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Two Sixth Form teams devised innovative engineering solutions to workplace safety challenges and successfully presented them to the world’s largest health & safety organisation.

The presentations were part of this year’s QE submissions under the Engineering Excellence Scheme (EES). The Year 12 boys are hoping to follow in the illustrious footsteps of other QE EES teams of recent years whose inventions under the Engineering Project Challenges initiative have achieved regional and national success.

They gave their presentations to members of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH, a UK-based global chartered body for health & safety professionals), just before the COVID-19 social distancing measures were put in place The venue was UBM’s centre close to Blackfriars Bridge in London.

QE’s Head of Technology, Michael Noonan, said: “The teams had been set engineering challenges to work on by two major office fit-out companies, Morgan Lovell and Overbury. QE has achieved brilliant things in recent years in this initiative, and this year’s boys did not disappoint: after six months’ work, they came up with carefully thought-through solutions based on sound engineering principles. They then presented these ideas fluently and with some confidence to the assembled IOSH members and other guests.”

The Engineering Project Challenges started off with a project tour and introduction to site conditions and equipment by industry sponsors Overbury and Morgan Lovell, both part of the Morgan Sindall construction group.

After seeing demonstrations of equipment and operatives at work, the boys were charged with finding innovative solutions to two specific problems.

The Overbury team had the challenge of creating an easy-to-use, hand-held, non-intrusive tool to check if an electrical steel wired armoured cable is live. The team members are: Enoch Hitchcock, Yai Sagolsem, Pranay Surana and Ukendar Vadivel.

The Morgan Lovell team were tasked with making health & safety improvements to a portable band saw, including blade protection and extraction of dust, to ensure that users could cut material both safely and quickly. The blade protection had to be designed in such a way that it could be retrofitted to existing machines. The team comprises: Brandon Ionev, Thomas Mgbor, Kai Sethna and Hugh Westcott.

Both teams were required to undertake analysis through extensive research to find the best practical and innovative engineering methods, and to solve these challenges without involving excess manufacturing costs. They were assisted by their industry mentor, representing Overbury and Morgan Lovell, Health Safety & Wellbeing Manager Alex Wood.

In their 15-minute presentation, team leader Ukendar and his fellow team members working on the project with Overbury explained their solution – a device featuring a hinged clamp and a handle with red and green LEDs to indicate whether the cable being worked on was live or not. In a question-and-answer session with members, they confirmed that the device could readily be manufactured to accommodate different sizes of steel wired armoured cable.

The Morgan Lovell team explained that their guard could be easily and quickly fitted to a band saw in a busy workplace environment. Questioned as to why they had made it in opaque materials, they confirmed that this was just for the prototype and that production models could be made in transparent ABS plastic.

Overall, the objective of the challenges is to introduce young people to careers in the construction and building fit-out and office fit-out industries and to help them apply what they have learnt about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in the classroom into the real world.

The two teams will be hoping to emulate the successes of predecessors, including a 2018 QE team who devised a stair-climbing robot for transporting large sheets of material up staircases on construction sites. This was Highly Commended in the Contribution to the Business Award at the Celebration and Assessment Day of the Engineering Excellence Scheme (EES). And in the year before that, a QE project for the EES – a helmet which warned construction workers when workplace noise was exceeding safe levels – was among the national engineering prize-winners at The Big Bang, the UK Young Scientists & Engineers Fair.

Head of Library Services Surya Bowyer has been making sure that boys are aware of the wealth of resources that are available online – both for study and for leisure.

He is using the shutdown to develop the way the Library team uses technology. And, as a result, they are not only supporting the boys in the holidays and in their remote learning during term time, but also deriving benefits that will long outlast the current crisis.

“When it became clear that schools would be forced to close as a result of Covid-19, our first thought was: ‘What does a library do when its doors are locked and lights turned off?’” Mr Bowyer says.

In the first few days, a small number of boys whose parents were designated key workers used the library to continue their studies. Meanwhile, for boys at home, the Library team has shared audiobooks and e-book databases, and they are recommending a Book of the Week, which is made available to read free online. The first recommendation was Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.

“We have also released a list of activities of things you can do with the book you are reading, that go beyond simply reading… for example, designing a map of the book’s locations, or designing a new book cover.”

Mr Bowyer and Library Services Assistant Corinna Illingworth have also put together their own guide to digital galleries and museums that are available to browse online. “There’s a wealth of art and history out there on the internet: it’s our job, as librarians, to publicise and share these resources throughout the QE community.

“This is a key issue with the internet more widely – there is a lot of information, so much so that it’s often difficult to get a sense of what is worth your time. This is a key job of The Queen’s Library during these increasingly digital times,” said Mr Bowyer.

A number of activities and competitions have taken place to stretch the boys and encourage them to use their imagination and be creative. These included a ‘blackout’ poetry workshop, during which boys had to black out the majority of a piece of text, leaving only a handful of words to make a poem. Head of English, Robert Hyland, launched a Brave New World poetry competition, which was followed by an art competition on the same theme.

