Foreword

The theme of this edition of ‘Queen’s Today’ is community, which feels very timely as I write this in the midst of our second period of closure. I’ve been so impressed with how our whole community has come together during this pandemic; teachers, pupils and parents have coped so wonderfully with lockdown and the trials of remote learning. It’s also been fantastic to see so many of our alumnae reconnect with former classmates, teachers and the College through the launch of our new online platform for Old Queens, oqconnect.com. While we are all physically apart at the moment, in some ways as a community we have never felt closer, as perhaps demonstrated by the fact that this edition of Queen’s Today includes contributions from a pupil in Form II at QCPS and an Old Queen who began writing her diary in the middle of the Second World War.

One of the unifying (and most uplifting) threads throughout this difficult year has been the efforts of our fantastic Music department, led by Kieran Hughes, to ensure that pupils and teachers can keep making music together, despite often not being able to meet in person. They have managed to livestream beautiful concerts and produce some exceptional remote orchestra and ensemble performances. Music has always been a huge strength at Queen’s, of course, and you can read more about Mr Hughes and one of his most illustrious predecessors on page 19.

Another bright spot, which has united the whole Queen’s community, is the new Diversity Action Group, established in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. This group brings together staff, pupils, alumnae and governors to effect meaningful change and deliver a more diverse curriculum at Queen’s. If you’re interested in ensuring your own reading is as broad and diverse as possible, do take a look at the selection of recommended books which have helped members of our community think differently and more diversely on pages 15 and 16.

Finally, I’ve been extremely heartened that so many people in our community donated to our Bursary Appeal to enable us to help around 30 Queen’s families who saw their businesses close overnight or their livelihoods essentially disappear due to the pandemic. Thanks to your generosity, no pupil has had to leave Queen’s because of financial hardship. Despite this success, we still have a fundraising mountain to climb, if we’re to meet our goal of having 10% of all pupils on full bursaries by the time we celebrate our 175th Anniversary in 2023. So, you’ll see that Laura Hall, our fantastic new Headmistress at QCPS, has bravely volunteered to overcome her fear of heights and be strapped to the roof of a plane, to ‘wing walk’, while I will be freefall abseiling from the tallest sculpture in the UK – all to raise money for our Bursary Appeal. You can read more about these crazy stunts on page 8 and I do hope some of you will consider sponsoring us!

Mr Richard Tillett, Principal of Queen’s College, London