Viewing archives for Trips

Year 12 geographers going on a field trip to investigate what shapes our coastlines received two vivid illustrations of one important factor – the weather!

Firstly, plans to take them to Flatford Mill Field Studies Centre in Suffolk for their field trip had to be abandoned because of flooding.

And when they went instead to Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex, they saw a dramatic result of this winter’s intense rainfall – a large section of the Naze cliffs had collapsed on to the beach.

School Captain Tunishq Mitra, who was one of the group, said: “Our field trip was a great opportunity to do some hands-on work and develop a better understanding of our wider Geography syllabus in an enjoyable way. It was fascinating to see the complex interactions between all the natural processes we study in real time, including the partial cliff collapse.”

The group had two questions to look into on their trip:

• How do social, economic and environmental considerations influence how coastlines are managed?
• How do coastal management techniques affect coastal processes and landforms?

Geography teacher and Deputy Head (Academic) Anne Macdonald said: “With its rapidly retreating coastline – largely due to its less resistant lithology of London clay and unconsolidated deposits – Walton-on-the-Naze provided the perfect setting to investigate those two questions.”

The cliffs at Walton-on-the-Naze suffer from chronic erosion and have been eroding at an accelerated rate of 3–5 metres per year in recent times. The large fall, which took place around 18th–20th January, saw 1.5–2 metres of the cliff face fall at once. It was partly captured on video. The collapse has been attributed to the combination of high tides and elevated rainfall this winter saturating the London clay cliffs.

Braving the elements, the sixth-formers carried out a wide range of fieldwork exercises, including cost–benefit analysis calculations, environmental impact assessments, beach profiling, sediment analysis and infiltration studies.

Mrs Macdonald said: “Fieldwork is an essential geographical skill – it is how we measure and observe the world. Fieldwork is the means by which geographers test their predictions or formulate new theories about the world.

“Field trips are directly applicable to careers relating to the environment, while they also help students develop some of the six qualities set out in our Boundless School Development Plan, especially being ‘sustainability-literate’.

“More generally, day trips like these provide valuable learning opportunities outside of the classroom, helping our students develop skills, such as teamwork and communication, that are vital for any number of occupations.

“The Year 12s approached the day trip with enthusiasm, positively engaging with all aspects of the fieldwork and earning praise for their understanding and work ethic.”

 

Sixth-formers saw up-to-the-minute manufacturing technology on a visit to one of Britain’s most famous car factories.

The first QE trip of its kind to the historic Mini Plant Oxford provided a look behind the scenes at how advanced manufacturing processes, automation, and teamwork are combined on a single production line.

The Year 13 pupils also learned about the history of the iconic Mini, from the 1960s classic car through to today’s newer version, first produced in 2001.

QE’s Head of Technology Bilaal Khan said: “It was an outstanding experience for the students, allowing them to see the theories and concepts they have been studying brought to life in a real industrial setting. The trip not only deepened their understanding, but also inspired many of them to think more broadly about future careers in engineering, technology, and design.”

The plant on the Oxford ring road was the car body manufacturing business of the Pressed Steel Company, founded in 1926. It became part of the huge Morris Motors – later British Leyland and then Rover Group – site at Cowley, which incorporated three factories. Today only the Mini plant remains.

The original Mini became an icon of the 1960s, featuring in the 1969 film caper, The Italian Job. Its role was reprised by the modern Mini in a 2003 remake of the film.

BMW bought the Rover Group in 1994. The new Mini was first unveiled as a concept car in 1997. When BMW sold the other parts of the Rover Group in 2000, it retained the rights to the Mini.

After an initial tour during which they learned about the history of the iconic car, the pupils were shown around the factory.

Among the group was Danyal Talha, of Year 13, who said: “We witnessed a clear progression in the design styles of the cars, with evident links to design movements and ideas of the time.

“The factory tour then took us through one of the most advanced flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) in the world. FMS allows for various specifications of a product to be produced on a single line, and we witnessed this, with endless variations of Minis being made: from cabriolets to hard-tops, left and right-hand drives, with customised-to-order body colours and wheel alloys.”

