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Having finished as runners-up in the regional heat of the Team Maths Challenge, a QE team competed in the national final.

Captain Guy Flint, of Year 9, and teammates Athiyan Chandramohan, of Year 8, Anshul Sajip, of Year 9, and Thilakshan Thayalan, of Year 8, finished 17th out of the 88 teams in the national final at the Royal Horticultural Halls (Lindley Hall), scoring 181 points out of a possible 228.

Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung said: “1,757 teams entered this year’s Team Maths Challenge, so to be invited to the national final is a great achievement in itself.”

The event consisted of five rounds.  One round – a poster round &ndas h; had a theme of polyominoes, which are a shape made by connecting a number of equal squares (an extension of dominoes, which comprise only two squares). The activity rounds were: the group circus, which involved working on practical Mathematics problems; a relay race, which required a combination of quickness across the room and speed at solving problems; a crossnumber (similar to a crossword, but involving numbers) and a shuttle, which was a series of mini-relays against the clock. 

Special guest Simon Singh, author of The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets gave a short speech about the connections between Mathematics and comedy-writing.  All the skills learned in Mathematics train people in how to think and these are also the necessary skills to write good comedy sketches, he said, adding that this is why so many of the writers of The Simpsons have mathematical backgrounds.

• An example of a question faced by the boys: given a 5 x 4 grid and 14 counters, place the counters so that every row and every column has an even number of counters in it.

Year 7 pupil Arjun Arunkumar’s poetry won first prize in a national competition which aims at stamping out racism in football and more widely in society.

Arjun’s trilogy, entitled Tolerance, Equality and Diversity, took first prize in the Year 7–9 creative writing category in the Show Racism the Red Card National School Competition.

He was presented with his award by England football manager Gareth Southgate at a ceremony at Leicester City’s King Power Stadium hosted by BBC sports presenter Manish Bhasin.

During the day, the winners and their families saw an exhibition of their entries and were given a tour of the stadium, including the opportunity to have their photograph taken with the Premier League trophy won by Leicester in 2016. They also had the chance to get involved with practising some football skills with Richard Braithwaite, aka Mr Silky Skills.

Guests included players from Leicestershire County Cricket Club, Leicester City FC Ladies and Leicester Riders basketball club and well-known figures from the world of football including Dave Bassett, Anwar Uddin, Jason Lee, Frank Clark, Scott McGleish, Luther Blissett, Brendon Batson and Dave Bennett.

& lt;p> The competition was run by Show Racism the Red Card (SRtRC), an anti-racism charity that uses professional footballers as role models to educate young people about the dangers of racism in football and in society. As well as creative writing, it featured categories for anti-racism themed artwork and film.

The competition is supported by the National Union of Teachers (NUT), UNISON, Unite the Union, the Professional Footballers Association (PFA), the Football Association (FA), Durham County Council and the International Federation of Professional Footballers (FIFPro) and Potts Print UK.

Thanking Leicester City for hosting the ceremony, Show Racism the Red Card's Chief Executive, Ged Grebby, said: “SRtRC would like to congratulate all the winners of the 2017 School Competition on their achievement.”

Arjun’s poem, Tolerance, ends:

We must stand together and act as one.
If we stop racism, humanity has won.

The final stanza of Diversity is:

Which dress will humanity wear
The first dress with much flair
Or the second, with colours one
Weak, dull and liked by none?

Here is his poem, Equality, in full:< /p>

The river burbles through the land
It ripples past its golden banks.
It flows to the sea by the setting sun,
Carving its path by acting as one.

A road, too, goes through the land.
It carries people through the sand.
But near its source, it splits in two –
A great invisible line it drew

One road was higher, full of light.
Those who walked it had more might.
Yet both roads sank into the ground
Those who walked it were never found.

Years, years and years have passed.
A new path emerged at last.
Will it be split roads or a strong stream?
Will humanity split at its seams?