Just before the sudden start of the shutdown, the editorial team were able to put together the second edition of the Arabella – the pupils’ own magazine, open to contributors from Years 7-13. Included in this online edition, which may be viewed here on eQE by current QE families, are poetry, prose and art.

Editor-in-chief Josh Osman, of Year 13, said: “Sadly we were unable to put out a print edition. But the Arabella has been our way of uniting the School through creativity, taking in submissions from all year groups.”

Josh also heralded the success of the blackout poetry workshop: “It allowed people who would not otherwise have ventured into poetry to try their hand at something accessible yet deceptively complex.”

Sixth-former James Tan is believed to be the first QE boy ever to reach the final of the country’s premier coding competition.

James, of Year 12, made it through to the 2020 final of the British Informatics Olympiad after scoring highly in the first round of the annual competition, which was a three-hour examination sat in school.

The residential final had been due to take place at Cambridge University’s Trinity College, but was switched to an online event because of the Covid-19 restrictions. The results have not yet been announced.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “My congratulations to James on making QE history by getting through to the final. It is not only in this competition that he is making his mark with his programming skills: he is also the programmer for our highly successful HYBRID VEX EDR robotics team and is teaching coding to primary school children as part of our Year 12 volunteering programme.”

James first developed his interest in coding by building websites in his spare time. He then learned the Python language, which, he says “opened up a whole new realm of possibilities”. He has taken part in a number of programming competitions, including the online Google Code Jam.

“I enjoy the puzzle-like aspect of coding, where each small section of code fits together to solve a much large problem. There is also a great sense of satisfaction when I find a particularly elegant solution, especially after spending a significant period of time on a programming project.”

James’s weekly volunteering work involves teaching Scratch (a block-based programming language) to primary school children in Years 3 and 4.

He found the first stage of the British Informatics Olympiad challenging but enjoyable, and professed himself very pleased with his score of 79 out of 100. “My preparation mostly consisted of trying to solve past questions in my spare time, which proved to be sufficient, given my prior experience with competitive programming in online contests.”

In the five-hour online final, contestants had to tackle four problems, based around scenarios involving settings such as a training ground for spies and a film studio. Each problem required a complete program as a solution. “In the end, I managed to solve two of the four, which I am quite pleased with,” said James.

In previous years, following the national final, the best four competitors were selected to represent Britain in the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI).

This year, however, the IOI has also been postponed, so the British Informatics Olympiad organisers are planning to run some further selection activity over the coming months, the details of which have not yet been disclosed.

All QE entrants to the Royal Society of Chemistry UK Olympiad were awarded medals after successfully completing the first round of this testing and highly-regarded competition.

Last year’s School Captain, Bhiramah Rammanohar, and his fellow Year 13 pupil, Alejandro Lynch Gonzalez (pictured centre above), both secured gold. This put the Oxbridge-bound pair, who have offers to study at Jesus College, Cambridge, and Magdalen College, Oxford, respectively, in the top 8 per cent of the nearly 3,000 candidates who competed in the élite event, now in its 52nd year.

Chemistry teacher Charani Dharmawardhane said: “All the boys should be proud of their achievement: the competition consists of challenging questions that stretch pupils beyond the A-level specification.”

QE’s eight other participants – Fozy Ahmed, Manas Madan, Tai Oyama  and Sathujan Manmatharajah, pictured above, as well as Abilash Sivathasan, Dhru Patel, Pratham Upadhyay and Rushil Shah – all won either silver or bronze medals. All are from Year 13.

“Nearly a third of the contestants in the RSC Chemistry Olympiad did not receive any award at all, so our boys have done exceptionally well,” Miss Dharmawardhane added.

The RSC describes the competition as “a unique opportunity for students to push themselves further and excel in the chemistry field”. It adds that the olympiad helps develop critical problem-solving skills and creativity, while giving entrants the “chance to test their knowledge in new, real-world situations”.

Usually the first round is followed by a residential weekend for the top performers, with a national team selected from that for an international olympiad competition, but these stages have been cancelled this year.

Year 9 pupils not only found out about careers in STEM and had lots of fun on a special three-day course, but also gained a new qualification, too.

All five boys who attended the Engineering Development Trust’s Routes into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) course in London, prior to social distancing measures, qualified as EDT Bronze Industrial Cadets.

Assistant Head Sarah Westcott said: “This was a valuable opportunity for these boys to discover the breadth of STEM careers open to high-calibre candidates and to find out about pathways such as apprenticeships. The organisers successfully inspired them and made it an enjoyable experience by devoting time to some exciting and creative aspects of STEM.”

The five boys were: Aadi Goel; Ajand Sasikumar; Laksh Sharma; Paras Mehrotra and Pranav Jayakumar.

Over the three days, they attended sessions which included computer science activities, a presentation skills workshop and groups looking at film-making, coding and forensic science.

