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Year 12 pupil Madhi Elango is to represent the country after beating off competition from thousands of older students to win a place on the British team for this year’s International Physics Olympiad. Madhi will join four team-mates for the competition in Copenhagen in July.

“This is a truly impressive achievement and we are delighted at Madhi’s success,” said the Headmaster, Neil Enright. “The competition is primarily aimed at Year 13 students, so he has done exceptionally well to progress to this stage. We wish him every success in Denmark and trust that he will also enjoy the cultural aspects of the trip.”

Madhi and fellow Year 12 student Aniruddh Raghu reached the second stage of the competition after they both achieved top 50 places from more than 2,000 entrants. After the second round, Aniruddh was placed in the top 30 whilst Madhi was placed in the top 16 and was selected for the final training camp in Lincoln. After sitting further exacting test papers, Madhi was finally placed in the top five.

More than 80 countries will be represented at the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) , which was established as an international competition for secondary-level pupils in 1967. Each country is invited to send a team of up to five school students who are given an opportunity to test themselves at the very highest level against their peers. The aim of the Olympiad is also to provide a cultural and social opportunity for the participants.

One day of the IPhO will be devoted to a theoretical test paper and another to an experimental paper, each of which takes five hours. Students will receive the examination papers in their national language. Despite the extremely taxing tests, the organisers say a festival atmosphere prevails; they organise a programme of excursions and social activities to give students the chance to learn about the host culture and make friends from other countries.

Madhi and Aniruddh have both received a book prize for their performance in the Year 12 paper of the British Physics Olympiad – a separate achievement from their above success, since that competition was aimed at Year 13 students. In addition, Bhavik Mehta, Andrew Hui, Robert Swan, Tianlin Zhang and Kishan Makwana also received book tokens for their achievements in the Year 11 paper for GCSE-level Physics.

Rain on Founder’s Day failed to dampen the spirits of staff and boys, who celebrated this high point in the QE calendar with their customary pride and enthusiasm.

While the annual cricket match between the School and the Old Elizabethans had to be cancelled, many other features of the day proved popular – especially the culinary comforts provided by the international food tent!

In the morning’s Thanksgiving Service at Chipping Barnet Parish Church, guest speaker Christos Karaolis (OE 1995-2002) (pictured left below) spoke on the importance of friendships forged and lessons learned during his time at QE: “To this day, I still regularly see my friends from School who have gone on to have successful and diverse careers … our common thread is the School that gave us so much and put us on the road to those successes.”

Mr Karaolis, who completed a degree in Law at Trinity College, Oxford, worked as a political writer for John Prestcott before taking the Bar. He said: “It taught me a crucial lesson for my adult life; you can disagree, sometimes strongly, with someone for their views or beliefs, but still respect, and indeed like them, for their hard work and commitment.”

He recalled how much he had gained at QE from the Young Enterprise scheme and how he applied knowledge acquired then on a daily basis in his current employment as a business strategy consultant. “Use the advice of more experienced people – older boys, Old Elizabethans and those who you might just see as old; your teachers and parents; as I know their ideas and inspiration count for so much.”

Drizzle started to fall as the Headmaster began the traditional roll call in front of the School. “I was very impressed by the boys’ stoicism despite the weather,” he said afterwards. “It was unfortunate the cricket match had to be cancelled, but the field was something of a morass. Despite that, the day was a great success and we are confident that we will raise as much money this year as ever. The food tents were magnificent and formed one of the day’s highlights,” added Mr Enright.

The international food tent featured Indian, Chinese, West African, Sri Lankan, Turkish and (new for this year) Mediterranean foods. There was also a barbecue tent, home make cakes, and strawberries and cream.

The Concert Band disdained the wet conditions and played with considerable composure, demonstrating their musical abilities and adding to the sense of occasion.

A six-week project is underway to introduce QE boys to cutting-edge cancer research techniques while helping them develop their computer coding skills.