QE contemporaries Chris Shurety and Jerry Golland both received awards in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

Chris (OE 1956–1963, pictured left) received an MBE for services to Music, while Jerry (pictured below), who was also at QE from 1956 to 1963, was awarded a British Empire Medal for services to Business and Charity.

Chris, who is Artistic Director of Contemporary Music for All (CoMA), has devoted a large part of his life to enabling as many people as possible to get involved in music-making. Having started to play instruments himself from around the age of 40, he founded the late-starter orchestral movement in 1983 by establishing the East London Late Starters Orchestra.

He set up CoMA in 1993 to enable musicians of all abilities to play an active role in contemporary music. Today it has a national network of instrumental and vocal ensembles, an expanding international programme and a unique music collection comprising hundreds of works of new music.

CoMA Chair Tom Service, a leading BBC Radio 3 presenter who also writes about music for The Guardian, said: “No single figure in contemporary musical life is responsible for commissioning as much and inspiring as much new music and music-making as Chris Shurety. But what’s most important is how he has realised his radical vision of a fu lly open, fully participative musical culture – and how an idea that started with CoMA is now radiating across the whole of musical culture, from schools to professional ensembles. He is one of the essential, inspirational presences in contemporary music, and the most deserving of this recognition!”

Richard ‘Jerry’ Golland, a solicitor who lives in Welwyn Hatfield, helped hundreds of young people during more than a decade with The Prince’s Trust. He continues to work with The Sylvia Adams Charitable Trust, a charity formed with the £5.2m assets of an antique dealer which helps vulnerable children and families affected by illness in the UK and supports development projects in Africa.

Now retired, he spent more than 40 years as a lawyer with a number of firms, having benefited from a QE connection for the vital first step in that successful career. He was also the Hertfordshire Chairman – and, later, East of England Regional Chairman – for the Institute of Directors.

On the announcement of the Birthday Honours last month, Jerry told the Welwyn Hatfield Times: “I am surprised, but tickled pink. It is nice to know that people notice, especially as it is local people who have nominated me.”

READ MORE:

Chris Shurety: A lifelong love of classical music that began at QE

“These OEs get everywhere!” Jerry Golland in his own words

Queen Elizabeth’s School has been named the UK’s top school in this year’s British Biology Olympiad.

The School took the prize after its tally of 20 gold medals placed it first in the competition run by the Royal Society of Biology. QE thus ousts St Paul’s School from its accustomed position on the Top School trophy: the independent school took the title in 2013 and has won it every year since, apart from in 2014, when it went to Westminster School.

QE Headmaster Neil Enright said: “My congratulations go to the entire Biology department and to boys who entered this year’s Olympiad. We have some very talented biologists and this is a singular achievement, which is the result of a great deal of hard work on the part of all concerned.”

Head of Biology Gillian Ridge and Biology teacher Mev Armon attended the society’s Education Awards Ceremony at the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s Savoy Place venue in central London knowing that QE had won the Top School in England prize. However, it was only as the ceremony progressed that they learned that their medal total was more than any school in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, thus making QE the leading School in the UK.

Dr Ridge and Mr Armon were presented with the trophy by Professor Dame Jean Thomas, the society’s President and Dr Andrew Treharne, Chair of UK Biology Competitions, a Special Interest Group of the society set up to organise competitions including the Olympiad.

Mr Armon said: “A number of people came up to us during the event and congratulated Q E on knocking St Paul’s off the top spot!”

A total of 7,590 pupils took part in the Olympiad. In the first round, QE boys won 20 gold medals, 10 silvers, one bronze and three highly commended, which represents a School record.  The 100 top-scoring gold medallists nationwide were invited to take part in round 2. The 100 included seven boys from QE – Year 13 pupils Bushry Basheer, Sam Friend, Santhosh Ganeshamoorthy, Viral Gudiwala, Kavi Shah and Abhishek Srivastava, together with Michael Takla, the highest scorer in Year 12. Bushry performed so well in round 2 that he qualified for the national final of the 2017 Olympiad – only of only 16 finalists nationwide.

