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Deputy Head David Ryan (Pastoral) thanks all the parents and pupils who took the time to complete the online survey on eQE earlier this year.

He reports that while there were a few interesting gaps between parents’ and boys’ perceptions, in general, the current Personal Development Time curriculum tallies well with people’s biggest concerns, while the risks that boys in the younger years and their parents were most worried about are now being covered in the new Year 7 digital literacy curriculum. Work is being undertaken to improve resources in certain key areas of online risk, ensuring that the School educates pupils solidly in these before they discover them to be an issue.

The aim of the survey was to allow the School to evaluate the knowledge and understanding of both parents and pupils, giving them the opportunity to state what they feel are the biggest online risks and the areas in which they would like support.

Among the main findings were that:

• Despite smartphones not being allowed in the younger years at QE, it is clear that the majority of pupils do use them outside of School, particularly from Year 9 onwards;
• There is a stark difference between the proportion of students saying they own a games console that is connected to the internet (63%) and the proportion of parents who thought their son had one that was connected to the internet (42%);
• Parents largely agree (60%) that they would check usage of computers and smart phones, but very few (13%) said they would check a games console or tablet device. Similar results were reported for the setting up of restrictions, controls and filters;
• QE boys primarily use: YouTube (81%); WhatsApp (64%); Discord (37%); Snapchat (31% using it daily, or most days); Instagram (27%, but rising to a maximum of 63% in the Sixth Form) and TikTok (22%). They  have a good understanding of how to set up privacy settings and report content or other users on these platforms;
• Pupils in the younger years are primarily concerned about being targeted online by people with harmful intentions. They worry about being: bullied (57%); pushed into scams or dubious investments (55%);  tricked into clicking on fake links (51%), or simply being contacted by such people (50%);
• Students in the older years are more concerned by the risks posed in: spending too much time online (75%); having to feel perfect, popular and attractive online (39%), and receiving false information in the news (35%);
• Across all year groups, the overwhelming majority of boys felt confident that they could report an issue related to online safety.

The findings of the survey have informed the creation of a new eQE support page for parents and students, which signposts professional support and advice for online safety.

Online safety has been a key consideration in the planning of our 1:1 programme.

We are taking steps to protect boys from damaging or inappropriate material.

The rapid rise of AI adds another dimension: while it offers opportunities to enhance boys’ research and refine their thinking, it also brings risks of plagiarism, of pupils failing to acknowledge the use of AI, and of over-reliance, leading to a reduction in critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The QE curriculum – alongside public examination and course protocols – will educate boys about academic integrity and the responsible use of AI.

We have also undertaken measures aimed at helping our pupils avoid problems such as eye-strain and fatigue, both for their immediate well-being and to prevent any longer-term health concerns from arising.

One advantage of the Lenovo device selected for the 1:1 programme is that it offers more variety in the way it is used than a conventional laptop, with a stylus, touchscreen and keyboard all at pupils’ disposal. This encourages greater movement, with the physical benefits that brings. In general, tablets will be flat on the desk during lessons and used with the stylus. This means that, in terms of posture, using a device is similar to using paper and pen. (We expect that many homework tasks will involve pupils typing their answers, while classwork will generally be handwritten with the stylus.) In line with our emphasis on ‘blended learning’ – a combination of traditional and technology-dependent practices – QE boys can typically expect to be switching between their devices and pen & paper during the School day. The School will continue to monitor posture and ergonomics.

The Lenovo device is small and light enough to be easily carried, within the case provided, in pupils’ bags. For both crime prevention and road safety reasons, we strongly advise boys to keep their device both in its case and in their bag at all times when coming to School and on the journey home.

Whilst at School, the device is only to be used as and when instructed by a member of staff. Boys will not be using their devices unsupervised at break and lunchtimes, for example. It is important that there is time to socialise off-screen, run around in the playground and attend a range of extra-curricular activities.

