Viewing archives for Uncategorized

Old Elizabethan Lucian Grange, a leading music industry executive, received his CBE at Buckingham Palace and was then feted at the Brit music awards on the same day.

Mr Grainge, aged 49, is chairman of Universal Music Group International and is soon to become Chief Executive Officer, based in New York. He has artists including Amy Winehouse, U2, Duffy, Girls Aloud and Eminem on his roster of talent.

He remains largely unknown to the outside world, yet within the music industry he is considered both influential and highly successful. Simon Cowell said of him: “He’s the one person I consider to be real competition… He is the most talented music-industry executive in the British pop industry.”

His eye for retail reportedly stems from his childhood, when he would carefully observe which records customers chose in his fathers TV, radio and record shop.

Mr Grainge has advised both the Labour Government and the Conservatives on the best way to tackle CD piracy, and he was closely involved with the Government’s recent Digital Britain report.

He received his CBE for services to the creative industries.

Queen Elizabeth’s School features prominently in a Financial Times article focusing on gifted children.

The feature highlights the fact that 800,000 children nationwide are labelled ‘gifted and talented’. Yet it points out that there is no empirical national standard in this area. Instead, the Government defines ‘gifted’ children as ‘students who achieve, or have the ability to achieve, significantly above average (compared with other students in their year group at their school) in one of the National Curriculum subjects’.

QE Headmaster Dr John Marincowitz says: “Gifted children are one of the country’s most valuable assets and they’ve been treated appallingly.”

He states that demand for the academic education that such children need heavily outstrips its availability. The article was published as parents nationally are informed of the secondary school at which their child has been allocated a place this September. QE could take an additional 500 or 600 highly able boys each year and still achieve excellent academic results, Dr Marincowitz says. The School matches leading independent schools in examination league tables, even though 40 per cent of its pupils have English as a second language.

The article outlines a ‘mish-mash’ of policies for gifted children produced under Labour, while acknowledging that the Government has at least moved the needs of bright pupils up the education agenda. The writer adds that the Conservatives have no plans to increase the number of grammar schools.

The feature includes a number of tips for parents seeking a school able to provide the best opportunities for their bright children. These include: examining a school’s list of university places for leavers (last year QE sent 25 of its 150-strong Year 13 to Oxbridge); looking for ‘very good’ or ‘outstanding’ ratings in the teaching quality and standards sections of inspection reports; and asking teachers ‘awkward, specific’ questions about how they cater for the brightest pupils.

Teachers may be unwilling to give such children the assistance they need to excel. The writer, education consultant Lisa Freedman, cites the comments of Lee Elliot Major, research director at the Sutton Trust, that among teachers there exists “a confusion between excellence and elitism, and often a confusion between an academic elite and a social elite. There’s also a real reluctance to differentiate between children.”

Pupils sometimes resist being labelled ‘gifted and talented’, the article claims, partly as it could lead to bullying but also because much of the ‘enrichment’ on offer at many schools is in after-school hours. “If you’re a bright kid, you get punished with more work on Saturdays and in the summer holidays,” says Dr Marincowitz.

Read the full article in The Financial Times here.

Year 13 student Ramsey Kobeissi has accepted the offer of a place at Harvard on its Liberal Arts programme – the first QE boy to win a place at the prestigious American University.

Ramsey, who was also offered a place at Pembroke College, Cambridge, was attracted to the broad spread of the American programme in the first year and the opportunity to specialise at a later stage. In the offer letter, the Dean of Admissions, William Fitzsimmons said: “Your accomplishments are impressive…we think you would flourish at Harvard and we are eager for you to make it your college choice.”

A Young Enterprise scheme involving Year 10 QE students has found an innovative way to help busy people stay fit.

The company, Health4All, has launched a discount card which entitles users to a 10% discount on day membership at selected health clubs. A number of Barnet gyms have already signed up and talks are being held with the GLL group to offer discounts in the 90 more health clubs it operates around Greater London.

The project has been endorsed by Pradnya Pisal, a Consultant Gynaeologist at Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals, who said: "The discount card is great for anyone who is reluctant to sign up to a monthly or annual membership fee for a particular gym. I think it will suit anyone who wants to use a variety of gyms and save money."

QE parents are able to buy the discount card for £5. It was also displayed recently at the Young Enterprise London trade fair at Brent Cross Shopping Centre. More information can be found at http://www.health4all.co.nr/

Five Elizabethans have received their Gold Duke of Edinburgh Awards in two ceremonies at St James’s Palace.

Akhil Amlani, Imran Khan, Christopher Brent, Yathushan Sivarajah and Hiten Morar were all presented with the prestigious award. To achieve it, the five worked through all five sections of the D of E Gold programme: Volunteering, Physical, Skills, Expedition and a Residential Section – a demanding process which takes at least 18 months.

For his residential project, Akhil Amlani, who was London’s Climate Change Champion 2008/9, took an eco-trip to the Netherlands to witness the impacts of climate change on a low-lying country and to see first-hand the the adaptation techniques used there. He then built an eco-garden on his return. Imran Khan took a Headstart Course in Engineering at Cambridge University, attending lectures and seminars to experience life as an undergraduate. Both spent time volunteering in a local primary school and a borough library, as well as learning and developing a new skill and completing physical recreation work.

Ninety boys at QE are currently working towards their Gold Award, many of whom have completed three of the five sections. The most recent group to join the Gold programme comprises 46 Year 12 boys, six of whom recently completed their residential stage at Trewern Outdoor Education Centre in Wales, where they spent four days white-water kayaking. Twenty-five boys are expected to take part in a five-day, 80km Gold walking expedition this summer in Snowdonia, preceded by a practice expedition in the Peak District. A further group have organised their own cycling expedition.

Teacher Christina Wu, who is in charge of QE’s Duke of Edinburgh programme, has introduced the Bronze Award at the School for the first time. Thirty Year 10 boys are working towards the award through QE, with an additional four external boys participating in the QE expedition. The practice expedition took place in Roydon, Essex, while the assessed expedition is over the May bank holiday, also in Essex. The boys will have to cover 30km over a weekend. They must map their own routes and then follow them by using a compass and finding grid references. They will be putting up their own tents and will cook for themselves using Trangia stoves. They will also have to complete a project while they are on expedition.

Year 13 pupil Makoto Takahashi has enjoyed a range of artistic opportunities under the Royal Academy Attract Programme.

In addition to guided tours of the Premiums and Van Gogh exhibitions and a life-drawing class led by a Royal Academician, he has been selected to take part in the Louis Vuitton Project for young artists. Joe Huber and Shyam Dattani, in Year 8, and
Aaron Tang and Matthew Rodin, of Year 10, were finalists in the Google 4 Doodle Competition, which attracted 60,000 entries.