Introducing Enrichment Week – with a little help from our old boys

QE has held its inaugural Enrichment Week – and the School brought in two Old Elizabethan experts to assist.

Anthony Anaxagorou (1994–1999) (pictured below), who is a popular poet and performer, led two English workshops, while artist David Shillinglaw (pictured left), who was a contemporary of Anthony at QE, worked with Year 10 boys on a competitive Art activity.

Enrichment is an essential feature of life at QE: throughout the year, there are scores of opportunities to participate in activities that take place outside lessons, including clubs, sports, the performing arts, visits, competitions and House-based activities. In addition to extra-curricular activities, there are also subject-related clubs and clinics – the academic side of enrichment at QE.

Guided by their teachers, boys are expected to take advantage of these opportunities, with each pupil encouraged to select activities suited to their abilities and interests. In line with QE’s mission of producing young mean who are ‘confident, able and responsible’, enrichment helps boys develop skills and character attributes that will stand them in good stead throughout their lives.

Enrichment Week is an initiative aimed at strengthening the School’s provision even further. It featured activities that do not normally form part of the curriculum, developing in Years 7–10 boys a range of academic, personal and thinking skills.

The English department arranged for the visit from Anthony Anaxagorou. He has had several anthologies of poetry published, as well as a collection of short stories. He spoke about his own writing and led the poetry workshops, each for 90 boys from Year 9, on creative writing.

Since graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2002, David Shillinglaw has exhibited in galleries in Japan, China, The Gambia, Holland, and key cities such as New York, London, Berlin, and Istanbul. He assisted Year 10 boys in their inter-house Art competition. This was won by Broughton’s team with an artwork that explored street art and identity. The team comprised: Risharn Chandrann; Amar Isam-Abdu; Abishek Kengeswaran; Patrick Owen; Dharren Santhalingam and Ajith Suthakaran.

House competition is a key feature of enrichment at QE, and Year 7 took part in an inter-House drama contest during the week.

For Humanities, Year 9 pupils were encouraged to look at potential biases in the curriculum. In the Latin sessions, Year 7 boys learned about life in Roman Britain, particularly for Roman soldiers. Year 10 enjoyed a day devoted to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics); for Music, Year 7 boys spent a morning exploring rhythm; and for House drama, Year 10 pupils performing in Houses took the theme of ‘journeys’ to improvise a short play of their own creation.