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QE’s Geography department has received a prestigious award in recognition of the excellence of teaching and learning in the subject at the School.

The Geographical Association announced that QE is among a select group of schools from across the country to receive the Secondary Geography Quality Mark (SGQM) for 2018–21.

QE previously won the award in 2015 and had recently submitted detailed evidence in the hope of having it renewed. In response, the association’s Moderator Justin Woolliscroft and the National Moderation Team gave QE’s Geography team a glowing report: “Your students are very fortunate to have access to a rich and varied curriculum allied with such a committed teaching team. It is clear that you are very proactive in a wide range of areas spreading good practice through your activities.

“Geography provision is clearly extremely strong and we are delighted to confirm the SGQM award for a further three years.”

The award recognises quality and progress in Geography leadership, curriculum development and learning and teaching in schools.

QE’s Head of Geography Emily Parry said: “The department are proud to have received this award in recognition of the high-quality geographical education delivered here. We strive to provide an engaging and topical curriculum.”

Rebecca Kitchen, GA Curriculum Manager, said: “The SGQM enables schools to focus critically on what they are doing and why, in order to provide their young people with the knowledge and understanding they need to live in the modern world.”

The moderators’ report singled out a number of areas for special praise: “The need for refreshed and revised curricula for both KS4 [Key Stage 4] and KS5 have understandably been an important focus for the department, and it is good to read that these have been accepted very positively by the students and that the new schemes are now influencing what is offered at Key Stage 3. We like the challenge offered through the extended homework essays which clearly support the students in becoming more independent, so helping them with the demands placed upon them at GCSE and beyond.”

The report also lauded the department’s:

• “Continuing collaborative work” with the University of Hertfordshire and the Prince’s Teaching Institute
• “Important role” in hosting the World Wise quiz for local schools – an annual Geography competition
• Fieldwork, which “remains a strength, with numerous exciting opportunities offered to your students”.

Twelve sixth-formers heard two lectures from mathematicians chosen for their distinction in the subject and their communication skills.

The Year 12 boys heard Dr Jennifer Rogers, from Oxford University, and Dr Katie Steckles, of schools outreach organisation, Think Maths, deliver this year’s London Mathematical Society Popular Lectures at Bush House.

In her talk, entitled Living is a Risky Business, Dr Rogers explained that we are bombarded with statistics every day and that it is therefore important to be able to discern the truth behind a shock headline.

She discussed, for example, the statistics behind the newspaper headlines about bacon sandwiches causing a higher risk of cancer and being equally as bad as smoking. She explained that there is a 1 in 80 lifetime risk of being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer so scaling this up, this is the same as a 5 in 400 risk. A 20% increase would therefore mean that the lifetime risk of getting pancreatic cancer is now 6 in 400.

The headlines only considered statistical significance without quantifying it in any way. For comparison, there is a 4 in 400 chance of being diagnosed with lung cancer if you have never smoked. Smoking more than 25 cigarettes a day increases that to 96 in 400 as you are 24 times more likely to be diagnosed with cancer. Both results (bacon and smoking) are statistically significant but they do not pose the same risk as each other.

Afterwards, one of the QE Year 12 audience, Nico Puthu, said: “I’m really pleased to find out that it’s perfectly safe to eat as much bacon as I want!”

Dr Rogers finished by explaining her dealings with Ryanair. As Vice President of the Royal Statistical Society, she was asked by the TV programme, Watchdog, to investigate the claims by Ryanair passengers that if they did not book seats in advance (and pay for this privilege), then they were always given a middle seat. Four researchers booked four different flights and all were allocated middle seats. She calculated that this would have a probability of 0.2% which suggests that seat allocation is not random. Ryanair, after many denials, finally admitted that their seating algorithm was not random.

QE attendee Sahil Shah said “I enjoyed hearing about her battle with Ryanair,” while Mudit Tuslianey added: “Dr Rogers’ talk linked well to what we have been studying at A-level.”

