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Year 8 House teams pitted their wits against each other in QE’s very own Maths Circus.

Inspired by the UK Mathematics Trust’s Maths Challenge events, the circus includes a number of rounds that involve both mathematical problem-solving and practical challenges.

Each team was supervised by a Year 12 or 13 Further Mathematics A-level student, while sixth-formers also helped with the logistics of running the overall event.

Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung said: “Now in its second year, the Year 8 Maths Circus follows on from the Year 7 Maths Fair, with the idea being to show boys that mathematical problems come in many different formats, as well as to help them to develop team-working skills.

“The event could not have been run without the help of the sixth-formers and it was a great opportunity for the older boys to interact with Year 8: the Maths department is always grateful for the support they provide so cheerfully and reliably.”

The morning of activities first involved a carousel of activities such as Crossnumber (a mathematical version of a crossword) and Origami. All teams then took part in the Relay, for which they had to combine speed of movement around the room with speed in solving a mathematical problem.

The overall winners of the Maths Circus were Pearce with 569 points, beating second-placed Harrisons’ by just one point. Third place went to Broughton, on 549. Pearce were later presented with their certificate and the Robinson-Leong Shield in assembly. The shield is named after Oliver Robinson (a 2018 leaver) and current Year 13 pupil Samuel Leong, who both donated prizes they had won through the Jack Petchey Foundation to the Mathematics department.

In a related challenge, all six Houses were also required to construct a hanging mobile. There were teams within each House, all of which were required to create part of the mobile, having been asked to prepare in advance by coordinating the different sections so that their mobile would encompass their ideas about the many facets of Mathematics.

The prize for best mobile went to Leicester. This was also presented in assembly.

Afterwards, pairs of boys from the winning Year 8 teams were asked to sum up their feelings. Maxwell Johnson and Sthujan Jeyasingarajah said: “We are proud to have led Pearce to victory this year. We owe it to the exceptional effort made by everyone.” For Leicester, Divyesh Bansal and Aarav Thakur said: ‘We really enjoyed the entire day and it was a great opportunity to do Maths whilst also being creative and fun. It was the best!”

QE has continued its record of ever-improving performance in the Intermediate Maths Challenge, as the number of boys going through tops 170.

After sitting the Intermediate Maths Challenge (IMC), which is run by the UK Mathematics Trust, 30 boys from Years 9–11 join a national élite of young mathematicians going on to participate in the Intermediate Maths Olympiad – up from 27 boys last year and 19 the year before. Across the whole country, only around 500 high-scorers in each year group are invited to join the Olympiad.

A further 143 QE boys have qualified for the challenge’s other follow-on round, the Intermediate European Kangaroo. With 140 qualifying last year and 133 in 2017, this reflects another rising trend. Nationally, a total of 5,500 pupils across all three year groups are invited to sit the Kangaroo test papers.

Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung said: “We are delighted with how well the boys have done and extremely pleased with the continued increase in the proportion of them reaching the follow-on rounds. As the new 9-1 GCSE has a strong focus on problem-solving, success in the IMC will stand the boys in good stead for the new-style exams.”

A total of 319 boys at the School took part in this year’s IMC. Of these, 172 were awarded gold certificates, 91 took silver and 39 bronze. The top 40 per cent of students nationally receive a gold, silver or bronze certificate in the ratio 1:2:3.

Each school or college also receives a Best in School certificate. James Tan, of Year 11, was this year’s winner, with a score of 127 out of 135. He said that he had particularly relished the geometry questions. Next in Year 11 was Gurman Saini, with 122: “I enjoyed getting my head around the riddles,” he said. He was closely followed by Hari Gajendran, on 121.

The Best in Year 10 accolade went to Dan Suciu, with 125, followed by Abhinav Santhiramohan, with 115. Best in Year 9 was Ansh Jassra, scoring 119 – “I like the blend of complex, challenging Maths and fun, creative problem-solving,” he said – and second place went to Arnie Sahi, on 116.

