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Peter Morcos won a string of awards as he followed a path through higher education towards his career as a barrister.

Peter (OE 1999-2006) left QE to take up his place at Oxford having gained straight A grades in A-levels in Chemistry, English Literature, French and Mathematics.

The awards began with a Lincoln College award in 2009 for his performance in Finals in his Jurisprudence degree. As an undergraduate there, he was Junior Common Room President and also an Academic Disciplinary Committee Representative.

He was back at the college from 2010–2011 and gained a similar award for his performance on his BCL graduate law course. He then won the Oxford Pro Bono Publico Scholarship to fund his work as a caseworker at the AIRE Centre (Advice on Individual Rights in Europe), a charity where he worked for a few months at the end of 2009 and then again in the summer of 2011.

In the same year, he was awarded an Exhibition by Inner Temple to study the Bar Professional Training Course, which he completed at the BPP College of Law, London, being graded outstanding. While he studied for an LLM Master of Laws degree in Pennsylvania, in which he graduated with distinction, Peter was awarded both the Withers LLP Scholarship and the Dean's Scholarship by the university's Law School.

Called to the Bar by Inner Temple in 2012, he now works as a barrister at New Square Chambers in London, with a practice specialising in commercial and public law. Recent cases have included appearing as junior counsel for a Jordanian company in relation to an $80m dispute concerning the construction of a power station in Iraq and as part of a counsel team in a multi-million pound public procurement arbitration relating to a UK defence project. He was also sole counsel successfully representing a Member of Parliament in a civil claim arising out of the discharge of her official duties.

In 2015, Peter was invited back to QE as Guest of Honour at the 2015 Junior Awards Ceremony.

In his speech, Peter, who now lives in Holloway, related one particularly vivid memory of his own time in Year 9 to prize-winners, who were from Years 7–9.

"It was a cold February afternoon. The Year 9 QE Rugby C Team, for which I played centre, was lining up for an away game against Merchant Taylor's.

"All 15 of us were bright young men, I like to think. Which is why it took us approximately five seconds to realise we were shorter, smaller and scrawnier than the other side. Still, we battled gamely for the opening 20 minutes, keeping the score at 0-0. Finally, however, our staunch defence was breached and the other side scored a try.

"Our captain, Simon, … gave a rousing speech; real blood and thunder stuff. Each and every one of us thought the same thing, I think: ‘We may be the underdogs here, but we can turn this around’. We lined up underneath the posts, scraped and muddy, but ready to bellow our defiance. The conversion came in, and our eyes lit up. It was going just low, and our comeback was set to start.

"Alas, Simon had already leapt to intercept the conversion. He stretched out, pushing the ball with his fingertips. And in so doing he managed to alter the ball’s trajectory; a ball that would have missed by centimetres instead tipped inches over. The conversion was good, and our resistance was broken. We were walloped 37-0."

And the moral he drew from this "embarrassing defeat" for the benefit of the prize-winners? “True failure only comes once you admit defeat. Until that time, you are still in the game and with enough hard work success is still possible.

His second piece of advice for the boys was: "When you decide to do something, do it with energy. Do not do it half-heartedly or begrudgingly. Do it happily; do it with ambition."

During the ceremony, Peter presented more than 100 prizes to the boys, covering not only academic subjects, but also house awards, prizes for commitment and a number of endowed prizes and special awards.

Other high-flying legal alumni who have left the School since the start of the new millennium include Peter’s contemporary, Daniel Isenberg (1999-2006) who went up to Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 2007 and took a double first in History, following in the footsteps of barrister Tom Cleaver, who was at Cambridge from 2004 to 2007 and took a starred first, also in History.

The term began with Queen Elizabeth’s School still in celebratory mood after our public examination results in August. We have become accustomed to attaining academic success at the very highest level here, but it is important that we should not take such results for granted, nor play down the achievement of our boys. I therefore make no apology for celebrating those results again.

It is truly remarkable both that 98.4% of A-levels taken at QE in 2015 were graded at A*–B and that the figure for this benchmark measure has now exceeded 98% in three of the last four years. The results are, in fact, a little better even than the figures announced in August, since a number of boys subsequently had their individual results upgraded following re-marks.

The exceptional nature of our boys’ achievement quickly became clear in the summer, as QE topped the national league table of state schools in the Daily Telegraph and was the leading English school across both the state and independent sectors in The Times. More recently, the influential The Sunday Times Parent Power survey named QE as the country’s top state school for the third consecutive year. It has become a commonplace to remark that nationally girls now outperform boys at every level in education. Happily, at QE we are bucking that trend, beating two girls’ schools into second and third places in the Parent Power survey. What is more important still is that our examination results are achieved in a context in which our pupils remain grounded and go on to university as ‘confident, able and responsible’ young men, as our School mission statement has it. This was recognised in the latest report on QE from the Good Schools Guide, who visited us this term. At the end of a highly favourable review, the GSG assessor concluded that QE “offers the top 10% of learners from a diversity of backgrounds an exceptional and rounded education that even private schools struggle to compete with”.