For her lecture, Dr Steckles spoke on The Greatest Unsolved Puzzles in Maths. One of her demonstrations involved taking a piece of A4 paper and folding it three times, always folding along the longest edge, and then cutting off all four corners of the resulting shape. How many holes will you have made in the A4 paper when it is unfolded? she asked. (Answer: three). This led on to the introduction of the Euler brick which is a cuboid which has integer lengths and integer face diagonals. Some examples are shown in the image here.

Mathematicians are currently searching for the perfect cuboid which is an Euler brick that also has an integer body diagonal, Dr Steckles explained.

QE’s Assistant Head of Mathematics, Wendy Fung, said: “She finished by saying that all the unsolved problems that currently exist will be solved by people who, when they see a puzzle, don’t give up.”

Akshat Sharma and Aadi Desai spoke afterwards of their appreciation of the puzzles she set. Their classmate, Kiran Aberdeen, said: “I found Dr Steckles’ talk very amusing.”

The sixth-formers helping QE’s youngest pupils at the Year 7 Maths Fair were the first generation to have taken part in the competition themselves.

Now in its sixth year, the House challenge features a morning of activities designed to stretch the Year 7 boys’ mathematical abilities. It was inspired by the UK Mathematics Trust’s Team Maths Challenge events.

The winners for 2017-2018 were Broughton House, with 837 points, followed by Pearce with 825 and Stapylton with 805. Broughton were subsequently presented with the trophy, the Scarisbrick Shield, in assembly. The shield is named after former Head of Mathematics, Fauziah (Gee) Scarisbrick MBE.

Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung said: “Each team was supervised by a Year 12 Further Maths student and it was a great opportunity for these sixth-formers to interact with Year 7, whether they were supervising a team or helping with the logistics of running the event: we couldn’t have done it without their help.” She pointed out that the Year 12 boys had themselves been participants in the inaugural Maths Fair, back in 2013.

The boys took part in a carousel of activities – some were more familiar mathematical problem-solving activities (A Question of Maths) and others more practical (Tangrams). Then, all teams took part in the Relay, which combines speed in movement about the room and speed in solving a maths problem.

“The idea is to show boys that mathematical problems come in many different formats as well as to help them to develop team-working skills,” said Miss Fung.

Year 7 Broughton pupil Aradhya Singh spoke of his happiness at his House’s victory, adding: “We hope that Broughton can win it again next year.”

All six Houses were also required to create a poster entitled What is Mathematics? Each of the teams within each House had to create part of the poster and was asked to prepare in advance by coordinating the different sections so that their poster would encompass the many facets of the subject.

The award for best poster went to Staplyton; it was put on display afterwards in the Mathematics department.

Siddarth Sridharth said: “We’re really happy to have won the poster competition and that our efforts paid off,” while fellow Stapylton House member Yash Patel added: “We spent a lot of time discussing how to show Maths in the best possible way.”

Boys in Year 8 pitted their talents against each other in a competitive Dragons’ Den-style challenge, first designing an innovative product and then pitching it at the end of the day.

The event, held as part of the School’s Enrichment Week, aimed to get boys using skills in the STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics).

They had to design a product to solve a real-world problem, while also considering their marketing and business proposition. To create their prototypes, the participants were allocated a budget which they could use to buy the basic materials (such as card, tape and wooden sticks) from a ‘market’ in the hall.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “This event encompassed problem-solving and combining knowledge of science, product design, technology, finance and business acumen to come up with a new product that was a practical proposition – and all in the space of a day. The boys successfully produced some very interesting and promising proposals.”

All boys in Year 8 took part in the challenge, which was split across two days. It was led by Simon Kettle, Executive Director of STEMworks, a not-for-profit company dedicated to promoting STEM. Simon also judged the boys’ projects.

Afterwards, Simon said: “The students were given the opportunity to design and develop ideas that use some new, cutting-edge technologies. I talked through a few new materials and the associated technology – and the students did the rest. They came up with a wide range of new product ideas, with the best being presented in the Dragons’ Den.”