They delved into details of the manufacturing process such as the ‘Prüfcubing process’, used to evaluate the fit, function and development of parts before a model launch. The boys saw a Prüfcubing body – a life-size model of a car body with a tolerance of +/- 0.2mm that was manufactured from solid aluminium, taking 2,000 hours to machine and worth some 1m Euros.

The group also saw automated guided vehicles (AGVs) in use. These are portable robots which, unlike autonomous robots, rely for their navigation on infrastructure in their environment, such as lines or wires on the floor, radio waves, or lasers.

“While we had already learned about AGVs in our theory lessons, getting to see them communicate with one another and work seamlessly to optimise the production line’s efficiency was fascinating,” said Danyal.

“Overall, the trip was a fabulous insight to real-world flexible manufacturing systems, and taught us about the evolving nature of production lines becoming fully automated.”

 

GCSE Art students enjoyed exclusive access to a Sir Grayson Perry exhibition on a visit to a London art gallery. 

The Year 11 boys had the popular exhibition, Delusions of Grandeur, to themselves during their visit to The Wallace Collection museum. 

They then had the chance to give their own creative responses in a special workshop. 

And before leaving, the group found time to see the gallery’s famous portrait of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester – a key figure in QE’s founding in 1573. 

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “This Art department trip amply demonstrates the advantages of our proximity to London, which gives our boys easy access to all the exciting opportunities that the capital presents.” 

The purpose of the trip was to explore the work of Grayson Perry, who is known especially for his ceramic vases and tapestries. The results of this exploration then informed the boys’ own work on the theme of Personal Identity.   

Arranged to mark the artist’s 65th birthday, the exhibition featured more than 40 new works. It was the largest contemporary exhibition ever held at the museum. 

Art teacher Linda Mitchell said: “We were lucky to have exclusive access to the exhibition in the morning. 

“We then had an excellent workshop, where students could respond to the work by Perry through drawing, painting, collage and print-making. 

“It was a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding day.” 

Several of the boys afterwards gave their reflections on the day:  

• Gyan Nadhavajhala praised Perry’s “handling of pre-existing images and his fusion of different media…. His combination of older, physical art with modern tools such as Photoshop drew me in and differentiated his work from others’.” 

• Akshay Jigajinni was impressed by the artist’s “inspiring” manipulation of colour and shape. “I truly felt that each splash of paint or each pen stroke evoked a different emotion.” 

• Alan Fang was also struck by the use of colour, as well as by the sheer range of work on display, from single-colour sculptures and tapestries to an extremely colourful sculpture that featured multi-coloured pins. 

• Kevin Peduru Hewa liked “the quickness and looseness of the drawings in the first room…and the 3D quality and use of materials in the second room”.  

With the visit to the exhibition and the workshop complete, that still left time for the boys to take in all The Wallace Collection’s other artworks, including the portrait of Dudley, which is attributed to Steven van der Meulen. Dated to 1560-1564, it is thought to be the earliest portrait surviving of the earl at whose request Queen Elizabeth I granted the charter for the establishment of Queen Elizabeth’s School. 
 

Young musicians enjoyed an action-packed five-day tour, which gave them multiple opportunities to perform in Belgium as well as the chance to sample the country’s cultural delights.

They played at three very diverse venues, beginning with Antwerp’s oldest parish church, Sint-Jacob (St James’s). Since the one-hour performance coincided with National Flemish Day, local dignitaries were invited along.

Besides the church performance, the boys played by arrangement for 45 minutes at a bandstand (the Kiosk de Musique) in the historic Parc de Bruxelles in the Belgian capital.

They also performed for an hour in the town square (Grote Markt) of Ypres (now officially known  by its Flemish name of Ieper) in front of the magnificent Cloth Hall. Originally a series of mediaeval buildings completed in 1304, the Cloth Hall was almost completely destroyed in World War I and subsequently rebuilt.

