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Boys from Year 9 had the opportunity to explore the development of aerial warfare and military equipment when they visited the Imperial War Museum’s site at Duxford in Cambridgeshire.

The site houses the American Air Museum, as well as a 1940s Operation Room and a host of planes and land-based military equipment. The trip was organised by History teacher Helen MacGregor, who said: “The boys particularly enjoyed tracing the development of military planes. The splendid sunshine made it possible for them to picnic outside and watch the various planes taking off and landing at the airfield.”

In addition to the permanent exhibitions of World War I, WWII and the Cold War, Duxford is also home to more modern commercial planes, including Concorde. The museum sets out the different conservation techniques required to preserve planes from different eras.

Ben Pugh (OE 2002-2009) and his team from Pembroke College, Cambridge, fought their way successfully through every round of the BBC’s University Challenge before losing narrowly in the final.

He then took the opportunity, along with the rest of his team, to meet the Duchess of Cornwall at a televised ceremony at Clarence House, during which the winning finalists, the University of Manchester, were presented with the University Challenge trophy.

In the 41^st series of the popular quiz, which was first broadcast 50 years ago, the Pembroke College team gained frequent praise from host Jeremy Paxman, with Ben’s breadth of knowledge and speed of thought proving key to their success.

In the first round, he got off to a good start against St Anne’s College, Oxford, giving a strong individual performance. But Ben also fell victim to Paxman’s trademark mockery after successfully recognising the girl band Girls Aloud in a music round. Pembroke won by 205 points to 140.

The margin of victory was even bigger in the second round, when Ben’s team trounced Nottingham 280–125.

Next up in the first leg of the quarter-finals were Balliol College, Oxford. 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 and secure an eventual 240–160 victory. Ben seemed particularly pleased, or perhaps relieved, to be able to answer correctly on the meaning of the Russian acronym ‘gulag’ – since he is reading Russian and German at Cambridge.

In the second leg, Pembroke faced a fellow Cambridge team, Clare College. Ben’s team raced to a 145-point lead – a position from which fellow Cambridge team, Clare College, could not recover, despite a spirited fight-back. Once again, Ben made his mark by answering correctly on topics including politics, philosophy, the American constitution and geographical terminology. Pembroke won 250 – 175.

Pembroke were slow starters in their semi-final and had to come from behind to overhaul opponents UCL, finally winning 185 points to 125.This time, Ben came up with correct answers on Shakespeare, chess, classical music, geography and Home Secretaries. Paxman praised Pembroke as the only semi-finalists not to have lost a match in the competition and heralded their win as “another storming performance”.

However, that unbroken record was finally to fall in the final. Their opponents, the University of Manchester, enjoyed a very strong start and, although Pembroke fought back strongly, they were unable to catch up, finally losing 180 – 135. Ben made his usual significant contribution, answering a number of starter questions on subjects including anagrams, Chancellors of the Exchequer, Swedish chemists, Polish composers and Rift Valley archaeology.

Cambridge University’s Vice-Chancellor highlighted all that Queen Elizabeth’s School and the university have in common at this year’s Senior Awards Ceremony.

Guest of Honour Sir Leszek Borysiewicz said both institutions have an uncompromising emphasis on academic excellence and both also accept and nurture applicants from all sections of society, regardless of their social or ethnic background. Consequently, unlike some other state schools he has encountered through Cambridge’s outreach work, QE identifies very comfortably with the university’s needs-blind, meritocratic approach to admissions.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “We were delighted and honoured to welcome Sir Leszek. He not only gave an inspirational speech, but was also generous with his time after the ceremony, happily chatting with parents and boys at the drinks and buffet reception in the Shearly Hall.”

In his speech, Sir Leszek, who was appointed the 345th Vice-Chancellor in 2010, touched on his background. Born in Wales to Polish parents who came to the UK in search of a better life after World War II, he grew up in Cardiff and attended Cardiff High School.

He explained how the power of intellectual curiosity can lead one in unexpected directions. He, for example, trained as a medical doctor but soon went into medical research (virology and infectious diseases) and then later into administration. He had never imagined he would one day become Vice-Chancellor at Cambridge. Boys should therefore, to a certain extent, keep an open mind as to where their career might lead them.

During the ceremony in the School Hall, some 100 prizes were awarded to boys from Years 10 and 11 as well as the Sixth Form. The presentations of prizes were punctuated by musical interludes performed by the School’s musicians: these included pieces by Rutter, Vivaldi and Chopin, as well as by QE’s Director of Music, Kieron Howe. School Captain Nigethan Sathiyalingam gave the vote of thanks at the end of the evening.

In his first Senior Awards since becoming Headmaster last September, Mr Enright congratulated the prize winners for achievement that went well beyond merely fulfilling the requirements of a curriculum: to shine at QE required intelligence, creativity and a capacity for sustained hard work, he said.

He cautioned against boys adopting a utilitarian approach to their education: they should not be concerned if the particular studies they wished to pursue did not lie within a discipline that linked to a particular profession.

Mr Enright heralded the achievement of the 26 boys offered places this year by Cambridge and Oxford, as well as very many others who had gained offers from other Russell Group universities.

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The Elizabethan Union’s and Old Elizabethans’ 47th Annual Dinner Debate was a well supported evening. It featured a debate around the proposition ‘This House believes that hosting the Olympics will be an expensive waste of effort’.

Captain of School Nigethan Sathiyalingam proposed a toast to the Visitors, including Old Elizabethans Promit Anwar (2002-2009) and Tommy Peto (2003-2010), who spoke in favour of the motion and carried the debate.

Their Elizabethan Union opponents were Sixth-Formers Alex Davis and Pravin Swarmy, who were proposed by Eric Houston, former Second Master and teacher of English (1976-2010). Sixth-Former Rohan Sathyanand was Chairman.

“This was a thoroughly enjoyable event with good food, stimulating company and a high standard of debate,” said the Headmaster. “It was good to welcome back Promit and Tommy. I especially enjoyed the opportunity to meet with former colleagues and other friends of the School. They included Eric Houston, David Jones (retired English teacher who was the master in charge of debating before my colleague Nisha Mayer took on this role) and Eamonn Harris (Headmaster 1984-1999).”

Fourteen pupils have received Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards – with a further 40 to come.

Five boys were presented with silver award certificates in Year 12 assembly following their completion of the requirements last academic year, while nine Year 11 boys received bronze certificates in their assembly, having followed their programme in Year 10.

The DofE Award scheme is designed to challenge young people to develop new skills and interest, whilst also serving their communities. It helps to promote team-working as well as the development of individual qualities and is highly regarded by educational institutions and employers alike.

Ankeet Tanna, Franky Saxena, Jake Bird, Jerry Yeung, Tahmeed Ahmed, Mano Emmanuel, Amit Mistry, Alex Koizia and Chihyeon Won all worked through four sections – skill, physical, expedition and volunteering – in order to achieve their bronze awards. Three sections are completed in three months, with the remaining one taking six months.

For silver, Arran Patel, Aaron Tang, Rihen Dewan, Sachin Patel and Chris Wong [pictured] had to complete the same four sections, but were required to pursue each one for longer. The expedition element required an additional night and day at silver.

Forty more QE boys have submitted their completed Bronze or Silver Award applications to the Barnet DofE Award Operating Authority and are currently awaiting approval.