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The Winter Concert brought entertainment across an array of genres with just one common factor – the high degree of musicianship on display.

The Shearly Hall was packed to the rafters and saw hundreds of boys participating in 15 different ensembles, watched by parents and other family members, staff, friends of the School and VIP guests.

Alongside the customary presentation of Junior and Senior Music Colours, Headmaster Neil Enright presented the Music department’s new Music Bars – normally to be given to boys who have already achieved colours, but have continued to excel.

Mr Enright said: “Our Winter Concert was aptly named – some families had to de-ice their cars before heading home afterwards – but was held in a very warm atmosphere and was a great success.

“There was super music, supported by excellent production from our sound, lighting and stage crews, both pupils and the professionals from School Stage. These concerts are a big team effort – the culmination of much hard work from the boys and the Music department, but also other parts of the Elizabethan community, such as: the site team; parent volunteers from The Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s providing hospitality, and our pupil volunteers – my thanks go to them all.

“There really were no weak links musically, although the Indian Ensemble stood out, with excellent vocal performances from Year 7’s Param Jani in their opening piece and Rishi Watsalya in their second.

“The evening was balanced with dynamic numbers: the Senior Winds’ playing of Stephenson’s Rocket (conducted by current University of Connecticut intern Mason Armstrong) and the School Orchestra’s Beethoven in the first half, and the two Guns N’ Roses pieces in the second – Sweet Child o’ Mine from the Electric Guitar Ensemble and the Jazz Band’s rendition of Welcome to the Jungle.”

The concert was attended by the Worshipful The Mayor of the London Borough of Barnet, Councillor Nagus Narenthira – who, Mr Enright said, has been a great supporter of the School, as Deputy Mayor and now as the borough’s 58th Mayor.

The Music colours went to boys who have shown outstanding commitment to music at QE and displayed musical excellence.

The presentation of the bars was to two sixth-formers:

• Jason Tao, of Year 12: his citation praised his leadership and his being a superb role model for younger students;
• Indrajit Datta, of Year 13, who, exceptionally, received his Senior Colours and bar at the same time, in view of his recent sterling efforts on the Music technology side of the Music department’s work. He is currently in the midst of producing a recording of the School’s specially commissioned 450^th anniversary anthem, And Be It Known.

“The way in which the boys so enthusiastically cheered the recognition of their peers through the colours and bars presentations was heart-warming – evidence of the genuine support they give one another,” Mr Enright said.

• Click on the thumbnail images below to scroll through photos from the concert.

QE’s pupil-run arts magazine, The Arabella, looks both to the past and the future in a special edition for the School’s 450^th anniversary year.

The 44-page publication features 26 pieces of poetry, prose, and art, many of them inspired by its anniversary-related theme, How did we get here? The approach, looking both backward and forward, mirrors that of the School’s anniversary celebrations on Founder’s Day which included a display of the School’s 1573 Royal Charter alongside the burying of a time capsule intended for the pupils of 2073, when QE will mark its 500th anniversary. Work on the magazine began last academic year, but it has only now been published.

Assistant Head (Pupil Involvement) Crispin Bonham-Carter said: “The ninth edition of The Arabella has been worth the wait: with its expanded contents and an eclectic mix of topics and styles, it is a great demonstration of the fruits of free-thinking scholarship and academic curiosity.”

The magazine includes contributions from boys throughout the School, although boys from the current Years 8 and 9 feature especially heavily.

In his introduction, one of the editors, Chanakya Seetharam, of Year 12, addresses his fellow QE pupils: “Just as the [450^th anniversary thanksgiving] service at Westminster Abbey in the Spring Term so well captured, this is as much cause to look back with an inquisitive eye into the past as to look forward to the future. It is this spirit of investigation that is the kernel of this edition, and which was so well taken up by you….

“You are what keeps The Arabella alive. This is a magazine by you and for you. We hope you will find all of the work here thoroughly insightful, interesting, and enjoyable, and here’s to a great next edition!”

