QE praised in national guide to the best state schools

Society magazine Tatler has named Queen Elizabeth’s School in its 2016 guide to the best state schools. QE is one of just 21 state secondary schools from around the country to feature in the glossy publication’s selection.

Written in Tatler’s usual informal style, the guide begins with an introduction written by journalists Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Alice Rose, who make the case for sending children to schools in the maintained sector, before adding: “If David Cameron can send Nancy to a non-fee-paying school, then so can you.”

The section on QE starts by describing the School as the “gold-star answer” to the cry from “despairing” London parents of “But where can we send our boys?”

It highlights QE’s “superb 98.4 per cent A*–B at A-level” and its success in sending more leavers to Oxbridge and Russell Group universities than any other state school, as recognised by the Sutton Trust.

The writers briefly explore QE’s selective admissions policy, before quoting one parent who says, anonymously: “It’s heavily academic, but it’s honestly not mega-stressed.”

Tatler draws attention to the School’s “fabulous position on the edge of the green belt” and its “30 (yes, 30!) well-maintained acres of landscaped grounds”, the eight-lane Martin Swimming Pool and the “100 computers in the new, state-of-the-art library”. All the facilities are heavily used by pupils, the guide notes.

“How do they afford all this?” the article asks. “The indefatigable FQE (Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s), which raised £22,000 from the summer fête alone.”

The Tatler State Schools Guide 2016