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In his end-of-year message, part of the virtual House Assembly, Headmaster Neil Enright announced the winners of the Eric Shearly House Cup and commended both staff and boys for their achievements during this period of “great stress”.

(Text continues below the video.)

Addressing the boys through a video, he said: “Despite the difficulties of living, learning, and socialising from the isolation of our homes, you have stuck together and remained engaged with your House, your School and your wider community. Your ambition, wit, diligence, and principles have not been suppressed.

“Although I am sad that we could not gather together in the Shearly Hall for the presentation, I take great comfort from the fact that the adventurous spirit and scholarship that fired those who received the charter for our foundation from Queen Elizabeth I 447 years ago find full expression in the School in the summer of 2020. I would like to take this opportunity, on your behalf, to thank the staff. They have worked tirelessly for your benefit to keep things as normal as possible. But most of all, I want to thank you for being brilliant Elizabethans.

He announced the results of the annual House Cup competition in reverse order:

6th – with 258 points – Harrisons’

5th – with 262 points – Leicester

4th – with 269 points –  Underne

3rd – with 273 points –  Broughton

2nd  – with 282 points – Pearce

1st – with 294 points – Stapylton

Points for the House Cup are amassed during the year from a wide variety of competitions, sports successes and special events, as well as from good notes and merits awarded to the boys by the teachers.

Mr Enright observed that Stapylton has now been the winning house in four of the last six years – 2020, 2018, 2016 and 2015. “Stapylton House is, of course, currently blessed with strong leadership and I offer my heartiest congratulations, and virtual handshake, to Jack Runchman, the House Captain, and Hari Gajendran, the Deputy House Captain, for their great work over the last couple of terms.

The House is named after Henry Edward Stapylton, the School’s Chairman of Governors from 1873 to 1885. “Mr Stapylton was a bold leader who, having purchased Stapylton field for the benefit of the School in 1886, ultimately paved the way for the School to relocate to our spacious Queen’s Road campus in 1932. This move was incredibly significant in our history. The expansion in pupil numbers, so that we are now more than three times the size we were in the 1930s, and much of what we take for granted as the everyday QE experience, simply wouldn’t be possible without the great accommodation we enjoy today.”

Reflecting on the year in the context of the long history of the School, Mr Enright said: “We are really fortunate to be the current stewards of this brilliant, historic organisation during its period of greatest strength. This school has survived plague, Civil War, and much more besides, during many years in High Barnet, and so it doesn’t surprise me that you, your parents, your teachers and support staff have risen so wonderfully to the challenges of 2020. I have been here for 18 years now, 50 per cent of that time as Headmaster, and never before have I been prouder of our School than I am in this period of lockdown.”

He concluded his message to the boys by looking forward: “Now is the time for a rest so that we are all prepared for a full return to life in Queen’s Road from September. The staff at the School are working very hard to plan for this, and work will continue during the holidays to ensure everyone’s safety first and foremost, but please be assured our goal is to return to as normal a routine as is possible.

“I will be writing to you at the end of the summer holidays with the details of our plans. Inevitably, some things will feel a little bit different in our new normal, but I know that everyone’s grit, determination and resilience will ensure that we will all take the next steps in our stride.

“In the meantime, have a great summer holidays everyone and I look forward to seeing you very soon.”

Broughton overcame Pearce by just two points in the final of the Year 7 Inter-House Debating Competition.

Broughton proposed the motion: This house believes that climate change is the biggest danger facing the modern world. The debate took place just before the current Coronavirus crisis erupted globally.

The debate provoked passionate and even provocative contributions, including the view that climate change was largely a ‘first world’ preoccupation, and a claim that a rising death toll due to climate change would have a positive side.

Pranav Challa, the main speaker, had five minutes to make his case. In support of the motion. Head of English, Robert Hyland, who organised the event said: “He was a confident, articulate speaker. He described what he sees as the three ‘cruxes’ of the dangers we face: food production, shelter and water.”

Pranav went on to describe how climate change will affect food production in a world in which more than 1 billion people are already suffering from malnutrition. He said that extreme weather could affect our future supply of drinking water, that rising sea levels are putting coastal communities in danger, and that 200 million people will be displaced in the next 20 years.

Pranav was supported by the second speaker, Kavin Rameshshanker, who spoke about drought, the impact of climate change on the global economy and the loss of bio-diversity, ten species becoming extinct every day.

