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Two visiting artists helped QE pupils take a fresh look at familiar spaces through a project that embraced a variety of materials and techniques and got them out and about in the School grounds.

This story has been published to coincide with World Art Day – celebrated annually on 15th April. #WorldArtDay

The Year 8 project, entitled Traces, Places & Possible Futures — A Multispecies City, asked pupils to consider who and what lives alongside them, including plants, insects and other animals, and microbes.

Professional artists Abigail Hunt and Sum-Sum (Ngan-Sum) Tse-Cappi led three workshops, before the project culminated in a public exhibition of the boys’ work – and of pupils from Barnet’s Northway School and Chalgrove Primary School – at the Apthorp Gallery in North Finchley’s ArtsDepot.

Head of Art Craig Wheatley said: “This was an interactive and imaginative series of workshops, which celebrated students’ creativity and collaborative learning, while the exhibition amplified young people’s voices in conversations about future environments.”

Organised by the Art Department in collaboration with ArtsDepot, the project involved photography, construction and the use of clay and plaster during the workshops. The boys were encouraged to explore the spaces they live, learn and play in – and then reimagine them through sculpture, mapping, and collaborative making.

Through creative exploration the boys were encouraged to reflect on responsibility, care and respect for other species, and to imagine future environments that support coexistence. As well as living creatures, the project considered weather systems.

Across the linked workshops, pupils engaged with a process of observation, interpretation and construction, working with drawing, photography, casting and collage.

In Workshop 1, pupils explored their immediate environment through a multispecies lens. By exploring the area around the School, pupils were encouraged to record traces made by fauna and flora. They documented their findings through drawings, photographs, rubbings and clay moulds, which are developed into plaster tiles. Discussions introduce multispecies mapping, highlighting human routes alongside animal paths, insect highways and plant borders.

Workshop 2 focused on interpretation and design. Pupils collaborated on large-scale maps of the School and outdoor spaces, identifying how both humans and non-humans use these areas. They imagined themselves as other species, asking what those beings might need to thrive. Photographs from the first workshop were transformed into collage habitats, and pupils exchanged ‘creature postcards’ with the other participating schools, sharing design ideas.

In Workshop 3, pupils started to create ideas for building sculptural ecosystems and prototype habitats using found materials. Through these imaginative structures, they explored shelter, movement and connection for different species. Conversations around sustainability, impermanence and life cycles encouraged the boys to think critically about different environments, and to create environments to support real multispecies life. Pupils documented their work through photography and recorded stories, contributing to the final exhibition.

• Click on the thumbnails below to view the images.

Internationally respected economist Dr Sandeep Mazumder has been formally inaugurated as the ninth President of Georgia’s Berry College.

Sandeep (OE 1993–2000), who frequently gives his time online to support Economics at QE, was welcomed by representatives of the college’s Board of Trustees, by faculty, by current students, and by alumni in a special ceremony.

Roger Lusby, Vice Chair of the college’s Board of Trustees, formally invested him by presenting him with the presidential medallion.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “My heartfelt congratulations go to Sandeep on his inauguration: he is a good friend to QE, and I know that all here will wish him well in his distinguished new role.”

Also paying tribute was QE Governor Eric Houston, a teacher at the School from 1976 who was Second Master when he retired in 2010. After watching the livestream of the ceremony, he wrote to Sandeep: “The abiding memory for me will always be that of your happiness as you stood and acknowledged the warm and genuine applause from the audience at the end…I am certain that you will use your considerable ability, drive and energy to move the college forward, and so bring many benefits to the students and staff working there now and in the future.”

Berry College, a private university near Rome, Georgia, is named after educationalist Martha Berry, who in 1902 founded a boys’ industrial school, before going on to form a girls’ school and college. The trustees unanimously elected Sandeep to be the college’s president.

After studying at Cambridge, Sandeep moved to the US to complete his PhD at Johns Hopkins University. He served as an Economics Professor and Chair of the Economics Department at Wake Forest University and then as Dean of the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University in Texas. He took up the post at Berry College in July last year.

Before giving his inaugural address, he was introduced at the ceremony by Derek Radney, pastor of Trinity Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He has been a friend of Sandeep’s for over 15 years, and Sandeep is a former member of his church.

“I could tell you many things about how great he is, but instead I want to share with you what has always impressed me about him, and that’s his humility,” Mr Radney said. “…In a day and age when apologies might mean that you’re going to be cancelled, or when many leaders believe that you should never admit wrong if you want to be successful, Dr Mazumder has always been willing to apologise, to tell the truth about himself, and to take responsibility. …Because of his confidence in the forgiveness and acceptance of God through Jesus Christ, Sandeep has been willing to humbly embrace the weakness of repentance without fear or shame, enabling him to grow into into a person capable of greater love, freedom, and power for service.”

