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For the first time in its history, the live Children in Need broadcast will come from the BBC’s Elstree studios – and 50 QE boys will be taking part.

The QE boys have been practising with 50 girls from Mill Hill County High School, all from years 7 – 9, and together will form a choir which will sing during the ‘telethon’ this Friday evening, which is being broadcast from the set of EastEnders. They have already enjoyed a visit from Pudsey Bear when QE hosted a joint choir practice with the girls (pictured). Music teacher Jennifer Brown organised a sponsored karaoke for the boys in the choir earlier in the week and raised nearly £900. The School has also raised money for this year's appeal by holding a cake sale for the staff and by selling Pudsey key rings in the School Shop. The total amount raised will be handed over by cheque on Friday at Elstree.

The choir will also be featured on the Vanessa Feltz Show on BBC London Radio 94.9 FM at 10.30am on Friday 15th November.

On the big night, the choir will be appearing on stage with celebrities including hosts Gary Barlow, Sir Terry Wogan, Tess Daly, Fearne Cotton, Zoe Ball and Nick Grimshaw.

The annual charity event has its origins in a radio broadcast in 1927, with the telethon being broadcast for the first time in 1980. It has raised over £650 million and supports more than 2,600 projects for children and young people.

Each November a number of celebrity and local events take place, reaching a climax in the live show on BBC1.

Guests this year include One Direction, Harry Hill, and the cast of Call the Midwife. Comedian Frank Skinner will open the doors to a special children’s edition of the Room 101 chat show. Other music guests will include JLS, Wet Wet Wet, Tinie Tempah, and Ellie Goulding, who will sing the official BBC Children in Need single, How Long Will I Love You?

“The boys are naturally excited at the prospect of seeing so many top performers in the flesh, but they are also delighted to have the opportunity to make a contribution to such a worthwhile cause,” said QE’s Director of Music, Kieron Howe.

The programme is broadcast on BBC1 from 7.30 – 10pm on Friday 15^th November, with the choir from QE due to appear at approximately 8.15pm.

Education Secretary Michael Gove presented QE with a prestigious London Evening Standard Schools Award for Academic Excellence at the newspaper’s headquarters.

Queen Elizabeth’s School was represented at the special ceremony by the Headmaster, Neil Enright, the Chairman of Governors, Barrie Martin, and by six boys from Year 13.

QE was among seven winning schools lauded by Mr Gove for their “you can do anything” attitude. All of the winners were highly praised by Ofsted inspectors in their most recent reports.

“London schools are the best in the whole country, so if you are the best schools in London that means you are the best schools in the country,” Mr Gove said.

“The fact you are being recognised by the Evening Standard, which is the best newspaper, is a particular compliment.”

The awards are sponsored by the Jack Petchey Foundation. Mr Gove encouraged students to live their lives by the Jack Petchey motto: “If you think you can, you can.”

Mr Enright expressed his satisfaction with the award: “The Foundation was so impressed by the School’s achievements that it additionally awarded us £1,000 to be used as we see fit to enhance the provision of education at QE. This is a wonderful accolade and it is gratifying to know that our efforts in providing the very best education to our boys are widely recognised. To this end, I would like to thank all staff for the meticulous, dedicated and ongoing effort which they put in to providing a first-class education and the administrative systems which support that.”

The evening event included a buffet and a tour of the Standard’s newsroom floor by the Managing Editor, as well as the presentation ceremony itself.

During the evening, 17-year-old QE student Kiki Ifalaye took the opportunity to speak to Mr Gove about the A-level ‘facilitating subjects’ list. Government league tables now measure schools on their performance in facilitating subjects – a list drawn up by the Russell Group of leading universities based on its assessment of which subjects helped Sixth-Formers gain university places.

“Because Economics is not a facilitating subject it inclines students to steer away from it, even though it’s a rigorous A-level” said Kiki. “The list should be broader.”

Mr Gove agreed that he found it “odd” that Economics was not a facilitating subject, and revealed that Schools Minister David Laws — who studied Economics at Cambridge — found it “even more perplexing”. He pointed out that the list was drawn up by the Russell Group and was designed to help make students more aware of the consequences of their A-level choices and that taking a range of subjects leaves every door open.

Queen Elizabeth’s School has overcome all opposition to take first place in the 2013 Sunday Times Parent Power academic results league table of the top 500 State Secondary Schools. QE moved up one place in the highly regarded national table this year to overtake nearby Henrietta Barnett School for top honours.

