Almost half the teaching staff at Queen Elizabeth's Girls' School, Barnet, have been there for at least ten years -- a record of long service that was described as "a remarkable achievement" by the headteacher Violet Walker.

When so many schools are facing a teacher shortage and struggle with high turnover, she said Queen Elizabeth’s was able to celebrate another strength of its popularity as a community school.

For the first time its annual awards ceremony recognised the long years of service of teaching and support staff.

Mrs Walker (far left, above) congratulated the 37 members of staff recognised at the school’s Celebration of Excellence: 21 for over ten years’ service; nine for over 15 years; four for over 20 years; one for over 25 years; and two for over 35 years.

“When teacher recruitment is such a challenge, we think this is the time to start a new tradition at Queen Elizabeth’s of celebrating the dedication of long standing members of staff,” said Mrs Walker seen above (from left to right) with teachers Nigel Royden (over 35 years’ service), Marc Fielder (over 25 years) and guest speaker, former QE pupil Olivia Matthews, who is now a London recruitment officer for the University of Essex.

Ms Matthews, who left QE Girls’ in 2016 to study economics at the University of Essex, obtaining a first-class degree, presented pupils with this year’s prizes for academic success.

Attending as guest speaker was her first return to the school since leaving in 2016 and she was delighted to have a chance to reminisce with Nigel Royden who had been her economics teacher when she was at Queen Elizabeth’s.

She hoped to be back more frequently and looked forward to advising pupils on the opportunities offered by going to university.

Among the prize winners was Grace Eldo, who was awarded the Abbott Prize and Blackwell’s Foundation Scholarship – seen above with Mrs Walker and Neil Marlow, Barnet Council’s director of education and learning,

Grace, who achieved 4A* at A level, is to study medicine at Queen Mary University of London and hopes to become a doctor, taking a special interest in surgery.

In welcoming the guests – who included the Mayor and Mayoress of Barnet, Councillor Tony Vourou and Mayoress Mrs Caroline Vourou – Mrs Walker said the ceremony was an opportunity to celebrate the notable success of students who held contributed to QE Girls’ exam results exceeding the “dizzy heights” of the previous year’s academic success.

The prizes that were being presented dated back in some cases to the school’s foundation in 1888 and were funded by bequests from previous staff and former pupils.

The Celebration of Excellence opened with music by the school’s musicians under their conductor Dzvina Stepanyak, QE Girls’ director of music (also seen above with the Mayor and Mayoress).