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Year 8 boys had the chance to see another side of the work of modernist artist Henry Moore on a trip to his former studio and gardens.

Not only did the Art trip give the pupils an opportunity to experience his spectacular outdoor sculptures in the beautiful grounds near Much Hadham, but they were also able to see the largest exhibition of his drawings in more than 40 years.

Art teacher Jillian McAteer said: “It was a unique opportunity for the boys not only to experience his ambitious sculptures, but also to closely examine the drawings that underpinned the practice of one of the most influential modernist British artists.”

Yorkshireman Henry Moore (1898–1986) settled in the Hertfordshire hamlet of Perry Green during the Second World War; it remained his home and workplace for the rest of his life. The Henry Moore Foundation Studios and Gardens showcase his sculptures in woodlands and gardens originally created there by Moore’s wife, Irina.

“The foundation displays a fantastic collection of his sculptural work. The students were taken on a tour of the grounds by informative guides who described the inspiration and construction behind these iconic pieces,” said Mrs McAteer.

She added that the boys had been learning in class about biomorphism – art with an organic appearance or form – through clay sculpture, ink and drawing. “The grand organic shapes in Moore’s work are a fantastic example of where this artistic exploration might lead.”

One of the Year 8 boys, Sai Sivakumar, said the visit had given him clear insight into Moore’s creative processes, including his “every thought, inspiration and action”. Sai added: “Some of the many things we learned at the foundation included how to use different materials in Art, such as plaster, how to draw inspiration from real life, and the importance of practice.”

The trip began with a tour of Moore’s larger sculptures, before the group ventured inside his numerous workshops to look at his smaller, finer work. Here, said Sai, they picked up tips for improving their own sculpting, such as incorporating the appearance of bones and using textures inspired by nature, such as bark.

Next, the boys visited the current exhibition, entitled Henry Moore Drawings: The Art of Seeing. “We could see his style and skill evolving over time as he learned more and more.” The exhibition runs until 27th October this year.

After lunch, the boys drew their own pieces, taking from everything they had learned there to create a Henry Moore-style drawing.

From starting a speech in Shakespearean-style verse to drawing in an audience with intense emotion, QE’s debaters expertly rang the rhetorical changes when they competed at the European Youth Parliament’s National Session.

Having won their places with a barnstorming performance at the South East Regional Session – the third consecutive year in which QE has progressed – the Year 12 team were well-prepared for the four-day national event at Liverpool Hope University, for which the theme was Tomorrow’s Europe: Making every voice heard.

They worked in committees with pupils from other schools, rather than in their own team. After the first day’s team-building activities, there was a full day of committee work in which they collaborated to find a solution to a topical problem, presented as a written resolution. In the final two days, the resolutions were debated in the General Assembly, where the delegates gave three-minute ‘defence’, ‘attack’ and ‘summation’ speeches, but could also debate from the floor.

Academic Enrichment Tutor Helen Davies said: “All our students made well-researched and thoughtful points throughout the session that were relevant and brought new ideas to the forum – a very professional and efficient approach to the weekend’s activities.”

The team also broke new ground for QE, at least over recent years, by taking part in the session’s Saturday-night ‘Euroconcert’. “Introduced by the organisers as ‘the UK’s hottest new boy band, the whole team gave an enthusiastic and tuneful performance of the Backstreet Boys’ I want it that way. Frontman Saifullah Shah stole the show and really engaged the audience!”

Earlier that day, in the more sober setting of the General Session’s debate involving the Committee on Legal Affairs, Saifullah had had his hearers equally entranced. He made a closing (‘summation’) speech on a motion exploring how the EU could ‘ensure that the internet remains a place where marginalised communities and different ideas can continue to prosper, while keeping it a safe space for all’. And he began with a paraphrase of Hamlet’s ‘To be or not to be’ soliloquy: “Freedom of speech, or protection, that is the question: whether ’tis nobler by Law to suffer the slings and arrows of online harassment, or to take arms against a sea of hate speech and by opposing end it.” It was, said Miss Davies, “received very well by the audience”.