The poetry section is highly varied, with contributions ranging from Year 9 boy Yingqiao Zhao’s piece about the moon – which is in the shape of a crescent and has key words picked out in different colours – to the nine-stanza rhyming French poem, La Mort de L’Ancien, composed by Year 13’s Aayush Backory. The poetry section closes with Nikhil Francine, of Year 9, addressing the anniversary directly with a poem entitled Thriving from Ancient Roots – the School’s slogan for the anniversary year.

The creative writing pages included Year 9 pupil Raaghav Dhanasekaran predicting a dystopian future amid huge hurricanes caused by climate change.

The music writing section on the other hand looks mostly to the past, from Nikhil Francine’s essay on A brief history of song to Moneshan Rathaparan and Eshwara Masina, both of Year 8, jointly exploring The Enduring Influence of Classical and Baroque Music on Contemporary Culture.

Year 12 student Akheel Kale, from the editorial team, praises the quality of Year 13 pupil Ashish Yeruva’s essay on Justice for Ukraine: How to Put Russian Leaders on Trial Using International Law. Ashish’s contribution had inspired the team to open a current affairs section in the magazine and to invite further such submissions in the future, Akheel says.

Similarly, the magazine has a new section on Science, featuring Year 10 boy Zain Syed’s submission of an extensive flow chart setting out A Natural History of the Earth.

Interspersed throughout The Arabella are artworks exploring themes including Expressive Heads, Distortion and Identity; Dystopian Landscape; and Art Inspired by Music. Shown in this news story, from top to bottom, are:

• Expressive Heads, Distortion and Identity, by Sushan Naresh, Year 10 (main image)
• Dystopian Landscape, by Krishav Sundar Rajan, Year 9
• Art Inspired by Music, by Galinghan Balamurugan, Year 8
• Expressive Heads, Distortion and Identity, by Ayush Saha, Year 10

The magazine is named after Arabella Stuart, a descendant of Henry VII and sixth in line to the throne, who fell foul of King James I when in 1610 she secretly married another potential heir to the throne, William Seymore. Her husband was sent to the Tower of London, while Arabella was committed to the care of the Bishop of Durham, but fell ill in Barnet en route. She stayed for some months at the home of QE Governor Thomas Conyers, her spiritual needs attended to by another Governor, Rev Matthias Milward, who was subsequently appointed Master (Headmaster) of the School.

• For anyone with access to the School’s eQE portal, The Arabella is available to read here.

QE musicians of all ages gave performances at iconic venues in the French capital during a summer Music department tour.

Fifty-two boys from Years 8­­–13 combined concerts with seeing the sights of Paris during their five-day tour.

Their performances included one at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, one at Disneyland Paris and a bandstand concert in the Jardin du Luxembourg.

Director of Music Ruth Partington said: “This was overwhelmingly a very successful and most enjoyable trip, and a great way for our musicians to celebrate QE’s 450^th anniversary year.

“The boys performed well, savouring this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

This trip was open to all pupils in Year 8 and above participating in two or more regularly rehearsing ensembles and to all boys taking GCSE or A-level Music, provided they were in at least one such ensemble.

Travelling by coach and ferry, the boys’ first visit was to the Chocolaterie Beussent in Normandy, where they were told on a guided tour how chocolate is made from cocoa beans and learned the history of the small company.

After arriving in Paris and a rehearsal on their first evening, day two saw the boys deliver a 20-minute concert at Disneyland Paris’s Videopolis Theatre, after which they had the chance to let their hair down. Their one-day tickets gave access to both Disneyland and the Walt Disney Studios.

On day three, the party walked up the steep hill to visit Sacré Coeur and enjoy the panoramic views across Paris.

Near the cathedral, they had the opportunity to stroll the narrow streets of Montmartre and see artists at work and selling their paintings.

