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Tudor palaces were often cold and draughty but at least the kitchens were warm – as QE’s Year 8 boys found out for themselves during a trip to Hampton Court on a particularly chilly day.

“The kitchens were designed to feed the Court of Henry VIII, which meant meals for 600 people twice a day,” said Head of History Helen MacGregor. “The working fire was very welcome in warming us all up, and the boys were particularly interested to see the roasting spits, where boys of a similar age to themselves would have spent the whole day turning the spits.”

The tour was peopled by actors dressed as characters from the Tudor age, including Henry VIII. “A number of boys spoke to him,” said Miss MacGregor. “He was very knowledgeable about Barnet and spoke to them about the Battle of Barnet in 1471, one of the key clashes of the Wars of the Roses.”

The boys also saw his motto, ‘Dieu et mon droit’, which the School shares. This is written 32 times in the chapel at Hampton Court Palace. A number of other highlights included: the astronomical clock; Henry’s royal apartments and the great hall; the famous painting, Field of the Cloth of Gold; the apartments designed for William III by Sir Christopher Wren, and the Maze.

The palace is reportedly haunted by a number of ghosts, including ‘The Lady in Grey’. Sibell Penn was a nurse to Henry VIII’s only son, Prince Edward. Her grave was disturbed in 1829, when the old church was pulled down. It is said she returned to the rooms she inhabited, after which a spinning wheel could be heard from behind a wall. When that wall was demolished, a forgotten room was found, containing an old spinning wheel.

“The boys were very keen to hear the ghost stories!” said Miss MacGregor. “The Wolsey Closet is reported to have a strange atmosphere and some people refuse to enter it because it feels ‘evil’.

“Overall, this is an excellent trip because there is so much of interest to see, which augments what they have been learning in their History lessons.”

A joint practice session gave QE boys the opportunity to work alongside girls visiting from St Michael’s Catholic Grammar School to polish their Extended Project Qualification presentations. 

The Year 13 students – 29 from QE and a smaller number from the north Finchley girls’ school – were split into small groups, each of which was allocated a different ‘breakout’ room. There they each had the chance to practise their presentations before defending their work in the face of intense questioning by the others taking part.

Extended Project Qualifications (EPQs) involve submitting a 10,000-word essay on an Arts or Science topic of the pupil’s choice and preparing and delivering a presentation on it.

“This was a very worthwhile exercise,” said Nisha Mayer, Head of Academic Enrichment. “The timing – just a few weeks before they had to do their EPQ presentations for real, before the official panel – couldn’t have been better.”

The titles of the dissertations were diverse, from Paul Yung’s In the next century will humans be able to achieve biological immortality? and Neal Dattani’s How can we solve the negative impacts of payday lending in the UK? to Bhavik Mehta’s Are human decisions inherently biased?

“The EPQ is a very highly-regarded qualification,” added Mrs Mayer. “It is taken by some of our brightest boys and counts as their fourth A-level.”

QE has been hosting a secondary school teacher from Ghana as part of a teacher exchange programme run by the British Council.

Anthony Yeboah is a teacher at Ampomfi Junior High School in Osiem in the east of the country, just over 30 miles from the capital, Accra. During his week at QE, Mr Yeboah observed a number of lessons across the curriculum, enjoyed a tour of the School with the Headmaster and ate lunch with staff in the dining hall.

Through the exchange programme, teachers and pupils from the two schools learn about their respective ways of life, as well as finding out more about different approaches to teaching and learning.

Head of Geography Guy Boyes, who will return the visit to Ghana in the spring, said: “I am not yet sure whether his school has such a formal and academic environment for learning as ours, but he was very keen to find out as much as he could about school life here.”

Mr Yeboah attended registration sessions with Mr Boyes’ form each day. “The boys had created a welcome poster and an information pack, and gave him Christmas cards. The visit definitely promoted interest in Ghana and, particularly, in the Ampomfi School, amongst our boys,” added Mr Boyes. Towards the end of the week, a form of Year 9 geographers presented work they have undertaken on a joint project between the two schools.

