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As the first major step towards the progressive wider reopening of Queen Elizabeth’s School, boys from Year 10 have today returned to the site. Headmaster Neil Enright and all the senior staff came out to welcome them.

In line with national Government policy asking schools to prioritise on-site provision for those with public examinations next summer, QE’s Year 10 return first, to be followed by Year 12 from 29th June.

Huge efforts have gone into readying the campus to allow social distancing and to ensure a safe environment for pupils and staff to return to. And although all boys from these year groups will be coming in, they will not all be on-site at the same time, since this is not allowed by the guidance. Instead, large groups – typically half the year – will be attending at once.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “We are very happy indeed to have boys back on the site in numbers. Bringing them back is a step we have taken only after conducting a substantial process for assessing and mitigating risks. My thanks go to our Head of Facilities Management, Mrs Silvia Shann, and her team for all they have done to get the site ready.”

Deputy Head (Pastoral) David Ryan said: “We will now be able to provide these boys with important in-School support, supplementing the remote learning that has been taking place through our eQE online platform. I know that Year 10’s Head of Year, Dr Tim Waite, their tutors and other staff have all been looking forward to spending time with them face-to-face again.

“We recognise the challenges that boys have faced through having to work largely in isolation over recent weeks and months, so it is tremendously satisfying to be able to offer these two year groups the opportunity to socialise safely with each other again.

“We will be able to hold some enriching, extra-curricular activities on site again and also, crucially, to provide them with face-to-face social and pastoral support: we are determined that our very developed support and guidance programme remains central to the boys’ experience of life at QE.”

The returning year groups will initially sit end-of-year assessments covering boys’ learning over the whole academic year. The results will, on the one hand, help teachers consolidate the learning boys have done during lockdown by providing useful data to inform ongoing priorities for the classroom. On the other, they will inform the boys’ own choices of A-level subjects and, for Year 12, their decisions about applying to university.

Deputy Head (Academic) Anne Macdonald said: “The Year 10 boys and their teachers have done brilliantly to adhere to the timetable and to keep up the pace as they have progressed through the GCSE curriculum during the lockdown period. The end-of-year assessments will be important in charting the course forward from this point.”

While it is not possible for other year groups to return to the site yet, the full programme of timetabled remote learning for Years 7-9 continues, together with the extensive pastoral support that is also offered through eQE. Tutors are busy with bespoke tutorials being delivered through Zoom and the latest round of senior staff pastoral checks for Years 7 and 8 starts this week, also on Zoom.

The preparations for the return of Year 10 and Year 12 have included, among many other measures, the:

• Introduction of new cleaning regimes
• Reduction of venue capacities to allow for social distancing
• Plentiful health and safety signage
• Re-allocation of outside space
• Installation of ‘mag-lock’ doors in the Main Building to reduce the need to touch doors.

A new forum for discussing vital issues such as race, with respect to the School community and wider society, is being established in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in the United States and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Created in close partnership with Vice-Captains Thomas Mgbor and Ayodimeji Ojelade, the platform seeks to enable thoughtful and open conversations about critical societal issues, not least race and discrimination. This would not only be within the context of anti-black racism, but, in time, other forms of racism such as anti-Asian, Islamophobic or Antisemitic racism, as well as covering a diverse range of global issues on which it is important to think critically.

Introducing the forum to their peers, Thomas and Ayodimeji wrote:

“As students at Queen Elizabeth’s we believe the school, like all organisations, has an important responsibility to highlight and to speak out against inequality in all of its forms. This responsibility is particularly important in promoting the rights of those students in already disadvantaged and marginalised groups.

“To act in the best interests of the student body, steps must be taken in developing the education that is provided by the School regarding issues such as the Black Lives Matter movement and organisations which educate and act against all sorts of prejudice. Our School is in a significantly life-shaping position for ourselves and our peers, who must educate themselves holistically, in order to better understand different movements and gain a better understanding of the world and the global matters affecting it. This learning starts in an open and supportive school community in which we would ask all fellow students to be open-minded, tolerant and willing to tackle prejudice, racial or otherwise, when it occurs.

