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Barrie Martin, Chairman of both the QE Governing Body and of the Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s, has been awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours List. The award citation for “services to education” recognises his long years of devotion to the School – an association which began when his elder son, Piers, came to QE in 1987.

He has presided as Chairman over the Governing Body during a period in which the School has become one of the top-performing schools in the country: it has now gained five successive ‘outstanding’ ratings from Ofsted and, for example, took first place in the 2013 Sunday Times Parent Power academic results league table of the top 500 State Secondary Schools. He has met several Education Secretaries as the School has won various awards over the years.

'Education is vital' – school governor receives MBE
– The Barnet Times, Thursday 2 January 2014

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “I am delighted that Barrie has been awarded an MBE and congratulate him on behalf of the whole School community for an honour richly deserved. He is an asset to QE in so many ways, combining a tireless work ethic with tremendous focus and an utterly reliable good nature. Moreover, he has a remarkable ability to generate support from others and, notwithstanding a demanding career and his many voluntary commitments, makes himself constantly available.”

Mr Martin said he was “extremely flattered” by the award, which had come as a complete surprise.

Until last spring, he worked full-time in his own chartered surveyor’s practice, Martin Russell Jones, in Edgware. Having sold the firm, which looks after accommodation including almshouses and social housing for the visually handicapped, he now works there as a consultant.

Mr Martin has risen from humble beginnings. His father was a part-time jobbing builder who also worked as a policeman during World War II, a bus driver and a chauffeur, while his mother was a countrywoman from Dorset who remembered meeting Thomas Hardy in her youth.

“Between the ages of 10 and 14, I spent a lot of time in hospital, which obviously had a very detrimental effect on my education,” he recalls. Leaving school at 16, he went to work in an estate agent’s and chartered surveyor’s office and began studying at night school. His perseverance earned its reward when he qualified as a chartered surveyor at the age of 24.

As his sons, Piers and Giles, grew up, he supported their schools, firstly becoming a governor at St Paul’s C of E Primary in Mill Hill, where he continues to serve both as a governor and PTA committee member, and then at QE. He has thus served alongside three QE Headmasters – Eamonn Harris, John Marincowitz and Mr Enright.

When Mr Harris was appointed in 1984, the School was “under-subscribed, seriously flawed and failing,” Mr Martin says. “I believe that the School has been saved and then transformed by three successful Headmasters. You cannot do anything unless you have strong leadership from the Head, but with strong leadership, you can attract and retain good teachers and support staff. We are also blessed by having very supportive parents, some of whom have become very good friends.”

In 1999, Mr Martin became Chairman of Governors and also Chairman of the Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s (FQE) – the same year in which Dr Marincowitz succeeded Mr Harris as Headmaster.

Although a start had been made on replacing the School’s long-neglected buildings under Mr Harris, it was during Dr Marincowitz’s tenure that FQE successfully raised millions of pounds to enable a succession of new facilities to be opened through parental giving, all without recourse to the taxpayer.

These facilities included the Shearly Hall and the new complex comprising the recently opened Food Technology Suite, Dining Hall and Café 1573, as well as the new Queen’s Library due to open during 2014. “The Headmaster’s baton has been taken up with vigour by Neil Enright since his appointment in 2011,” said Mr Martin.

One of his proudest moments came in 2006 when the Olympic-standard Martin Swimming Pool opened. Named in tribute to him, it has subsequently revived swimming and water polo at the School. Both his sons were among a group of boys in the early 1990s who gained national honours in the latter sport while at QE. Piers has gone on to a career as a sports administrator and consultant; he was Chief Executive of British Fencing from shortly before the Beijing Olympics in 2008 until after London 2012. Younger brother Giles, who came to QE in 1992, is an academic – a physicist and mathematician – and is currently Academic Staff Developer at Bath University.

“Barrie’s guidance and leadership have been fundamental in securing our site’s development over the years – not least in terms of his professional expertise as a chartered surveyor – and his support continues to be important as we implement our long-term Estates Strategy,” said Mr Enright. “He has galvanised the activities of FQE to the point where almost all parents are actively involved in the support of the School.”

“We are also deeply appreciative of the way that his wife, Perin, strongly supports the School, as indeed do Barrie’s brother and sister.”