Director of Music Ruth Partington said: “This was a very successful Music department tour, with some high-quality musicianship on display. I know the boys enjoyed the opportunities it gave them to perform in an unfamiliar environment. It was notable that all the items were conducted and, in the case of the tour choir, accompanied by pupils. The boys showed great maturity and leadership throughout. They also relished the full programme of activities we put on, from rides on rollercoasters through to enjoying some Belgian chocolate.”

The boys travelled from Barnet by coach, arriving first in Dunkirk after a journey through the Channel Tunnel on Le Shuttle.

In the French port, they visited a museum focusing on the town’s World War II history, which features real memorabilia found on the beach. This museum tells the story of Dunkirk across the war, from the well-known Battle of France in 1940, with its evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force to the town’s liberation by Czechoslovakian soldiers in 1945.

After crossing the border into Belgium, the tour party gained an insight into life on the front lines in World War I when they called in at the Trench of Death in Diksmuide – one of the conflict’s most treacherous trench systems. The system had areas of ‘no man’s land’ as small as 50 metres wide.

The tourists also:

• Explored the canals of Bruges on a boat trip;
• Sampled Belgian chocolate at the Choco-Story museum, where they saw a live demonstration of praline-making and, of course, enjoyed the tasting opportunities;
• Rode the rollercoasters and enjoyed the zoo attractions at Bellewaerde Park, Belgium’s oldest theme park, built in 1954 on the site of a World War I battleground;
• Enjoyed a walking tour of Gent’s key sites and took in the mediaeval Gravensteen (Castle of the Counts) in the heart of the city;
• Visited Brussels’ The Parliamentarium – an interactive exhibition about the past, present and future of the European Union and Parliament;
• Climbed the city’s 102m-tall Atomium, one of Brussels’ key landmarks, which gives panoramic views across the city and was built for the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair. Its nine stainless steel-clad spheres resemble an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times.

Click on the thumbnails below to view the images. 

The tour ensembles were: Winds, Strings, and Choir.

They were conducted by: Eshaan Anil; Joseph Donovan; Parth Jain; Lamie Lam; Vihaan Salunke; and Jeremy Shi. The choir was accompanied by Zehao Wu.

Playing cricket and rugby at a high standard in super stadiums amid sweltering heat and high humidity made the QE sports tour of Sri Lanka a memorable experience for the School’s sportsmen.

Three cricket teams and one rugby squad played a full programme of fixtures against school and club sides in the biennial summer tour.

The tourists also found time to broaden their cultural horizons through visits to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, Ahungalla Sea Turtle Conservation Project and a famous temple in the city of Kandy.

Director of Sport Jonathan Hart said: “The 2025 Sri Lanka sports tour was a resounding success, blending competitive sport with cultural enrichment. Our pupils returned with unforgettable memories, stronger team bonds, and a deeper appreciation for international sport and culture.”

The three QE cricket teams each played five matches against sides from Colombo, Kandy, and Galle.

“The conditions were challenging, with hot weather, unfamiliar pitches, and strong opposition, but our players showed great spirit and determination throughout,” said Mr Hart.

“The A team delivered a solid performance, with disciplined swing bowling and mature batting. Highlights included a thrilling chase at St. Joseph’s School (alma mater of Sri Lankan bowling legend Muttiah Muralitharan). The final match at the prestigious Singhalese Sports Club (SSC), a regular international venue, was a closely fought contest, with QE ending just 13 runs short of victory.”

The B team faced tough competition but secured one hard-fought win. “Despite the results, the team showed significant improvement and gained valuable match experience. Their resilience and sportsmanship were commendable,” said Mr Hart.

“Although the C team did not register a win, their enthusiasm and commitment were unwavering,” he added. “Each match was a learning opportunity, and the players showed noticeable progress in their skills and confidence.”

