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Stapylton won the 2012 House competition with 941 points, narrowly defeating Broughton, who were placed second with 937.

Headmaster Neil Enright presented the award to Stapylton’s House Captain, Ameya Godambe, of Year 13 (shown left, with Ameya accepting the cup and Deputy House Captain Savraj Kalsi also of Year 13 pictured centre).

The final scores in the competition are made up of points accumulated from a wide range of events, activities and achievements, including rewards for academic attainment, as well as for sport, chess, quizzes, merits, and raffle ticket sales.

Leicester came third with 897, just beating Underne, who had 885 points. Pearce was fifth, with 758, and Harrisons sixth, with 661.

Boys are already amassing points in the 2013 competition. A swimming event involved six boys from each house swimming in lanes for simultaneously for 20 minutes; Pearce led the way with a total of 99 lengths of the pool. Underne won a table tennis contest . The next event will be basketball in February.

Paul Clark (OE 1990-1997) is looking forward to building on his success in 2013 after being picked out as one of the top names in the UK property industry.

In 2012, he was voted one of the industry’s Hot 100 Rising Stars by readers of Property Week magazine – one of the highlights of his career to date. It was the second running of the poll, which is conducted only once every five years. Property Week is one of the UK’s largest industry publications, with a weekly readership of 40,000. Nominees for the Hot 100 must be under the age of 35 and the previous vote included luxury property developers the Candy brothers and Ivanka Trump (daughter of Donald).

“The property industry is a really interesting, varied and – despite the recent market issues – a rewarding place to be,” says Paul.

He is currently head of Development at Capita Symonds Real Estate, a subsidiary of FTSE 100-listed Capita plc. Paul runs a team of consultants who specialise in providing advice to landowners and property developers. Some of his current projects include the acquisition of a new property for a film studio, the development of 1,000 homes on the south coast and the structuring of the sale and leaseback of a new bespoke headquarters for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in central London. He has previously worked on the legacy plans for the 2012 Olympics and managed a major urban extension in Oxford.

At QE, Paul was a School Lieutenant and Sergeant Major in the Army Cadets. He won an Army Sixth Form Scholarship whilst at QE, but a skiing accident ended his aspiration to join the Army. He went on to Nottingham University to read Urban Planning. From there, Paul studied Town & Country Planning at post-graduate level at University College London. He then gained an MPhil in Land Economy at Cambridge University, where he rowed for the Sidney Sussex College 1^st VIII. Outside work, Paul is now a committee member of the Cambridge University Land Society and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society ; he also  provides pro bono support for an urban regeneration charity in Finsbury Park.

“There is a wide representation of OEs throughout the property business including architects, engineers, town planners and agents. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a diverse life and the opportunity to have a lasting and positive impact on our built environment,” Paul concludes.

A team of Year 13 investors has made an early qualification to the Regional Final of a highly regarded national investment competition.

The Sixth-Formers, who compete under the name of The Fun Guys, were already in a qualifying position, but have now progressed on a wild card system. The team, comprising Year 13 pupils Shivan Thakrar, Neil Gujar, Ronak Shah and Cheuk Hei Au (pictured left, left to right, starting with top row) became eligible for this by achieving one of the highest percentage increases in their investment portfolio in a single month (December).

The regional part of the ifs Student Investor Challenge competition runs until the end of February and the early progression of The Fun Guys opens the door for a second QE team also to get through to the Regional Final.

Over 2,500 teams have entered the competition in the South East Region, including 60 from QE. Each team of four 14-19 year olds has a “fantasy” £100,000 to invest over a three-month period. The top 20 teams from each region qualify for the Regional Final, with the top eight then progressing to the National Final.

 “The Fun Guys are currently third in the South East Region and sixth nationally, with a portfolio worth £137,000,” said Liane Ryan, Head of Economics. “We are very pleased that they have qualified early, as usually only one team from each school can progress to the Regional Final. With a QE team from Year 10 currently in eighth position in the region, we stand a very good chance of having two teams through.”

It is only the second occasion on which a team from the School has progressed beyond the first round. If the Year 10 team is successful in progressing, it will be the first time that QE has been represented by two teams.

The eight teams that make it to the final will compete for an all-expenses-paid trip to New York, a £2,000 cash prize for their school or college and £200 for each team member.

Two Year 12 boys have been awarded gold in the British Physics Olympiad after achieving top-50 finishes. Nearly 2,000 students took part in the national competition; this is the first time that QE students have achieved gold.

“Aniruddh Raghu and Madhi Elango are to be particularly congratulated on their achievement,” said Physics teacher Ashley Dyson. “To be placed in the top 50 is exceptional as the test papers are targeted at Year 13 students and Madhi and Aniruddh are only in Year 12. We are delighted with their success.”

Year 13 student Mihir Deshpande was given a Bronze I award, which placed him in the top third of the competitors.

The examination-based competition’s stated aim is to challenge and reward the best physicists in British schools. Madhi and Aniruddh, who will receive a book prize for their achievements so far, now progress to the next round of the competition, which involves a three-hour examination. The top 15 will then be invited to a special camp where the best candidates will be selected to form a UK Physics Team for competition at international level.

Three boys were selected to run for Barnet at the Middlesex Cross Country Schools Championships, following outstanding QE performances at borough level.

In the Barnet Cross Country Championships, Patrick Owen, of Year 7, helped his team to overall victory, finishing the race himself in third place. The Year 8 team finished second – “an excellent result given that they were mainly competing against Year 9 teams from other schools,” said Head of Games Mark Peplow. In the individual placings, Year 8’s Rufus Kent came first (pictured above in blue vest) and is thus Barnet Champion, while Saamkyu Smart was second. Both put in “outstanding efforts”, according to Mr Peplow.

Patrick, Rufus and Saamkyu were all picked to compete for Barnet in the county championships. “Patrick came 11^th, Rufus 33rd and Sam 37th. Rufus and Sam were competing against boys a year older than themselves, so did well and hopefully next year will be placed much higher,” added Mr Peplow.

At QE, the House cross-country competition, run as part of the PE curriculum, went ahead despite the snow (pictured above and right). Stapylton won the Year 8 contest, with Broughton second and Underne third. In the individual race, the two county competitors excelled – Rufus came first and Saamkyu was second, while Joseph Runchman took third place.