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: “I congratulate all the boys who achieved success for themselves and their Houses and I thank Mr Clarke and all colleagues involved for their hard work throughout the day.”
achieve a creditable finish!
javelin, long jump, high jump and triple jump.
Until the last rounds of this stage, it looked as though this would be Leicester and Harrisons’, but then Stapylton, maintaining an unbeaten run, stormed through with a huge total of 175 over Leicester. Pearce had lost their opening quiz to Harrisons’, but when they took on Underne, they garnered 150 points to secure the other finalist’s spot.
Extra-curricular Enrichment tutor James Clarke said: “Special mentions should definitely go to Anshul Sajip, of Year 10, who performed admirably for Harrisons’, Year 7 boy Vignesh Rajiv, who took Pearce to the final with his knowledge of ancient Greece, scoring 25 points late on his own, and Year 10 Aaryan Sheth, for his outstanding performance in the final for Stapylton.”
The runners-up, Pearce, were: Vignesh Rajiv, Year 7; Olly Salter, Year 8; Sheikh Mohiddin, Year 9, and Deshraam Ganeshamoorthy, Year 10.
Congratulating all the ensembles, Headmaster Neil Enright said: “The boys faced a tricky task: they had first to take into account the particular talents within their House when selecting their piece; then they had to arrange the music themselves, and finally, they faced the challenge of performing together in front of their peers.
The judging panel comprised QE music teachers Tom Jack and Jen Brown, as well as St Albans High School for Girls’ Director of Music, Miss Emma Price, who led the panel and delivered both the feedback and results.
Year 13 pupil Abbas Adejonwo, who was part of the Harrisons’ team, remembers the old Music competition, in which boys performed pieces individually. He recalls finding the experience somewhat daunting as a Year 8 boy, and he welcomed the different arrangements adopted for the revived competition: “It was an exhilarating experience competing in this new format. It really instilled a sense of teamwork – and I am very proud of my House.”
Headmaster Neil Enright said: “It was a very good, action-packed day, with pupils engaging well and relishing the excitement of competition. The weather held out for us, despite predictions of rain storms, although at one point the wind almost made the scorer’s gazebo take off, in apparent imitation of the high jump competition taking place adjacent to it!”
Sports Day was rounded off in traditional style with the running of the QE Mile – a 16 x 100m relay, which saw the six Houses compete against Sixth Form and staff teams and against an additional mixed team comprising both sixth-formers and staff members. The race was won by this joint staff-Sixth Form team, with the staff team second, the Sixth Form third and with Broughton taking the honours as the best of the Houses in fourth place.