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A team of Year 9 QE mathematicians have come second in the final of a national competition that attracted entries from more than 150 teams from across the UK.

The team, named Perpetual Motion Squad, was one of three QE teams among the 13 who reached the final of the Edge Hill University Mathematics Challenge, which was held at Ormskirk in West Lancashire. Six QE teams had previously qualified for the second round of the competition.

The boys were accompanied to the final by Mathematics teachers Joelle Simpson and Michael Smith. “They had a very early start but used the journey to good effect to put the finishing touches to their presentation,” said Mrs Simpson. “All the boys did exceptionally well to reach the final. The judges were particularly impressed with the Perpetual Motion Squad, as the team had come up with a solution to the problem which had not been previously considered.”

Team members Abishek Balajee, Joshua Bonafe, Siddhant Kansal, Manav Khindri and Filip Olszewski spoke afterwards of their pride in securing the runners-up spot.

The competition provides pupils with an opportunity to tackle engaging mathematical activities while developing teamwork and communication skills. Participants also had to think about ways of integrating ICT within Mathematics and to develop problem-solving skills.

In the two qualifying rounds, the boys had to produce posters showing solutions to a given problems. Round 1 offered a choice between a problem involving factors and another involving calculation. The second round gave a choice between a geometry problem and a speed/distance problem.

At the final, teams had to present their solution to a panel of three judges. Each team had 15 minutes to display their poster and make their presentation.

In their discussions with the finalists, competition judges were looking for evidence of:

• Clear and accurate solutions
• Good display of mathematical and problem-solving skills
• Critical comparison of alternative approaches
• Original and imaginative presentation of the solutions
• Evidence of teamwork and communication between team members
• Evidence of the use of ICT.

Team πr NOT2 comprised Athiyan Chandramohan, Nirmay Jadhav, Ansh Jaiswal, Jay Patel and Thilakshan Thayalan, who said they had developed their teamwork, organisation and communication skills throughout the competition.

Beuran Kannan, Heshanth Mogendram, Arvind Raghu, Vineeth Rajan and Dharun Srirathan made up Team Mathsala. In their feedback, they said they found the project fun as it consisted of geometry, CAD design and programming which was very interesting for all of them.

Sixth-former Niam Vaishnav is to represent his country at the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) in China this November.

Niam, of Year 12, won his place on the national team after excelling at the British Astronomy & Astrophysics Training Camp at Oxford at Easter.

His success follows that of a number of QE boys who have been chosen for national and international Science Olympiads in recent years. Niam was also in the team that achieved QE’s best-ever result in this year’s national Senior Team Maths Challenge.

Robin Hughes, Chairman of the British Physics Olympiad (which runs both the Physics and Astronomy & Astrophysics teams), has now written to QE Headmaster Neil Enright to confirm Niam’s place. “He has done extremely well. It is a pleasure to have another student from QEB [Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet] on one of our teams again.

“The experience gained by a student at such an international event is one that remains with them for the rest of their lives,” added Mr Hughes, who is a Project Physicist for the Rutherford Physics Partnership.

Mr Enright said: “My congratulations go to Niam, and to his teachers, on what is a very considerable achievement. I am sure that he will find his trip both intellectually enriching and enjoyable.”

To prepare for the ten-day trip to Beijing, Niam is undergoing intensive training with his teammates. He has already taken part in a training camp at Churchill College, Cambridge, and there is a further five-day camp next month, taking place partly at Oxford University and partly at Marlborough College’s observatory.

Last year’s UK IOAA team, also made up of Year 12 AS pupils, have been very successful, reported Mr Hughes. They have secured Oxbridge places and two of them are on this year’s team for the International Physics Olympiad, which is drawn from Year 13 pupils.

QE senior roboteers achieved the best-ever result for a UK team after qualifying for the VEX EDR Robotics World Championships at their very first attempt.

The HYBRID Alpha team amassed five wins at the finals in Louisville, Kentucky, which are the culmination of a global event that has just been recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest robotics competition. And although they were unable to match the feat of QE’s junior boys in the parallel VEX IQ competition – who were crowned the UK’s first-ever world champions – they nonetheless returned from the US with a wealth of happy memories.

Year 10 pupil Deshraam Ganeshamoorthy, who was the robot driver for HYBRID Alpha, said their performance exceeded even their own expectations: “To finish with five wins and the highest rank of any UK team puts it all into perspective – the scale of the challenge when taking on the ‘super teams’ from other parts of the world. Hopefully what all the UK teams achieved here can spur on the next generation to success at the EDR championships.”

QE’s Head of Technology, Michael Noonan, who accompanied the teams together with Chemistry teacher Miss Katie Paske, added that the senior boys had “found the experience to be thoroughly enriching”.

The VEX EDR World Championships, which is open to pupils from Years 10–13 (or ‘high school’, in American parlance), bring together 600 élite teams from around the world, pitting against each other national champions from 46 different countries, as well as state champions from around the US.

Two senior QE teams took part, HYBRID Alpha and HYBRID Beta, both made up of boys from Years 10 and 12. Both teams qualified for the world championships after strong performances in regional and UK national championships, with Alpha winning the Excellence award at the regional finals at Stowe School as well as being crowned Nationals Skills Champions. Beta were a last-minute qualifier, winning the Design Award at the very end of the national championships in Telford.

Their trip to the US began with a 5.30am start and a long flight to Louisville, via Chicago. The following day was given over to rest and recuperation, with the boys taking in some of the local sights, such as the Muhammad Ali Centre and museum, and the Louisville Slugger factory, where the famous eponymous baseball bat is manufactured. The evening was spent in a flurry of preparation for the competition’s various challenges, or games.

The following day saw another early start, the boys rising at 6.30am to get the best possible chance to practise and to discuss their tactics with other teams with whom they were put in alliances. From that point on, the daily routine was a challenging one: 12 hours’ non-stop practice and competition, all of which involved communicating with other teams from around the world.

QE’s teams ended up being paired with, or competing against, teams from Bahrain, Lebanon, China, Japan, Canada and even war-torn Syria, as well as various state champions from around the US.

“Amid very strong competition the boys thrived, recording some of their highest scores of the season,” said Mr Noonan. “However, given the highly dedicated and highly funded approach of some of the US and China teams, even their best was at times not enough to turn the fixture.”

Nevertheless, Alpha distinguished themselves with their strong performance in a divisional match, becoming the first UK team ever to reach the final 16 at the world championship – beating another London team, from Fortismere School in Muswell Hill, to this honour by a matter of a few moments.

Alpha were paired for this match with a team from Rolling Hills, California. “Hybrid’s efforts were valiant, but excellent defence from the Chinese and Canadian combination saw their opponents win by a narrow margin of 115-92.”

Alpha’s disappointment at the loss was later rendered bittersweet when one of these two opposing teams went on to remain undefeated in all their remaining games and eventually be crowned World Teamwork Champions.

There were two more treats in store for the boys: they were able to see the unveiling of the newest robotics game, Turning Point, and they had just enough time to enjoy the thrilling rides and attractions of the Kentucky Kingdom theme park before heading for home.

• The Alpha team comprised: Year 12 pupil Aadi Desai, with Deshraam Ganeshamoorthy, Bhargab Ghoshal, James Tan and Ukendar Vadivel, all from Year 10. Beta were: Dilan Sheth, of Year 12, together with Year 10 boys Sunay Challa, Devin Karia, Daniel Radzik-Rahman and Yai Sagolsem.

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.