“We want to work with the School to provide resources to encourage this change. We are not aiming to educate our peers just to be ‘non-racist’, but to stimulate you to act on your own initiative and gain a more well-rounded view in order to become ‘anti-racist’. As students, we need to be informed about the global challenges that we face and do what we can, not only to raise awareness but so that we can tackle them ourselves.

“We are saying this in the belief that whatever problems society may face, there is always a way forward.

“We hope that the following resources may start to do so and would encourage fellow students to contribute to help us in making the necessary change.”

With the vast majority of pupils still working at home, due to the coronavirus restrictions, the forum begins as a new section within eQE (our virtual school). As more pupils return to School, over the coming weeks and months, further opportunities for discussion will become available.

Supporting the development, Headmaster, Neil Enright, said: “I hope that the new forum will provide a valuable and safe space in which all students can access resources and engage in open conversations about race and other matters important to them: to share their experiences, aid mutual understanding, and help us build a more equal and progressive community.

“This builds upon the work of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Ambassadors, as well as the lecture programme and Personal Development Time curriculum. But we know as a School, as in wider society, there is much more to be done.”

“We are placing much greater and more explicit emphasis on developing and encouraging free-thinking scholarship in our pupils. That is supporting them to challenge conventional or ingrained ideas; to take conversations forward with fresh perspectives. As educators this is one of the most important things we can do: to get young people to question the world around them and then to be able to communicate their viewpoints as part of reasoned and informed debate.

“To support this, we must continually reflect on our own cultural awareness to ensure that our curricula, resources and priorities properly meet the needs of all our pupils.

“A priority within our forthcoming development plan is to conduct a thorough curriculum review, to ensure that the voices of minority or marginalised groups are fully reflected, and another is to understand what more we can be doing to attract under-represented groups to our community at all levels. Whilst we have pupils and staff to help shape this work, there is also a great potential resource among our alumni and we hope that Old Elizabethans will be keen to support us in these endeavours.

“I am proud that many pupils and OEs have been in contact to contribute to our reflections, and of the empathy shown for their peers. The energy and passion of young people can be a significant driver of positive change.

“It is deeply upsetting that in 2020 we should still need to state that black lives matter, but sadly this is where we find ourselves in the world today. Black lives do matter.

“We are a meritocratic and generally very harmonious School community, but should rightly guard against complacency. Maintaining dialogue with pupils is an important part of this, so I would encourage boys to engage positively within this new forum and with staff as we work together collaboratively.”

Aly Sayani has won a sought-after scholarship to the University of Toronto, one of only 37 applicants from around the world to taste this success.

The coveted Lester B Pearson International Scholarship will cover Aly’s tuition, accommodation, materials and living expenses for the four years in which he reads Social Sciences at the Mississauga campus.

The letter he received offering him the scholarship also specified that in addition to the wide range of academic and co-curricular opportunities the university has to offer, “Pearson Scholars become part of a unique cohort, with access to specially enriched programming and select opportunities.”

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “We are naturally delighted for Aly on his successful application for this prestigious scholarship. I am always pleased to see our boys exploring overseas opportunities at top universities, and we believe he is the first Elizabethan to take up an undergraduate place in Canada.

“This has been a remarkable year in more ways than one: quite apart from the challenges posed by Covid-19, we have 40 boys with Oxbridge offers – a School record – and many others who will take up places on prestigious courses at Russell Group universities.”

The Lester B Pearson scholarship programme is intended to recognise students who demonstrate exceptional academic achievement and creativity and who are acknowledged as leaders within their schools.

Aly, of Year 13, says: “I am immensely grateful and honoured to be a recipient of this scholarship. I was born in Karachi and raised in cosmopolitan London; I look forward to continuing to experience a wide range of beautiful and vibrant cultures, traditions and communities in the multicultural city of Toronto. I hope to learn how I can tackle problems such as poverty, inequality and climate change through my time at U of T.”

On its website, the University of Toronto says: “A special emphasis is placed on the impact the student has had on the life of their school and community, and their future potential to contribute positively to the global community.”

