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Two Year 11 boys were invited to the Parliamentary launch of a major report on digital communications – after their new political blog rapidly attracted thousands of followers.

Adrian Burbie and Ché Applewhaite established Whippersnapper in January to give themselves and other like-minded young people a platform to voice their views and to promote lively discussion around the hot topics of the UK and world today. With lively, fresh posts every couple of days, the new blog quickly found a readership and in its first two weeks attracted more than 1,500 followers.

It also caught the eye of the Digital Democracy Commission, who invited them to attend the launch of its report, Open Up!, at Portcullis House, the Westminster office block that provides offices for 213 MPs. The report was the culmination of a year’s project which investigated how Parliament can use digital technology to help it to be more transparent, inclusive, and better able to engage the public with democracy.

Adrian and Ché joined some august company at the breakfast launch hosted by the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow MP (pictured right). The Commission itself included Robert Halfon MP, Hull University Politics Professor, Cristina Leston-Bandeira, and Helen Milner, Chief Executive of the Tinder Foundation, a leading not-for-profit social enterprise committed to the ‘smart’ use of digital technology. The invited audience included journalists, MPs and professionals with interest in the field.

“We were delighted to be invited, as we have an interest in both politics and digital media,” said Adrian. “We chose the name ‘Whippersnapper’ as we know that some older people often view younger people as being feckless layabouts, who are apathetic about politics and contribute little to society. We hope we can be the exception that disproves the rule.”

“We are the generation who have grown up with digital media as a core part of how we acquire and share knowledge,” said Ché. “It’s rewarding that our views and opinions are seen as valuable by the Establishment; indeed the invitation to the launch reflects that.”

During the Q&A session at the end of the report’s launch, Adrian put a question to the Commission.

“I asked them whether there was a danger that public access to legislation would lead to policy-makers being swayed by populism and therefore conducting themselves in a way to merely boost their online popularity.”

The question was answered by Commission member, Robert Halfon, who likened the current situation to when television was introduced in the House of Commons. He had faith in the British public to vote for the government they believed would do the best job; populism might occasionally triumph in the short term, but in the long term people make the right decisions.

A visit to the British Library’s special exhibition on the gothic imagination provided Year 12 boys with a macabre selection of the eerie, the supernatural and the murderous.

But the display, entitled Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination, served a good cause as the boys are studying Mary Shelley’s gothic classic, Frankenstein, for this summer’s English examination.

“There was a plethora of detail for the boys to experience,” said English teacher Sarah Snowdon. “Henry Fuseli's eerie paintings were displayed with the Victorian ‘penny dreadfuls’ popular during the murderous era of Jack the Ripper. It was interesting to read how one chilling publication, known as Spring-heeled Jack, is believed to have inspired the creation of Batman.”

The exhibition covered 250 years of gothic influences, beginning with Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto, a novel which challenged the moral certainties of the 18^th Century. There were also displays on the work of film-maker Stanley Kubrick and fashion designer Alexander McQueen, demonstrating how imagination is at the heart of the gothic genre in film, art and fashion, as well as literature.

One particularly popular exhibit explored enjoyable modern-day parodies such as Wallace and Gromit’s The Curse of the Were-rabbit.

“It was easy to see why the exhibition's popularity led the library to stay open for extra viewings; it was extremely informative and well researched,” added Ms Snowdon. “With hand-written drafts of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Bram Stoker’s Dracula on show alongside material from Robert Louis Stevenson's Jekyll and Hyde, the 34 boys who went on the visit could appreciate how the writers they study in class continue to cast a shadowy influence over the modern horror genre.”

In the best-ever result by QE, all four boys who took part in this year’s British Physics Olympiad were awarded gold medals in Round 1 and one qualified for the second round.

Robert Swan, of Year 13, was placed in the top 50 and therefore went through to Round 2 of the olympiad (BPhO). Like Robert, Vinul Wimalaweera, Alex Zanre and Tianlin Zhang, who are also in the Upper Sixth, were awarded gold – an accolade given to just 200 of the 1600-plus entrants that the national competition attracts.

“I was very impressed,” said Physics teacher Ashley Dyson. “Our previous best as a School was two golds in one year, so this is a significant achievement and reflects the boys’ hard work and enthusiasm.”

The BPhO was set up to encourage the study of Physics and to recognise excellence in young physicists through annual competitions. It aims to challenge able students with stimulating questions, allow them to have fun problem-solving, and to practise open-ended and unstructured questions as seen at higher levels of study.

Robert has already sat the paper for Round 2 and is awaiting the results. The top five in the country will have the opportunity represent Britain at the International Physics Olympiad, which this year will take place in Mumbai, India.

One of the world’s leading human geographers set out four keys to success at QE’s Senior Awards ceremony.

Professor Sir Nigel Thrift, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Warwick, was Guest of Honour for the evening, during which around 140 prizes were awarded to pupils from Year 10 to Year 13.

In his speech, he expatiated on four important qualities. Perseverance is necessary, since not everything will fall into one’s lap immediately. Intellectual curiosity should be nurtured; as a boy, Professor Thrift would study maps and by the time he was 16 he had travelled widely on his own. A passion for what you do is essential; for those who have it, much else will simply fall into place. Finally, boys should seek to give something back to society – a theme anticipated by Headmaster Neil Enright in his introduction, when he highlighted the importance attached by QE to voluntary work.

