A message from the Headmaster

At Queen Elizabeth’s School, alongside the achievement of high standards in lessons and public examinations, we place equal importance on enrichment beyond the classroom: indeed, our co-curricular activities play a crucial role in our mission to produce confident, able and responsible young men.

Below, you will find information about QE Flourish, our new, School-wide enrichment programme. I hope that the start of the School year and the launch of this programme will encourage boys across the year groups to get stuck in to all that life at QE has to offer.

Neil Enright

Headmaster

Announcing the launch of QE Flourish

Dear parents,

Our first QE Update of the year is to let you know about QE Flourish – an exciting new venture for all pupils.

QE Flourish aims to help pupils by:

Guiding them towards a broader co-curricular experience

Ensuring all boys take advantage of the wonderful activities on offer

Using SOCS software to improve planning of co-curricular activities

and the monitoring and support of our students.

As you will be aware, there is an extensive range of co-curricular activities at QE, and we expect all boys to take full advantage of these opportunities. Many take place at lunchtime; others at the end of the School day, while sports fixtures are frequently at weekends.

We have categorised all these co-curricular activities into four main areas – the 4Cs:

Clubs and activities in these categories are currently being set up by teachers for the new academic year. Pupils will be informed via their tutors and eQE tasks . Each boy will gradually build his own unique co-curricular calendar on SOCS. This calendar will be viewable by parents and tutors. Pupils’ participation will be closely discussed in bespoke tutorials. We recognise that many of our boys take part in activities outside the School: these will certainly be taken into account.

By its nature, our co-curricular work relies on the enthusiasm and goodwill of teachers and pupils. Inevitably, some clubs will be over-subscribed, and boys may be disappointed first time around. However, we will endeavour to ensure that other clubs and activities are available to all boys, so that they can enjoy a broad range of activities.

Parents can be a huge help by encouraging their sons to get involved and by checking that their sons’ clubs are appearing on SOCS. As with any new piece of software, it will take some time for teachers and other staff to get used to it. Please bear with us!

In the meantime, please do encourage your son to find opportunities to get involved in each of the 4Cs.

For our youngest boys, the annual Year 7 & 8 Clubs & Societies Fair is a showcase event not to be missed. It sees club leaders (both staff and pupils) promote their activities and allows the boys attending to familiarise themselves with the broad range of options available: they can sign up on the spot for any that appeal to them. The Clubs & Societies Fair takes place this year on Thursday 6th October at lunchtime in the Shearly Hall.

Further information on SOCS can be found on eQE here.

With very best wishes,

Ofsted inspection report, May 2022

Case study: inspired to learn

Year 8’s Krishna Gajendra threw himself enthusiastically into the co-curricular life of the School during his first year. He led a club himself – for creative writing – and organised an inter-House writing competition for his peers. He sings in the School Choir; plays the flute in Junior Winds; participates in History Raiders and Young Entrepreneurs, and is a Chess Club novice. He also enjoys the Bio Innovations Society led by Year 12 students. And how does he fit it all in, alongside his academic work? “I try to do my homework on the night it is set, to stop things from piling up!”

Case study: Mithil mixes it up

In his six years at QE, Year 13’s Mithil Parmar has “thoroughly enjoyed the vast range of co-curicular activities on offer – debating, chess, Manga, LAMDA, Entrepreneur Society, to name a few”. He currently conducts dissections and runs MedChem: “My best experience was being able to dissect a ‘lamb pluck’ for Year 10 last year, which I found to be particularly enriching!” He also belongs to the CCF and takes part in Senior Debating. Mithil strongly encourages younger boys to throw themselves into co-curricular activities, not just to boost personal skills and explore their own interests, but because the activities provide a golden opportunity to meet a diverse mix of other pupils.

Case study: getting comfortable with being uncomfortable

Jason Tao, of Year 11, says that, for him, co-curricular activities are far more than just fodder for a CV or university application. “They are opportunities to not only explore my passions, but to push myself outside of my comfort zone. Whether it be performing a sprint in front of a large stadium audience, or a musical piece in the new Friends’ Recital Hall, co-curricular activities have allowed me to get comfortable with being uncomfortable – something I find is rarely learned from an academic setting!” There have been moments that “will likely remain as cherished memories for a lifetime”. One such occurred after he enjoyed the “massive privilege” of playing Liszt’s Liebestraum No. 3 at this year’s memorial service for former Headmaster Eamonn Harris. He was approached and told that a close friend of Mr Harris “wanted to send a special word of thanks for my playing bringing about an atmosphere that was apt for such an occasion”.