On the same busy day, they went on a walking tour, seeing the restoration work going on at Notre Dame following the disastrous fire and visiting the Louvre, Place de la Concorde, the Tuileries and the Champs-Élysées.

They then gave their bandstand performance in the Jardin du Luxembourg – an historic attraction the origins of which can be dated back to 1612, when Marie de’ Medici, the widow of King Henry IV, constructed the Luxembourg Palace as her new residence.

The day’s activities concluded with ascending the Tour Montparnasse skyscraper.

Day four brought a cruise on the Seine, a visit to Versailles Palace and Gardens and a one-hour concert at the American Church of Paris on the Quai d’Orsay.

On the final day, they climbed the Arc de Triomphe before setting off home, where they experienced a four-hour delay – the only hitch in the packed programme.

Among the participants was Nikhil Mark, a pupil from Year 11, who said: “The experience was surreal: I absolutely loved it.”

QE’s Valediction event for the Class of 2023 saw the 450^th anniversary year cohort gather with their parents for an afternoon celebration.

There were prizes for some, while the contribution of all the leavers – or graduands – was celebrated during an occasion in Shearly Hall that featured speeches and presentations, followed by afternoon tea on Staplyton Field.

The guest speaker was Sahil Handa (OE 2009–2016), the first-ever Elizabethan to take up a place at Harvard in the US, who has already blazed a trail in several different fields, from the arts to founding IT startups.

As befitting an event which embraced a sense of fun alongside its formal aspects, the afternoon’s musical interludes looked to the lighter side: staff reportedly enjoyed processing in to the accompaniment of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean, performed by the QE Jazz Lounge.

Headmaster Neil Enright thanked parents for their “huge support, both moral and financial, over the years” and urged both them and their sons to stay in touch with the School.

He told the boys: “I hope in the years to come that you will come back and see us; tell us about your adventures and careers; and, more importantly, tell those following in your footsteps through the School: that you will show them and their families the great variety of things that an OE can do, and an Elizabethan can be.”

The guest speaker was himself an example of that variety. Currently a Visiting Fellow at The John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Sahil is, among many other things:

• A writer: he was a founder of Persuasion, a non-profit magazine devoted to liberal values and the defence of free speech
• An entrepreneur: he has worked on both Typos, a messaging app for creatives and Lines, a messaging app offering verifiable communications in the blockchain-based web3, for which his company has raised over $6.5m in funding
• A dancer: he ran the QE dance club for four years and lists “dance battles at nightclubs” among his present interests
• An artist: he was selected for the Royal Academy of Arts’ AttRAct scheme while at QE and still enjoys painting on canvas.

Sahil attended Valediction together with his mother, cousin, friends and his brother, Nikhil Handa (OE 2013–2020). He recalled his first encounter with Deputy Head (Pastoral) David Ryan, who hauled him over the coals after spotting him dancing outside the classroom window to entertain his classmates during afternoon form time. This less-than-auspicious beginning soon turned into a supportive relationship, however, when he became part of Mr Ryan’s English class. “I thought he’d make my life miserable. But to my surprise, it seemed as though he’d forgotten the whole episode entirely. I went on to learn everything from him… Mr Ryan was also the first person who complimented me for being a generalist.”

Sahil spoke of: the trials and tribulations of being a writer – “if I did not write, I would not be true to myself”; the importance of confidence and of learning from rejection, and of “maintaining and strengthening the relationships that matter”.

In conclusion, he alluded to the former TV show, Takashi’s Castle. “There’s an activity where contestants try to skip across stones on a lake, avoiding falling into the sea. I like to imagine. It’s how I feel when I’m dancing: like melodies are being created for my feet. You are now leaving a place of constraints and the world will create stones for you, if only you skip. Write the email. Ask the question. Start the conversation. Say the tough thing. Make the difficult choice. Take a posture towards the world that makes you look up and laugh at its wonder. It’ll be as though somebody is creating stones for you to walk on.”