Born in Bath and educated at Aberystwyth and Bristol, Professor Thrift has followed a career that has involved senior roles at Bristol and Oxford universities before his appointment to his current position at Warwick in 2006. He has won several prestigious academic awards, including the Royal Geographical Society Victoria Medal for contributions to geographic research and Distinguished Scholarship Honors from the Association of American Geographers in 2007.

Professor Thrift told the award-winners in the audience that he had lived in locations including Australia, the USA, Belgium, Sweden, Austria and Singapore – and he expected that many of them would have careers that would likewise lead them all over the world.

His interest in coming to QE had been piqued by a number of factors. There was not only the School’s truly first-class academic reputation and the fact that the Headmaster was, like him, a geographer; he had also been drawn by the number of Elizabethans going to Warwick – 65 in the past four years, which is more than have gone to any other university except Cambridge.

The evening was punctuated by a number of musical interludes from pupils: pianists Yuta Tsuchiya and Jason Wong performed Frank Bridge’s Canzonetta and Franz Liszt’s La Campanella, while Kavi Pau sang Sure on this Shining Night by Samuel Barber.

Professor Thrift then talked about the pre-eminence of his university. Of the 330 institutions of higher education in the UK, Warwick is both among the 24 member universities making up the Russell Group and in the top ten for graduates’ employability. It has students from more than 150 countries and is a world-class research institution; its students have conducted research in most corners of the globe. Professor Thrift also mentioned that Warwick has the highest number of student societies – 250!

After the ceremony, everyone present repaired to the Shearly Hall, where the prize-winners and their families enjoyed chatting with teachers and with Professor Thrift. Volunteers from the Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s were on hand to assist with the buffet.

Teams from 30 leading schools from across the country travelled to Barnet for the 39th annual Queen Elizabeth’s School Seven-a-Side Rugby Tournament

Always an eagerly awaited date in the Spring Term calendar, the Sevens proved again to be popular at both U14 and U16 level, with a total of 61 teams taking part.

The competition draws entrants from both the independent and state sectors, including such well-known public schools as Eton College, Dulwich College and Rugby School.

“It was a splendid day of sport and we were fortunate to be able to enjoy clement weather this year,” said the Headmaster, Neil Enright.

“My congratulations go to the PE and Games Department for the efficient organisation of such a complex event and to the many volunteers, including those from the Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s, for serving our guests so cheerfully.”

The day features firstly group stages and then knockout competition. The eight winners of the respective group stages play each other in a knockout for the main prize, and the eight group stage runners-up take each other on in a knockout for the plate competition.

The results were:

U16

• Winners: Reigate
• Runners-up: Wellington
• Plate winners: Whitgift
• Plate runners-up: Coopers’ Company and Coborn

U14

• Winners: Wellington
• Runners-up: New Hall
• Plate winners: Hampton
• Plate runners-up: Dulwich

This year’s results bore little resemblance to those in 2014. Whitgift was the only entrant to feature on the leaders’ board in both years: by winning the U16 Plate, this Croydon independent school went one better than last year when it was runner-up.

The tournament is believed to be the country’s second-biggest schools sevens event, as well as the only one for which there is no entrance fee. Ten full-size pitches are pressed into service, including all those belonging to the School, as well as pitches at Barnet RFC.

Teams arrive from 8.30am and the day concludes with the final presentation of trophies by the Headmaster at around 6pm.

The FQE volunteers provide refreshments including bacon baps, hot soup and baked potatoes & chilli. Many QE boys help out on the day by acting as runners, delivering results and passing on information between pitches. St John Ambulance volunteers are on hand to provide any medical assistance required.

Finals' results from 2015 Tournament

All results from 2015 Tournament

A Year 10 pupil has been crowned U16 European Chess Champion – the first time an English player has won the title. Rishul Karia was selected to represent England in the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE, or World Chess Federation) team championships in Karpacz, Poland, and was placed first after scoring 8/9.

National Junior Chess Squad leader Glynis Purland said “We were really excited with Rishul’s victory, as we’ve been taking players for a number of years and it was the first win by an English junior. He is such a quiet and modest boy, we were delighted for him. He was awarded a tablet and a huge cup for his victory. We were a bit unsure about how we were going to get it back to the UK!”

Rishul started playing chess with his father when he was just five and has already enjoyed success representing the School and competing at national level. He was part of the U12 QE team that won their age group at the National Schools’ Chess Team Championships and was in the School team again in Year 9 which qualified for the National Finals at Uppingham School in Rutland.

He also took the opportunity to challenge a five-time World Chess Champion at the Super Rapidplay Open at the London Chess Class at Olympia earlier in the year. Although he lost and did not feel that he played well against world-ranked number six Viswanathan Anand, Rishul acknowledged that the experience had helped him improve his own game.

His brother, Devin, who is in Year 7 at QE, was also selected to represent England at the European Championships in Poland. He acquitted himself well, scoring four points.