Queen Elizabeth's School

Queen Elizabeth's is a state-funded grammar school, with 450 years' experience of producing confident, able and responsible young men. We provide a totally meritocratic environment, in which our boys reach their very considerable potential both in their academic and extra-curricular pursuits

Our rich heritage is reflected in the School Chronicle, which is read annually on Founder’s Day and which records the Governors’ requirement that the education we provide should be as much in “good manners as in nurture for learning”. Similarly, our mission has long been “to produce young men who are confident, able and responsible”. In our strategic vision plan, Building on Distinction, we have re-defined what that means for the 2020s, gleaning the best from our historic traditions and from our experience as one of the country’s leading academic schools, and then combining that with the qualities which a new generation of Elizabethans will need to flourish in an inter-connected and fast-changing world.

To this end, we are committed firstly to the pursuit of academic development at the highest level. We lay good foundations such as hard work and perseverance, and, as a meritocracy, we regularly celebrate intellectual accomplishment. The School seeks to nurture broad, analytical thinkers who will thrive at university and beyond. The fruit of this approach is seen in our public examination results: QE is consistently placed at or very near the top of national league tables.

Secondly, we aim to inculcate in our boys attributes such as resilience and the ability to act appropriately in any situation, helping them to become principled young men secure in their own identity. This is achieved partly through our bespoke tutoring system and carefully structured pastoral arrangements, and partly through our expectation that all boys participate fully in the life of the School. We have an exciting, diverse range of extra-curricular activities through which every boy can pursue his interests and stretch himself as he learns new skills and talents.

Finally, through an emphasis on service within the School and through initiatives such as our Sixth Form external volunteering programme, we promote generosity of spirit and civic engagement, with boys learning to devote time and energy to the greater good. We emphasise kindness, consideration and compassion, encouraging boys to play their part in fostering our happy, inclusive School community

Our Mission
The original charter, granted by Queen Elizabeth I, established the School, “for the education, bringing up and instruction of boys”. This holistic view of the School’s role has continued to this day.

When boys leave us they not only have exceptional academic records, but are prepared to go and take their place in the world. We want them go on to enjoy successful, fulfilled and happy adult lives, whilst making a positive contribution to others in society.

Boys typically perform incredibly strongly in public examinations, with a clean sweep of A* at GCSE or A-level not being uncommon. They then take up places at the very best universities, both in the UK and overseas – with a recent trend for more boys going to Ivy League institutions in the United States. Further details on these outcomes can be found on our School Performance page.

However, there is far more to life at QE than examination results. Boys gain a fully rounded experience, with as much focus on what goes on beyond the classroom as within it.

In keeping with the School’s ancient traditions, but recognising the opportunities presented by technological advance, the Governors have recently reconfirmed the School’s mission.