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QE’s participants in this year’s UK Senior Mathematics Challenge easily outstripped the national average tally of certificates – and Year 13 boy Bhavik Mehta performed so strongly that he qualified for the élite British Mathematical Olympiad.

Across the country, the top 60% of those taking part in the UK Mathematics Trust competition receive gold, silver or bronze certificates, but 86% of the 107 QE Sixth-Formers were ranked.

The competition involved answering 25 multiple-choice questions in 90 minutes. Bhavik Mehta, of Year 13, achieved QE’s highest score – 106 out of a possible 125 marks. The best performer in Year 12 was Daniel Cheung. Twenty boys were awarded gold certificates, 29 received silver and 43 bronze.

In addition to Bhavik reaching the Olympiad, Daniel Cheung, Tianlin Zhang and Ravin Parekh all qualified for the Senior Kangaroo – a competition for those who narrowly miss out on the 101 points needed to qualify for the Olympiad. These rounds have now taken place and the results are awaited.

While Year 13 boys’ individual strengths were tested, their Year 12 counterparts enjoyed working as a team in another UKMT event, the regional Senior Team Maths Challenge at the Camden Centre. This competition is run jointly with the Government-funded Further Mathematics Support Programme.

Yash Patel, Ronak Patel, Jas Shah and Daniil Slavin were selected as the QE team (pictured). They finished eighth from 38, competing against leading schools such as City of London and North London Collegiate.

The competition combines mathematical, communication and teamwork skills, and promotes camaraderie among mathematicians from different schools.

“It was really enjoyable and challenging and we were naturally disappointed not to qualify for the national final,” said team leader Yash. “The different rounds were great fun because it was the first time we’ve experienced solving Maths problems as a team, rather than individually.”

A QE team has qualified for the final of a prestigious national chemistry competition, overcoming the challenge of 19 local schools.

Sanchit Agrawal, of Year 11, James Tang, of Year 10, and Year 9’s Bashmy Basheer and Nico Puthu won the Chilterns & Middlesex Section of the Top of the Bench competition, scoring 90%. In second place was Westminster School on 75%.

The competition for 14-16 year-old students is run by The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and requires entrants to answer some questions individually and some as a team. It is part of the RSC’s outreach programme through which they aim “to inspire and enthuse the next generation with chemistry”.

“The boys did exceptionally well,” said Chemistry teacher Dr Elizabeth Kuo. “They achieved a very high score and are now looking forward to the final at Loughborough University in April.”

The final is organised by the RSC’s Education department and includes a short test of factual chemical knowledge and a practical, chemical, problem-solving team exercise. The Top of the Bench title goes to the school with the best overall school performance and there are also prizes for the five runner-up teams. There is also a prize, The Jacqui Clee Award, for the outstanding individual contribution to the day.

QE has been awarded Champion School status for encouraging its Year 11 boys to take part in a national citizenship initiative.

The National Citizen Service (NCS), which presented the School with a plaque in recognition of its new status, is a Government-backed youth citizenship programme. It is one of the lead organisations in promoting The Challenge, a charity which brings together young people from different communities, giving them opportunities to build work and life skills by tackling projects together.

Increasing numbers of QE boys have been taking part in The Challenge each year. It requires a high level of commitment, entailing a three-week programme during the summer holidays and three weekends in the autumn.

In addition to activities which challenge the individual participants physically whilst developing teamwork qualities, a key component is action in the local community. QE boys have undertaken a number of tasks, including working in local allotments, visiting a care home and fund-raising for a hospice. The Challenge thus dovetails with QE’s ethos of sending out young men committed to serving their communities.

Representatives of The Challenge attended QE’s Careers Convention this autumn. “The students were very appreciative of the time they spent with us; it is so important that our students make the most of all the opportunities available to them,” said Sarah Westcott, Head of Pupil Progression.

“As a result, two of our boys signed up for training as ambassadors: Valavan Ananthakumaraswamy and Jaysal Patel, from Year 12, will now take an active role in assisting me to push The Challenge programme, not only to Year 11 boys at QE but also more widely across London,” added Dr Westcott.

This will include writing testimonials and giving presentations to other students both at QE and in other schools, raising awareness of the benefits of The Challenge.

A series of special workshops held at the School gave Year 7 boys the opportunity to enjoy and engage with African culture and arts – and learn about some of the harsher realities of life on the world’s second-largest continent.

