Founder's Day Fête
The Founder's Day Fête, and the preceding service of celebration at St John the Baptist's Church, Barnet, is the largest cultural event in the school calendar. Steeped in tradition, it is held every year, regardless of weather, on the third Saturday in June, and celebrates the founding of the school in 1573.
All Year 7 boys must attend the church service. The governors also attend, as do most teachers, in academic dress. The head boys, past and present, are readers at the service, and the school choir sings. The boys then walk back to the school along Wood Street and prepare for the roll call on Staplyton Field. This is again compulsory for all of Year 7, with five boys from each house attending from all other senior years. In the past, this was compulsory for the whole school. The boys troop in from the two wings of the main building and form three lines stretching across the School Field. The boys of each house sit together, although traditionally they had to stand.
The Fête itself is attended by some three thousand people every year, and is a source of funds for the school.
Read more about this topic: Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School For Boys
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