Successful first events for new Model United Nations Club

QE boys have taken part in two conferences following the formation of the School’s new Model United Nations Club.

Thirty-five boys from Years 9-11 were involved in the club’s first internal conference at the School, which looked at an agenda item entitled The question of reducing income inequality between genders.

In addition, four Year 11 boys formed a delegation representing Bangladesh at a Model United Nations (MUN) conference at Benenden School in Kent.

The Headmaster, Neil Enright, said: “I am delighted at the excellent start made by the MUN Club. The development of an ambitious and progressive range of enrichment activities is one of the priorities of our current School Development Plan.

“We are particularly keen to create more enrichment opportunities for boys in the Middle School, and the launch of this club is therefore an important step.”

Model UN events involve role-playing a UN meeting. The benefits include developing skills such as public speaking and teamwork, as well as providing participants with an opportunity to look into international political, cultural and economic issues.

Michael Feven, who is leading the MUN Club, is a member of the newly strengthened academic enrichment team at QE: Nisha Mayer is now Head of Academic Enrichment, while Mr Feven and Charlotte Coleman have been appointed as academic enrichment tutors.

Mr Feven said: “The internal conference was the first experience for most boys of how the process works; they had been working on preparing for it by writing policy statements and resolutions since October half-term.

“All boys sat in a single committee, the Economic & Social Committee. They were assigned a country in advance of the conference and were required to take on the role of delegates in debating the issue.”

He added that the resolution, submitted by the Republic of Korea, did not get enough votes from delegates to pass in the committee. A similar process will be followed next half-term, with the current aim being for delegations to take seats in two committees rather than one.

The four Year 11 boys taking part in the conference at Benenden School were Alex Ng, Pranesh Varadarajan, Ryun Pang and Omar Haidar.

They took seats in four separate committees (Disarmament, Human Rights, Economic & Social and Health) before joining together for the General Assembly. Students were required to undertake extensive research on the agenda items prior to the conference and to write their own resolutions for debate in their individual committees.

Further conferences will be held in the Spring Term: at the John Warner School in Hoddesdon (involving 16 QE boys): the City of London School (16 QE boys) and Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School (12 QE boys).