Sandeep concluded his inaugural address with these words: “Let us walk together in a way that is worthy of our calling. And I look forward to taking that journey with you all. Thank you for joining me on this special day, and may God continue to bless the pursuits of Berry College.”

During the ceremony, representatives of various parts of the college and wider community gave their own tributes to Sandeep.

Among them was Dr Laurence Ball, Professor of Economics at Johns Hopkins, representing higher education. He was the primary advisor for Sandeep’s doctoral dissertation, completed in 2009. The two have gone on to co-author several publications, and Dr Ball lauded the quality of Sandeep’s research.

John Parker, Berry College Faculty member in the Department of Religion and Philosophy and a Faculty Assembly officer, said: “We are very glad that your path from London and Cambridge to Baltimore and Waco has at last led you here to Mount Berry. We stand confident in your character and skills to lead us into the future, and we wish you every success as you help us.”

QE’s robotics competitors start the Summer Term fighting fit, with six teams qualifying for the Vex World Championships in the US later this month.

After battling it out at the national championships in Telford, three senior V5 teams won places at the ‘Worlds’ in St Louis, Missouri, with a further three making the grade in the junior IQ competition.

In a busy Spring Term for robotics, a Year 12 team also took their own trip across the Atlantic, travelling to Calgary, Canada, where they were the only team from outside North America among 81 teams competing at the Mecha Mayhem event.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “Qualification for the World Championships requires huge levels of preparation, skill, design flair and teamwork, so our teams deserve hearty congratulations: we wish them all the best in St Louis.”

The three qualifying senior teams all acquitted themselves well at Telford, with Team Nova taking an Innovate award and Rogue winning a Think award, while Zenith were fourth in the Skills competition and came fifth in their division.

Six VEX IQ teams from Years 8 and 9 travelled to the national championships, joining two days of competition with teams from all over the UK. Each team competed in 12 qualification matches, with the hope of gaining a spot in their division’s finals.

The competition involved frequent working in alliances with other teams. The QE competitors’ collaborative skills, resilience and problem-solving duly won them a clutch of awards.

Team Omega won the coveted overall Design Award and claimed their slot in Missouri.

The other Worlds places went to GearSquad and CircuitBreakers, whose clever solutions to the competition game devised for this year’s national championships won them both an Innovation Award.

In addition, there was a Think Award for Torque Titans – an independent team of QE pupils who had decided to compete in VEX outside of School – and an Amaze Award, with a place at the Worlds, for a mixed team comprising students from various schools, including QE.

Darsh Singh, of Year 8, said: “I found the Nationals an extremely joyful and unforgettable competition. We all made loads of friends and it was an experience like no other.”

This was a sentiment shared by Yaer 9’s Akshaj Mittal, who added: “VEX isn’t about just winning. It’s about teamwork, friendship, resilience and courage, and our team embodied just that…”

The Canada competition was attended by team HYBRID. In recent years, QE Year 12 teams, who are unable to go to the Worlds because of examination commitments in the Summer Term, have joined a series of special robotics events in North America.

At Mecha Mayhem, with HYBRID the only non-American team, its pit area rapidly became a favourite place for others to visit.

The team finished day 1 with a win in their practice match and one win and loss in their first two qualification matches. On day two, they ranked 42nd in a competitive field. Competing in the Skills competition on the final day, they came in 19th place out of 74, thus hitting their target of a top-20 finish.

They also found time to relax and explore a little. They enjoyed a thrilling game of NHL Ice Hockey, the final match for many players before the winter Olympic break, where the Calgary Flames upset the odds by beating the Edmonton Oilers 4-3. At Calgary Zoo, they saw native species including Canadian mountain goats, bison, musk oxen and wolves. They took a trip to the Calgary Tower, followed by a visit to an escape room where they not only beat the time limit but escaped only just short of the record time. They also enjoyed the Downtown Calgary district, with its picturesque Jack & Jean Leslie Riverwalk.

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QE diplomats representing Spain at one of the leading Model United Nations conferences won both individual and collective success.