In the session devoted to the first of the two Committees on Employment and Social Affairs (‘EMPL1’), delegates debated the isolation of the elderly. Deeps Gandhi was among a committee that submitted a motion which, inter alia, urged EU member states to appoint a minister for loneliness and subsidise care for the elderly by providing means-tested financial aid to families.

In EMPL2’s session, which was debating the EU’s response to the poor employment standards suffered by textile workers internationally, Aryan Jain gave the opening defence address. “It was a compelling and emotional speech, which also showed deep understanding of the topic. Aryan urged the delegates to ‘uphold the moral fabric of the European Union’ by preventing the exploitation of foreign workers,” said Miss Davies.

Other highlights of the debates included clear, well-researched summaries of complex issues by Hanif Gofur, a well-presented and well-written speech from Mehul Shah, and arguments from Viraj Mehta supporting the use of an ‘app’ to increase popular engagement with politics (on a motion before the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection exploring how the EU could make use of IT to further the inclusion of citizens in the decision-making process, given growing mistrust in EU institutions).

In addition to the Euroconcert, which had a theme of Glitter and gold, social activities included the opportunity to sample food from more than a dozen different countries and a ceilidh (Scottish folk dance), which the boys also enjoyed, Miss Davies reported.

Subsequently, Saifullah Shah and Mehul Shah learned that they had been individually selected for the International Round of the European Youth Parliament, which takes place later in the year, following their excellent performance.

Year 8’s cricketers topped a highly successful season with a strong run in the Schools’ National Cup – and lost out on a semi-final place by only the narrowest of margins.

Having won the County Cup last year as Year 7s, they qualified to participate in the National Cup this year. Captained by Prayag Gandhi, the team comprehensively beat Bede’s in Sussex, needing only 13 overs to chase down their opponents’ 20-over total of 87. In the next round, having restricted Dartford Grammar School to just 38, the boys, playing at home, scored 42 runs in just 14 overs, securing their place in the quarter-finals.

Their opponents and hosts for that match – which was also the South East regional final – were the Royal Hospital School in Ipswich.

The spectators watching in the East Anglian boarding school’s historic grounds found themselves with a match to savour. The QE U13 team coach, PE and Games teacher Oliver O’Gorman, said: “It was the best and closest game of schoolboy cricket I, and many others who were present, have ever seen.”

“It went down to the last ball, with Royal Hospital needing one run off it. Unfortunately for us, they were successful,” said Mr O’Gorman. “Our boys were understandably gutted about losing in such a fashion, but they should be proud of what they have achieved in reaching the last eight in the country and coming so close to reaching the top four.” The final scores in the 30-over match were: QE 178-6; Royal Hospital 179-6.

Mr O’Gorman said the QE boys had also won praise from their hosts, Royal Hospital’s Director of Sport, Paul Hardman, and Head of Cricket, Paul Cohen: “They were very complimentary of both the standard of our boys’ cricket, but also the way in which they represented the School throughout the day.”

The boys have enjoyed a 100 per cent success rate in their regular, competitive fixture list. They beat:

• Berkhamsted School, by 9 wickets
• St Albans School, by 10 wickets
• The John Lyon School, by 10 wickets
• Watford Grammar School, by 7 wickets
• Highgate School, by 118 runs
• St Benedict’s School, by 129 runs.

They also had a strong run in this year’s County Cup, beating Greenford High School and Mill Hill & Belmont Schools, before losing to Avanti House in the semi-final.

The squad for the South-East Final was:

1. Prayag Gandhi (captain)
2. Ranvir Sinha
3. Bilal Hassan
4. Rishab Banerjee
5. Karan Chauhan (Year 7)
6. Kush Tailor (wicketkeeper)
7. Ugan Pretheshan
8. Krish Agarwal
9. Rohan Belavadi
10. Girish Radhakrishnan (Year 7)
11. Vishnu Anil
12. Aaryan Patel
13. Madhav Menon

At this year’s final of a prestigious national business and accountancy competition, a QE Sixth Form team picked up prizes for teamwork, integrity and commercial acumen.