A large majority of Year 13 students attended. All received a set of QE cufflinks, while the prizewinners also received a copy of former Headmaster Dr John Marincowitz’s new history of the School, Queen Elizabeth’s School: 1573–2023. Among the speakers was Theo Mama-Kahn, School Captain 2022, who was one of the leavers. He gave a vote of thanks.

During tea afterwards, there were performances by four forms who shone recently in an inter-House music competition.

Speaking afterwards, Mr Enright said: “We began a Valediction event both because we wanted to say farewell formally as a School, but also to give people an opportunity to say their own goodbyes: the chats and well-wishing out on the field, with boys, families and staff thanking each other for all they have done over the past seven years, was an important element of the occasion.

“The Class of 2023 have distinguished themselves not only as a highly able cohort, but one characterised by kindness and positivity. They have served as great ambassadors to those younger in the School and I look forward to them continuing this record within our alumni community.”

In only their second-ever choral evensong, the boys of QE’s Chamber Choir shone amid the splendour of Southwark Cathedral.

They sang music by composers including Mozart and Stanford, while three QE organists took their places at the console of the cathedral’s mighty 1897 instrument.

The boys sang to a congregation that included staff, governors, parents and friends of the School, as well as members of the public.

The cathedral service followed their first-ever choral evensong at Barnet parish church in the autumn and their appearance in the service of thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey on 24^th March, the 450^th anniversary of the founding of the School.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “The boys were very impressive and the whole service was remarkable, given that this was only their second-ever evensong.

“The experience of singing at Westminster Abbey had stood them in good stead, so they were unfazed by the more intimate (but still large) scale of Southwark Cathedral.”

The service followed the centuries-old pattern of Anglican choral evensong and took place in a building that has been a place of Christian worship for more than 1,000 years.

The organ music played before the service by Year 7’s Zach Fernandes, Year 9’s Noah Morley and Year 11’s Joel Swedensky was written by Bach, Pachelbel, Böhm, Green and Stanley.

During the service, the choir sang the introit – the famous hymn, Abide with Me, with lyrics by Henry Francis Lyte and music by William Henry Monk – as well as pieces by Philip Radcliffe, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (B flat, Millington responses) and Mozart (Ave Meum Corpus).

The service included QE’s School prayer, reproduced below.

QE Director of Music Ruth Partington said: “Evensong presents an opportunity for the Chamber Choir to really challenge themselves and experience a unique musical tradition. There was a great deal of complexity in many of the responses and anthems sung, and our singers acquitted themselves very well.

“The three budding organists who played before the service are already highly accomplished on an instrument that all of them only took up this year: you would not have known that there was a Year 7 boy playing!” QE is now offering organ lessons in partnership with Barnet’s parish church, St John the Baptist.

“It was super to see some visitors who had just wandered in stay for the duration of the service. There was lovely feedback from the Cathedral’s volunteers. I am grateful to the Cathedral clergy and staff for their welcome,” Miss Partington added.

“The Music department hope to continue this programme in future years, singing a couple of such services each academic year. It forms part of the huge variety of musical opportunities on offer to the boys at QE.”

The School prayer

O Lord God, the Maker and Builder of every house not made with hands, we give thee thanks for this School in which we have our share.

Give thy blessing, we beseech thee, to all this our body, to the Head Master, to the teachers, to the boys, and to those who minister our needs.

Inspire us, O Lord, so to do our work today that, even as we are being helped by the remembrance of the loyal lives of those who came before us, so our faithfulness in thy service may aid those who shall take our places.

Remember, O Lord, for good, all who have gone forth from this School, to labour elsewhere in thy kingdom. Grant that both they, and we, may fulfil thy purpose for us in this life, and finally may attain thine everlasting kingdom. Amen.

Boys from across the School gave free rein to their creative side in the latest edition of the pupil-run magazine, The Arabella.