Only overseas students can apply for the scholarship, which is named after a former Prime Minister of Canada who in 1957 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to resolve the Suez Crisis.

Students’ applications must be supported with a strong recommendation from their school and the university will only allow one applicant from any school.

In writing a letter to support Aly’s application, QE Assistant Headteacher and Head of Year 13, Michael Feven highlighted the many ways in which Aly met and even surpassed the criteria. He passed nine out of his ten GCSEs with the highest possible grade and also received the top grade for Mathematics, History, Economics and French at AS Level.

Mr Feven continued: “I cannot recommend Aly highly enough. He is a hard-working, ambitious and scholarly pupil, one who I have complete confidence would be appropriate for a programme such as yours. Academically, he ranks among the brightest that the UK has to offer.”

He went on to describe Aly’s activities within School and in his home community, where he supports the Ismaili community, acting as a youth club team member and chairman. “Additional evidence of his excellent community contribution can be demonstrated in his role as a volunteer at Hillingdon Refugee Support Group. Here, Aly has helped to lead and organise life skills sessions for refugees fleeing conflict to help them settle into new lives in the UK.”

Aly was one of the School’s prefects in 2019 and played his part in monitoring younger boys at breaks and events. “His willingness to give up much of his free time over the year to support the smooth running of the School’s celebrations, open evenings and charity events is symptomatic of his engaged community spirit,” concluded Mr Feven.

Sixty-five senior QE boys have enrolled on a coaching programme run by alumnus Kam Taj.

Kam (Kamran Tajbaksh, OE 2004–2011), a performance coach, inspirational speaker and author, will help the pupils through an online course supported by more than 100 videos and activities.

After taking a first in the Manufacturing Engineering tripos at Churchill College, Cambridge, Kam secured a job as a management consultant with a global firm. However, he had begun doing performance coaching work while still at university, and in 2016 left the consultancy world to concentrate fully on coaching and motivational speaking.

Thanking Headmaster Neil Enright and Assistant Head Michael Feven (Pupil Development) for their support, Kam said: “QE is consistently named as one of the best schools in the UK, and I’m confident that this course will be an asset to the students’ academic and personal development, especially during these uncertain times.”

Kam is, in fact, a regular visitor to QE. In recent years, he has led a motivational skills workshop for Year 12 boys and helps pupils with their Oxbridge preparations.

Mr Enright said: “I am pleased that so many of our boys are taking advantage of Kam’s expertise by signing up for his Exam Success Academy online programme. Kam is both an Elizabethan and a very gifted performance coach, and although there are, of course, no public examinations this year, I am sure that the principles the boys will learn on the course will stand them in good stead for the future.”

The programme focuses on eight principles: time management; mindset management; study tools & techniques; on-the-day performance; academic & personal support groups; sleep optimisation; physical activity & movement, and nutrition & hydration.

Kam had been due to visit the School last month to talk to Year 12 on Student Life at Oxbridge (discussing topics ranging from choosing a college, the academic intensity of Oxbridge, student life beyond academic matters, and common traps that students fall into in their first year), but the visit had to be shelved because of the Covid-19 restrictions.

It would have followed three workshops held earlier in the Spring Term and run by Mr Feven, as well as Head of Year 12 Helen Davies and Head of English Robert Hyland (both Oxford graduates), that were focused on providing Year 12 boys with advice on applying to Oxbridge. The workshops take place each year, although Kam’s talk was to have been a new addition to this programme.

The guest speaker at the Year 12 Luncheon was Sonita Alleyne OBE, who in October 2019 became the first black Master of an Oxbridge College.

On taking up the role at Jesus College, Cambridge, she also became the first woman to lead the college in its 524-year history. QE is the first school she has visited since becoming Master.