Spain secured three of the five resolutions at the 18th annual Haberdashers’ Elstree Schools Model United Nations Conference (HabsMUN). There were awards for several of the QE participants, while the QE delegation as a whole was ‘highly commended’.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “My congratulations go to our delegates, whose efforts resulted in QE being recognised as one of the leading schools overall at HabsMUN. At MUN conferences, participants practise public-speaking and collaborative working, and are required to look at global issues from different perspectives. They thus develop the skills needed to become compelling communicators and deep thinkers – skills which are increasingly sought after by leading employers.”

The three-day event was attended by more than 600 young people. They came from familiar local schools (including North London Collegiate School and Mill Hill School), from well-known independent schools (Marlborough College and Brighton College), and from institutions as far afield as China, the Czech Republic, Italy and Greece.

The interests of around 70 nations were represented; QE was tasked with appearing for Spain and Nigeria.

After the opening ceremony, a lobbying period gave delegates the opportunity to get to know their committees. Debates within committees occurred the next day.

The final day consisted of the General Assembly, where only the strongest resolutions were debated. The debate took place in front of a hall full of delegates from across the committees.

The three resolutions from QE’s Spain delegation came from:

• Year 10’s Siddharth Kumar, from the Health Committee; he was named Outstanding Delegate
• School Captain Tunishq Mitra, of Year 12, from the ECOFIN (Economic and Financial) Committee; he was awarded Distinguished Delegate
• Kelvin Chen, of Year 11, who was part of the CEP (Committee on Environmental Policy); a Highly Commended Delegate.

QE Nigeria delegate Eshaan Anil, of Year 10, was awarded a Special Commendation.

The conference featured guest speakers and a varied programme that included everything from flag parades to inter‑committee karaoke. In one of the event’s lighter moments, Siddharth and Eshaan, both from the Health Committee, were crowned 2026 Karaoke Champions.

As HabsMUN drew to a close, Siddharth said: “This conference wasn’t only about the awards. I learnt so much about public speaking, socialising, critical thinking and improvisation. My confidence has significantly improved, and I will leave with memories of fun like never before.”

In addition to those mentioned above, the QE delegates were:

Year 10 – Afraz Khan and Samuel Sobolak;
Year 11 – Nikhil Francine and Parth Jain;
Year 12 – Aahan Shah.

Two visiting Old Elizabethans narrowly defeated the Sixth Form pair who proposed the motion, This House would rejoin the European Single Market, at The 59th Annual Elizabethan Union Dinner Debate.

The OE debating duo, Anish Kumar and Shubh Rathod (both 2017–2024), argued that the point was not to relitigate the 2016 referendum, but to recognise that the world has moved on, with Europe left behind, and that, therefore, there could be no going back.

In an evening packed with tradition, Year 13’s Sejal Bobba and Shreyas Chandrasekar proposed the motion. The 2025 School Captain, Simardeep Sahota, toasted the visitors, while Shubh gave the toast to the Elizabethan Union – QE’s debating society. There were also the customary toasts to His Majesty, The King and to The Pious Memory of Queen Elizabeth I.

The Dinner Debates began in the early 1950s. After not being held for around ten years, they were revived in 1985. Further cancellations were occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sejal began this year’s debate by noting that the Single Market is not the same as the European Union, since a participating country is not required to be in the customs union. Rejoining the single market would benefit the economy to the tune of £80–£90bn.

Anish, however, stated that having another referendum would reopen old problems, not least in Northern Ireland. The world is not moving towards Europe, but away from it, with other European countries and their economies struggling.

Shreyas urged looking to the future, not the past. Free movement would deal with labour shortages in the UK, and would help Europe, too. Since allies beyond Europe have become less reliable, we should stand with the European countries, he said.

Shubh, however, countered that leaving was difficult enough, so rejoining would be on unfavourable terms. He cited the significant amount the UK had to pay to rejoin the Erasmus scheme as a cautionary example. Our independence is helpful in giving the UK a measure of freedom in geopolitics and defence, and he noted the downsides of free movement in the context of refugee crises and instability.

A lively floor debate followed, during the course of which the proposers noted that net migration increased substantially after Brexit.

With an AI revolution looming, some of the sixth-formers present pointed to the way in which Britain leveraged its independence during the Industrial Revolution to its huge advantage, warning that making an economic commitment to Europe would compromise its ability to work effectively with economic giants including the US, China and India.

Others, however, stated that it is not possible to negotiate in good faith with the current leadership of the USA, or pointed to the ineluctable fact of continental Europe’s geographic proximity, with well over 40% of the UK’s import and exports still taking place with Europe.

The vote came down to a wafer-thin margin, with the motion defeated.

The pupils and OEs enjoyed a three-course dinner with a vegetarian option for the main course and sticky toffee pudding with salted caramel for dessert.