Head of Rugby Ollie Di-Lieto, who led the rugby tour, said: “I was proud of the efforts from the pupils who played in very difficult conditions, ranging from high humidity to heavy rain. Fixtures were played in stadiums that rival those used by Championship football teams in England, adding a professional atmosphere to every match.

“Our opponents played a naturally expressive style of rugby, often less structured than we are accustomed to, which posed unique defensive challenges. Despite the unfamiliar conditions, our players showed remarkable resilience and adaptability.”

The rugby players notched up three wins and one defeat.

First XV co-captain Jake Owens, who has just entered Year 13, said: “This was such a unique opportunity for us. To play rugby in another country is one thing, but to play in stadiums really made the experience special.”

For the First XI captain, Girish Radhakrishnan, enjoying his QE sporting swansong as a summer Year 13 leaver, the “truly memorable stadiums” were also an attraction. “We loved coming to Sri Lanka to experience a different culture,” he added. “The standard of cricket was very high so we enjoyed challenging ourselves. For those who played, scored runs and took wickets, the memories will stay with them for a long time!”

Results summary

Cricket

A team

• Matches played: 5
• Wins: 3
• Losses: 2

B team

• Matches played: 5
• Wins: 1
• Losses: 4

C team

• Matches played: 5
• Wins: 0
• Losses: 5

Rugby

QE vs Agoal Rugby Academy

Score: 29–5
Try scorers: Peter Atanasov, Year 12; Faaiz Adil (x2), Year 12; Atiksh Anagani, Year 13; Jake Owens, Year 13
Conversions: Victor Varbanov (x2); Year 12
Man of the Match: Adil

QE vs Kandy Sports Club

Score: 26–12
Try scorers: Adil (x2); Martin Machyka, Year 13; Sharvesh Sudhagar, Year 13
Conversions: Varbanov (x3)
MOTM: Owens

QE vs St Aloysius’ College, Galle

Score: 17–10
Try scorers: Adil, Anagani, Sudhagar
Conversions: Varbanov
MOTM: Siddarth Oruganti, Year 13

QE vs Malingas School

Score: 0–24
MOTM: Anagani

• To view the images, click the thumbnails below.

Year 9 pupils did more than just learn about the experiences of World War I soldiers during their battlefields trip, they lived a little of them, too.

During their visit to Ypres and the Somme, the 44 boys took time to call at Talbot House, where soldiers relaxed away from the front lines during the conflict.

History & Politics teacher John Haswell said: “They drank tea, played chess and croquet, and sang at the piano, just as the soldiers would have done during the war.”

Throughout Year 9, pupils had been studying the changing nature of warfare in the 20th century, beginning with a study of World War I.

“The trip was our attempt to offer students a chance to deepen their understanding of the conflict, the experience of soldiers, the scale of the tragedy, and to witness how the war has been remembered and memorialised,” said Mr Haswell.

Forty-eight Old Elizabethans were killed during the 1914–1918 conflict, among them Acting Captain Allastair McReady-Diarmid (OE 1897–1904), who was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry in leading the attack on the Cambrai front in which he was killed.

The trip began with visits to war cemeteries in Ypres and to Talbot House. They finished the day at the Menin Gate for the Last Post Ceremony, which has been held nightly since 1928 – “a stirring experience,” said Mr Haswell.

After that, the group went to the Somme, where they were joined by military historian Andrew Robertshaw, who has worked as the historical adviser on films such as War Horse and 1917.

“He took us to various places along the Somme’s front line to help us understand the battle and visualise what happened at these sites during the war. A particular highlight was seeing one boy, Azmal Hadgie, dressed in his full soldier gear, where he began to appreciate just how much these soldiers had to carry!”

The trip finished in Ypres town with a final museum visit and a visit to Belgium’s finest chocolate shop. “The difficulty there was preventing them from melting in the sweltering heat!,” said Mr Haswell.

“Overall, it was a fantastic trip. The weather was kind to us, even if the much-delayed ferry trip home was not. I hope the boys took a lot from the experience and developed their understanding of World War I.”