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The 32nd Queen Elizabeth’s Sevens tournament proved to be a highly successful day, with 64 teams coming from as far afield as Blackpool, Gloucestershire, Wales and The Wirral.

For the first time in three years, the state of the Barnet RFC pitches permitted both the U14 and U16 tournaments to be held.

"It was a very enjoyable day, with an excellent standard of rugby, all played within the spirit of the game,” said Head of Games Mark Peplow. “The outstanding highlight was the QE U16 team winning through to the main final, where they lost to Tonbridge 26-15 in a tight contest.”

The U14 main tournament was won by The Judd School, from Tonbridge, Kent. Mr Peplow paid tribute to the large number of staff who volunteered to help and also to the QE ‘tea mums’ who not only served but also raised money for a local charity.

Both of the School’s Young Enterprise teams, QuEst led by Miss Bavishi and Envisage led by Mr Seeburrun, are through to the North London Finals, to be held on Wednesday, 30th April at the Pentland Hotel, Finchley.

Their stands will be judged in the late afternoon followed by their presentations in the evening. Parents of the boys involved are invited to attend the evening event.

The School’s wind band will be playing at St Mary’s Parish Church in Hendon on Saturday 17th May at 12 noon.

The concert is part of a musical celebration to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Vaughan Williams. Further details can be downloaded here. Tickets can be booked by telephoning the box office on 020 8959 0207.

Mr Enright, Miss Flook and Miss Northover were very pleased to welcome so many parents to this evening’s briefing for the forthcoming tour to Sicily.

The PowerPoint used by Mr Enright to accompany his presentation can be downloaded here.

Those parents who were unable to attend should ask their sons to collect an information booklet from Mr Enright’s office as soon as possible.

Year 10 pupils at Queen Elizabeth’s have secured an impressive victory in the North London Final of this year’s Young Enterprise competition. Two teams were entered by QE: Envisage and QuEst. Envisage will take part in the London Final to be held in Canary Wharf later this month.

The North London competition was entered by a total of forty-eight companies and nearly six hundred students; the eight most successful companies were invited to the Final on Wednesday 30th April. Despite being two years younger than most of their competitors, three of the four main awards were given to boys from Queen Elizabeth’s. In addition to securing the main prize for ‘Best Company’, Envisage also won the award for best presentation, while QuEst were awarded best display stand.

Young Enterprise is committed to ‘learning by doing’ and students taking part in the programme, set up and run their company over the course of one academic year. They elect a board of directors from amongst their peers, raise share capital, and market and finance a product or service of their own choice. At the end of the year they present a report and accounts to their shareholders. Students gain experience of the real world: taking responsibility and being accountable to their shareholders for the running of the business. Boys at Queen Elizabeth’s are also able to draw on the experiences of business advisers Robert Book and John Deverson, who act as their mentors throughout.

Jed Wilsher, the Managing Director of Envisage, opened the presentation of his team’s product, Bon Appétit, which is a discount card for use in local food outlets and restaurants. He was supported by the other main board directors: Amit Desai, Jonathan Flowers, Sergio Ronchetti-Carete, Nir Shah, Sam Sherman and Kamran Tajbakhsh. They spoke about how the project has developed their abilities to work in a team, improved their communication skills and given them more self confidence.

QuEst’s work has focused mainly on their Destination Zero game which aims to educate companies about their environmental impact. The company was represented at the final by Thomas Elliot, Steven Haveron, Joseph Masters, Charles Morris, Alex Rozanski, Abhijai Shah and Jin Min Yuan. Disappointed not to be going through to the next round, the team looks forward to developing the product further and has now set its sights on the UK Intellectual Property Office’s ‘Cracking Ideas’ competition.

The Envisage team was supported by Vickash Seeburrun, whilst the boys in QuEst were guided by Rakhee Bavishi. Mr Seeburrun and Miss Bavishi both teach in the Business Education department. Liane Ryan, Head of Business Education said, “Both teams of Year 10 boys performed extremely well and judging of the overall winner was a close fought contest between the two.”