In his five-minute response, Adokshaj Magge, of Pearce, sought to challenge the terms of the motion. He suggested that the preoccupation with climate change comes from the privileged perspective of developed countries. “He spoke passionately about poverty, about disease and about the lack of basic healthcare in many countries,” said Mr Hyland.

Adokshaj described the overuse of forest fuels and deforestation as the “mother of all problems” and argued that the 3 billion people living in, or facing, poverty do not have time to worry about climate change when they are battling for day-to-day survival, while often being denied their human rights. He argued that changes in the weather have been going on since the dawn of time.

Pearce’s second speaker, Colin Copcea,  suggested that we face more important issues than climate change, such as who will be the next president of the US, Brexit and terrorism. “Right now, climate change is not at the top of the list,” he said. He also talked about economic crises, referencing, in particular, Venezuela.

In the following floor debate, Adam Liang, Kayilai Dinesh and Ishaan Bhandari for Broughton pitted their wits against Jamie Reeve, Ayan Hirani and Johnny Yassa from Pearce. “Some great points were made,” said Mr Hyland.

Adam said that problems caused by human greed, such as deforestation, were intrinsic to the issue of climate change.

“There was a suggestion that climate change is actually helping to reduce over-population,” said Mr Hyland. “This was vigorously challenged!”

The opposition suggested that our focus should be on tackling treatable and preventable diseases, as climate change might not have a solution.

Chairing the event, Crispin Bonham-Carter, who is Assistant Head (Pupil Involvement), commended the boys on the quality of the debate. He announced the indicative vote from the floor was an exact draw – 68 to 68 – and noted that some boys on each side had voted against their own House.

Year 13’s Ryan Ratnam, who invigilated, congratulated all the speakers. “I was very impressed with the ‘three cruxes’ argument and the summary speech from the proposers. I also thought Broughton was a good team; there was good synergy between the two main speakers,” he said.

“Pearce made a very good point about our stance, as a developed country, being privileged. They also presented some really good information. I thought the floor contribution about over-population was intriguing.”

He described it as a very even and well-argued debate, but gave a decision to the proposing team, Broughton by two points.

Underne emerged as victors in the close-fought inter-House World Book Day quiz, defeating the boys from Stapylton on a tie-break question.

And the competition was equally ferocious among the staff teams, with some (not entirely serious) dark mutterings being heard from teachers when their own result was announced!

Simi Bloom, of Year 7, Hamza Mohamed, of Year 8, along with Year 9’s Aryan Patel and Year 10’s Amin Mohamed, formed the winning team, with Hamza first off the mark for the all-important tie-break question: Who was the poet Laureate before Simon Armitage? (Answer: Carol Ann Duffy).

The questions covered a gamut of authors from Charles Dickens to Ruta Sepetys, and from Chaucer to J K Rowling, with a special Shakespeare round included for good measure.

The House teams were joined by five staff teams and one Sixth Form team in the event held in the Main School Hall, which was organised by English teacher Panayiota Menelaou.

QE’s Head of Library Services, Surya Bowyer, paid tribute to her work and reflected on the event as a whole: “What struck me was how universal the event was. There were boys from Years 7 through to 11 in the House teams, along with teams comprising sixth-formers, teachers and non-teaching staff. It was brilliant to see how literature can be such an effective unifier. The universality of the event was reflected also in Ms Menelaou’s careful curation of the questions, which produced a real mix of niche versus populist, and ensured that every participant knew at least one answer.”

When the winning staff team of Dr Corinna Illingworth, Mr Robert Hyland, Ms Audrey Poppy and Mr Jonathan Brooke was announced, there were rumblings from other competitors. Helen MacGregor, Head of History, said: “The History department was robbed of victory! We are already in training for next year…” while Mr Bowyer added: “With Mr Hyland’s team claiming victory, there is some chatter among the staff body that perhaps the contest was fixed….” Ms Menelaou countered she had distributed the English department staff and two librarians as evenly and fairly as possible among the staff teams!

Below is a selection of the questions and answers:

1. Which two cities provide the setting for Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities?
2. Which book by Ruta Sepetys won the 2017 Carnegie book award?
3. How many Canterbury Tales were written by Chaucer?
4. Who split his soul into horcruxes?
5. Which Shakespearean play features the characters of Goneril, Regan and Cordelia?
6. Which two Shakespeare plays are translated into Klingon?

Answers

1. London and Paris
2. Salt to the Sea
3.  24
4. Voldemort
5. King Lear
6. Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing

The Year 8 Inter-House Debating Final was won by the finest of margins, following an evenly matched contest between Stapylton and Leicester.

