And the winner is…Stapylton!

For the first time – at least in recent history – QE’s winning House for the academic year was announced in front of the whole School.

Boys from Years 7–10 – all the pupils not currently on study leave – gathered and sat in their Houses in the Shearly Hall for the end-of-year assembly.

Headmaster Neil Enright presented the Eric Shearly House Cup to Stapylton’s House Captain, Tochi Onuora, and House Vice Captain Dhruv Patel. Stapylton had amassed the greatest total of points over a year of keenly fought competition.

The eagerly awaited presentation was the climax of this special assembly, which also featured a number of reports and other presentations, as well as performances from four of QE’s young musicians. In previous years, the winning House had been presented with the cup in House assembly, and the presentation was therefore not witnessed by boys from any of the other houses.

“My congratulations go to Stapylton on their achievement, which is the culmination of a year of effort and endeavour,” said Mr Enright. “By bringing all the boys together for the presentation, we sought to bolster still further the boys’ sense of allegiance to their Houses.”

The year-long inter-House competition takes account of points given both to individuals and to teams. Throughout the year, boys have opportunities to earn merits, while there are a large number of House competitions.

2014–15 winners Stapylton repeated their achievement this year despite not winning Sports Day, which accounts for a significant proportion of the overall points to be won. Sports Day was won by Harrisons’.

The assembly featured explanation of what the House system is and what it does, highlighting especially the important role played PE and Games. The boys heard from four Year 12 pupils – Senior Vice-Captains Ché Applewhaite and Adrian Burbie, followed by Vice Captains Bushry Basheer and Nitharsan Sathiyalingam. The Sixth-Formers explained the ethos behind QE’s House system, covering the importance of allegiance, of competition and of charity events. They also spoke about the nature of the charity fundraising events organised by the Houses – such as this year’s staff football match. And they announced that there are to be bigger and better such events in the future, together with more themed House assemblies.

During the assembly, PE teachers Rhys Davies-Horne, James Clarke, Jon Hart and Head of Games Mark Peplow gave end-of-year summaries for each of the year groups. Mr Peplow was making his final assembly appearance before leaving the School this summer after 15 years.

Elaine White, Drama Co-ordinator, presented the Silver Arts Award to a number of boys for the work they have done in drama over the past year.

There were musical interludes from: Year 9 pianist Drew Sellis, playing Misty by Errol Garner; cellist Tai Oyama, also of Year 9, playing J S Bach’s Prelude from Cello Suite no. 3; Year 10 pianist Marc Hill, playing Hamburg’s arrangement of Over the Rainbow, and Year 7 flautist Aadarsh Khimasia, accompanied on the piano by fellow Year 7 pupil Shivas Patel, playing Gossec’s Tambourin.