Mr Enright
Mr N.J. Enright is the headmaster of Queen Elizabeth’s Boys’ School, Barnet. Having joined the school in 2002 as a Geography teacher, he has been an integral part of the Elizabethan community for a very long time. It was a pleasure talking to him and getting to know him and we hope that you enjoy the outcomes of this interview as much as we did!
Trishan Chanda and Giuseppe Mangiavacchi- Founders of The Student Insight
What was your favourite subject in secondary school?
Geography, without a doubt. I think Geography was a favourite subject of mine right from Year 7. I followed the advice of going with subjects you enjoy and Geography was one of my top GCSE options. It was also a definite subject for me, at A-Level as well. I did English Literature, French and Geography at A-Level and I thought about doing English at university as well, but ultimately I chose to go with Geography.
In high school a problem that most students all have to deal with nowadays is a workload, but also the problem of distractions ,with more things like social media and technology. Were there similar problems when you were in high school and how did you deal with these distractions?
The 1990s were very different. I remember sending my very first email in October 1996- that was in my first couple of days at university. I remember getting my own phone in 1999 (a Nokia Brick phone), like the ones I want Year 7s to have at our school now. I still remember my friends’ dial numbers from their landlines when we were in secondary school, but don’t know their mobile phone numbers to this day!
Moving on to your university life, what did you study, and where?
I studied geography and I studied at St. John's College, Oxford.
How would you describe your university experience?
It was immense fun, but hard work as well. Terms at Oxford were very short but intensive- only 8 weeks, and so I tried to pack a lot into those eight weeks. It's a really exciting time, where you start to live independently for the first time and where you make some really good friends. At university I also tried lots of new things- I took up rowing, for example. One of the great privileges was being able to see so many interesting people and hear visiting speakers talk as well, something I aim to channelize into this school as well.
When did you know that you wanted to pursue teaching and what was the main reason behind pursuing teaching?
I did a couple of internships with law firms and it was through them that I realised that I didn’t want to do law . At the end of my second year I received a travel award enabling a friend and I to travel to New Zealand for around 9 weeks. When we were in Auckland, we ended up doing some voluntary work in a Geography department in a grammar school in Auckland and that’s when I first found that I wanted to teach. So I got my PGCE (Post-graduate Certificate of Education) and I got placed in two different schools as a trainee teacher. Given where I am right now, it just so happened to be that I got placed at The Latymer School and Haberdashers Aske’s Boys’ School, who are now our sporting rivals but also good friends! After that, I got a job at St. Gregory’s School, Kenton. I joined QE in September 2002 as head of Geography and by September 2011, I was the headteacher of the School.
How has QE’s Geography department changed over the years, given that you were the head of the department for a couple of years?
When I joined, the department really began to expand with many talented teachers joining. I really enjoyed my time as head of the department, organising field trips and seeing people going off to do geography at university. One of the things I love about being here for such a long period of time is being able to know our current students and our former students (Old Elizabethans) for such a long period of time. I even had my own form when I started in 2002 and now seeing those students, who were in my form, with their children is very exciting.
Have there been many challenges as a headmaster and how have you dealt with these challenges?
One challenge that we all have to counter at this school is to avoid complacency. Everybody here must always strive to do their best and to be even better than the best. So that is definitely a challenge that we have had to experience at this school for a while. I would say that a great challenge was imposed during the pandemic when we had to change our whole approach to learning and teaching. However, I do approach challenges with confidence knowing that the Elizabethan community is capable of achieving anything to which it puts its mind.
In light of the School’s 450th anniversary, what is one thing you would change about this school and why?
That’s a very difficult question but I think at the broadest level, there's nothing I would change. But I suppose, if we had unlimited money to spend, that would be brilliant? However, one thing I really enjoy is the work that we do with other schools and we're doing a lot more than we have ever done, but there’s just not enough time to do as much as I would like. We may think that 7 years of school is a long period of time, but looking back on life when you go through much more, it seems like the years just flew by and it feels very short. I think it would be great to be able to pause the clock at times!
What piece of advice would you give to teenagers and students in general, especially in today’s society?
I think one of the most important pieces of advice I could give to people of all ages is to savour every experience you have. When I see people at a concert and they are all holding up their phones, I think “Are you really going to look at that video later on?”. I enjoy photography but I think that we should all savour the moment, so we can conserve our memories and phones as well! Another piece of advice I would give is to just not waste time! Generally, boys at QE are brilliant at making the most of the time available to them!