The School is, naturally, concerned about online safety, too, and has taken steps to safeguard pupils and ensure that the devices are used only for appropriate educational purposes. QE has invested in monitoring and safeguarding software provided by education specialists, Smoothwall. Protections offered by the software include:

• The monitoring of pupils’ activity during lessons by teachers;
• The monitoring and retrospective accessing of pupil communications made through Microsoft 365 applications such as Teams and Outlook;
• An alert system, based on key words, that will automatically inform QE if a pupil has attempted to access inappropriate material, whether in or out of School;
• A block on pupils downloading additional programs to their device, such as streaming and gaming apps.

The devices should also prove useful in helping to maintain mental wellbeing: they can be used by the boys to organise their learning, thus helping them stay on top of their studies. And they offer access to personal organisation and self-reflection tools, as well as to the School’s online bespoke tutorial system, through which tutors monitor boys’ progress and wellbeing.

The curriculum will set out both appropriate and inappropriate uses of GenAI – Generative AI, a form of AI that uses prompts or questions to generate text or images which closely resemble human-created content. The former might include a pupil using AI to help brainstorm and explore ideas, or to provide feedback on his work, giving areas for improvement. Examples of inappropriate use might include: not asking teachers’ permission to use a GenAI; or, if permission is granted, not citing the use of AI when work is submitted, or not reviewing the work for inaccuracies and AI ‘hallucinations’.

• Further reading: the Joint Council for Qualifications recently published a paper entitled AI Use in Assessments: Protecting the Integrity of Qualifications. It can be accessed here.

The results are in, and Mel Giedroyc – TV celebrity, former BBC presenter of The Great British Bake Off and judge of QE’s very own Founder’s Day 2021 Showstopper Bake – has made her decision.

Mel has spent the last few days drooling over photos emailed in to the School as culinary creatives from across the Elizabethan community proudly showed off the fruits of their labour while gathering sponsorship money – turning their dough into dough, as Mel put it. They were free to make any bake of their choice, but extra credit was given for a QE theme or (with equipping the new Music School the focus of this year’s fundraising) for a musical motif.

Here then, in full, is Mel’s adjudication and announcement of the winner:

I’m truly overwhelmed by the amazing standard of these cakes. They really are showstoppers, each and every one of them – huge congratulations to everyone who did a sponsored bake. It’s lovely to think that the dough will become music….from crumpet to trumpet…..ahem…. from crumb to crumhorn……cream horn to French horn…….aaaaargh you can take the girl out of Bake Off etc. etc.

It is genuinely very hard to pick an overall winner from such a glorious collection, and several must be mentioned along the way. Full respect to Matthew Rose [Executive Assistant to the Headmaster, OE 2002-2009] who managed to feature his own surname in his bake. The beautiful ROSE on top of his masterpiece as a nod to the Founder – ingenious. Irfan Ahsan and William Joanes (both from Year 8) delivered scrumptious-looking and highly skilled musical note and grand piano creations respectively.

But the cherry on the icing on the tip of the top of the cake has to be

……drum roll please….

……(deep breath)….

The WINNER OF THE GREAT QE SPONSORED SHOWSTOPPER BAKE FOR FOUNDER’S DAY 2021 (that’s got a real ring to it)…for its stunning colours (the School colours, natch), his use of varied techniques (chequer-board insides and beautifully crafted fondant instruments to decorate) and its overall ‘stunningness’ and deliciousness….I wish it could have been a feast for my stomach, not just for my eyes…

….from Year 12 it is the one, the only, the star baker……Manomay Lala-Raykar!!!!

HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Manomay!!!!

X X X

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Bake and cake creators: captions for the gallery below (click on images to view)

1-2. Manomay’s winning entry
3. Mrs Shirley Wang, mother of Alvin Xu, Year 7
4. William Joanes, Year 8
5. Tunishq Mitra, Year 7
6. Tunishq Mitra, Year 7, with his bake
6. Aston Daniel Anup, Year 10
7. Akhilesh Karthikeyan, Year 8
8. Irfan Ahsan, Year 8
9. Mr Rose
10. Library Services Assistant Corinna Illingworth
11. Director of Music Ruth Partington
12. Rishi Watsalya, Year 7.

