitung. Mital even managed to feature in an article in the newspaper; it discusses his learning German, his time in Aachen and how he’s enjoyed the experience so much that he doesn’t want to go home!

Mital, who is in Year 13 and studying German at A-level, also helped in the media centre at the CHIO Aachen International Horse Show.
“Regional newspapers are widely read in Germany, where there are fewer national titles than in the UK, so this was work experience of the highest calibre for Mital,” said Burgunde Lukasser, Assistant Head of Languages, who organised the exchange.

During Mital’s 10-day placement he was interviewed by the journalist he was shadowing. Mital told him how well he thought he had come to understand the people of Aachen and how saddened he would be to have to return to London. When asked what he hoped to do in the future, Mital said he wasn’t sure, but might pursue a career in journalism or possibly music, as he composes and plays a number of instruments.

“It is very pleasing that Mital’s experience of his work placement was so positive,” said QE Headmaster, Neil Enright. “Our work experience programme provides students with many valuable placements and there’s no doubt Mital enjoyed a genuine insight into the world of journalism at a prestigious regional newspaper.”

Other A-level German students completed placements in a variety of professions, including medicine, law, theatre and local radio.
It is the second time that Mital has visited Germany with the School; three years ago he took part in the exchange with QE’s partner School, the Friedrich von Bodelschwingh Gymnasium in Bielefeld. The Aachen work experience exchange has been running for more than 10 years; each year German pupils come to Barnet in April and stay with QE families, whilst the QE boys take part in the return leg in the summer.

A group of Year 7 boys rounded off their first year at QE with a trip to Normandy in July, during which they were surrounded by French language, history and culture.

The 44 boys and four staff took part in a wide range of sporting and cultural activities during their stay at Chateau de la Baudonniere.

All the activities, which included archery, climbing, orienteering, raft building, circus skills and cookery, were taught in French. “The staff at the Chateau only spoke to the boys in French,” said Languages teacher Caroline Mulderij. “We had to learn the vocabulary both for the equipment and for the physical actions involved.”

The boys enjoyed the opportunity to try a wide range of French cuisine, including snails, and there were specific French lessons alongside the activities and group initiative and team building exercises.

“We visited the Bayeux Tapestry and Arromanches, a site of the Normandy Landings, as well as taking time for reflection in the British Cemetery at Bayeux,” added Mrs Mulderij.

Key sheet music went missing and the air-conditioning on a coach gave up the ghost – but nothing could stop a QE tour of Tuscany from proving a resounding musical success.

QE’s tour party of 55 boys and four staff relished their four-day trip to North West Italy, where they delighted audiences in a number of spectacular venues and sampled the local food and culture. [A video showing some of the highlights of the tour can be viewed here.]

The group arrived first in Montecatini: “We were very fortunate to have two rehearsal spaces, one inside and one outside, and as there were no other guests in the hotel, we were free to play as much as we like,” said QE’s Director Music, Kieron Howe. “We had a fabulous lunch at the hotel with pasta as our primo piatto, and pork as our secondo, followed by dessert. The catering couldn't have been better, with all of our dietary requirements, including gluten-free, being taken into account and alternatives offered.”

In the afternoon the group visited the Grotta del Vento, where all were impressed by the astounding stalactites, stalagmites, pillars and other rock and mud formations, said Mr Howe.

The first concert was in the piazza in Barga. This proved to have a good acoustic for all the ensembles, especially the string orchestra, whose sound was reflected effectively by the town's walls directly behind them. “The audience ebbed and flowed as they came by on their way to or from dinner, but they all stayed for at least a few pieces, which they clearly thoroughly enjoyed,” added Mr Howe.

Day two started with the disappointing discovery that the Symphony Orchestra’s cello music had gone missing during the flight. However, as all the boys were playing in a number of ensembles, they soon overcame the setback and the Bollywood Orchestra took the opportunity to add a new piece to their repertoire.

The group moved on to Florence where, in hot sunshine, they enjoyed a time of sight-seeing and sampling the local gelati (ice cream). In the evening the boys performed in the gardens of the music conservatory in nearby Pescia. Behind a set of iron gates in the public park, the grassy courtyard of the music conservatory formed an ideal venue for a concert. This had excellent lighting and, with the sound bouncing off the enclosing walls and the facade of the beautiful building, there was an excellent acoustic for all the groups again.

The concert opened with the Symphony Orchestra performing the piece they did have music for, Nimrod from the Enigma Variations. The majority of the performance was given by the String Orchestra whose opening piece, Eleanor Rigby, was a real favourite of the crowd, along with Music teacher Arijit Chakravarty's arrangement of Ravel's famous Bolero. Next came the Saxophone Quartet, who played three numbers before handing on to the Bollywood Orchestra, who were joined in their final piece, Jai Ho, by all on tour, who sang heartily.

“This was the end of our programme; however we were not allowed to leave the stage as our hosts demanded another piece,” said Mr Howe. “Without any further pieces in our folders we called on the Big Band to see what they could come up with. A quick jam ensued which grew into an excellent performance of Brooklyn from memory, again whole-heartedly enjoyed by the audience, some of whom were very keen to talk to the boys afterwards.”

The hosts then treated the group to freshly-made bruschette and gave them a painting of the conservatory to say thank you for the concert.