I have had the pleasure of welcoming a number of illustrious guests, including the scientist, Lord Winston, and Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers, who is Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Lord Winston gave an engaging lecture and I was particularly interested to hear him speak on the necessity of failure for the learning process. I wholeheartedly endorse this: through our pastoral system, we aim to work through the setbacks that pupils inevitably encounter, thus fostering resilience to help them cope with the stresses they face during their School careers and later in life. Our emphasis at QE on the pursuit of broader interests – whether academically or in extra-curricular activities unrelated to their studies – helps boys achieve a positive state of mental health. In this regard, I should particularly like to highlight the benefits of sport. Again in contradistinction to the national picture in which today’s young people are less likely than previous generations to get involved in organised sports, participation in team games and individual sports at QE remains very high. The physical benefits are obvious, not least in the light of the findings of Public Health England that a third of children are now overweight or obese when they leave primary school. Participation in sport has been shown to reduce anxiety and depression, while generally tending to increase happiness. Furthermore, the emphasis on perseverance, application and, for team games, on effective collaboration helps boys develop as rounded individuals.

Senior boys have spent much of the term engaged in the university application process. I have been pleased to meet Old Elizabethans who have come to the School to assist current pupils in planning their futures, whether they have been conducting mock interviews, taking part in our Careers Convention or making special visits at the invitation of our academic departments. (I also enjoyed this term’s Old Elizabethans’ Association Dinner, at which it was lovely to meet up with those alumni whose last year at School was 2005-2006.)

Among these senior boys’ immediate predecessors, namely our 2015 leavers, the University of Cambridge is once again numerically the leading destination. The Complete University Guide, published by The Sunday Times, places Cambridge at the top of its table of UK universities, followed by other universities at which Elizabethans frequently gain places in large numbers, including Oxford, Imperial and Warwick.

If such success is to continue, we must move forward as a School. We are now in the last year of our current School Development Plan. Progress has been very rapid and we are on track to achieve its objectives. In a speech on the future of the BBC, the corporation’s Director-General, Lord Hall, set out his determination to “continue excellence in a time of change”. We must do something similar here, establishing a vision in our new four-year plan that builds on our strengths while also moving with the times.

I should like to thank our alumni for their ongoing contribution of books to The Queen’s Library through the Amazon wishlists facility. The Library is now very well used. Many boys have discovered or developed a love of reading, while all our pupils are taking advantage of the facilities to augment their learning.

Finally, may I wish all our old boys an enjoyable Christmas break and a peaceful New Year.

Neil Enright

Jason Breslaw (OE 1994-2001) is enjoying a high-flying career as a BP commodities trader.

Jason, who was School Captain in 2000, developed an interest in science whilst at QE and went on to read Natural Sciences at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. Graduating with a First he joined the BP Trader Development Programme in 2005.

"I hadn't really though that a career in natural science could include commodities trading until I found out at a Careers Fair and then applied to join BP's Graduate Scheme," says Jason. Initially he worked on three, one-year, rotations; firstly as a Freight Derivatives Trading Analyst, then on an upgrade project for a blending terminal in southern Turkey and finally as a jet fuel operator in NW Europe.

He then passed the BP Assessed Traders Course and was offered a role as a Distillate Trader and Component Blender covering Europe and Africa – a role he has held since 2008. Since 2012 he has run the portfolio.

His work involves buying products such as gas oil, diesel, heating oil and jet fuel from refineries, as cargo or in storage tanks.

In 2014, Jason was interviewed and photographed for a Daily Mail recruitment feature looking at the breadth of careers available in the oil and gas industries, and talked about his nine years' working on BP’s Oil Trading Floor in London.

"Information comes in to me constantly to help me make decisions about future prices, and I buy and sell accordingly. It's fast-paced, intellectually stimulating and based on reality – I've seen ships that carry the fuels I deal in, and what I do helps provide people with heat, light and mobility."

Alex Davis, who is now breaking stories at national level, took his first journalistic steps whilst still at School.

Alex (OE 2006-2013) completed internships at flagship news outlets Sky News and ITN, before working for First News (the UK's leading children's weekly newspaper) and The Tab Cambridge (an online newspaper for university students).

But it was at QE that he had his first opportunity to pursue his interest in journalism. He pulled together the content for a feature on student volunteering in the spring 2012 edition of the School's newsletter, The Elizabethan, and edited a pupil newspaper.

It was while he was reading History at Downing College, Cambridge, that Alex had his first success with national news outlets: his story on a controversial English Finals Question was picked up by national news outlets, including the BBC. The examination question included a poem comprising only punctuation, with no words at all.

He has also written for the international online news site The Huffington Post. His piece The Power of Popular History was 'Editor's Pick'.

Whilst at QE Alex received the United Jewish Israel Appeal's Young Leaders Award. The UJIA is an organisation which works to foster links between Israel and the UK. It presents an annual award to the most inspiring person delivering Jewish education in an informal setting. Alex received the prestigious award for his work in leading QE’s Jewish Society.

