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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.

QE boys have taken part in a once-in-their-lifetime experience – the shooting of a School photo.

A photograph of the whole School is taken once every seven years on the field in front of Main Building, giving all boys who complete their schooling at QE a chance to appear.

All pupils on the roll, from Year 7 to 13, are included, amounting to just under 1,200 boys. In addition, the photo includes the Chairman of Governors, Barrie Martin MBE, and nearly 150 staff, including the Headmaster, all teachers, support staff, the site team and the catering staff.

It took a whole morning to set up the equipment, while the operation to dismantle it extended into the afternoon.

The earliest known photo showing the whole School dates back to 1919 and was taken within a few months of the end of the First World War.

Parents will soon have the opportunity to purchase copies of the new photo.

The mother of a former School Captain returned to QE to give Year 13 boys a rarely considered perspective on young people going to university – that of the parent.

Drawing on her own experience with her son, Matthew (OE 2002-2009), Mrs Rita Rose gave a talk in assembly to the Sixth-Formers who will be leaving the School in just a few months.

She spoke to the boys about preparing to leave home, including the need for financial preparation and mastering some basic household tasks. She looked at the experience of settling in at university, explaining that while everyone is ‘in the same boat’, people cope with all the change in different ways. There was guidance on undergraduates’ wellbeing, including practical advice such as the importance of signing up with a local doctor.

And Mrs Rose, who is a primary-school teacher, made a plea for her audience to remember that going to university involved “new worries” not just for the students but also for their parents. Communication with home was therefore important and “not just when you need money,” she said.

Modern technology meant there were opportunities aplenty to stay in touch, including email, text messages, Skype, FaceTime, WhatsApp, not to mention telephone calls. “At the very least, occasionally let them know you are still alive!” she concluded.

Her own son took up a place at Clare College, Cambridge, to read Geography. Matthew is now a political advisor at Barnet Council.

Two Sixth-Formers have qualified for the final of the British Biology Olympiad – the first time ever that more than one QE boy has scored highly enough to reach this stage of the competition.

However, only Andrew Hui will actually participate in the BBO final at Warwick because fellow Year 13 pupil Robert Swan has also qualified for the final of the British Physics Olympiad, which is taking place on the same date.

Andrew, Robert, Kieran Chan and Khilan Shah all received gold awards for their first-round performance and were invited to take part in the second round, placing them in the top 129 students, or 2.1% of the field, nationally.

Head of Biology Gillian Ridge said: “This was a very strong performance by these four boys and I wish Andrew every success in the final. Robert’s double achievement is quite remarkable – and I know he is hoping to complete a ‘grand slam’ by reaching a third final when he takes part in the Chemistry Olympiad.”

Robert and Andrew’s scores in the second round’s even more demanding paper put them into the top 20 élite who were then invited to participate in the final at Warwick. A team of four will be selected to form the UK team for the International Biology Olympiad in Denmark.

At Warwick, Andrew and the other finalists will spend one day in an undergraduate laboratory being trained in techniques beyond those required for A-level. On the second day, his practical skills will be tested by members of the School of Life Sciences.

The annual competition is organised by the Society of Biology whose Chair, Dr Andrew Treharne, said: “I very much look forward to meeting the 20 finalists; well done to these students. The Society of Biology and the UKBC volunteers who run the competitions were very impressed with the high standard of the entries this year."

Altogether 24 boys from QE entered the competition, which this year attracted a record entry nationwide, with nearly 6,200 students from around 300 schools taking part. Of the QE cohort, 21 boys achieved gold, silver or bronze – awards given to the top third of participants. The other three were either Highly Commended or Commended.

“All the boys who took part are to be congratulated,” said Dr Ridge. “Their achievements reflect the very high standard at which our boys study.”

A team of QE Sixth-Formers has come second in a prestigious national Economics competition, the best-ever performance by the School.

Target 2.0 is an annual competition run by the Bank of England and The Times newspaper in which participants are challenged to judge the course of the economy and the outlook for inflation in order to keep it on target, just as the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) aims to do.

“We were delighted with the boys’ achievement,” said Liane Ryan, QE’s Head of Economics. “The organisers said it was a very close-run thing and we were only narrowly pushed into second place.” The winners were independent school, The Perse, from Cambridge.

The QE team comprised Aum Thacker, Joseph Levene, Shanil Modi and Nischal Udani, who carried out the presentation. They were each supported by a researcher: these were Bilal Hussain, Joseph Fiber, Daniel Soyode and Shahvir Magol. Sharmilan Ilankesan set up and analysed a business survey and produced the PowerPoint presentation, which was praised by both bank staff and judges.

Each round of the competition required the team to tell the judges what monetary policy they thought would offer the best chance of meeting the Government’s inflation target of 2%, and why.  The team analysed costs & prices, the labour market, demand & output and financial markets, both domestic and international. The QE team chose to keep rates at the current record low of 0.5%, to leave the current £375bn level of asset purchases unchanged and not to provide any new forward guidance for future monetary policy.

In the regional heat, the team had 15 minutes to present their decisions; in the South-East area final they had 17 minutes, but for the national final they had 20 minutes. Additional time is allocated as the teams progress, as there is a requirement to explain changes from previous decisions. Each team then had to answer questions posed by the judges for a further 15 minutes, based on both their arguments and wider economic understanding.

“The competition is a fantastic experience and encourages students to develop their macroeconomic knowledge and understanding beyond the A-Level specification,” said Ms Ryan.  “It is an opportunity for them to engage with complex policy decisions and experience presenting to members of the MPC and leading economists and journalists. I am extremely proud of the team and their achievement.”

The boys won a £1,000 prize for the School.