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QE boys successfully performed an abridged version of Macbeth at the Abbey Theatre in St Albans.

The team of 24 actors, technicians and marketing assistants from Years 9-12 had prepared alongside three other schools at a special drama workshop run by experienced actors and theatre technicians as part of this year’s Shakespeare Schools Festival. While the other schools chose King Lear, Henry V and The Tempest, QE selected Macbeth, renowned for its psychological study of the corrosive effects of ambition, betrayal and guilt. Each of the four plays was abridged to a 30-minute production.

“The workshop provided the boys with an excellent range of techniques and tips to improve their performance skills,” said Head of English, Susannah Sweetman. “These included the visually spectacular techniques of ‘withering’ – where actors slowly melt to the ground as though dying, after a battle, for instance – and ‘blossoming’ – where they slowly stand up and grow like a tree.”

The Shakespeare Schools Festival is the UK's largest youth drama festival. It aims to give young people “the opportunity to engage with their cultural heritage, their education and their future” by performing Shakespeare in professional theatres. This year, around 1,000 schools took part, performing in 125 theatres across the UK

A Year 7 pupil has been selected to compete for Great Britain at a world karate championships event.

Twelve-year-old Joshua Han travelled to Novi Sad in Serbia to represent his country at the 21^st Shotokan Karate Do United Nations (SKDUN) World Championships. Shotokan is one of four styles of karate recognised by the World Karate Federation.

The championship is open to individuals and competitors from age ten to veterans (age 50+); Joshua competed in the age 12-13 (under 35 kg) class, both as an individual and in the team event.

He took up the sport when he was just seven but has been studying it seriously for the last two-and-a-half years. He trains at the Willesden Sports Centre three or four times a week and competes regularly in competitions in the UK.

SKDUN describes itself as “a non-political organisation working for and promoting the good practice, principles and ideals of Shotokan Karate through the medium of international competition, technical instruction, international grading examinations and education for instructors, trainers and students”.

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!”