Now listen up! Introducing The Great British QE Showstopper Sponsored Bake Off 2021, featuring Mel Giedroyc

We are delighted to announce that TV celebrity Mel Giedroyc, former BBC co-host of The Great British Bake Off, is to present and judge our online Great British QE Showstopper Sponsored Bake Off being held over the Founder’s Day weekend.

Watch Mel throw down her Bake Off challenge in her own inimitable style – with a big nod to the Earl of Leicester, the man who started it all for QE some 448 years ago: “Robert Dudley would be bursting out of his doublet and hose with excitement at this – as am I.” The Bake Off aims to raise funds to buy musical instruments for the new Music School. She is challenging participants to make a ‘Showstopper’ bake of their choice on Founder’s Day or over the Founder’s Day weekend – it can be a cake, biscuits, bread…anything you like…Send in your photos of your culinary creations to news@qebarnet.co.uk and Mel will then judge the entries and pick a winner. Extra credit will be given to bakes with a musical and/or a QE theme. The accent is firmly on having fun and getting creative, so whether you are a complete beginner or a seasoned baker, why not give it a go, remembering to get some sponsorship from friends and family, with donations going to our JustGiving page.

You’ll be able to see Mel’s further Bake Off message as part of our main Founder’s Day YouTube Premiere broadcast next week. In the meantime, you can get thinking about your showstopper by checking out the recipes of Old Elizabethan Richard Burr (1987–1994), Great British Bake Off finalist in 2014 and winner of a record five Star Baker awards.

Our TEDx event – ‘ideas worth spreading’ from QE boys 

Final rehearsals take place today for one of the academic highlights of Founder’s Day 2021: a specially licensed TEDx conference being recorded at QE next week. It is an opportunity for our boys to explore issues they are interested in and practise their oratorical skills – and a chance for the rest of us to see QE’s ‘free-thinking scholarship’ in action. TEDx events aim to bring TED’s overall mission to pass on ‘ideas worth spreading’ to local communities around the globe.

The conference is being produced entirely in-house at QE and will feature a number of boys speaking. It is being overseen by Crispin Bonham-Carter, Assistant Head (Pupil Involvement), with editing and production handled by a team of senior pupils. Look out for the link to QE’s TEDx event, which we will be sending out in our pre-Founder’s Day email next Friday, 18th June.

Seven pianos for seven practice rooms! QE musicians fight it out in the House Pianoathon Challenge

The School’s pianists will be doing battle with each other next Friday in an all-day Pianoathon. Featuring both House teams and individual pianists, the competitive marathon event is raising money to ensure that each of the seven practice rooms in the new Music School can have its own piano.

All six Houses are expected to enter small teams to play music of their choice for three minutes each in the Main School Hall, with every team to include a pianist. The Houses are being challenged to fill a whole hour with non-stop music, which means each House will have to enter no fewer than 20 teams. There are awards for the winning musicians, while Houses that raise large amounts will have the opportunity to have one of the new pianos named after them.

Learning about their Founder’s Day heritage

Today sees Year 7 involved in their very own Founder’s Day-themed event. In a normal, non-pandemic year, QE’s youngest pupils would be right at the heart of Founder’s Day, taking part both in the morning service at Chipping Barnet Parish Church and then later in other formal aspects, such as the Roll Call in front of Main Building, before enjoying the fun of the afternoon fete. This event therefore aims to give them a sense of such components of the day.