The names of the Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad papers are: Cayley, Hamilton and Maclaurin for Years 9, 10 and 11 respectively. The Kangaroo papers, which are sat by pupils from more than 30 countries, last one hour and feature 25 multiple-choice questions.

• Here is one of the questions from this year’s IMC:

A 24-hour digital clock shows the time in hours and minutes. How many times in one day will it display all four digits 2, 0, 1 and 9 in some order?
A 6
B 10
C 12
D 18
E 24

Dame Helen Hyde, former headmistress and now a leading social justice campaigner, encouraged QE pupils at the Year 12 Luncheon to say no to hatred in all its forms and to make a positive difference by taking action.

Dame Helen was the guest speaker at the annual meal, which is arranged to give sixth-formers experience of the sort of formal social occasions they will experience at university and in their careers beyond.

A recognised national education leader who mentored other heads and school leadership teams, she left Watford Grammar School for Girls, where she had been Headmistress for 29 years, in 2016, because, as her own website puts it, “she felt she could no longer be a bystander”.

She was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) for her services to national state education and Holocaust Education in 2013. Dame Helen was appointed to the Holocaust Commission established by Prime Minister David Cameron in 2013-14. Last year, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Hertfordshire.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “The boys and the teachers present greatly appreciated her thought-provoking contribution, which was perfectly pitched for the occasion. The boys always value the opportunity to hear from those eminent in their respective fields and to be able to put their questions to them.”

And Mr Enright told Dame Helen: “Your message about each individual being able to make a positive difference to the lives of others resonates very strongly with what we try to convey to the boys, both directly and with the support of our guest speakers. Your inspiring work in Rwanda provides evidence of what can be achieved.”

The luncheon, a three-course meal, was supported by Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s volunteers and Year 9 helpers. As is customary, a number of toasts were made prior to Dame Helen’s address. School Captain Bhiramah Rammanohar compèred the event, while Senior Vice-Captain Fozy Ahmed delivered the vote of thanks.

In her presentation, Dame Helen explored aspects of the Holocaust, in which members of her own family were murdered. She considered its unprecedented nature, the events that led up to it in Nazi Germany, the widespread complicity of many in Germany and occupied lands across Europe, and the reasons why the world powers failed to intervene.

Her family were originally from Germany, but some managed to escape abroad. Her father went to South Africa in 1936, where she was later born. She emigrated to Britain in 1970.

Her presentation also looked at South Africa’s history of Apartheid, as well as at genocides from that of the Armenians in the early 20th century through to recent events in Darfur in the Sudan and among the Rohingya from Myanmar.

She spoke about the work of Refugees to Recovery (R to R), which she set up with Tony Rindl, Vicar of St Mary’s Church, Watford. R to R works with other organisations to collect items badly needed by refugees.

Her work with Holocaust survivors led to Dame Helen’s interest in the Rwandan genocide of 1994, when 1 million people died in 100 days. She is an active patron and co-director of the Rwandan Sisterhood, which brings together Rwandan women uprooted by the genocide and raises funds to provide ‘Mama packs’ to expectant women in Rwanda and other African countries.

She finished her presentation to the boys with a challenge, calling on them to consider “your decisions, your words and your actions” and to “be an upstander”, taking action to help with the campaigns and charities she had outlined.

A QE team won praise from the judges for their multi-faceted presentation at the final of an Economics competition run by one of the country’s oldest thinktanks.

The team of four sixth-formers, including the co-presidents of QE’s Economics Society, were shortlisted among the final 12 teams for the final of the Budget Challenge run by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA).

Praising the boys on their contribution, QE’s Head of Economics Shamendra Uduwawala said: “Many of the finalists decided to concentrate on single policies whereas the QE boys decided to focus on multiple policies tackling different issues.”

Although the team were not among the eventual winners, Dr Stephen Davies, Head of Education at the IEA, praised their work as “very detailed and well worked-out”, saying: “I liked the presentation and [it was] very strong on an individual level.”

