Viewing archives for

QE alumnus Ben Pugh (2002-2009) has helped his team from Pembroke College, Cambridge, to victory in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the BBC’s University Challenge.

He made a significant contribution to the team’s 240–160 point victory over Balliol College, Oxford, in the first of a two-part quarter-final. His team reached the quarter-finals after securing victories in two previous rounds.

Ben was very quick on the buzzer, answering a range of starter questions on diverse subjects including dance tempo, planet recognition, literature and geography, which helped his team to establish an early 90-point lead. He was clearly pleased with a question in his specialist field on the meaning of the Russian acronym Gulag – as he is reading German and Russian.

Ben studied English Literature, French, German and History at A-level at QE, securing a grade A in all four subjects – the top grade at the time. He was placed in the top five in the UK in AQA’s GCSE German and French courses. While he was a pupil, Ben supported younger QE boys in the weekly language clinics.

A team of Year 7 boys has won first prize in the Barnet Spelling Bee – a competition organised by the London School of Economics. The competition was established in order to discover and encourage Barnet’s best spellers, and to make spelling fun for children of all abilities.

Kriisan Manoharasundaram (on the left of the photo), Karnan Sembian (on the right), Oliver Robinson and Pranav Santhosh Kumar scored 44 points in the final, beating Hendon School, who scored 38, into second place. The same team also won the previous round of the contest. The boys each won a £25 voucher.

English teacher Sarah Snowdon, who accompanied the boys to the final at the LSE, said: “I was very proud of them; they behaved exceptionally and were sensible and excellent on a busy tube on the way in.”

• Here are some of the words the boys had to spell: accolade, siege, nominal, miniature, counterfeit, chauffeur

A talented Year 12 pupil has enjoyed the opportunity to perform at a major music festival in India, thanks to his earlier success at a UK competition.

Praveen Prathapan, who won the QE Senior House Music Competition, won the Indian music element of the Croydon Festival – one of the biggest Indian music festivals in the area. He was awarded a prize of £1,500 to spend on his own musical development.

He used the money to fund a trip to India where he performed at the prestigious Chennai December Music Festival and visited the music school run by Academy and Grammy Award winner, A R Rahman. A R Rahman, who wrote the score for Slumdog Millionaire, is one of India’s best-known musicians and composers.

“Praveen used the money to great effect and made the most of a fantastic opportunity to take part in such a wonderful festival, broadening his experience and knowledge,” said QE’s Director of Music, Kieron Howe.

Whilst in India, Praveen also conducted a number of interviews with noted Indian musicians as research for his Extended Project Qualification on the growth of Indian music. The EPQ is an additional qualification taken alongside A-levels, designed to stretch the brightest boys. Praveen is seen pictured with N. Ramani (as he is commonly known), the celebrated Indian Carnatic flautist. Praveen himself excels at the bansuri, another type of Indian wooden flute, the instrument upon which he won the Senior House Music Competition.

Ashley-James Turner (2001-2008), has been named Student of the Year by Mansfield College, Oxford. Ashley-James, who graduated last summer, read Geography and was presented with his award at the Mansfield College Association’s AGM.

The association commended him for his “friendliness, cheeriness and warmness that is characteristic of the Mansfield Community”. The citation acknowledged his achievements with the college’s Boat Club and his ability to motivate the rowers. “It is no exaggeration to say that through his persistent kindness, openness and hospitality, Ashley-James Turner has helped to make Mansfield an even better place than it already was,” the citation concluded.

QE Headmaster, Neil Enright, attended the lunch at which Ashley-James received his award: “I had the pleasure of teaching him Geography A-level. I remember him as an exemplary student and a very able and enthusiastic geographer. His ability to analyse information and see patterns was outstanding for a Sixth Form student and set him apart from his peers. It was with great pleasure, but no surprise, that I learned that Ashley-James had been named Mansfield’s Student of the Year.”

Of the latest intake of Mansfield undergraduates, 84% came from the state sector (the highest proportion of all Oxford colleges) and Mansfield has jumped up to 12th place this year in the Norrington Table, Oxford University’s ranking of its undergraduate colleges.

Ashley-James paid tribute to the support and guidance Mr Enright gave him when selecting his college. “Mansfield is one of the smallest colleges in Oxford, but undoubtedly the right college for me, fostering a fantastic sense of community within the setting of a beautiful castle and open quad… After just four weeks of rowing I was selected to row in the college first boat, where I remained for three years, winning Oxford blades at the end of my first year.” Becoming Boat Club Captain in his second year was a great honour and, although a gruelling experience involving 5.30am starts and three-and-a-half hours of daily rowing and training, it was “an incredibly satisfying experience” in which he took “Mansfield to the highest position it has ever been on the river”. He was elected club President in his third year.

Ashley-James has been travelling in Asia since his graduation and is hoping to return to a career in environmental consultancy. “I developed an interest in the subject whilst undertaking a seven-month research project in Iceland looking at fluoride emissions from the volcano,” he said. “The research is being used by the Icelandic Fluoride Group, and I have been told it might be used by the EU to inform fluoride safety standards in the future.”

A prestigious water polo event drew together top club players from a number of schools from across London and from as far away as Lincolnshire to QE’s Olympic-size Martin Swimming Pool.

Teams from King’s College School Wimbledon, The King’s School, Grantham and the Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School competed in one of the preliminary rounds of the U15 London Schools’ Water Polo League, the first time QE has hosted this event.

Ten boys from Years 9 and 10 represented the School in what Nick Bird, the teacher in charge of water polo at QE, described as “an entertaining, high quality and high profile tournament.”

Unfortunately QE’s captain and one of the more experienced players, Dinos Caryotis, was taken ill on the day and had to miss the tournament. “Marcus Rodin of Year 10 stood in as captain and did a great job motivating the team, who initially struggled with an unsettled starting line-up. Sam Carling and Alex Northcliffe also made notable contributions, despite both being a year younger than many of the other competitors,” said Mr Bird.

QE were drawn against eventual winners Grantham in their first match and slipped to a 6-0 deficit in the first half, finally losing 8-2. The second match was a fiercely fought contest, with KCS eventually winning a close encounter 3-2. “By the final game we had lost our vice captain and, although the team continued to battle, fatigue caught up with the squad and we lost our final game 3-0 to the well-organised Habs team,” said Mr Bird.

The team now moves on to the second round of the preliminary tournament which takes place at the beginning of February at the City of London School.