The twin importance of message and method in fighting climate change was brought to the fore in the two winning entries in the Geography department’s Earth Day competitions.
The competitions were held to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, an annual event celebrated around the world on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection.
With this year’s Earth Day theme being Climate Action, the winner of the writing competition emphasised the importance of using the right people to convey environmental messages, while the victor in the parallel photography competition emphasised the positive impact that even small steps could have.
Head of Geography Emily Parry said: “Well done to all of the boys who entered the competitions. It was impressive to see the boys engage with the enormous challenge of climate change and heartening to see their appreciation of the wonder of our planet and passion for it to be protected.”
The first task was to write in 500 words or less an answer in response to the question: How can we save our planet from climate change? The second was for boys to submit a photograph they had taken illustrating the impact, for good or ill, of humans on ecosystems, accompanied by a 100-word explanation.
Ananth Iyer, of Year 8, took the prize for the photography competition with his striking image of a bird feeder in his back garden. He explained his choice of subject: “It celebrates the positive impact that humans can have on our environment. It can provide food for birds and all sorts of other animals when they are finding it tough. Small things like these can have a huge impact.”
Congratulating Ananth, Miss Parry said: “We appreciated the simplicity of Ananth’s photograph and how it showed that it is possible for anyone to take a small action which can have a positive impact upon ecosystems.”
First prize for the writing competition went to Rahul Doshi, of Year 10, who submitted an argument that insufficient numbers of people are aware of the threat of climate change.
“Rahul creatively answered the question How can we save our planet from climate change? by recognising that it is first necessary for everyone to accept that climate change is actually a threat! He draws attention to the importance of having messengers, such as David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg, to effectively communicate climate science to people of all ages and backgrounds,” said Miss Parry.
Rahul proposed the use of respected messengers to increase recognition. He wrote: “With over 46% of UK citizens believing that the threat is overstated and 10% completely denying that humans are to blame for climate change, it is clear that not enough people currently are aware of the threat climate change poses to our planet. There needs to be a big push to get messengers – people who we all relate to – to get this message across. If we do not, this planet faces a grave future.”
The competitions were launched on Earth Day on 22 April through eQE and were accompanied by tips and links to websites with suggestions for background reading material. These ranged from National Geographic’s suggestions for lightening our ecological load to an Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) article about how to build a bug house.
Colleagues have really embraced the virtual environment. For example, Year 7 can virtually explore Mars before describing its environment, while Year 8 students are producing their own portfolio celebrating Kindness in a Crisis. Year 12 have benefited from excellent video lectures on topics as diverse as the critical reception of Hamlet and the poetry of Wilfred Owen. Micah King’s YouTube channel, which includes detailed analyses of poems from the GCSE anthology originally designed as a Year 11 revision resource, are now proving invaluable for Year 10. Staff have been experimenting with online forums to facilitate discussion – a vital element in English learning.
Our Virtual Concert Programme is proving popular, with the Year 10 launch concert up to 355 views at the time of writing. The first-round deadline for recordings for our 
The PE department has the unique challenge of keeping everyone active and healthy in this very difficult period. Taking into consideration each pupil’s possible living situation means that we have to be creative with our activities and provision in the hope that all pupils can take part and feel as though they are still part of the QE community.
In addition to a carefully curated selection of content aimed specifically at boys in lockdown, we have now launched Roundness – our own cross-disciplinary podcast. Episode 1, entitled I don’t believe in climate change, is about the weather – whether the weather is important (or not), about how we understand big, faceless things like the weather, and about how slippery the truth can be…You can listen and subscribe to Roundness on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or whichever app you get your podcasts from, or you can listen directly from the 
The PE & Games department has been filling the special lockdown pages created on the School’s eQE remote learning portal with a range of activities designed to cater for all sporting tastes, from specialist coaching videos for cricketers and rugby players through to quizzes for any occasional ‘armchair athletes’.
“We are really pleased with how the boys have responded; we have received an inspiring collection of photos and video clips of them in action, some of which can be seen on 
For both contests, boys had to show their mastery of written French or German, while a challenge set by Languages teacher Rosie Hall additionally gave Year 10 pupils the opportunity to display visual ability alongside their verbal skill.
House points were awarded, with Pearce taking first place, followed by Broughton and then Underne.
The boys watched some French cartoon clips and then were asked to create a comic strip or storyboard, re-imagining the story and using the vocabulary they learned to explain relative advantages and disadvantages of living in the town and the countryside.
Under the theme, Brave New World, the Art and English departments launched Art and poetry competitions which attracted a high level and standard of entry, many of which are celebrated in the special release.
He ranked their entries on whether the image produced captured the spirit of the Brave New World title and on how it might work as a book jacket design. There were more than 60 entries, covering all the year groups.
Alex, who was placed second, added: “I wanted to combine the past, present and future within one drawing. I chose to use a traditional, well-known, scene of a cowboy [pictured above right] overlooking a typical western setting of a desert, but replace it with a futuristic, almost dystopian, element with tall trees and an unknown distant city of skyscrapers. The large viruses that hang above the cowboy are obvious references to the current situation we live in.”