The QE team chosen from Year 12 by Mr Uduwawala consisted of Economics Society co-presidents Rishi Shah and Hanif Gofur, together with Neel Shah and Rushil Shah. They were competing against schools including Harrow, Repton and North London Collegiate School.

For the challenge, each team had to prepare a budget for the UK in the coming financial year, with taxation and spending policy, as well as more briefly analysing the macroeconomic conditions and setting out a broad policy and strategy in response to these.

Rishi said: “We prepared a 5,000-word budget and constructed new policies to address Brexit uncertainty, the UK’s ageing population, the global growth slowdown and Industry 4.0 revolution. Our policies included; eNHS (a centralised online platform for the National Health Service), Project Unicorn (a technology start-up accelerator programme to scale-up new firms into market giants) and a reduction in stamp duty to name a few.”

The final, which was held at the IEA’s Westminster base, began with an introduction from Dr Davies, who recently delivered a lecture at QE on game theory. He discussed the history of the IEA, which was founded in 1955 based on a vision from economist Friedrich Hayek and now reports on economic affairs.

Then the competition began, with each of the 12 teams being asked to give a ten-minute presentation on their budget, followed by a ten-minute cross-examination by the judges. Soon after lunch – a ‘grand buffet’ – came the presentation for the QE team.

“We delivered our vision for the future of the economy and outlined our main policies,” said Rishi. “The judges then questioned our polices in detail and posed questions such as: ‘Why not scrap stamp duty instead of just reducing it?’ to which I answered that the long-term goal is to reduce stamp duty over time and eventually bring in an annual land value-based tax. They also questioned the potential ‘cyber security threat to the eNHS’, to which we replied that blockchain technology would be used to prevent data breaches.”

During lunch, the competitors listened to a talk from Rebecca Lowe, who is the Director of FREER – a major new initiative from the IEA promoting a freer economy and a freer society. She tackled the question ‘Is democracy worth it?’

She argued that democracy isn’t the realisation of an ideal society; instead it is more of a process. She then moved onto the relationship between democracy, the rule of law and the judicial system.

After all the presentations, there was a talk from Dr Kristian Niemietz, the IEA’s Head of Political Economy, who explained some of the key phrases frequently heard in the EU debate. He noted that the implications of Brexit will be on trade, immigration and regulation, as leaving the customs unions and the European single market would end the free movement of people. He used the analogy that the EU is not like being a Netflix subscriber, where either one is, or is not, subscribed. Instead, the EU is a great deal more complex, with many different parts and subsections, and one can be in each of them without being in all of them.

A visiting historian and economist set out how game theory applies across a very wide range of human activity in a lecture to senior boys – while also giving his own views and predictions about Brexit.

Dr Steve Davies is Head of Education at the Institute of Economic Affairs and has previously held academic roles in both the UK and US. He has authored several books, including Empiricism and History (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) and was co-editor with Nigel Ashford of The Dictionary of Conservative and Libertarian Thought (Routledge, 1991).

In his lecture to senior boys, he illustrated applications of game theory in football, TV game shows and in oligopolies (where a market or industry is dominated by a small number of large sellers). Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interaction between rational decision-makers.

Shamendra Uduwawala, Head of Economics, expressed his gratitude to Dr Davies for his visit, saying: “Game theory is a fascinating area of study, and he contributed significantly to our boys’ understanding of it by using such diverse and interesting examples. It was also good to have his own, well-informed perspective on Brexit, which complemented the lecture given here recently by Clément Leroy, a Research and Policy Engagement Associate from UCL’s European Institute.”

Himself a keen Manchester City fan, Dr Davies chose the penalty shoot-out at the end of the 2008 Champions League final between City’s local rivals Manchester United and Chelsea to illustrate game theory in the sport. United won the match after the team’s goalkeeper Van der Sar first pointed to his left, but then dived to his right, correctly guessing that Chelsea’s Nicolas Anelka would shoot that way. Van der Sar saved and United duly won European football’s top prize.