The 37-page colour publication features contributions from boys in every year group under the theme of ‘hidden beauty’.

The contents from the 26 contributors include poetry, art, creative prose writing in English, French & German, and essays on music.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “I congratulate all those whose work has been featured: it is another high-quality edition of our creative magazine, with plenty of examples of the sort of free-thinking scholarship that we seek to cultivate at Queen Elizabeth’s School.”

The most entries were for the poetry section, where the ten contributors’ poems – with titles as diverse as The Passageway (Ishan Nakadi, of Year 9) and Introspect (Akheel Kale, of Year 11) were interspersed with examples of boys’ GCSE and A-level artwork.

The section featuring writing on modern languages is prefaced by the editor-in-chief, 2023 School Captain Darren Lee, of Year 12. Addressing the pupil readership, Darren writes: “Don’t feel restricted to only writing in French or German: we would love to see entries in languages spoken at home! In the next edition, we hope to extend the languages section and include Classics submissions…”

In the music section William Joanes, of Year 10, takes a highly technical look at Hidden Science in Music, illustrated with a picture of the inner ear, while Year 12’s Tharun Dhamodharan delivers a paeon to the human voice, The Hidden Instrument.

The creative writing section is similarly varied, from final-year student Antony Yassa’s science-based examination of The Microscopic World to Year 11 pupil Shreyas Mone’s musings on Beauty in destruction – “a different kind of beauty” – where he cites examples such as volcanoes, thunderstorms and even videos of building demolition.

Six artists’ work is featured, including the front-cover illustration by Year 13’s Dylan Domb, pictured top, and pieces by Gabriel Gulliford (also Year 13), above right, and Year 12’s Pratham Bhavsar, left.

As the foreword explains, the magazine is named after Arabella Stuart, a descendant of Henry VII and sixth in line to the crown, who fell foul of King James I when in 1610 she secretly married another potential heir to the throne, William Seymore. While her husband was sent to the Tower of London, Arabella was committed to the care of the Bishop of Durham, but fell ill in Barnet en route. She stayed for some months at the home of a Governor of the School, Thomas Conyers, while her spiritual needs were attended to by another Governor, Rev Matthias Milward, who was also subsequently appointed Master (Headmaster) of the School.

Darren led an editorial team of 21 boys. Staff assistance and support came from: Assistant Head (Pupil Destinations) James Kane; Head of English Robert Hyland; Curator of QE Collections and Head of Library Services Jenni Blackford; Library Services Assistant Corinna Illingworth, and from teachers in the Languages department.

Submissions are now being invited for the next issue, which will be issue 8 and is on the theme of ‘The Lure of Power’.

• Anyone with access to the School’s eQE portal may read The Arabella here.

Traditional festivities brought the term to an end for the pupils and staff of Queen Elizabeth’s School – while one member of the Elizabethan family was singled out for the honour of an invitation to The Princess of Wales’ Carol Service at Westminster Abbey.

Highlights of the final days of term included the delivery of this year’s hugely successful charity collections to the local community and the School’s Christmas dinner, served complete with musical accompaniment – and all the other trimmings!

There was more festive music at the QE Service of Nine Lessons and Carols this week at Chipping Barnet parish church and at the Winter Concert at the start of the month.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “My best wishes and season’s greetings go to our all families, alumni and friends. It’s been a super end to a tremendous term that included the royal visit last month by HRH The Duke of Gloucester.”

“This year has seen QE, the Sunday Times State School of the Year for 2022: achieve an ‘outstanding’ Ofsted report; open a new Music building, and celebrate the best A-level results of any state school. It’s certainly been a year to savour! I hope pupils and staff will enjoy their well-earned rest and return in January ready to celebrate our 450^th anniversary in 2023.”