The Ghanaian school has approximately 300 pupils between the ages of 11 and 18 on the roll, split into three classes. Lessons take place between 8.00 am in the morning until 2.00 pm in the afternoon. Some of the parents have a number of jobs to provide an income and many are employed by the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana, which is based at Osiem. The institute undertakes research into how to prevent diseases that attack cocoa and coffee crops.

A letter from the school’s Headmaster, George Kumah, which was sent with Mr Yeboah, stated: “The staff and students of Osiem Amponfi Junior High School wish to express their warmest felicitations and greetings to the Headmaster, teachers and students of Queen Elizabeth’s School.”

Mr Boyes is now looking forward to the return part of the exchange, when he will travel to Ghana in the Easter holidays.

Poet George Mpanga (OE 2002-2009) has been recognised as one of 2015’s brightest prospects after he was named among the finalists in two national awards schemes for emerging artists this winter.

George, known professionally as George the Poet, was runner-up in the Brits Critics’ Choice Award announced in December and now he has come fifth in the BBC Sound of 2015 competition.

The Sound of 2015 list was compiled from the favourite new acts named by DJs, critics and broadcasters, while the Critics’ Choice winners are picked by music industry experts, print and online music editors and representatives from major TV and radio stations. Previous winners of both competitions include Adele and Sam Smith.

George, 23, who is a spoken word performer and rapper, is now preparing to release his debut album on Island Records and to publish his first poetry collection.

MTV's head of music, Anna Karatziva, who voted for George in the Sound Of 2015, called him "engaging and mesmerising".

"No matter what he is talking about, you find yourself clinging to his every word and the venue always erupts when he breaks into song."

Interviewed by the BBC, George said he wanted to use his poetry to inspire social and political change. “It’s about talking to people in the most creative way possible,” he said. He draws on his experiences as he grew up on the Stonebridge Park estate. Primary-school classmates would casually mention witnessing domestic violence. “They didn’t understand the gravity of what they were saying. But this disturbed me. I remember trying to fight everything, trying to save everyone from every calamity. At some point I realised that I'm not going to be able to save everyone, but that when I do have the platform I will do everything to enact structural change…”

After gaining A grades in English Literature, Sociology and Politics A-levels, George won a place at King’s College, Cambridge, to read Politics, Psychology and Sociology (PPS). He was elected Chair of King’s College Student Union.

Earlier highlights of his career included winning a £16,000 prize from The Stake competition, sponsored by Barclays and Channel Four. The prize funded a series of poetry workshops called The Jubilee Line (TJL) aimed at empowering underprivileged young people.

George previously performed as MC Shawalin, before deciding to focus on the spoken word. He appears at venues across London and his performances of poems have gained a significant following on youtube.

BBC interview with George the Poet

George, known professionally as George the Poet, was runner-up in the Brits Critics’ Choice Award announced in December and now he has come fifth in the BBC Sound of 2015 competition.

The Sound of 2015 list was compiled from the favourite new acts named by DJs, critics and broadcasters, while the Critics’ Choice winners are picked by music industry experts, print and online music editors and representatives from major TV and radio stations. Previous winners of both competitions include Adele and Sam Smith.

George, 23, who is a spoken word performer and rapper, is now preparing to release his debut album on Island Records and to publish his first poetry collection.

MTV's head of music, Anna Karatziva, who voted for George in the Sound Of 2015, called him "engaging and mesmerising".

"No matter what he is talking about, you find yourself clinging to his every word and the venue always erupts when he breaks into song."

Interviewed by the BBC, George said he wanted to use his poetry to inspire social and political change. “It’s about talking to people in the most creative way possible,” he said. He draws on his experiences as he grew up on the Stonebridge Park estate. Primary-school classmates would casually mention witnessing domestic violence. “They didn’t understand the gravity of what they were saying. But this disturbed me. I remember trying to fight everything, trying to save everyone from every calamity. At some point I realised that I'm not going to be able to save everyone, but that when I do have the platform I will do everything to enact structural change…”

After gaining A grades in English Literature, Sociology and Politics A-levels, George won a place at King’s College, Cambridge, to read Politics, Psychology and Sociology (PPS). He was elected Chair of King’s College Student Union.