QE’s Year 10 geographers worked hard during two field trips to the coast – but the lucky ones still found time to enjoy an ice cream!

Sixty-three students headed for Swanage in Dorset on each of the trips, accompanied by six members of staff.

They undertook field work and collected data for the completion of geography coursework, with the aim of investigating the urban characteristics of a coastal town. Coursework accounts for 25% of the GCSE grade. The field work included pedestrian counts, traffic counts, land use surveys, environmental quality surveys and questionnaires.

Head of Geography Anne Flook said: “All the boys and staff worked very hard and collected some really thorough data. There was beautiful weather for group 1, who enjoyed the sunshine and some ice cream. For group 2, it was cold and cloudy, which meant they had to swap the ice creams for jumpers! However, I think all the boys thoroughly enjoyed their trips.”

This year’s Geography tour for Lower School boys went to Sicily. In a packed programme, the boys saw Mount Etna, went paddling in the Alcantara River after descending the gorge and climbed on Vulcano, a volcanic island 16 miles north of Sicily.

“At Mount Etna we were able to see the lava flow that had happened the previous week,” said Geography teacher and Director of Assessment Neil Enright. “Some of the more intrepid QE boys were really quite keen to toast their paninis in the fumaroles!”

The trip also provided the boys with an opportunity to have fun on the beach – burying each other in sand – as well as the chance to pick up some Italian. “I think most of them can now quite confidently order ice cream,” added Mr Enright.

To view these photographs, click on one of the thumbnails to start a slideshow.

Year 7 QE boys swept the board in a competition about World Citizenship. The competition was run by the Baha’i community and was open to all the Barnet schools.

Pupils were invited to submit an essay, poem or poster drawing on their knowledge of what it means to be a good citizen. Niral Malde took first prize in the poster category; James Casey was first in the poem category, while Niraj Shah was adjudged to have produced the best essay. The QE boys won a cup for the School for best overall quality.

“The boys produced excellent work, which covered the causes of anti-social behaviour and ways in which it could be prevented,” said teacher Sarah Gibbons, of the Religion & Society Department. “All the competitors demonstrated their understanding of the need for unity to resolve world problems such as poverty, racism and the preservation of the environment. Their work and achievement was excellent and impressive.”

Sibelius have launched their Student Composer of the Year competition with three varied categories for entries: music for film, contemporary classical and jazz.

There are also two age categories: 10 – 16 and 17 – 18. Mr Howe, Director of Music, would love to see a number of entries from our talented composers throughout the School on this national stage. Further information and links to register for the competition can be seen at Sibelius’ website.

Prizes include master-classes with the judges who are some of the music world’s biggest names including composers, conductors, ensembles and film directors, plus a whole load of great hardware and software for music-making .

Envisage, one of QE’s 2008 Young Enterprise teams, reached the Pan London Finals of the competition and took the prize for the best presentation.

Led by Link teacher Vickash Seeburrun, Envisage developed the Bon Appetit Discount Card – a restaurant card that was adopted by some of London’s top eating places.

Both Envisage and the other QE team, QuEst, reached the North London round of Young Enterprise after success at the initial area round. At the North London round, the teams had to set up a display stand and deliver a presentation in front of eight other competing companies, five judges and parents. “Both companies delivered their presentations in a very professional and sophisticated manner,” said Mr Seeburrun.

QuEst, which developed an e-learning game called Destination Zero designed to make employees more environmentally aware at home and in the workplace, won the award for best display stand. Envisage took awards both for the best presentation and as the best company overall, which meant it went forward to the Pan London Finals as the sole North London school.

Held at the Credit Suisse building, Canary Wharf, the Pan London Finals featured inspirational presentations from Levi Roots, of Dragon’s Den fame, and from Dan McGuire, current Young Entrepreneur of the Year and Managing Director of Broadbean Technology.

The following Y10 boys represented the Envisage team at the Pan London Final: Jed Wilsher, Sergio Ronchetti-Carrete, Nir Shah, Kamran Tajbakhsh and Jonathan Flowers.