After the luncheon she met with Year 13’s Bhiramah Rammanohar, Reza Sair and Drew Sellis, who all hold offers for Jesus College. The trio are among 40 QE Oxbridge offers this year – a School record.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “This luncheon is the first event for Year 12 at which they can gain experience of the type of formal social occasions that they will encounter at university and in their professional lives. Sonita gave a terrific and inspiring address that was perfectly adapted to the occasion. Boys will certainly have gone away with a greater awareness of what life at Cambridge is like and of the exciting intellectual and personal development opportunities available.

“During her speech, she spoke of how the very experience of applying for, and then studying at, a university such as Cambridge, brings together people of different backgrounds, giving them that experience in common.

“This will have resonated with many of the sixth-formers present, since QE provides a state school pathway for boys from very different backgrounds (many of them the first in their family to enter higher education at all) with the opportunity to go to some of the world’s leading universities.”

The luncheon featured the customary toasts, led by School Captain Ivin Jose, who fulfilled an MC role. Grace was said by Guy Flint, Senior Vice-Captain, and the vote of thanks given by his fellow Senior Vice-Captain, George Raynor.

Sonita Alleyne was born in Bridgetown, Barbados, and brought up in Leytonstone, East London. She attended a comprehensive school before going to Fitzwilliam College in Cambridge, where she read Philosophy. A career in radio followed, and she founded production company Somethin’ Else, which she led as Chief Executive from 1991 until 2009. She is a Fellow both of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts and of the Radio Academy (FRA).

She began her speech to the sixth-formers with a word on examinations: “Exams can’t tell the world how funny you are, or how kind, or how much you love manga or wine…” But what they are, she said, is a metric that the world uses to judge success, and so for that reason they do have some importance.

One of her key pieces of advice was about keeping options open: “In life, you need to keep doors open for yourself,” she advised. The difficulty was in knowing which doors they should be. Other people would not always open doors for them, so the boys needed to be active in this regard.

For her, one such door had been Cambridge itself. In her letter to Jesus College in relation to becoming Master, she wrote: “I left Cambridge over 30 years ago, but it never left me.”

As an undergraduate, she had a real interest in artificial intelligence, so, she told the boys, she had planned to read Computer Science after an initial year of Philosophy (joint courses being more common at that time), but ended up studying Philosophy alone throughout.

She recalled that to help sixth-formers prepare for the university application process, her secondary school had just made them talk – about ideas, news, science, indeed about anything. She found she relished this and thus greatly enjoyed the Cambridge interview process and the intellectual stimulation it brought. Not only did she find the discussions “challenging in a way that GCSEs weren’t”, but they helped provide her with a sense of belonging.

Once at Cambridge, she threw herself into many enriching activities which she had not had the time or opportunity to follow at school, including Music, singing, theatre and student politics. She was even secretary of the college Mystical Science Club. (“There were only two of us!”)

She noted, however, that it was the informal shared conversations around college – and outside of these activities – that most helped her develop deep friendships and formulate her views: “[That was] where I discovered my sense of agency.” She graduated as a “free-thinking” person – a recurring phrase during her address.

After university, she had a series of jobs (“a zig-zag career”). “Don’t stress about finding a career for life, or knowing what you want to do when you graduate…take things one step at a time,” she counselled, adding that she is still taking her career one step a time.

Setting up Somethin’ Else at the age of 24 was, though, a watershed moment for her, she said. Today, she enjoys running her business, her media work, and her regeneration work as part of the London Olympic Development Corporation.

She also now takes great satisfaction from supporting other people in getting through challenges or making progress in their lives: “I am always proud to say that I help people.”

Her final advice to the boys was to be free-thinking, to challenge themselves, to “push open a few doors and to follow your ideas, because they matter”.

In a question-and-answer session following her talk, she was asked about her views on lowering grade offers for students from the state sector or disadvantaged backgrounds. “Cambridge should be a bastion of excellence, not of élitism,” she replied, but said she feels that the systematic dropping of grades does not work.

Her preference was to encourage more people to apply (“It’s one of five options and costs no more than any other university – what have you got to lose?”) and to improve access that way. Bright students such as those from QE neither want nor need entrance requirements to be lowered. “If you get the grades, you belong,” she said, adding that it is important to debunk a sense that people from certain backgrounds might not fit in. “My job as Master is about community – and it’s the best job in the world.”