The following day, the boys spent a pleasant 90 minutes in the shady medieval streets of Siena tracking down the best gelateria, eating pizza and visiting a couple of churches. Having reconvened on the Piazza del Campo, the site of the famous Palio horse race, they returned to the coach park for the journey to San Gimignano for that day’s concert.

As the String Orchestra and Choir set up for the concert, the Sax Quartet enticed people in with a short performance in the piazza outside. The generous acoustic of the Chiosto Sant Agostino created a wonderful sound for the audience but made it very difficult for the boys to hear each other.

The strings started the concert with Tchaikovsky's Crown of Thorns, which was particularly suited to the acoustic. They were joined by the Choir in the second half for an excellent performance of Vivaldi's Gloria. “The audience numbers were healthy but fluid, with people being drawn in by the music, staying for a number of pieces and then continuing on their tour of the city. All those who popped in certainly enjoyed all the pieces they heard,” said Mr Howe.

After the concert a group of Sixth-Formers had to wait for a replacement coach, as the air-conditioning had broken down. As they waited, they witnessed a spectacular display of lightning over the hills of Tuscany. After returning to Montecatini the party took a ride on the funicular railway up to Montecatini Alto.

On the final full day of the tour leisurely rehearsals were followed by a trip to Lucca and a visit to Giacomo Puccini’s house at Torre del Lago. At the house the party split into three groups for the tours and saw where Puccini lived and wrote for a large proportion of his life, and the tiny chapel within the house where his body rests within the 1.5-m-thick walls. “At the end of the tour we were fortunate to meet Puccini's granddaughter, Simonetta, who shared a few words with the boys and was very interested to hear about their musical experiences,” said Mr Howe.

After a hot buffet dinner back at the hotel the group left for Borgo a Mozzanno and the Teatro di Verzura, which turned out to be an excellent venue, with a very supportive acoustic, unusual for an outdoor venue. The lighting was also excellent although it did have the annoying bi-product of attracting every biting insect within a half-mile radius!

The concert began with the newest conductor, Biology teacher Martin Bassett-Jones, making his directorial debut and leading the band in Hawaii 5-O and the theme from The Great Escape. After the Concert Band, the Choir, accompanied by the String Orchestra, performed a number of the movements from Vivaldi's Gloria. “There was then a double-bill of Bollywood before the Big Band performed six pieces which the audience enjoyed, particularly the section of the audience made up of the other performers, who managed to find enough space for a group dance routine to the High School Musical number!” Mr Howe said. The last concert on the tour was rounded off with every member performing Jai Ho, which was again heartily performed.

That performance was the final QE concert for the ten Year 13 boys who accompanied the tour at the very end of their School careers. Mr Howe paid tribute to them: “It has been wonderful to have them with us and they have, as ever, been exemplary in their behaviour and musicianship throughout the trip, also keeping a watchful eye on the younger boys in their registration groups. I hope that they have wonderful memories that will stay with them for many years to come.”

The winner of QE’s summer competition, The Big Read, has been announced.

Boys and staff were encouraged to choose books from a reading list and photograph themselves reading in an extreme – though safe – way during the holidays.

Mipham Samten, of Year 8, (pictured left) came out top for his photo of himself on the archery course at a chateau on the School’s Normandy trip; he will be awarded with a copy of The Guiness Book of World Records during assembly. Head of English Susannah Sweetman’s shot of herself in front of a volcano in Tenerife (bottom picture) was one of a number of interesting entries from teachers.

“Mipham was pictured reading with an apple in his mouth and an arrow coming out of it – a nice allusion to the William Tell story!” said English teacher Yioda Menelaou, who organised the competition.

“The Big Read is a fun way to encourage pupils to engage with reading, prompted by our very eclectic reading list. Of course, boys may choose to read books that aren’t on the list, but we’ve certainly tried to ensure there is something on there to appeal to all tastes.”

The list included work by more than 80 different authors. It mainly featured fiction and included books as diverse as Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, Kerouac’s On the Road, Tolstoy’s War and Peace and George R R Martin’s Game of Thrones series.

QE’s young rugby players enjoyed the opportunity to play at the newly opened Allianz Park in Mill Hill – home to the mighty Saracens.

The refurbishment of the stadium was only completed in February, when Saracens defeated Exeter Chiefs 31–11 in an Aviva Premiership match before a capacity crowd of 10,000.

QE’s U15A XV, comprising boys from Year 10, played against Trinity School from Croydon – the first such fixture. “It was a wonderful experience for the boys,” said Jonathan Hart, Head of PE. “The facilities are first-class and the playing surface allowed our boys to perform well, showing some fantastic adventure in attack and commitment in the tackle.”

“The team was captained and led extremely well by Nabil Haque, and there were some notable performances from Neroshan Mariabalanayagam, Sabesan Thayaparan, Obi Ojji and Jeremy Simanjuntak”, he added.

The stadium is equipped not only with the latest in synthetic turf, but a state-of-the-art LED scoreboard. During Premiership matches fans can keep track of statistics and look at replays on their mobile devices by logging on to the wifi and downloading the ground's ‘app’.

“Although we went down 22-0 to a very physical and skilful side, the score by no means reflects the balance of the game or QE’s rugby,” said Mr Hart. “Our boys were very unfortunate not to score and after the game the Trinity School coach suggested that we should look at making it a regular fixture.”

QE is hoping to be able to play further games at Allianz Park this season.