A team from the Iroko Theatre Company spent two mornings introducing the boys to African story-telling, music and dance, although the core activity was a mass drumming workshop.

“The boys were enthralled,” said Head of Geography and Religion & Society Guy Boyes. “It was a really engaging workshop and the boys learnt a great deal about many aspects of African life.”

A number of members of staff also attended and joined in with the boys in the dancing. “Everyone had a wonderful time, but there was also a serious side,” added Mr Boyes. “The boys learnt that the workshop leader’s name means ‘Please stay with me’ in English; he was given this name because he was the fourth child – the first three having died in infancy. That alone brought home to boys the reality of infant mortality in a very powerful way.”

The Iroko Theatre Company, which takes its name from an African tree, was established in 1996 by Nigerian-born actor Alex Oma-Pius. It aims to promote an understanding and appreciation of African culture and arts and to enhance the self-confidence and knowledge of children and young people.

Kavi Pau has become the first QE boy in a number of years to win a Choral Scholarship at a top university. He has also secured a place to read Music at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge.

Kavi, who is in Year 13, will become one of just four or five tenors in the Gonville & Caius Choir, which consists of between 22 and 24 students. The remainder of the choir comprises eight or nine sopranos, four or five altos and four to six basses.

The Choir, directed by Dr Geoffrey Webber, is one of the world’s leading collegiate choirs, with an international reputation based on its touring, broadcasting and recordings. Many former members of the choir have gone on to study singing full-time at one of the conservatoires.

“Kavi has done exceptionally well, and I am delighted for him,” said Headmaster Neil Enright. “He has participated in a range of musical activities during his career at School and has also taken advantage of opportunities outside, too; his talent, commitment and enthusiasm warrant such success.”

While in Year 9, Kavi won a prestigious drama prize at the North London Festival of Music, Drama and Dance. He was also part of the School’s Purdy Barbershop group; he arranged a version of Bridge Over Troubled Water and the song’s performance brought the group victory in the Senior Popular Category at the Spring Grove Festival.

More recently he was awarded a place in the Rodolfus Choir after excelling in an Eton Choral Course. He has studied piano and singing to Grade 8 and also plays the clarinet.

For his audition for Gonville & Caius, he had to prepare a piece to sing of his own choice, complete a sight-reading test and demonstrate an ability to pitch intervals up or down within an octave and to pick out notes within a chord.

“I’m very pleased to have secured this scholarship,” said Kavi. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for me to pursue my singing, with the prospect of further open doors at the end of my university studies.”

Through the scholarship, students receive free singing lessons and free participation in foreign tours, at least once and sometimes up to three times per year. Choral Scholars also enjoy the opportunity to earn fees for concerts as part of the whole choir, or in small groups for weddings and conferences.

The choir frequently joins with other Cambridge choirs for joint services, such as those of Clare and St John’s Colleges, and has recently made two CD recordings with the choir of King’s College London.

Queen Elizabeth’s School tops the new Government league tables for its 2014 GCSE results and is also ranked among the very best performers across the country at A-level.

QE takes first place among all English state and independent schools for its Key Stage 4 results, with 100% of boys gaining the benchmark five A*-C GCSE grades including English and Mathematics and 99% achieving the English Baccalaureate. The respective national average figures across all schools are 53.4% and 22.9%. (The English Baccalaureate measures the percentage of pupils gaining A*-C grades in English, Mathematics, Science a language and a humanities subject).

When those schools with the 100% benchmark figure are instead ranked according to the average point score per pupil, QE is in fifth place and is the highest-placed school in London.

At A-level, QE comes 10th overall (and is the third-placed state school) when judged by the proportion of pupils (76%) gaining at least grades AAB in the list of ‘facilitating subjects’ drawn up by the Russell Group of leading universities. Facilitating subjects are defined as those which are more frequently required for entry to degree courses than others.

When judged by the average point score per A-level entry, QE’s figure of 269.0 places it in joint 13th place for all schools and in second place among state schools.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “The league tables include a number of different Government measures, and individual journalists have selected different measures to interpret the data. However, the overall picture is clear: QE is among the very highest performers nationally at both Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5.

“Our 2014 results reflect great credit both on our boys and on their teachers, with the highest levels of achievement being maintained once again, notwithstanding the volatility introduced into the public examination system by a number of changes at national level.”