Parent Governor election results 2021

Following a change in Government guidance, the earlier national recommendation that face masks should be worn in classrooms has been lifted.

In a special message, Deputy Head (Pastoral) David Ryan sets out below for the boys what this does – and does not – mean for daily life at QE, while adding a few further pointers for families on staying Covid-safe.

For the boys

A change in Government guidance means that as of Monday 17th May, there is no longer a recommendation to wear masks when you are in classrooms.

Keeping our School community safe has, and continues to be, our main focus as we deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, could we ask you to be aware of the following:

• You may still wear a mask in a lesson if you choose to do so. Also, please do be aware that there are others in our school community who continue to need to do so.
• There may be some lessons in which you are asked to wear your mask; please do so where this is the case.
• We may, of course, be advised to reintroduce mask-wearing for a temporary period in response to a localised Covid outbreak. Were this to be the case, we would advise you to do so from the start of the School day.
• Thank you for the responsible attitude you have already shown in continuing to wear masks in corridors. We will ask you to carry on doing so until further notice: this allows us to maintain a high degree of Covid safety as different year groups mix.

For all QE families

As the national situation improves, I am pleased that we have now been able to return to a single, School-wide lunchtime, albeit while maintaining the year-group bubbles for eating and for extra-curricular activities.

May I appeal to you to continue to ‘play your part: help control the virus‘; is it important that we remain vigilant as a School community, still adhering to our three key messages: Please keep your distance, Wash your hands, and Catch it, bin it, kill it. Further details may be found in our Back to School Guide 2021.

I would like to remind families and older pupils to register their home-test results with the Test Register system, as well as with the Government website.

Finally, may I also remind drivers of our short list of traffic and travel dos and don’ts. We are keen to keep all pedestrians safe and to maintain good relations with our neighbours, so we strongly request that you comply with these simple rules.

Following the cancellation of GCSE, AS and A-level examinations this summer, the exams regulator Ofqual recently published its consultation on how grades should be awarded this year.

The consultation document proposes that pupils continue with their normal education during this academic year and that they are then assessed by their teachers in a period beginning in May and extending into early June.

Ofqual is proposing that exam boards should provide “guidance and training” to help teachers make “objective decisions”. It also suggests that exam boards make available sets of papers for teachers to use with students “as part of their assessment”, arguing that this “would support consistency within and between schools and colleges.” The consultation asks for views on: the proposal to use such papers; the form any such papers should take; whether the papers  could re-use material from past papers; when the papers should be made available, and whether their use should be compulsory.

The consultation document adds: “The teacher, through the marking of the papers, could consider the evidence of the student’s work and use that to inform their assessment of the grade deserved. The exam boards could also sample teachers’ marking as part of the external quality assurance arrangements and to seek to ensure this was comparable across different types of school and college, wherever students are studying. The use of exam board papers could also help with appeals.”

Ofqual is also proposing that teachers should draw on a “range of broader evidence of a student’s work in making their final assessment”.

Teachers would submit grades to the exam boards by mid-June, with external quality assurance by the examination boards taking place throughout the same month.

The results would be issued to pupils once the quality assurance process is complete. This is likely to be in early July.

Any pupils wishing to appeal against their results could do so immediately after receiving them. These appeals would be considered in the first instance by the schools and colleges attended by the pupils, with the appeal to be heard by a “competent person appointed by the school or college, who had not been involved with the original assessment – this could be another teacher in the school or college or a teacher from another school or college.”

A further appeal could then be made to the exam board, but such an appeal would only be allowed be on the grounds that the school involved had not acted in line with the  board’s procedural requirements.

The consultation closes at 11:45pm on 29 January 2021. The consultation document and a facility to respond online to it are available here.