After fluent and compelling debate from both sides, the Leicester team, opposing the motion, This house believes that censorship has no place in a democracy, prevailed by just a single point.

Head of English Robert Hyland, who organised the event, said: “At QE, we are fully persuaded of the importance of nurturing effective oracy and skills in public speaking and debating among our pupils. All the boys who took part in this final are therefore to be congratulated, as they presented an excellent, well-argued debate in the best QE tradition of closely competed inter-house competitions.”

Zaki Mustafa, the first main speaker for Stapylton, presented the proposition in his allocated five minutes. He argued that freedom of speech is a pillar of democracy and a key human right, adding: “Democracy means that we decide how our country is run – the government is there to implement our decisions, not to make them.”

He also referenced the Watergate scandal, suggesting that the suppression of information resulted in “disastrous consequences” leading to US President Nixon’s resignation. He also pointed out that in Turkey, censorship has led to the arrest of journalists which, in turn, has affected information flow to the public.

Ady Tiwari, who recorded the highest individual score on the day, presented a robust argument for the opposition in his five minutes: “Not all speech is equal,” he said. “Censorship reduces the impact of hate speech. Hate speech historically has led to oppression such as slavery and the denial of the vote to women.” He pointed out that live broadcasts by groups such as the Ku Klux Klan are illegal – clearly a case where censorship “stops hate and promotes equality and justice”, he said.

He also suggested that, for reasons of national security, government information needs to be kept secret. He argued that removing censorship would help terrorists and other criminals, such as identity thieves.

Ady added that censorship is needed in many key areas of society, including the internet, television, film and the media, and that, without censorship, children could search online for information about pornography and buying drugs. Democracy necessarily “includes censorship and we should use it to make the world a better place”, Ady concluded.

Among the topics covered by Stapylton’s second main speaker, Koustuv Bhowmick, were parental controls: these were an effective way of controlling children’s internet use, yet they could be classified as restriction, rather than censorship. He also looked at the deleterious effects of censorship in regimes such as North Korea and China, arguing that, in the latter case, it was abuse of censorship that had led to the coronavirus scandal.

The opposition’s second main speaker, Adi Kaneshanatha, returned to the dangers of hate speech, stating that “hate crime causes violence” and warning that it increases the social stigma of the groups discriminated against, which, in turn, affects mental health. He looked at the issue of fake news, arguing that censorship will help stop it, and urged speakers to trust the Government’s judgement in ensuring that its citizens are not exposed to inappropriate material.

Three speakers from each side raised points or questions from the floor. For Stapylton, Joel Swedensky, Harrshiv Vyas and Akshat Bajaj touched on the importance of educating people with negative or hateful views rather than just silencing them. Leicester’s floor speakers, opposing the motion, were Abhay Halyal, Nikhil Mark and Pranav Haller, who cited as an example of the serious dangers of an absence of censorship the fact that terrorists can learn to make bombs online.

The event was adjudicated by Dharrshan Viramuthu, of Year 12, who is a member of QE’s Cambridge Union Schools Debating Competition team. He congratulated all the speakers and also dispensed some advice, suggesting inter alia that they try to minimise reliance on scripts.

He awarded opponents Leicester 59 points out of a possible 70, thus just pipping proposers Stapylton, who picked up 58 points. An indicative vote from the floor was fairly evenly split, but again just favoured the opposition.

Just a single point separates Broughton and Harrisons’ as the QE House Competition enters the New Year.

The unusually close situation in the 2019-2020 contest follows a term in which boys have accrued Merits and Good Notes for their work and good deeds.

The House Competition is, however, very broad, and involves many House challenges and special events: it was victory in the recent QIQE quiz competition that put Broughton in first place on 111 points, ahead of Harrisons’ on 110.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “As the reigning House champions and holders of the Eric Shearly House Cup, Broughton are undoubtedly mounting a strong defence of their title, but there is a very long way to go and many more events to be held before the final 2019-2020 results are announced in July.

“With the competition so close, there really is everything still to play for.”

Broughton claimed their victory in QIQE – the School’s University Challenge-style Autumn Term quiz competition – by beating Underne in the final. The Autumn Term also saw a video competition in Year 9, although most of the House competitive events are held after Christmas.

Among the biggest sources of points is Sports Day, which comes in the Summer Term, shortly before the overall winner of the House Competition is announced at a special assembly. In 2019, a strong performance at Sports Day helped Broughton overtake Pearce to claim their victory as the 2018–2019 top House.