The Engineering Development Trust, a national charity with more than 30 years’ experience, offers young people learning experiences in STEM-related careers. Its Industrial Cadets framework, with levels from Challenger up to Platinum, allows participants to demonstrate experience and progress in STEM activities.

After the course, the boys produced short reviews of the three days.

Paras wrote: “Overall I found this course to be a very enjoyable experience, as it was a perfect balance between learning and having fun, which was evident in all three days. For example, on the first day at New City College [in Tower Hamlets], we practised drawing on Photoshop and also learnt how to do HTML coding.

“Moreover, on the second day we played many VR games, but also learnt how to make them, teaching me that there is a creative side to STEM jobs. One key thing which I learnt was the variety of jobs that come under STEM, such as the many career options within engineering, including mechanical and software engineering, inspiring me to be open… the possibilities are endless.”

Pranav likewise found that the course gave him fresh insight into the many options available to him. These included apprenticeships: he confessed to not having previously considered these because his understanding of them had been “blurred”.

“The course helped me comprehend the wide range of jobs just in one sector,” he said, adding that it had been a “fantastic experience” which he would highly recommend to others.

Similarly, Aadi acclaimed the course as “an extremely fun experience”, praising the wide variety of activities in which he was able to participate. “My favourite one was the virtual reality experience and the game-coding using the Unreal game engine, because it was fun and also interesting to see the level of work that goes into designing the games we play regularly. Another interesting activity was learning how forensic science works and the different techniques that police officers use, such as heating water and superglue to show any residual fingerprints.”

Aadi particularly appreciated the information and guidance on finding an appropriate apprenticeship.

“All in all, the Routes into STEM course is one that I would definitely recommend for others as it was an interesting and eye-opening experience,” he concluded.

School Captain Ivin Jose’s imaginative short story, looking at climate change through the eyes of an elderly, world-travelling balloonist, has won him the top prize in the national Science Challenge Competition 2020.

Ivin’s 1,200-word feature took both the top prize in its category and the Overall Schools Winner Award, judged by Lord Robert Winston, in the annual Royal College Science Union (RSCU) competition. The RCSU is the student union for students at Imperial College London from the Faculty of Natural Sciences.

Feedback from the competition markers lauded Ivin’s “unique” style in a “gentle yet captivating” essay. One marker wrote: “The message is delivered subtly, but without detracting from its importance.” A second marker told Ivin: “It is clear that you are very talented at scientific writing, which is generally a very tricky thing to do!”

Ivin, of Year 12, was shortlisted as one of the three finalists for his category and was invited to the awards ceremony in the Royal Society of Chemistry Library.

Unfortunately, the event coincided with QE’s Senior Awards Ceremony, at which Ivin not only won several prizes, but was also scheduled to deliver a vote of thanks as School Captain. His father therefore attended the competition ceremony in his stead, where scientist, doctor and TV presenter Professor Lord Winston presented the prizes. Lord Winston has been the ambassador for the Science Challenge for 12 years.

Ivin said: “I was delighted and surprised to learn that I had won the awards for both the feature category and the Overall Schools Winner Award.” He won £500, with the prize package also including a visit to the House of Lords.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “My congratulations go to Ivin on this exceptional achievement. He is an exemplary pupil, achieving high academic standards and contributing fully to extra-curricular activities, while showing great dedication to serving QE in his role as School Captain.”

Ivin was alerted to the competition by Academic Enrichment Tutor and Physics teacher Gillian Deakin. There were four categories: video, essay, feature and freestyle. Ivin chose the feature category, for which entrants had to cover “what good climate means to different people, and what this means for how we respond to climate change”.

“I chose to do the feature article question, as the blend of creativity and scientific fact appealed to me.”

The guest judge for this category was Mun Keat Looi, a science writer, who was awarded the silver Rising Star Award at the 2015 British Media Awards. He is the author of two books, Big Questions in Science: The quest to solve the great unknowns and the Geek Guide to Life.

Ivin said: “I wrote my feature article titled Memories of an Old World Traveller. I decided that it would be interesting to explore the feature article question from the perspective of an older narrator in order to explore how much the earth’s climate has changed over time, as well as my desire to motivate and inspire readers to action.”

The article tells the story of a 92-year-old hot air balloonist reflecting on happy memories of travelling the world and “witnessing the stunning peaks of the Himalayas, tasting the spices of Asia and beholding the beauty of the Alaskan Northern Lights”.

One of the marker’s commented on this aspect of the feature: “It is very interesting to introduce so many different cultures’ approaches to climate science, and you have done this very well.”

Realising in his old age that the climate is rapidly changing, the traveller-narrator gets out his balloon for one final journey to investigate humanity’s response to the crisis. The essay finishes with the narrator’s thoughts on the comprehensive measures that will be necessary to resolve the problem of global warming.

• Read Ivin’s winning entry, Memories Of An Old World Traveller.