In addition to his work at QE and St Paul’s C of E Primary School, Mr Martin has been involved with Hendon Baptist Church in north London for 30 years, where he leads Junior Church. Every Sunday morning, the group of children aged three to 11 listen to Morning Worship and then meet to study and learn from the Bible.

His other voluntary service has also centred on his home locality of Edgware and Mill Hill. He has been an active member of Mill Hill Rotary Club, engaging in a variety of charitable activities, such as driving for elderly people.

QE boys have taken part in two conferences following the formation of the School’s new Model United Nations Club.

Thirty-five boys from Years 9-11 were involved in the club’s first internal conference at the School, which looked at an agenda item entitled The question of reducing income inequality between genders.

In addition, four Year 11 boys formed a delegation representing Bangladesh at a Model United Nations (MUN) conference at Benenden School in Kent.

The Headmaster, Neil Enright, said: “I am delighted at the excellent start made by the MUN Club. The development of an ambitious and progressive range of enrichment activities is one of the priorities of our current School Development Plan.

“We are particularly keen to create more enrichment opportunities for boys in the Middle School, and the launch of this club is therefore an important step.”

Model UN events involve role-playing a UN meeting. The benefits include developing skills such as public speaking and teamwork, as well as providing participants with an opportunity to look into international political, cultural and economic issues.

Michael Feven, who is leading the MUN Club, is a member of the newly strengthened academic enrichment team at QE: Nisha Mayer is now Head of Academic Enrichment, while Mr Feven and Charlotte Coleman have been appointed as academic enrichment tutors.

Mr Feven said: “The internal conference was the first experience for most boys of how the process works; they had been working on preparing for it by writing policy statements and resolutions since October half-term.

“All boys sat in a single committee, the Economic & Social Committee. They were assigned a country in advance of the conference and were required to take on the role of delegates in debating the issue.”

He added that the resolution, submitted by the Republic of Korea, did not get enough votes from delegates to pass in the committee. A similar process will be followed next half-term, with the current aim being for delegations to take seats in two committees rather than one.

The four Year 11 boys taking part in the conference at Benenden School were Alex Ng, Pranesh Varadarajan, Ryun Pang and Omar Haidar.

They took seats in four separate committees (Disarmament, Human Rights, Economic & Social and Health) before joining together for the General Assembly. Students were required to undertake extensive research on the agenda items prior to the conference and to write their own resolutions for debate in their individual committees.

Further conferences will be held in the Spring Term: at the John Warner School in Hoddesdon (involving 16 QE boys): the City of London School (16 QE boys) and Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School (12 QE boys).

Scores of senior QE boys have participated in a diverse range of mathematical events both at the School and further afield.

No fewer than 106 Sixth Form mathematicians – Year 12 Mathematics students, together with Year 13 Further Mathematics candidates – sat the Senior UK Maths Challenge.

The competition involved answering 25 multiple-choice questions in 90 minutes. In total, 92.5% of the QE boys gained certificates (32 gold, 38 silver and 28 bronze): nationally, only the top 40% in the country receive certificates, with gold, silver and bronze awarded in the ratio 1:2:3.

Year 13's Gabriel Gendler was awarded the best-in-school title, scoring 120 out of a possible 125 marks, while Bhavik Mehta, of Year 12, was the best in his year.

Twenty-seven boys qualified for the follow-on rounds, with nine scoring at least the required 100 points to reach the British Mathematical Olympiad, while 18 boys qualified for the Senior Kangaroo, having gained the necessary 64 points.

Year 12 was also well represented at a series of lectures at the Institute of Education. Forty boys went to the special day on the application of Mathematics.The lectures were:

The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets by author and broadcaster Simon Singh

Seven Things That You Should Know About Prime Numbers by Dr Vicky Neale, University of Cambridge

How to Wreck a Nice Beach by Matt Stuttle, Google

Sex, Drugs and Sausage Rolls: Calculating the real risks of life by Prof David Spiegelhalter, University of Cambridge

From Fish to Phishing: A story of ciphers and criminals by Prof Kenny Paterson, Royal Holloway

The event included a session with a senior examiner on common pitfalls in examinations and developing good examination strategies.

"The boys were intrigued and amazed by the very different areas that Maths can be applied to and found the day exciting and enjoyable," said Mathematics teacher Wendy Fung.