In addition to competing for points, QE’s six Houses also raise money for charity. Last year, an inter-House dodgeball tournament run by Broughton and Harrisons’ for Years 7–9 raised £280. Leicester and Pearce organised an interactive quiz for Years 7-10, which brought in £168. And Stapylton and Underne organised a guess-the-teacher baby photo competition, raising £87.70.

The points tally and positions at the end of the 2019 Autumn Term are as follows:

• Broughton, 111, first
• Harrisons’, 110, second
• Underne, 100, third
• Leicester, 91, fourth
• Pearce, 89, fifth
• Stapylton, 81, sixth.

Broughton have been crowned this year’s top House at Queen Elizabeth’s School, following intense competition in fields as diverse as architecture and dodgeball.

A strong performance at Sports Day helped Broughton overtake Pearce to claim overall victory as the leader of QE’s six houses – a victory announced to great excitement at the end-of-year House Assembly.

Broughton’s House Captain, Saifullah Shah, and Deputy House Captain, Jamie Watkin-Rees, both of Year 12, were duly presented with the coveted House Cup by Headmaster Neil Enright.

Mr Enright said afterwards: “It has been another year of outstanding endeavour among the Houses, which play such an important role in fostering teamwork and friendship. My sincere congratulations go to all Broughton boys on their hard-won victory.”

During the assembly, Year 12’s Kieran Dhrona and Rishi Shah gave a presentation on the extensive fund-raising that takes place during the year in support of various charities as well as QE’s long-running Sai School Appeal, which aims to help the Sri Sathya Sai English Medium School in Kerala, India.

QE’s overall charity this year was the Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity, while there were also Christmas collections of food for the Chipping Barnet Foodbank and of clothing for a charity helping some of the 168,000 people homeless people in London.

Among the charity events staged were an inter-House dodgeball tournament run by Broughton and Harrisons’ for Years 7–9, which raised £280. Leicester and Pearce ran an interactive quiz for Years 7–10, raising £168. And Stapylton and Underne organised a guess-the-teacher baby photo competition, raising £87.70.

For the Sai School Appeal, a FIFA Tournament saw staff and pupils battle it out, games controllers in hand, in what was perhaps the most popular charity event of the year. One notable match included that between the Headmaster and the 2019 School Captain, Bhiramah Rammanohar.

The tournament raised £120.60, while a swimathon raised £609.65 and a guess-the-number-of-sweets-in-the-jar challenge at the Founder’s Day Fete brought in £62.

The House competitions reported on during the assembly included the:

• Year 7 House afternoon won by Stapylton
• In the Scoop news contest for Year 8 won by Pearce
• Languages competition, in which boys were challenged to design a poster about an influential linguist or speaker of German. French or Latin
• Architectural Enrichment Competition, won by Harrisons’
• QIQE quiz, won by Broughton in a tough final against Stapylton.

The assembly also reviewed other activities of the year.

For drama, as well as looking back at the performances at the Shakespeare Schools Festival and at the School Play, Lord of the Flies, the presentation revealed the names of boys who have successfully auditioned for roles in next term’s Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice.

Hundreds of boys have taken part in musical extra-curricular activities during the year. There are currently more than 20 ensembles, many of them pupil-led, involving 150 singers and nearly 200 instrumentalists. The 35 winners of Music colours from across the year groups were announced.

The assembly celebrated the winners of the separate QE chess championships for Year 7 and for Years 8-11, as well as those who performed strongly in the UK Chess Challenge. Junior, intermediate and senior chess colours were presented.

A report on the Duke of Edinburgh Award revealed that 87 Year 11 boys completed their bronze awards. Twenty-six Year 12s finished their silver awards, while 11 Year 13s completed D of E at gold level.

In sport, the assembly covered the following highlights:

• Cricket: The Year 8 team reached the quarter-finals of the National Cup, where they lost on the last ball
• Rugby: The U16s won the Hertfordshire plate; several boys gained county honours and a successful tour to Holland took place
• Eton fives: Record levels of participation at QE brought encouraging successes at the sport’s national finals
• Athletics: Combined Year 7 & 8 and 9 & 10 teams reached regional finals, and stand-out individual performances were listed
• Water polo: Both the seniors and Year 10 reached their respective national cup plate finals.

‘Teams of the year’, comprising selections from across the year groups, were announced for cricket and rugby.