Among the guests at Westminster Abbey last night were Diane Mason and her husband, George. The Representative Deputy Lieutenant of the London Borough of Barnet, Martin Russell, nominated her in recognition of decades of work in support of The Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s and other causes in the borough. Diane worked at the School as a PE teacher many years ago and was a longstanding Secretary to the Friends’ Executive Committee.

The service was attended by the King and Queen Consort, as well as The Prince and Princess of Wales and George and Charlotte, alongside other members of the Royal Family.

“Diane, and indeed, George, have been stalwart supporters of the School for a very long time, and this rare honour is well deserved indeed,” the Headmaster added.

As it has done every year since 2014, QE ran a charitable food collection for Chipping Barnet Foodbank to benefit the most vulnerable living in the local area. In addition, boys and staff collected clothes for Homeless Action in Barnet.

QE Caretaker Steve Anderson said at the end of term: “I have just got back from delivering the charity donations with four of our prefects and I have to say I have never been more proud to be a QE staff member.

“The generosity of parents, boys and staff was unbelievable; the staff at the two centres were overwhelmed and very grateful.

“I am sure a lot of people will benefit from the kindness from our School.”

Tuesday’s Christmas dinner for boys and staff featured the traditional roast turkey – or a vegetarian option – together with roast potatoes, honey roast parsnips, carrots and brussels sprouts.

To make it even more festive, the Saxophone Quartet – Suraj Cheema and Leo Dane-Liebesny, of Year 13, Arjun Patel, of Year 12, and Leo Sellis, of Year 10 – played for the diners.

The four were also among the many musicians involved in the Winter Concert in the School’s Shearly Hall on the first day of the month.

The programme featured several different genres, with the pieces played ranging from Michael Jackson’s Beat It, performed by the Electric Guitar Ensemble to pieces more traditionally associated with Christmas, such as the excerpts from Handel’s Messiah performed by the Senior Strings and the Chamber Choir.

This week’s carol service in St John the Baptist Church started in darkness, before the church returned to light as the congregation sang the final verses of Once in Royal David’s City.

As well as other favourite carols and Christmas Bible readings by boys and staff, there were lesser-known musical treats, such as the Vocal Group’s rendition of Dormi Jesu – a setting of a short lullaby text collected by the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge while he was on a tour of Germany with William Wordsworth in 1798.

HRH The Duke of Gloucester today visited QE, as the reigning Sunday Times State Secondary School of the Year prepares to celebrate its 450^th anniversary early next year.

Members of the School’s Combined Cadet Force flanked the main entrance and the senior rugby team provided a sporting backdrop as the Duke arrived for his visit, during which he marked the anniversary by planting an oak tree and by presenting a specially embroidered banner to Headmaster Neil Enright.

The visit had an eye to the future as well as the past: the Duke was given a demonstration of VEX Robotics – QE is a multi-time UK champion and was the first UK school to win a World Championship title – and even tried out driving the robots himself.

He came to QE almost exactly 90 years after another royal visit, by HRH The Prince George, Duke of Kent, who opened the new buildings – still in use as QE’s Main Building – following the School’s relocation from its historic Tudor Hall site in Wood Street, Barnet.

Following the visit, Mr Enright said: “It was a tremendous honour and my great pleasure to welcome HRH The Duke of Gloucester today. With the anniversary fast approaching, there was much to show him, including the School’s original 1573 Charter signed by Elizabeth I, our Ties through Time installation of 232 School photographs from the 1880s until comparatively modern times, and, to bring things right up to date, the robots and our new Music building, opened in May.

“The Duke showed a keen interest in everything, and I know our roboteers will be especially delighted that he was brave enough to try his hand at the controls of two of their creations.”

On his arrival, the Duke was presented to the Headmaster by Martin Russell, Representative Deputy Lieutenant of the London Borough of Barnet and a former QE parent.

