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Year 9 boys felt the thrill of fear when they visited the West End production of a Gothic ghost story.

Forty-three pupils made the journey to the Fortune Theatre to see The Woman in Black, the play dubbed ‘the most terrifying live theatre experience in the world’.

English teacher Lucy Riseborough, who organised the visit, said: “Whilst the boys like to pretend the play was ‘not that scary’, the screams that erupted from our section of the audience told a rather different story!”

With the boys having studied Gothic stories during the first half of the Summer Term, a trip to see one of the most famous examples of the genre served to round off the topic.

The Woman in Black has been running for almost 30 years, making it one of the longest-running plays in London. The script is adapted from Susan Hills’ 1983 novella, which is written in the style of a traditional Gothic novel.  It shows the elderly Arthur Kipps telling a real-life ghost story to a young actor, who turns it into a drama – a play within a play.

The actor plays Kipps, whilst Kipps himself plays all the other characters, creating a sparse cast of only three actors, which, Miss Riseborough reports, generates a disturbingly solitary atmosphere.

In the story, Kipps, a solicitor in the remote town of Crythin Gifford, has to visit a mysterious house in the marshes to tie up a dead woman's affairs – discovering too late why the villagers recoil from the residence.

“Using psychological mind tricks, the play lures you into a false sense of security before unleashing the sheer terror of the ‘woman with the wasted face’: the woman in black,” said Miss Riseborough. “Its spine-chilling, blood-curdling, harrowing nature penetrates your very bones and is the stuff of your most insidious nightmares.”

Poetry and number puzzles were among the activities enjoyed by local children at QE’s 2016 Primary Challenge Day.

Now in its second year, the day gives Year 5 children from local primary schools the opportunity to find out about life as a QE pupil.

Teams from four schools entered this year. They spent their visit taking part in a range of English and Mathematics activities, including a number of competitions.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “At QE, we draw our pupils from a wide area, but we are always very keen to receive applications from local boys. Our Primary Challenge Day gives us the chance to welcome in girls and boys and girls from this area, giving them a taste of what being a pupil here is like. They engage in a little friendly competition in an enjoyable and stimulating setting. We also take the opportunity to remind them of the importance of applying for places – because, of course, only those who families from the local area who actually make an application are in with a chance of winning a place.”

The day’s competition, organisd by Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung, included interactive games and tasks comprising a spelling competition, a poetry-writing challenge, number puzzles and logic problems. The limerick round was won by Woodridge School, the crossnumber round and the spelling bee were both won by St John’s School and the logic round was won by Monken Hadley School. However, the overall winners were Foulds School.

A visit to the Henry Moore Foundation gave Year 8 artists fresh inspiration and insights for their own work.

Thirty pupils made the trip to the studio and gardens near Bishop’s Stortford, where they were able to see some of the greatest sculptures by Moore (1898–1986).

The group included Guy Flint and Hugh Westcott, who wrote afterwards: “Upon arrival, we explored the original studio of Henry Moore in which we found many maquettes – small, working versions of larger sculptures."

After that, they headed off to the 72-acre gardens, where many larger pieces were on display.  “Of these magnificent works of art, Knife Edge Two Piece was our favourite because we found it to be quite abstract – we could interpret it however we wanted to. We also thought the scale and size surprising: many of the sculptures were several meters tall, such as the Large Totem Head.”

In School, Guy, Hugh and their classmates have recently been sculpting and then drawing their own clay forms, basing them on the works of Moore and on natural processes such as weathering and erosion.

“Visiting the Henry Moore Foundation has inspired us, giving us new and innovative ideas on how we can work on and develop our artwork.”

Queen Elizabeth’s School reached the semi-final stage at the finals event of the National Schools’ Chess U19 Championship – QE’s best-ever result in the competition.

Earlier in the championship, the team had achieved victories over King Edward’s School, Chelmsford, and local rivals Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School. They thus became zonal winners, securing their place with 15 other schools at the finals hosted by Uppingham School in Rutland.

At Uppingham, QE qualified for the semi-final with emphatic wins against top chess-playing schools Winchester College (5-1) and Millfield School (6-0) in a last-16 match and quarter-final respectively.

Teacher in charge of chess Geoff Roberts said: “Reaching the semi-final of the most prestigious schools’ chess tournament – the one which every school has aspirations to win – is a real achievement and one that confirms our place amongst the country’s élite chess-playing schools.”

QE just missed out on qualifying for the final, losing to Hampton School 3.5-2.5 in a closely fought match. The School finished the competition in joint-sixth place overall.

“My congratulations to all the boys who have represented the School in this competition and a particular mention must go to the Captain, Jake Breindel, who now moves on to university, for his commitment to chess at QE throughout his seven years at the School as well as his rôle in creating the strong team environment which has underpinned our success,” Mr Roberts added.

He also pointed to the outstanding individual performance from Year 9 pupil Federico Rocco, who won all four of his games on board 2 – a clean sweep achieved by only four players at the finals, as the English Chess Federation’s report pointed out.

In addition to Jake and Federico, the following boys have represented QE in the competition in 2015-16: Ananth Balaji (Year 12); Rishul Karia (Year 11); Devin Karia (Year 8) and George Ivanov (Year 9).

Thirty Year 8 pupils enjoyed the chance to get their hands on genuine Roman artefacts during a visit to the site of the ancient city of Verulamium.

At the Verulamium Museum, the boys were allowed to handle objects discovered during excavations at the site in the 1930s. These ranged from a pestle and mortar and a frying pan to earrings and necklaces, as well as amphorae (large wine jugs), bricks and even knives!

Languages teacher Helen Shephard said: “The eagerness with which the boys discussed the objects and shared their ideas was amazing to see and to hear – many called it the highlight of the day.”

Another high point for the boys was their exploration of a hypocaust – the system used by the Romans to heat the floors in their homes and at the baths.  “The boys’ inquisitiveness about this ingenious system and the level of precision in their drawings and notes made for a very educational, worthwhile and enjoyable experience for all,” added Dr Shephard.

Verulamium was the third-largest city in Roman Britain; the museum stands on the site of the Roman town in the south-west of modern St Albans.

The visit gave the boys an opportunity to relate what they saw and heard to the sections on life and civilisation in Roman Britain in the Cambridge Latin Course Book II, the textbook they have been following this year.

In the first part of the trip, the boys saw an ancient Roman theatre, which could seat up to 7,000 people and which hosted plays, shows and sometimes even public executions!  Nearby were shops, wineries and a villa.

Next the boys were given a brief talk about the history of the site and had the opportunity to handle the artefacts. At the end of the talk, two of the boys dressed up as a rich Roman and a Roman slave – much to the amusement of their classmates. The visit to the hypocaust rounded off the day.