Award-winning speaker Robyn Steward told Year 10 and 11 boys of how she emerged from years of bullying to become a successful speaker, author, academic researcher and musician.

Delivering the Spring Middle School Lecture, Robyn, an Ambassador for the National Autistic Society, gave the boys insights into the particular problems faced by autistic people, but also suggested some ways in which everyone could benefit from what she has learned.

Pointing out that life does not always unfold in a straight line, she said it was important to make the most of the present: “Life is messy. All I’ve got is today – and when I realise that, it makes me a happier person,” she said.

“Find your tribe” – those people one belongs with – she urged the boys, adding: “Don’t worry if you haven’t found your thing yet; keep looking.” She, for example, had had no idea when she started out on her career that she would end up as a professional musician, yet she now plays the trumpet and has put on “inclusive-conscious” gigs entitled Robyn’s Rocket in London.

Head of Academic Enrichment Nisha Mayer said: “I would like to thank Robyn for giving a lecture that contrived to be both inspiring and humorous, while at the same helping to deepen the boys’ understanding of autism.”

In her talk entitled Autism from a person, not a textbook, Robyn told her audience in the Shearly Hall that she wished she had had the opportunity to hear an autistic speaker when she was at school, as she was just made to feel different and “weird”.

She had been widely bullied and called names such as “retard” or “spastic”. This was the result of ignorance and of her classmates being “jokey”. In her view, there were two types of bullying, she explained – the “jokers” trying to raise a laugh from their friends at the expense of someone else, and those who are “mean at heart’. The majority are the former, who, she believed, would be shocked to realise she was talking all these years later about the harmful effects of what they had said.

She was in a special needs class at primary school, but the bullying really started in high school, she said. Recalling the great insecurity she felt about visiting the toilets, she explained that she had been told the other pupils would “flush her head down the loo” and, as an autistic person, she had taken this very literally. Robyn has cerebral palsy, so she was also worried about not being able to operate the locks properly. She was, in fact, locked in the toilet, manhandled and called names. Fortunately, her mother supported her in this ordeal, she said.

Speaking about the effects of bullying generally, she said: “I don’t think anyone should have to feel like that. It is crushing for your self-confidence.”

In 2015, Robyn was joint awardee of the National Autistic Society’s Professional award for outstanding achievement by an individual on the Autism Spectrum for her work in raising awareness of the abuse experienced by autistic people. In 2018, she was listed on the Power 100 list of the most influential disabled people in the UK.

We can all do something to combat bullying, she told the QE boys. If they saw a friend saying unkind things, they could say: “Hey, stop it! That person has feelings,” and could also tell the target of the bullying not to worry about it. And since the boys comprise a community at QE, they should work together and support each other, recognising that everyone experiences low self-esteem at times.

At college, she had more freedom to protect herself – she could leave a room when she chose, for example. She studied IT – and “really enjoyed it”, despite further bullying – and then art & design. She learned at college about the concept of Theory of Mind, which was a huge insight: she realised that being autistic, she had struggled to understand someone else’s perception of a situation in the way that others do through empathy or reading facial expression or observing body language. All of this she had to learn from scratch.

Showing the boys her school photo, she asked them what was different about her (and stated that their age group is normally better at spotting the answer than adults!). Unlike her peers, she was not looking at the camera and was not smiling, she pointed out, adding that this is because many autistic people do not pick up on social cues.

In spite of all the bullying, she now has a full and varied life, Robyn said. “I have no GCSEs and yet here I am, aged 33, saying I’ve turned out all right.” She has a BBC podcast with fellow autistic presenter Jamie Knight – 1800 seconds on autism – and is also host of the Autism Matters podcast from Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice. She works with UCL and the Wellcome Trust, conducting research to understand how we are all different. For more than 15 years, she has been travelling the world giving talks. She is the author of books providing guidance for autistic people.

Afterwards, Year 13 pupil Saifullah Shah complimented Robyn on her talk and then opened the floor up for questions.