Forty boys from Year 11 enjoyed hearing three interactive talks from some of the country's most engaging speakers on Mathematics at the Maths Inspiration Show, held at London's Palace Theatre.

Lecturer and author Rob Eastaway spoke on From Pepsi to Peace Deals; comedian and science communicator Steve Mould on Weird and Wonderful Maths, and mathematician and musician Ben Sparks on The Sacred Geometry of Chance.

The talks were followed by a lively question-and-answer session, chaired by writer Timandra Harkness.

"It was an enjoyable afternoon, during which the boys enjoyed finding out about how Maths can be used in a variety of contexts," added Miss Fung.

Boys from Years 9-13 enjoyed a trip to see the hit West End production of War Horse and then tackled a puppetry workshop run by the National Theatre.

The trip to see the matinee performance of the play at the New Theatre in Drury Lane, London, and participate in the workshop was organised by Head of English Susannah Sweetman and the School’s Drama Co-ordinator, Elaine White.

Based on the book of the same name by children’s writer and former British Children’s Laureate, Michael Morpurgo, War Horse was adapted for the stage by Nick Stafford and the play has become famous for its puppetry featuring life-sized horse puppets.

“The boys thoroughly enjoyed the trip,” said Miss Sweetman. “The puppetry workshop was surprisingly challenging! The boys needed to think very carefully about not only the co-ordination of the puppet horse but also the movement of their own bodies in order to create a believable puppet. They enjoyed experimenting with the new range of drama skills explored in the workshop and are ready to put these to good use in future drama performances.”

The two-hour workshop was led by actor Danny Dalton from the National Theatre, who has previously played Private David Taylor, an important character in War Horse, and whose career has included theatre, television and radio performances.

The boys put together a puppet horse in the style of the theatre show. This involved team work and creativity, with one boy working the front legs of the puppet, another working the back legs and one working the head.

“We intended for the drama workshop and performance of War Horse to support students in their development of skills in performance and stagecraft, and perhaps to further their desire to participate in other drama activities at School, such as the School play,” Miss Sweetman added.

The number of QE boys who have secured offers of places at Oxford and Cambridge has risen to a near-record 37 – a 28 per cent rise on last year’s figure of 29 offers.

“This is an outstanding total and one that we can all, collectively, be very proud of, especially in the context of an increasingly competitive climate,” said the Headmaster, Neil Enright.

The offers cover an eclectic range of subjects, from Architecture to Philosophy, including Medicine, Law, Mathematics, PPE and Engineering. Thirty boys have been offered places by Cambridge, with seven offers coming from Oxford. The offers were made by a broad range of colleges, with the biggest groups – four boys in each case – going to Downing, Fitzwilliam and King’s, all at Cambridge.

Research by the Sutton Trust has previously found that QE sends more pupils to Oxbridge than any other state school in England.

Assistant Head David Ryan said: “I know that the successful candidates and their parents are very grateful for the attention to detail that we put in at QE from the time the boys arrive in Year 7 and then throughout their time at the School.

“I must also thank those who have given a great deal of time in the run-up to the submission of applications and subsequent interviews. This includes those involved in the setting-up of extra classes and mock interviews. These, together with attendance at external events, are vital when it comes to the final decisions that colleges make in selecting the very best candidates.”

One of last summer's QE leavers has secured a prestigious £10,000 scholarship from the Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE).

Karan Dewnani (OE 2006-2013) will receive £2,500 annually during his four-year Civil and Structural Engineering MEng course at Sheffield University and undertake paid work placements with a sponsor company during the summer vacation.

The ICE’s QUEST Undergraduate Scholarships are awarded to high-calibre students who have the potential to excel as civil engineers.

Under the terms of the scholarship, Karan has to promote civil engineering in schools. In a letter to QE, he wrote: “I will be more than happy to come to School and talk more about my course and scholarship to any prospective students who choose a career in civil and structural engineering.”

He also thanked the Headmaster and the Sixth Form team “without whose help and guidance I would not have succeeded in achieving this honour from ICE”.

Since Karan received a direct scholarship from ICE and not from a partner company, he has the flexibility to choose which company he will target for his summer placements.

Further information about the scholarships is available at www.ice.org.uk/questundergrad