Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School for Boys
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- For the girls school that is also located in Barnet, see Queen Elizabeth's school for girls.
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[edit] History
Queen Elizabeth's School is a boys' grammar school in Barnet, North London, founded in 1573 by Queen Elizabeth I, petitioned by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and assisted by local alderman Edward Underne. Officially, it is known as Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School for Boys.
There is a legend that its headmaster in the 1640s was beheaded by the Roundheads due to his support for the Royalists. However, there is little factual evidence for this claim.
The following passage is from the school website:
"In 1573 Elizabeth I issued a Charter "for the establishment of the Free Grammar School of Queen Elizabeth in Barnet for the education, bringing up and instruction of boys in Grammar and other learning and the same to continue for ever." Today Queen Elizabeth’s remains a non-denominational, non-fee-paying, selective School with a mission of producing confident, able and responsible young men and as such continues to reflect the essential tenets of our Tudor Charter.
As an ancient School supported by foundation and charitable trusts, Queen Elizabeth’s is able to offer excellent facilities on a superb 30 acre landscaped site. The School is situated a short distance from its original Tudor building (opposite St John the Baptist's Church on Wood Street) and borders on Hertfordshire’s green belt. Excellent public and private transport links provide easy access to the School.
The School is a meritocracy. Boys are admitted on academic merit irrespective of parental income, residential location or religious background. The resultant ability range and broad cultural mix of our pupils provide an optimum educational environment in which to prepare boys for life in the 21st Century.
We engage our boys in an ambitious curriculum and a broad range of enriching extra curricular activities. We seek to foster intellectual poise in our boys by encouraging their independent thought. We also strive to ensure that each of our boys achieves personal fulfilment and goes on to make a serious contribution to society."
After a period as a comprehensive school from the 1960s, it became a Grammar School again in 1994, and under headmaster Eamonn Harris went on to be the top state school for 'A-Levels' in this and the last decade. It is worth noting that for the first year that QE was the top state school for A-Levels, although new pupils were being selected according to ability, the ones gaining the top grades were the last remaining comprehensive intakes.
It has received many accolades, the students often going on to become top professionals. The school is notable for its track record in supplying sportsmen to both regional and national squads for rugby, water polo and athletics.
Currently under Dr. John Marincowitz (since 1999), it has continued to expand. Recently, a new swimming pool has been commissioned and officially opened in September 15th, 2006
[edit] A-Level
Boys select four subjects which will be studied for both AS and A-level, although provision can be made for five to be taken. These subjects can only be picked after receiving recommendations from that subject teacher. Failure to achieve sufficient recommmendations means a failure to progress to the 6th form. 2006 Year 12 numbers are 147 compared to 120 last year. Occasionally, an offer is made on a basis of a contract where a student will drop the course if insufficient progress is achieved.
[edit] Senior Stafflist
Headmaster- Dr. J. Marincowitz
Second Masters- Mr. E. Houston, Mr. C. Price
Senior Master- Mr. J. Dhondy
Head of Year 7- Ms. Kay-Russell
Head of Year 8- Mrs. C. Mulderij
Head of Year 9- Mr. M. Lewis
Head of Year 10- Mr. I. Benjafield
Head of Year 11- Mr. T. Bennett
Head of Year 12- Mr. D. Ryan
Head of Year 13- Mr. L. Hargadon
[edit] Culture & Sports
Queen Elizabeth's School is divided into six houses, named after famous old boys and school governors. They are Broughton, Harrisons, Leicester, Pearce, Stapylton and Underne. There are many interhouse competitions, from rugby to creative writing, but interest in these has fallen over the past few years, and there has recently been a drive to boost participation, particularly in years 7 to 10. The inter house debating tournaments, for all years, take place at the end of the year and are probably the most fiercely contested non-physical interhouse competition.
Rugby is compulsory for the first four years at the school, despite some unpopularity, whilst the infamous termly 'run' through thick mud (also known as the "Elephant Dip" linking Barnet Rugby Club and the path at the rear of the school) is still enforced.
Other sports, such as orienteering, basketball, tennis, cricket, fives and athletics are also strong - there is a lot of competitivity during the summer term, when many sports tournaments are held, before the examination period begins in June. Also a new Martial Arts club called KIXA started in the Summer term 2006.
The Founders Day Fete, and preceding celebratory service held in the large St. John the Baptist Anglican Church at the top of Barnet Hill, is probably the largest cultural event in the school calendar. It is held every year, regardless of weather, on the 3rd Saturday in June. It celebrates the founding of the school and is steeped in tradition. At the church, all Year 7 boys attend unless there are very good reasons for non-attendance. The governors attend, as do most teachers. They wear academic dress. The head boys, past and present, read at the service, and the choir sings. The boys then troop back to the school along Wood Street, and back into the school. They then prepare for the roll call. The roll call itself is again compulsory for all of Year 7, with five boys from each house attending from all subsequent senior years. (It used to include the entire school). The boys troop in from the two wings of the distinctive main building, and form three lines stretching across the school field. Each house sits together. (They used to stand - and it being mid-June, there were usually one or two who fainted.) The Fete itself is attended by approximately 3,000 people every year, and is one important source of fund raising for the school. More than £17,000 was raised in 2006. A large amount was raised by a new RAF climbing frame.
There are more than 50 clubs and societies which students may join during their time at the school. Most commonly joined societies are the sporting teams, music bands, and the Science Club, the latter two being extremely popular among years 7 and 8. Boys are more than welcome to set up their own society, provided that it is approved by a senior master and is supervised by a teacher. There have been some complaints among more senior boys that even though there is strong demand for such a society, there is no debating club run by boys or a Politics/EU/ model UN society, ideally for Year 10 boys upwards.
QE Boys has formed a long-term successful partnership with a school in Kerala, funded by the "India Appeal". There has been some criticism that Queen Elizabeth's is far more involved with the Indian school than its local "sister", Queen Elizabeth's School for Girls. Despite the girls' school having the same name, they are not linked.
In addition to this, the school has some strong links with charities through the House system, whereby each house holds one event per year so to generate funds for its associated charity.
[edit] Additional Information
Pupils at the school have been targeted by pupils of nearby schools as potential mugging victims. This has resulted in police being called in, and more recently, a reassertion of the ban on students bringing music players into school. As a result of this, students have been advised not to walk through or wait in Ravenscroft Park as that is the main target site.
There have also been incidents in which parents of children who did not receive admission into the school have protested against the school's policy of merit-based admission, however these cases are rare and most of them come about because the prospective boy's family have moved to the area assuming a place will therefore be guaranteed, and when this is not the case, they appeal.
The rare petitions against the school usually come from parents of boys at Ravenscroft Park, calling for QE to be shut down, although this tends to be due to the reason listed above and out of pure jealousy.
[edit] Trivia
- The name of every head boy the school has ever had is engraved on two boards in the school's main hall.
- Each house has its own colour, shown on the school uniform ties which the pupils wear. (It used to be on their caps.) Red denotes Broughton, Brown for Harrison, Yellow for Leicester, Purple for Pearce, Blue for Stapylton, Green for Underne.
- The new swimming pool was opened on 15th of September, but was first used on 12th of September.
- The cheats for the QE game are "jackthelad" for infinite health, infinite ammo and all guns, "yessir" to reach the second half and "letsdance" for the QE song.
[edit] Old Boys
- Kelvin Hopkins, British Member of Parliament