He was then introduced to:

• Barrie Martin, MBE (Chairman of Governors and Chairman of the Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s)
• Nick Gaskell (Vice-Chairman of Governors)
• The three Deputy Heads: Anne Macdonald (Academic); David Ryan (Pastoral) and Tara O’Reilly (Operations)
• School Captain (head boy) Theo Mama-Kahn, and Senior Vice-Captains Ansh Jassra and Antony Yassa, all of Year 13.

The Duke was shown the charter and Royal Seal, together with original artefacts from the 1932 royal visit drawn from the School’s archives. The materials were introduced by Jenni Blackford, Curator of QE Collections and Head of Library Services, and two Year 13 boys involved in the work with the archives, Ishaan Mehta and Gabriel Gulliford.

The Headmaster then gave a formal welcome to the Duke in front of 100 selected pupils in the Main School Hall. He said: “Your Royal Highness, it is my honour and privilege to offer you the warmest welcome on behalf of the Elizabethan community…2022 has been a year full of accomplishment at the School. We have had our status as an outstanding school confirmed by Ofsted, been named State Secondary School of the Year by The Sunday Times, and opened The Friends’ Recital Hall and Music Rooms – the latest enhancement to our campus, built from the generosity of our School community. You could say it has been our annus mirabilis.”

QE’s Senior Barbershop group sang the hymn Abide with Me while the new School banner was brought into the hall by a representative of the CCF. Commissioned in advance of the 450^th anniversary service being held in Westminster Abbey on 24^th March 2023, the banner was passed to the Duke, who presented it to the Headmaster.

After visiting the Ties through Time photographic installation and enjoying the robotics in the School’s Conference Centre, the royal party headed to the new Music building to watch rehearsals for this Thursday’s Winter Concert under the watchful eye of Director of Music Ruth Partington.

Then it was back to the front of the School before the Duke walked down the drive, lined by Year 7 pupils, stopping close to the gates to plant the anniversary oak tree. It is intended that the tree, which has been marked with a commemorative plaque, will come into full leaf for the first time at the School in the spring of 2023.

The tree will also form part of The Queen’s Green Canopy project inaugurated to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. Senior Vice-Captain Antony Yassa read a short extract from the wording of a new anthem composed for the anniversary year by internationally renowned composer, Howard Goodall, which is to receive its debut performance in Westminster Abbey in March: “Let us fill this place with hope. Face fate and fortune in our stride. That like an oak, we draw our strength from ancient roots spread deep and wide. From ancient roots spread deep and wide.”

Pupil representatives from the School’s Eco Network and its six Houses placed soil at the base of the tree, with the Duke invited to complete the process.

The seven members of the School’s Senior Barbershop ensemble enjoyed entertaining guests at a dinner for The Worshipful Company of Farriers – and the feeling was mutual!

They had been invited to the 666-year-old London Livery Company’s annual dinner by its Master, Martin Russell, who is the Representative Deputy Lieutenant for the London Borough of Barnet, as well as the parent of an Old Elizabethan.

The boys’ performance of a varied repertoire that included songs from the Renaissance through to the present day was very warmly received, with guests pronouncing themselves both impressed and moved by the music.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “The Barbershop boys were brilliant. I was very proud of them and enjoyed spending time in their lively, fun company.

“Martin is an active supporter of the School and I am very grateful to him for extending this invitation to us: it was an honour, and I know that the boys relished the opportunity to perform in such an illustrious setting.”

Livery companies are prestigious London trade or craft associations that originated as mediaeval guilds and now play a significant part in the life of the City of London, with many involved in charitable fund-raising.

The Worshipful Company of Farriers’ Livery Dinner was held at Founders’ Hall in Cloth Fair, Barbican. This modern building – it was opened by the Lord Mayor of London in 1987 and became Grade II-listed in 2018 – is built on one of the few streets to survive the Great Fire of 1666 and is constructed of traditional materials.

The evening gives Liverymen the chance to meet each other at a dinner which is less formal than Court dinners and lunches.