The winners’ product on the first day, which they named SOLAcharge, used small portable solar panels to charge a mobile phone. The second-day winners designed Simon’s particular favourite – SafeSensors, a sports helmet which not only protected the head but also had built-in impact sensors that could notify the team coach or doctor of any impact that would require a player to be treated or substituted (in cases of concussion, for example).

Other ideas included mobile phones with in-built smoke alarms, smart baths (that would self-regulate temperature and could not over-fill), and even a helmet capable of styling the wearer’s hair!

Equipped only with card and drinking straws, Year 10 boys had to be constructively creative during an architecture event held as part of QE’s Enrichment Week.

For the challenge run by the Art department, House teams were asked to make an architectural structure made up of modular forms, with a theme of Folded Architecture.

Two of 2017’s Year 13 leavers, Nabil Haque and Tochi Onuora, who are both studying Architecture at Cambridge, came back to help.

Towards the end of the day, the participants were instructed to consider what purpose or building form their structure could fulfil. (They had not been told they were making buildings earlier in the day, so that their thinking would not be constrained by notions of what they considered to be normal for buildings.)

With function therefore following form, the six-strong teams decided that what they had designed could be put to use for buildings as diverse as stadia, hospitals, safari lodges and residential accommodation, to name but a few.

The pieces were judged at the end of the event. The Stapylton House team – comprising Alex Aliev, Nikhil Gulshan, Rakul Maheswaran, Jack Runchman, Aqif Choudhury, Riaz Kalim and Jude Miranda – won overall. Their contribution was praised for the way that it essentially used the same hexagonal shape repeatedly to build up the structure and create something very stable, yet still architecturally interesting.

Head of Art Stephen Buckeridge reported that the two visiting Old Elizabethans were very complimentary about the boys’ innovation, lateral thinking and openness to exploring new ways of thinking. He added that the models looked very professional, considering the time spent and rudimentary nature of the materials used. In fact, so good were the models that a small exhibition was staged to give other staff a chance to see them.

Headmaster Neil Enright evoked Nelson Mandela as he urged QE’s young prize-winners to embrace both optimism and persistence.

Mr Enright congratulated the award-winners and explained how they could learn from the former South African President and 1993 Nobel Peace Prize-winner, speaking on what would have been his 100th birthday.

Almost 120 prizes were awarded at the 2018 Junior Awards Ceremony to boys from Years 7–9 across a broad range of categories that included not only academic subjects, but also House prizes and awards for sport, the performing arts and service.

The Headmaster pointed out that the boys receiving awards had achieved double success, firstly by securing a place at the School (more than 2,400 boys sat last year’s entrance examination) and then by winning a prize. “You have been the best of the best in your year groups for the respective subjects, extra-curricular activities and contributions to school life for which prizes are being given. You should therefore be very proud of what you have achieved,” he said.

Just as Mr Mandela had spoken of “keeping one’s head pointed towards the sun, one’s feet moving forwards”, the boys should “keep taking those forward steps” and should also be “highly, but realistically, ambitious”.

Warning pupils against “complacency and hubris”, Mr Enright added: “Being humble, modest and grounded – when coupled with hard work and an inner confidence – is a safe pathway to success, and these are characteristics happily common among QE boys.” And he alluded to Nelson’s Mandela’s axiom that “a good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination”.

The guest speaker at the afternoon ceremony in the School Hall was Old Elizabethan Daniel Isenberg (1999–2006), a young barrister who studied at Cambridge and Harvard and was also Judicial Assistant to Lord Sumption and Lord Carnwath at the Supreme Court.

Other VIP guests included Chairman of Governors Barrie Martin MBE and the Mayor of the Borough of Barnet, Councillor Reuben Thompstone.

The ceremony was enhanced by music performed by the boys, including three pieces from British composers – Samba Triste from Three Piece Suite by Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Promenade from Le Tombeau de Couperin by John McLeod and Hypnosis by Ian Clarke.

The final vote of thanks was given by Ugan Pretheshan, winner of the Year 7 Public Speaking Award.

Afterwards, boys and their parents enjoyed refreshments with the Headmaster, staff and guests.