The league table is based on a rigorous assessment of examination results, and QE’s statistic of 98.3% A*-B at A-level not only placed the School top of the Secondary State School table, but also matched the achievement of St Paul’s Girls’ School, which headed the separate table for the top 425 Independent Secondary Schools. QE can thus be considered to have achieved the highest position of any boys’ school in the country, whether in the state or independent sector.

The table was published only a matter of hours after Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Education, had presented QE with an Evening Standard Award for Academic Excellence.

“This double success is in many ways the culmination of a very good period for Queen Elizabeth’s School, during which we celebrated the achievement of our boys in securing QE’s best-ever A-level results,” said Headmaster Neil Enright.

“Naturally, it is pleasing to receive this recognition from the Sunday Times that the School’s results compare favourably with the best of schools in both the state and independent sectors. It bears testament to the hard work of both students and staff, to the support of parents and to the effectiveness of our carefully conceived system of academic support.”

The Sunday Times says of the tables: “Parent Power takes an exacting measure of excellence, assessing schools by the proportion of the top three grades (A*, A and B) achieved at A-level, which we give a double weighting, and the proportion of A* and A grades gained at GCSE. The government tables take a more benevolent approach of measuring the proportion of students achieving five or more GCSEs, to include English and maths, at grades A* to C.”

QE boys seized the opportunity to make small talk with the Founder of their School, Queen Elizabeth I, during a visit to Hampton Court Palace!

A number of characters – including the Virgin Queen – were represented by actors as part of Tudor re-enactment taking place during the Year 8 History trip.

The boys were also given insights into the palace’s grand architecture. They learned about the history of the site, built on the instructions of Cardinal Wolsey in the early 16^th century. It was acquired and developed by Henry VIII as his favourite home and was one of only a few royal palaces that could accommodate his household of over 1,000 people. The boys were shown the marked contrast between the original Tudor gothic architecture and the baroque palace developed by William and Mary during their reign in the late 1600s.

“It’s very much a palace of two halves,” said Head of History Helen MacGregor. “Inside we saw the Grand Hall, where Shakespeare’s original company performed. We saw actors dressed as Tudors – including Queen Elizabeth I. Our boys took the opportunity to bow down to her as Founder of our School and to make small talk with her!”

The boys discovered that the Great Hall is still used for modern-day conferences and hosted a meeting of EU leaders in 2005. They also witnessed some of the conservation work that is constantly being undertaken at the palace, notably the restoration of ancient books. Part of the tour included a recital on the organ in the chapel, said to have been played by Handel himself. 

“The trip had great education value and the boys enjoyed seeing for themselves the scenes of so many famous events, including the death of Jane Seymour after the birth of her son and future king Edward VI,” said Miss MacGregor. “The boys were fascinated by the rumours of various hauntings and kept a look-out for the ghost of Catherine Howard!”

Queen Elizabeth’s School has been appointed as an inaugural member of the London Schools’ Gold Club.

Mayor Boris Johnson announced QE’s inclusion in his 2013 list of secondary schools at the first London Education Conference at City Hall, which was attended by the Headmaster, Neil Enright.

The club is an annual scheme designed to celebrate and share exceptional practice in the capital’s primary and secondary schools. Gold Club members are schools adjudged to have delivered exceptional success for their pupils, especially the most disadvantaged. The selection criteria vary according to the context in which particular schools are operating.

QE is one of 26 secondary schools to be appointed Gold Club members. Mr Enright received the School’s membership from Dr Munira Mirza, Deputy Mayor for Education & Culture, who was one of the conference speakers, together with the Mayor, Education Secretary Michael Gove and other national and international figures from the worlds of education, business and government.

“It is of course gratifying for the School to be recognised as a centre of excellence close to home among London schools, following the national accolades we have received in recent months,” said the Headmaster.

“The conference was also interesting, with stimulating debates and workshops on topics as diverse as social mobility in relation to access to leading UK universities and ‘Modern versus ancient languages’."

Sixth-Formers from QE learned about both the academic study of politics and the everyday reality of political life during a visit to the British Library.

Leading British academics and a number of recently retired members of the US House of Representatives delivered presentations and then took part in a Q&A session. John Tanner (pictured below with Year 13 Politics students), who represented a district of Tennessee for 22 years, spoke on his experience of chairing committees dealing with key issues including pensions and trade.

“Whilst it's essential for students to understand politics in an academic way, it's fascinating to hear from politicians who have been at the heart of decision-making in recent historic world events, said QE’s Head of Politics, Liam Hargadon.

“Our boys thoroughly enjoyed this unique opportunity to question important political leaders and were conspicuous at the event in their willingness to ask probing questions of both the academics and politicians. There is no doubt they benefited significantly from the trip,” added Mr Hargadon.