The Barbershop septet comprised: Year 13 pupils Jao-Yong Tsai, Olly Salter, Suraj Cheema and Atul Kanodia; Arjun Patel, of Year 12; Leo Sellis, of Year 10, and Rishi Watsalya, of Year 9. They are rehearsed by Jao-Yong and by Music teacher David Woodward.

After the event, Mr Russell was among those who wrote to the Headmaster to express his appreciation. The boys performed with “élan and with panache”, he stated. He thanked Director of Music Ruth Partington for her work in preparing the boys.

The boys’ version of Abide with Me was noted as being particularly moving. In addition to this traditional English hymn, which has been sung before every FA Cup final since 1927, the Senior Barbershop ensemble performed:

• Dindir´ın – one of a set of more than 450 Spanish songs probably written for Ferdinand II around the 1490s
• Windham – a 19th-century religious song written by the American composer, Daniel Read
• Tee-idle dum dum – a traditional, romantic song that was popular in the US during the barbershop revival of the 1930s
• My Evaline – another short, traditional barbershop song with a romantic theme
• Matona mia cara – a comic song written by Renaissance composer Orlando di Lassus describing a German solider struggling to speak Italian to woo a lover
• Ye banks and braes – a traditional Scottish folk song set to words by Robert Burns in 1791
• My own sweet valentine – a modern barbershop song written by musician Charlie Bodley in memory of his wife.

The main image shows the boys warming up before their performance.

QE played a central role in the High Barnet Chamber Music Festival, with the School’s new Friends’ Recital Hall serving as the main venue and its own musicians performing in a special charity concert there.

Pupils and staff performed to support victims of the war in Ukraine, with donations going to UNICEF and the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR.

Joshua Ballance, artistic director of the festival, which is now in its second year, told interviewer Nick Jones, of The Barnet Society, that QE had blazed a trail for others to follow. “It is a real breakthrough for the festival to stage a showcase concert by a school orchestra and jazz band, and we hope other schools will join us next year.

“To demonstrate our involvement with local schools, we shall be running master classes at Queen Elizabeth’s with some of the professional musicians who have performed at the festival, ” said Mr Ballance. “We want to extend our reach-out programme and offer master classes at other schools. Our link with Queen Elizabeth’s demonstrates the partnership we would like to create.”

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “QE is very much a part of Barnet, so it was splendid to support this new festival bringing professional music to our community. I was also pleased that our own musicians were involved and that we were able to showcase our new facilities to music-lovers beyond our immediate Elizabethan family. I look forward to many similar events in the future.”

During the charity concert, QE’s Director of Music, Ruth Partington, joined Year 12 pupil Jao-Yong Tsai and the School’s accompanist, Tadashi Imai, in a performance of Mozart’s Kegelstatt Trio, for clarinet, viola and piano.

There was a performance of Brahms’ Clarinet Trio, Op. 114, i. Allegro & ii. Adagio. The Jazz Band and QE’s junior jazz group, conducted by Music teacher Caroline Grint, performed a medley for the concert’s finale that included Rock Around the Clock, Georgia on My Mind, and Bandstand Boogie.

Following the charity concert, audiences returned to the 230-seat recital hall – part of the School’s new Music complex officially opened in May – for the festival’s final two events.

First the Mad Song ensemble of young musicians, directed by Mr Ballance, performed a range of music by modern composers Missy Mazzoli, Kaija Saariaho, Joan Tower, Richard Causton, Barbara Monk Feldman, and Steve Reich. The evening was acclaimed by Bernard Hughes, reviewer for specialist website theartsdesk.com as an “ambitious and intriguing concert”.

More familiar musical fare came in the final concert held in The Friends’ Recital Hall, when cellist Ben Tarlton and pianist Robin Green played Beethoven’s Sonata in F for Cello and Piano, Nadia Boulanger’s Three Pieces for Cello and Piano and Rachmaninoff’s Sonata for Cello and Piano.