Rachel Lambert-Forsyth, Director of Membership and Professional Affairs at the society, said immediately after the event: “The annual Education Awards Ceremony showcases the talent our young biologists possess not just here in the UK but across the world, and it is very encouraging to see more and more students each year engage with our competitions and demonstrate their enthusiasm and passion for the subject.

“I would also like to congratulate not only our student medal winners, but those teachers who engage and enthuse this generation of students through their hard work, dedication and love of the subject. We were delighted to recognise and celebrate them also today.”

Professor Tim Birkhead FRS, a previous winner of the HE Bioscience Teacher of the Year Award, delivered the keynote lecture about his ongoing research on guillemots, which was warmly received by the audience.

& lt;p> More than 100 prizes and awards were given to boys from QE’s first three years in the 2017 Junior Awards Ceremony.

Headmaster Neil Enright told the audience of prize-winners, parents, staff and VIP guests: “This event, alongside our Senior Awards Ceremony in March, gives us the opportunity to recognise those who have most excelled and most served; whose aptitude and attitude has marked them as being the best among their peers this year.”

The prizes include not only many for academic achievement and extra-curricular activities, but also several awards for commitment and service. The prizes were awarded this year by Guest of Honour and old boy Prashant Raval (OE 2003–2010).

Held in the School Hall, the ceremony is a formal event punctuated by performances from the School’s musicians, but afterwards there are opportunities for parents to relax and chat with teachers as they take tea outside at the front of the School.

The VIP party included: the Representative Deputy Lieutenant of the London Borough of Barnet (and former QE parent), Martin Russell, and the Former Mayor and Mayoress of the Barnet, Cllr David Longstaff and Gillian Griffiths, representing the current Mayor, Cllr Brian Salinger, who was unable to attend.

In his speech, the Headmaster had words of advice for the boys to ensure they continued their early success: “Even when you face difficulties, I would encourage you to persevere – not just in what you have to do, but in what you are passionate about; your interests and hobbies.

“Do ask for help – to borrow from and misquote J.K. Rowling’s Professor Dumbledore, a far more famous Headmaster than I, ‘Help at QE will always be given to those who ask for it’. But, at the same time, I would also ask you to try and retain your conviction to give things a go.”

Mr Enright also introduced Prashant, who, after leaving QE, took a First in Economics at University College London and then worked initially as an analyst with UBS Investment Bank. After that, he became a Senior Commercial Manager for Aston Villa Football Club, before taking up his present senior post in Operations for Uber.

“It is rare that someone of Prashant’s age has enjoyed such a varied career to date,” said the Headmaster. “He tells me that Uber is a very exciting place to work, full of talented young people in jeans and trainers – so rather like QE, but with jeans and trainers!”

In his own speech, Prashant stressed the importance of hard work and preparation and of savouring achievements when they come. But, recalling that he had been “quite the perfectionist” while a pupil himself, he gave the young award-winners some advice: “What I’ve realised, alas, is that in the real world, it is nigh-on impossible to achieve 100% in everything, all of the time, and you will make mistakes along the way. Don’t be afraid of these mistakes – instead, embrace them as opportunities to learn.”

The vote of thanks was given by Year 7 prize-winner, Dylan Domb.

The musical interludes began with a processional piece, Inspire Us, O Lord, composed by Year 12 pupils Abbas Adejonwo and Alfie Clarke and conducted by Alfie.

After each year group’s awards, the respective Music prize-winner performed. Year 7 viola player Jao-Yong Tsai performed Bonporti’s Lamentevole from Invenzione Sesta, Movement 1. Pianist Shivas Patel, of Year 8, played two of Béla Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances and Year 9 cellist Karan performed Bach’s Prelude from Suite no.1 in G major.

The ceremony ended with a recessional, Victorioso, composed by Mark Thomas and Joshua Wong, both of Year 12, and conducted by Mark.