Cancer Research UK are bringing in their own Raspberry Pi micro-processors to teach a select group of Year 8 and 9 boys about their work. The Raspberry Pi is a small, inexpensive computer developed in the UK to help promote the teaching of computer science in schools.

Before the expert team came in, QE’s Head of Pupil Progression, Dr Sarah Westcott, organised an introductory session on DNA’s triplet code, in order to make the project accessible to the 14 boys.

In addition to the micro-processors, the team also brought in their own monitors, keyboards and mice for the boys to use. They demonstrated DNA sequencing and how to identify and analyse any changes, notably mutations, explaining how that assists into the research of the causes of cancer and possible treatments. The team also brought with them DNA models and chromatographs showing a sequence run, which helped to reinforce the complex concepts to which the boys were being introduced.

The team, from the cancer charity’s London Research Institute in South Mimms, are linking the project to the 60^th anniversary of the publication of Nobel Prize winners Francis Crick and James Watson’s DNA Structure Paper in Nature magazine in April 1953.

A Year 9 boy has been selected to represent Great Britain in baseball this summer.

Rion Hoshino, who plays in the London Youth Baseball League (LYBL), has been chosen to join an All-Star team that will represent Great Britain in Kutno, Poland, in July at the Europe & Africa Regional Tournament.

The winning team will go forward to represent Europe & Africa in the Junior Division Little League World Series in Michigan, USA. Little League Baseball is one of the largest youth sport organisations in the world.

The President of LYBL, James McClure, said: “This is an élite playing opportunity to compete against teams from many other countries in Europe and Africa. As the players will be staying along with the other teams, it is not only a significant athletic experience, but also a cultural learning opportunity.”

Rion started playing baseball three years ago and plays every weekend in the LYBL. He was also selected to play for Team GB at the U15 European Championships in Prague in April 2013, when the team reached the quarter-finals.

“We are very pleased with Rion’s baseball achievements thus far and wish him every success in the forthcoming tournament,” said Headmaster Neil Enright. “It is very satisfying to see our boys performing so well in such a diverse range of sports.”

National broadcast journalist Michael Sullivan, who was a pupil at QE during the late 1940s and early 1950s, has died from a brain tumour, aged 76.

Michael John Ralph Maynard Sullivan, who was renowned for the economy and accuracy of his reporting, was born in Clapham, London, on 15^th March 1937. His father was an HM Inspector of schools and a bibliographer of the works of G K Chesterton.

Michael left QE in 1953 at 16 to take a diploma in journalism at Regent Street Polytechnic. From there he took up an apprenticeship in 1956 on the Stretford and Urmston Advertiser in Manchester. Following his National Service he joined the Hertfordshire Advertiser, then the Press Association. He became known for his impeccable shorthand and as a fast and efficient news reporter.

‘Sully’, as he was known, became part of a wave of Fleet Street journalists hired by the BBC in the mid-1960s to sharpen its news reporting. His good looks made him a natural in front of the camera and he swiftly became a master of writing to pictures. He covered many of the leading events of his day including the Rhodesian crisis; the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the death throes of the apartheid system in South Africa. Michael was handpicked to be one of the correspondents who covered the release from detention of Nelson Mandela in 1990.

Michael was well known too for his independence of mind and he often clashed with those in authority. His criticism of BBC management, due to his belief that he was being overlooked for top reporting jobs, sadly became something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. He famously penned a sketch of the then Chief Executive of Television News, Tony Hall, in school cap and shorts with a satchel – a caricature which led to Mr Hall being dubbed “head prefect”.

In his spare time, he pursued an interest in aviation, building a model aeroplane in the basement of Television and, later, assembling a real one and obtaining a pilot’s licence.

After retiring from the BBC in 1993, he was persuaded to join the newly-launched Sky News. His skill at turning round breaking news stories, speedily and accurately, soon led to his establishment as senior scriptwriter.

Michael, who died on 28 May 2013, is survived by his partner, Janneke Mattson, and two sons from an earlier marriage.