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All boys in Years 7 & 8 took part in this year’s Junior Maths Challenge – and the overwhelming majority took gold, silver or bronze for their performance.

In total, some 341 of the QE entrants won certificates – a significant increase on last year’s tally of 279 – with 154 achieving gold and a further 120 taking silver and 67 gaining bronze. Nationally, it is only the top 40% of pupils who receive gold, silver and bronze certificates, which are given in the ratio 1:2:3.

As a result of their performances in the Challenge, 21 boys this year have qualified for the Junior Mathematical Olympiad competition and a further 95 have qualified for the other follow-on round, known as the Junior Kangaroo. Around 1,200 of the highest scorers nationally are invited to take part in the Olympiad.

Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung said: “We are delighted with how well the boys have done and look forward to the results of the Olympiad and Kangaroo. Much of the success among the Year 8 boys stems from the excellent guidance and help given to them at our Junior Élite Maths group by mentors from Years 10 and 11.”

Best in School certificates went to Maxwell Johnson, of Year 7, and Yash Makwana, of Year 8, who achieved identical scores of 130 out of a possible 135 in the UK Mathematics Trust competition.

“I’m incredibly pleased with my result and would like to thank my Élite Maths Mentor, Vincent Tang [of Year 11], for helping me to learn how to go about Maths Challenge questions,” said Yash.

Having achieved such signal success at the first attempt in the Challenge, Maxwell said he is now “looking forward to trying the Olympiad”.

Forty-four Year 9 boys visited the major battle sites and cemeteries from World War I in a trip designed to reinforce their classroom History lessons on the conflict.

With plenty of opportunity to walk through preserved trenches just as this year’s poppies were starting to flower, the boys had time to reflect on life in the trenches. Some sites illustrated the global nature of the conflict, showing the role of countries from the British Empire and Commonwealth – particularly Canada and nearby Newfoundland.

History teacher Simon Walker said: “The trip was important both emotionally and analytically, helping students understand how trench warfare worked and appreciate the experience of those who fought, as well as giving them an opportunity to reflect on the cost of war and consider what we can learn from the way soldiers have been memorialised.”

The trip aligned closely with the Year 9 scheme of work, which covers the changing nature of warfare up to 1945, with World War I a major topic.

On their visit to one site, Vimy Ridge, the guides for the QE boys and the four accompanying members of staff were students on a programme funded by the Canadian government, reflecting the national importance of the site in Canada.

One striking contrast was seen in the ways the fallen were commemorated at:

• Tyne Cot cemetery – the resting place of more than 11,900 servicemen of the British Empire at the battlefield of the Third Battle of Ypres (also known as the Battle of Passchendaele), where boys learned that many bodies could not be identified.
• Thiepval Memorial – commemorating 72,246 British and South African servicemen known to have died in the Battles of the Somme whose bodies could not be found.
• Essex Farm cemetery – a smaller Allied cemetery, with some moving examples of men from the ‘pals’ battalions’ who died on the same day being buried with their headstones touching to show solidarity between them.
• Beaumont-Hamel – the site of a memorial as well as trenches where Newfoundlanders fought during the Somme campaign; with 84% of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment battalion dying, the conflict brought devastation to some communities, depriving Newfoundland of most of its young men and seriously damaging its economy.
• The German Langemark cemetery – here, all graves are communal, with one huge mass grave in the middle and thousands of tiny names engraved on the stones around it. The headstones are very plan slabs laid flat on the ground, the relative lack of dignity in burial illustrating the hostility of Belgians towards Germans after the war. (The mass grave was partly because the Belgians would not grant the Germans enough land for individual burials.

Other memorable highlights of the trip to the sites in France and Belgium included the sight of Lochnagar Crater, the biggest crater of World War I, where boys learned about tunnelling and the use of mines. They attended the Last Post ceremony at Menin Gate in Ypres to commemorate soldiers lost in the 1914–1918 – a ceremony performed every evening since 1927, even during World War II. They also learned how medical provision developed during the conflict, visiting a field hospital where John McCrae worked as a surgeon and composed his famous poem, In Flanders Fields.

On the final day came visits to La Coupole and Blockhaus Bunker, which were sites for the production and launch of V1 and V2 rockets during World War II, where there was information on the role of concentration camp slave labour used by the Nazis. “These visits helped to develop students’ understanding of the changing nature of warfare in World War II, as well as providing a foundation for the space race and arms race topics that form an important part of the GSCE Conflict and Tension unit on the Cold War.

There were lighter moments, too, including a popular visit to the Leonida chocolate shop and the time when the boys’ keen-eyed coach driver spotted a World War I wire fence post unearthed and left at the roadside by a local farmer.

Overall, said Mr Walker, the trip gave boys “an opportunity to deepen their understanding of the Year 9 theme about the changing nature of warfare, whilst also giving them personal experiences and time to reflect in order to help them develop and articulate their own emotional responses”. In addition, it supported understanding of the genocide topic being covered in the second half of term, and of GCSE topics including the Cold War and the Health and the People unit.