Dr Davies also looked at game theory in the game show, Golden Balls, and at the dilemma faced by two suspects interrogated for crimes, where they must choose whether the best thing for themselves is to confess, stay silent or betray the other prisoner.

Turning to oligopolistic markets, he examined the issue of such markets involving just two firms. Both firms could benefit from both having high prices, but one will always try to undercut the other firm by lowering prices, he pointed out. This problem could be overcome by collusion, although that is illegal.

Dr Davies also digressed to talk about Brexit. Stating that there was an impression of widespread panic about it within business, he blamed the media because he said they were predicting – incorrectly, in his view – that desperate shortages are inevitable. In terms of companies stockpiling, this is usual in any time of uncertainty and is not uniquely or solely about Brexit.

Alluding to the current febrile political atmosphere, with much plotting going on in Westminster pubs, he noted the similarity to the 1885 general election, the first to be held after an extension of the franchise which meant that for the first time, a majority of adult males could vote.

There would be, he predicted, no second referendum, since a majority of Parliament is against it. A cross-party deal will form – to secure outcomes such as ‘Norway plus’ or continuing membership of the customs union – but he forecast that major splits will continue to happen as the March 29th Brexit deadline approaches.

Leading activist and writer Laura Bates impressed QE sixth-formers with a wide-ranging lecture on modern feminism.

The founder of the Everyday Sexism Project covered topics including definitions of feminism, transgender matters, the approach feminists should adopt to cultures elsewhere and the advice that should be given to young men in relationships with women. She also discussed her new Young Adult fiction book, The Burning.

After an invitation from hosts St Albans High School for Girls, a dozen Year 12 A-level Politics students attended the lecture, accompanied by Head of Year 12 and History & Politics teacher Lottie Coleman and Head of Politics Liam Hargadon. The School has selected feminism as an option within the A-Level Politics core syllabus.

“It was a really excellent talk,” said Miss Coleman. “She was so articulate and informed on the subject of feminism without being dogmatic, making her an incredibly impressive speaker.”

One of the QE sixth-formers, Rushil Shah, praised Ms Bates’ “well-articulated and convincing talk…which was not repetitive or droning at all,” adding that he had been impressed by her use of statistics. His classmate, Leo Kucera, praised her for addressing male stereotypes in society and for “confidently and accurately answering questions”.

Ms Bates started the Everyday Sexism Project website in 2012, five years after graduating from Cambridge with a degree in English Literature. The aim of the site is to document examples of sexism from around the world.

She spoke initially of her own experiences of sexism, including a Cambridge don who wore a black armband on the anniversary of women’s first admission to the university.

To illustrate her claim of the inequality facing women, she cited the fact that there are more men called John leading FTSE100 companies than women!

She stressed the need to discuss sexism and feminism with young men in relationships, saying that the suggestion sometimes made that this is a ‘minefield’ area is actually insulting to young men.

Regarding trans matters and how feminism applies in this area, she pointed out that women are not an homogenous group anyway, so the variety of experience seen among trans people should not be an issue.

Ms Bates felt that it is not the job of western feminists to impose their ideals in other parts of the world; they should instead concentrate on giving feminists from other cultures a platform.

Issues raised in a question-and-answer session after the lecture included:

• Discrimination against women in careers – Ms Bates said that the fact that women have children is not sufficient to explain this away
• Why women and men tend to choose certain careers – her view was that this is due to nurture, such as children being given ‘gendered’ toys
• Workplace gender quotas – the current situation is not a true meritocracy, so quotas are not inherently unfair, she said. They might speed up the process of attaining equality as a short-term step, alongside other measures.

Besides Leo and Rushil, the QE attendees were: Alex Beard; Chris Hall; Senan Karunadhara; Tohgo Kimura; Mehdi Reza Lilani; Aditya Mukopadhyay; Josh Osman; Ryan Ratnam; Oscar Robinson and Teg Singh.