He went on to become President of the Cambridge University Society and was the official Team GB Blogger for the 2013 Maccabiah Games. At those same games he represented Great Britain at rugby, a sport at which he also represented his university, his college and his School.

Old Elizabethans were well represented at Captain Charles Russell’s country wedding to Rebecca Johnston.

“It was a cracking day. I was very lucky to have two of my closest friends from Underne and QE days, Devesh Parekh and Andrew Bershadski, to celebrate with us,” said Charlie, who, like Devesh and Andrew, attended QE from 1997 to 2004. “Richard Morrison, who often plays the organ at the Founder’s Day Service, also played the organ for us,” he added.

Charlie is currently on the permanent staff at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in Surrey, where he is due to remain until June 2015.

The happy couple’s Guard of Honour was made up of friends and colleagues from his battalion, The First Battalion, The Royal Gurkha Rifles (1RGR).

They were married at St Mary the Virgin Church in Becky’s home village of Elmley Castle in Worcestershire.  The reception was held in the gardens, with the wedding breakfast followed by dancing in the Tithe Barn at Stanway House, just across the border in Gloucestershire.

Last year, Charlie welcomed the School’s Combined Cadet Force when they called in at the Officers’ Mess on a visit to Sandhurst.

In July 2010, Charlie was quoted in a Ministry of Defence announcement, which pointed to the rapid improvements brought about by joint patrols between 1RGR and Afghan National Army (ANA) troops in Helmand province, Afghanistan. The patrols had “seen the pernicious influence of insurgents in the village of Piand Kalay diminish and a new level of normality return for the local people”, the announcement stated.

Charlie, who was then a Second Lieutenant, explained at the time: “Four weeks ago when I used to patrol through the village on a daily basis I’d be lucky if I spoke to three or four people. It was an empty village, the locals were intimidated, they were scared to come to talk to us because they’d be seen interacting with ISAF [the International Security Assistance Force] and ANA.

“Now, when we walk through the village from checkpoint to checkpoint and push out into the Green Zone, they welcome us – they want to speak to us. They are a little intimidated but the overall impression is that they are happy with us in the village and they want to see more progress.”

Charlie was injured in Afghanistan in 2010. In summer 2011, he attended a reception for wounded servicemen and women hosted by Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall in the grounds of Highgrove, their Gloucestershire home. The Prince of Wales is Colonel in Chief of the Royal Gurkha Rifles.

Poet and performer Anthony Anaxagorou (OE 1994-99) this month completed an Australian tour and has just published a volume of short stories.

His antipodean tour took in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra, and featured a number of sell-out workshops. He was also interviewed by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Anthony has increasingly been making a name for himself as a poet, prose writer, playwright, performer and educator.

The School welcomed him back this term to speak to a number of Year 10 classes about his work as both a writer and teacher.

Anthony started writing poetry in his teens. At 17, he won the prestigious Mayor of London’s Poetry Slam with his poem, Anthropos. He was initially inclined towards a career in music and studied Music Production at the University of Westminster. Quickly realising that this was not for him – and after a short period supporting himself with odd jobs including warehouse work – he committed himself to working full-time as a poet.

In 2009 he published his first book, Card Not Accepted – a collection of essays, short stories and poetry, all reflecting moments from his life and providing a commentary on western living. In May of that year the MOBO award-winning hip hop artist Akala chose Anthony’s short poem Himself, from the Card Not Accepted collection, to be read out on the BBC Newsnight programme by the actor Damian Lewis:

A man stands inside the noise of the world,
But all he hears is peace,

A man stands inside the stillness of a virgin field,
But all he hears is noise,

All a man ever hears is himself

“We were delighted to receive a visit from Anthony,” said Assistant Head and English teacher, David Ryan. “Much of his work has a social and political edge to it and some is far better than anything we are studying in the GCSE anthology!”

Anthony’s work frequently looks at the spiritual search for inner peace. It also encompasses themes that deal with politics, racism, history and philosophy. His work has attracted increasing admiration and attention and drawn testimonials such as this from The Sunday Times: “Look out for Anthony Anaxagorou … a near-spiritual experience.” and The Evening Standard: “One of the most powerful stage performances I’ve seen.”

Anthony runs creative-writing workshops in schools for the First Story educational trust. The organisation focuses on schools in which more than 50% of pupils are considered deprived, according to the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index. Over the course of an academic year, each writer-in-residence leads weekly after-school workshops for a group of up to 21 pupils. The pupils’ writing is then published in a professionally produced anthology for each school; the schools host book launch events at which the students read their stories to their peers, friends, families and teachers.

He now has eight collections of poetry and short story collections in print. His poetry has appeared on BBC Youth Nation, BBC Newsnight, the British Urban Film Awards, BBC 6 Music and has been performed by Cirque du Soleil. His work has been studied in universities across the USA, the UK and Australia and has been translated into Spanish, Japanese and French.

His new book, a collection of short stories, is entitled The Blink that Killed the Eye.