Karanvir Singh Kumar, Yash Shah, Harshil Shah and Manas Madan competed alongside 47 other school teams at the final of the BASE competition run by ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales) in Birmingham.

The competition provides school and college students with a taste of what working in the profession is really like, requiring them to approach business decisions as if they were Chartered Accountants.

The boys enjoyed a three-course dinner and overnight stay at the Hilton Hotel. But next the work began: after an early breakfast, the team received their briefing information at 9.00am and then had only two hours in which to make their decisions and prepare their final presentation for the judges.

The QE boys’ challenge was to choose which of three options would be of most benefit to Ghanaian villages: to invest in equipment for farming the cassava root vegetable, in a warehouse or in solar panels.

Team leader Karanvir said: “We had to consider how we would finance the venture and which sponsor we would choose. Throughout our analysis we also had to consider ethics and demonstrate integrity – key qualities of Chartered Accountants.”

“We had a stressful two hours to prepare our presentation. First, we made sense of the case studies. Then we began to write our scripts and made our PowerPoint presentation. We chose to recommend investment in solar panels because of its potential to transform the lives of the local population and to enhance the socio-economic development of the country.”

After the two hours were up, the 48 teams were split into smaller groups of 5-6 teams to present to the judges.

Although they QE did not win the overall title, they did take the trio of additional prizes.

“The experience stretched our abilities to the maximum and tested our skills like no other challenge we have faced before,” said Karanvir. “The time pressure was especially overwhelming from the onset. I’m extremely proud of what we achieved as a team, and the hard work and dedication paid off. This was particularly so when we were awarded the prize for Business & Commercial Acumen, which was given to us for our out-of-the box thinking and awareness of real-world events.”

A QE Sixth Form team competes this week in the finals of a new international STEM education competition after impressing judges with their plans to use technology in the struggle to protect endangered animals.

They will be up against teams from all over the world competing to show how drones could be deployed to conserve species threatened with extinction.

The boys brought in advanced Mathematics and used 3D printing and complex electronics in developing their entry proposal and making their own glider drone.

The finals of the International STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Youth Innovation Competition are being held at the Royal Air Force Museum, in London.

Head of Technology Michael Noonan said: “I am proud of the team and of the hard work they have put into this competition. From the initial selection of animal species to the creation of the report and to the development of the UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] according to their designs, it was all the result of the team’s own little-by-little exploration and progression.”

The competition is organised by the British International Education Association (BIEA). Run for the first time last year, it was open only to British pupils, attracting entries from more than 2,000 schools. This year, it has been opened up to schools from around the world.

The 2019 theme is Fighting extinction using drone technology. There is a first prize of £5,000 for the team with the highest overall score.

QE’s team, who are all from Year 12, are in the 15-17 year-old age category. The team comprises: Tarun Bhaskaran, Ben Domb, Deeps Gandhi, Aryan Jain and Simon Sherriff.

The team initially drew up a long list of endangered animals and explored the role drones could play in protecting them. As a result of these discussions, they decided to develop glider drones.

For their choice of subject, they wanted an animal with a large distribution area, so picked the black rhinoceros. Further research followed, as a result of which the team embraced military surveillance techniques to monitor black rhino populations effectively, while also using a complex equation to calculate the appropriate pixel resolution for the final design.

They decided to build the required drone themselves. This meant they could show off their ideas to best effect, but naturally made the process more challenging.

To meet this challenge, the team divided themselves into three sections and worked separately before coming together to provide the finished entry. One group was responsible for electronics, another for the video and a third for the fuselage. The electronics group focused on providing the control system and system compatibility; the video group made the video submission, wrote scripts, arranged 3D printing and coordinated the budget, and the fuselage group designed the chassis and structure of the drone.

The competition’s final deadline coincided with School examinations. This left the boys with some tricky time-management issues, which they resolved by drawing up a detailed division of work, all carefully scheduled outside of examination study time. The 14-hour days paid off when they duly submitted the report on time and then heard that they were among the finalists.