Earlier highlights of his career included winning a £16,000 prize from The Stake competition, sponsored by Barclays and Channel Four. The prize funded a series of poetry workshops called The Jubilee Line (TJL) aimed at empowering underprivileged young people.

George previously performed as MC Shawalin, before deciding to focus on the spoken word. He appears at venues across London and his performances of poems have gained a significant following on Youtube.

BBC interview with George the Poet

Year 10’s Rishul Karia is hoping his experience of taking on a chess grandmaster will help him to improve his own game.

The 14-year-old went up against five-time World Chess Champion, Viswanathan Anand, in the Super Rapidplay Open at the London Chess Classic at Olympia. Anand, who was undisputed World Champion from 2007-2013, is currently ranked sixth in the world.

And although he lost, Rishul relished the opportunity: “It was an amazing experience, even though I don’t think I played very well,” he told the Barnet and Potters Bar Times. It was really interesting to see how a grandmaster thinks; I learned a great deal from playing against him and he had a chat with me afterwards to help me.”

The first round of the competition gave young people the opportunity to take on one of 30 grandmasters, many of whom took the time to encourage their opponents.

“He told me that I could have tried a trick to keep the game going, rather than lose straight away,” said Rishul. “He thought I could have got into the game a bit more; but there was a bit of pressure and I made a mistake.”

Rishul was introduced to chess by his father and has been playing for 10 years. “I love the tactical thinking it involves. I’m glad I had a go and want to keep getting better; maybe one day I could be a grandmaster.”

He has represented the School regularly in both regional and national competitions, and was part of the U12 team which won the National Schools’ Chess Championships in Somerset.

The London Classic is staged by Chess in Schools and Communities, a registered charity whose mission is to increase children’s educational attainment and foster their social development by teaching chess in state primary schools and inner city communities. 

The new term at Queen Elizabeth’s School got off to a memorable start with a special visit from the American Ambassador.

Matthew Winthrop Barzun, US Ambassador to the United Kingdom, spoke to Year 13 boys on Perceptions of America. He also presented two special Embassy coins to previous and new School Captains, Adam Hilsenrath and Norbert Sobolak.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “We were very honoured to receive this visit from Ambassador Barzun. Furthermore, he gave a most stimulating talk, which certainly challenged many boys’ perceptions of the United States.”

The Year 13 boys and staff gathered in the Main Hall for the hour-long visit from Mr Barzun, who was nominated to be the Ambassador to the UK by President Obama in 2013.

The first part of his address was interactive: boys were given ‘clickers’, and when asked about a certain aspect of the USA, they clicked from a selection of answers. A pie chart of answers given was then almost immediately displayed.

Some were survey-type questions, such as “Where would you rather find yourself in need of emergency medical treatment, UK or the USA?” The boys overwhelmingly selected the UK.

Others had a right and wrong answer, such as “Where are you most at risk of suffering from violent crime, UK or USA?” Most boys chose the USA. However, Mr Barzun pointed out that, if you exclude the most serious type of violent crime which ends in death, the correct answer is in fact the UK.

The visit was arranged by Liam Hargadon, who is both Head of Year 13 and Head of Politics.

Mr Barzun has a number of famous ancestors, including John Winthrop, founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the city of Boston.

A graduate of Harvard, he was an internet pioneer and was the fourth employee at CNET Networks, where he worked from 1993-2004. After leaving CNET, he advised and invested in internet companies.

He was one of the first to join Barack Obama’s National Finance Committee before the President’s election in 2008. He served as US Ambassador to Sweden from 2009-2011 and was National Finance Chair for the president’s re-election campaign in 2012.

Mr Barzun is married with three children. In his present post, he has brought a degree of informality to Winfield House, the ambassadorial residence in Regent’s Park. He invited David and Samantha Cameron to an Ed Sheeran gig there and, posted an outtakes video of his attempts to master certain Welsh phrases ahead of President Obama’s arrival for the Nato summit last autumn at Celtic Manor in Newport.