Year 11 boy Saruthan Seelan achieved a top-50 finish among élite mathematicians in his age group in this year’s nationwide Intermediate Olympiad, with four other pupils coming in the top 100.

Like Saruthan, Year 10 pupil James Tan and Year 9 boys Athiyan Chandramohan, Abhinav Santhiramohan and Dan Suciu all won medals for their performance, while Andy Kwak, of Year 9, was awarded a distinction certificate for coming in the top 25% nationally.

The six were among 27 boys from Years 9 to 11 who qualified for the Olympiad after performing strongly in the UK Mathematics Trust’s Intermediate Challenge. An additional 21 were awarded merit certificates.

Congratulating all of them, Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung said: “Solving any one of the problems set is an achievement and those who did more than that deserve corresponding praise.”

Saruthan said afterwards: “The Olympiad questions help me to extend my understanding of Maths.” James found solving the problems “very satisfying”, while Abhinav praised the “interesting maths” involved.

Nearly 1,700 students took part in the Olympiad. In each year group, the top 50 receive book prizes, the top 100 receive a medal and the top 25% receive a certificate of distinction.

In the Intermediate Challenge’s other follow-on round, the European Kangaroo, 135 QE boys from Years 9 to 11 took part, of whom 41 were awarded merit certificates. The Kangaroo’s high scorers in each year group were: Jamie Watkin-Rees (Year 11 – the second consecutive year that he has come top of his year group in this competition); Tanishq Mehta (Year 10), and Beuran Kannan (Year 9). Tanishq said he particularly enjoyed the “logical aspect of the questions”.

This is the 16th year that the UKMT has run the International Mathematical Olympiad and Kangaroo contests. The latter is promoted by Kangourou sans Frontières, an independent association promoting Mathematics among young people around the world: its name reflects the fact that the organisation was inspired by the Australian Mathematics Trust.

Three million students worldwide take part in the Kangaroo, usually including around 5,500 pupils invited to take part after sitting the UK Intermediate Challenge.

One of QE’s leading sixth-formers enjoyed a day of a lifetime rubbing shoulders with members of the Royal Family and celebrities within the walls of Windsor Castle.

Binu Perera, who is a Senior Vice-Captain at QE, was just a few metres from the carriage of the newly-weds as it left the castle.

He was one of 1,200 members of the public invited to the castle for the day by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, based on nominations from the nine regional Lord Lieutenant offices. Binu was selected by the School for the honour, with the recommendation then passed on to Martin Russell, who is Deputy Lieutenant for the Borough of Barnet and a former QE parent.

Since he is under 18, Binu, of Year 12, was accompanied by his mother as a chaperone. “It was an absolute honour, truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said afterwards. “The wedding was absolutely amazing. Windsor Castle was beautiful, and I had such a great time with my mum. We were so close to the carriage, the rest of the royals – and so many other celebrities. The atmosphere was buzzing!” The picture above was taken by Binu.

“The service itself was wonderful, and there was such a warm and summery atmosphere: it sounds really clichéd, but in many ways, it truly was a perfect wedding,” he adds. “I never imagined that I would be among such a small number of people chosen to attend such an iconic and symbolic event.”

Thanking the School for the opportunity, Binu added: “This royal wedding was a symbolic one: representative of the modern, changing image of Britain – a country of acceptance, variety and multiculturalism. The service itself was unique in terms of the mix of gospel and traditional music and the readings given, embodying the couple’s contemporary approach to the Monarchy.”

Assistant Head David Ryan’s nomination to the Deputy Lieutenant described Binu as “an excellent role model” who set up his own online blog for young people tackling topics as diverse as medical ethics, depression and identity.

“Within the School he has been appointed as senior Vice Captain to the School Captain on account of his excellent record of involvement, in peer-mentoring, in music and a range of other school-based activities. Modest yet charming, witty and effervescent, it is hard not to be impressed by him.

“In many ways he embodies modern Britain; he is hard-working, marrying his innate talents with industry and determination, which underlies his desire to enter the field of medicine when he moves on to undergraduate studies. We recommend him wholeheartedly,” Mr Ryan wrote.

The QE entrants in this year’s UK Chemistry Olympiad have acquitted themselves well in the first round, according to the published results.

All 11 of the Year 13 boys chosen to enter the competition were awarded either a gold, silver or bronze certificate. Nationally, of the 6,500-plus pupils who participated, only the top 8% received gold, with 25% achieving silver and 31% bronze – and nearly 40% received no award at all. By contrast, QE’s boys gained four golds, six silvers and one bronze between them.

Chemistry teacher Elizabeth Kuo said: “By any reckoning, our sixth-formers did very well in what is a deliberately challenging national competition. The questions set are very hard, but they provide the boys with an excellent opportunity to practise such difficult application-type questions.”

Round 1 consisted of a two-hour written paper set by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Gold awards went to Aneesh Chopada, Milan Hirji, Showgo Kimura and Michael Takla.
Abhishek Balkrishna, Abbeykeith Kugasenanchettiar, Pranav Santhosh Kumar, Karthigan Sriranganathan, Mohit Vijayakumar and Abhinav Vudathu achieved silver, while Milun Nair was awarded a bronze.