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Year 9 boys engaged in some serious scientific study while also having a great deal of fun during a four-day trip to Paris.

The half-term trip included visits to La Villette (a park housing the biggest Science museum in Europe), Le Bourget Air & Space Museum and a full day at Disneyland Paris.

The first day was spent travelling, including a ferry crossing. Day two featured an especially packed programme: not only were there the visits to Le Bourget and to the attractions at La Villette, including the planetarium, but there was also an evening meal at a Parisian restaurant and a trip to the Montparnasse Tower.

Physics teacher Gillian Deakin, who organised the trip, said: “This was a study tour specially designed to be relevant to the Key Stage 3 programme of study and to the new GCSE requirements for Biology, Physics and the Combined Science. Elements of the Le Bourget visit were also relevant to Design & Technology.”

At Le Bourget, the emphasis was on energy, motion and forces, with boys learning about:

• Gravity and its effect on bodies in the solar system
• Satellites
• Using energy
• Turning forces.

The La Villette Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie visit covered energy as well, with specific topics including nuclear physics and satellites. In addition, at La Villette boys were able to learn about the earth and its atmosphere, focusing on our planet’s structure and on the weathering and formation of rocks. And they looked too at the structure and function of living organisms, finding out about topics such as: cell structure and stem cells; relating cellular structure to organs, biotechnology and DNA.

On day three, the boys headed to Disneyland Paris and had their evening meal in the theme park. The final day included an opportunity to visit a hypermarket en route to the Calais ferry terminal.

“The trip went extremely well, with boys taking full advantage of the opportunities to learn, while also enjoying themselves tremendously,” said Miss Deakin.

Seventy senior pupils from QE and one of London’s leading girls’ schools met up for an academic symposium, organised by Geography teacher and Academic Enrichment Tutor, Helen Davies.

The afternoon event saw QE and North London Collegiate School pupils sharing ideas, discussing complex topics and challenging the ideas of others through detailed argument.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “This symposium was an excellent example of an academic project conducted in partnership with another school of a similar profile. It afforded our boys and the NLCS girls the opportunity to interact with each other both academically and socially, and proved to be enjoyable and beneficial for all the participants.”

Involving 70 Year 13 pupils and 12 staff drawn from the two schools, the afternoon began with a thought-provoking introduction from QE’s Head of Politics and Head of Year13, Liam Hargadon, in which he touched on the US election, the importance of intellectual debate and the development of one’s own viewpoint.

The pupils were then split into different subject groups for discussions that were led by the students themselves, but prompted with challenging questions from teachers.

Topics included:

• English (Head of English, Susannah Sweetman): The use of humour in passages of writing and how appreciation of it might differ for different readers (ages, genders, occupations, etc.)
• History (History teacher and Head of Year 12, Charlotte Coleman): What is war?  Is ‘not peace’ equivalent to war?
• Economics (NLCS teacher): Is free-market economics the most beneficial system for Less Economically Developed Countries as well as More Economically Developed Countries?  How do we measure innovation in LEDCs when there might not always be the funds available to patent new ideas?
• Medicine (Chemistry teacher Susanna Butterworth): The morals involved in genetic engineering; how should scientists and governments deal with the risk of people wanting to create ‘designer babies’?

A Year 7 boy has returned in triumph from the 8th European Karate Championships in Italy.

Yusuf Karim won a silver medal in the strongly contested Individual Kata category at the WUKF (World Union of Karate-Do Federation) event in Montichiari in northern Italy. He was competing against a strong field of more than 70, including, from the last World Championships, the reigning Italian world champion and gold medallist, as well as the Romanian silver and bronze medallists. Yusuf scored a personal best in the second round.

He was also a gold medal-winner in the Team Kata category, with England beating the world-champion Italian team in their native country.

In the Individual Kumite category, he fought two matches and reached the quarter-finals.

Back home, Yusuf is keen to use his skills to contribute to the community: he has recently started coaching and mentoring lower belts at his club. He started in the sport four years ago and has enjoyed success at last year’s Welsh Open and at this year’s Polish Open, UK Open and at the World Championships in Dublin.

QE’s Combined Cadet Force turned out on parade for Remembrance Sunday in Barnet and also helped mark Armistice Day at the School.

The contingent joined veterans, reservists, representatives of the Armed Forces and other cadet forces for the commemorations, parading along the High Street to High Barnet War Memorial. At the memorial, Cadet Under Officer Janith Peiris, the School’s most senior cadet, laid a wreath on behalf of QE’s CCF.

The Mayor of Barnet, Councillor David Longstaff, said in a speech to the parade: “It is important that we never forget the sacrifice made by so many in the service of our country. Remembrance Sunday is the time to pause and reflect on the profound debt we owe those who have given their lives in the two world wars and recent conflicts, and to think of their families.

“This year’s commemorations have added poignancy: 100 years since the Battle of the Somme, where 419 people from the Barnet area lost their lives.”

Speaking afterwards, School Staff Instructor Charlie Maud-Munro said: “It was once again really an honour to take the boys on the parade.”

On Armistice Day, 11th November, as has become customary, the whole School joined together, along with the Chairman of Governors, Barrie Martin, for an act of remembrance. Year 10 boy Tristan Boldy sounded the Last Post. The two-minute silence was also observed in all classrooms.

Finally, the School’s cadets were taking part in a remembrance service on Monday 14th November.

Three Old Elizabethans have been honoured for their achievement by Trinity College, Cambridge, by being formally admitted as Scholars to its Foundation.

Gabriel Gendler (2007–2014), Andrew Hui (2008–2015) and Bhavik Mehta (2008–2015) all took part in the special ceremony, which dates back to 1560 – just 14 years after Henry VIII founded the college, which he dedicated to the “honour and glory of the Holy and Undivided Trinity”.

Scholarships at Trinity are awarded only to students who gain a first in university examinations or are strongly recommended by their Director of Studies. In becoming Scholars, the three OEs join the college’s Master, Fellows, Chaplains, Librarian, Regius Scholars of Divinity, Hebrew and Greek, and other Scholars, who together comprise the Foundation.

Gabriel was awarded a Senior Scholarship for achieving a first in Mathematics in his second-year university examination. Andrew and Bhavik were awarded Junior Scholarships for achieving firsts in their university examinations in Medicine and Mathematics respectively.

Before their admission as Scholars and their entry into the Admission of Scholars’ Ledger, held in Trinity’s Wren Library, the candidates first had to sign a declaration of loyalty to the college, which is the largest college at the university.

Ninety-nine Senior Scholars and 63 Junior Scholars were then admitted at the candlelit ceremony held in the college chapel, which was attended by guests including parents. After a welcome by the Senior Tutor, Professor Catherine Barnard, the gown-clad candidates were presented to the Master, Professor Sir Gregory Winter, by their tutors.

Professor Barnard said: “I feel immensely proud of all our students. They excel academically, as demonstrated by the number of scholars being admitted, but many excel in other ways: on the sporting field, as writers, musicians and artists. Trinity is a place which recognises and rewards students’ ability to fulfil their potential.”

Senior scholars received a copy of broadcaster Edward Stourton’s 2011 book, Trinity: A Portrait, and the Junior Scholars a copy of the history of the college by the historian G M Trevelyan, who served as Master there from 1940 to 1951.