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Political journalist Nick Robinson mounted a strong defence both of the BBC and of his own impartiality when he visited Queen Elizabeth’s School. 

In the latest talk organised by Year 12 pupil Adrian Burbie under the auspices of QE’s Politics Society, Mr Robinson urged boys to broaden their own thinking by engaging with ideas with which they disagreed. And he also spoke of his concerns about the deleterious effects of the internet on political discourse.

Speaking to a large audience in the Main Hall, the presenter on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme reflected on his career, which has included working as a deputy editor at Panorama, as Chief Political Correspondent at the BBC and as Political Editor firstly for ITV and then for the BBC. The talk was also attended by pupils from a QE partner school, St Albans High School for Girls.

Among the highlights, he said, was his challenge of Vladimir Putin on Russia’s human rights record at a conference at which Putin was urging African nations to improve their human rights.

He also spoke of the famous run-in with American President George W Bush in 2006. Bush showed dissatisfaction when asked if he was in denial about the situation in Iraq, snapping back at Mr Robinson with "It's bad in Iraq. Does that help?"

He had another run-in with President Bush at a press conference at Camp David, when the president asked him: "You still hanging around?" He then suggested to Mr Robinson, with reference to the heat, that "Next time you should cover your bald head". As the president walked away, Mr Robinson replied: "I didn't know you cared", to which Bush responded: "I don't".

He spoke of his parents and of his maternal grandparents fleeing the Nazis – a party who were, he reminded the boys, democratically elected. Mr Robinson read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford and was president of the university’s Conservative Association: it was important, he said, for him to be involved in politics from a young age. Indeed, he said indifference towards politics leads to extremism and had made possible the rise of the Nazis.

While conceding that the BBC may not be perfectly impartial, he noted that it – and he – were accused of bias by the supporters of whoever he interviewed, with the allegations coming from both left and right. The corporation, he said, “tries not to be partial”, unlike US networks such as Fox News, which Mr Robinson criticised heavily.

He did, however, acknowledge that the BBC could do more to represent the views of the country outside London on topics such as dissatisfaction with immigration and concern over gay marriage. Most people at the BBC were middle-class and from London and the south east, which leads inevitably to a socially and economically liberal slant.

Mr Robinson also took a number of questions. Asked if his presidency of the Conservative Association at Oxford compromised his ability to be impartial, he said he despaired of the “internet mob” who were unable to cope with opinions that differed from their own. In one example, he had recently interviewed a British Medical Association representative about the junior doctor strikes and asked: “Aren’t you doctors just being greedy?” He received an intense backlash and abuse on Twitter, notwithstanding the fact that he had merely asked a question, not made an assertion.

Although a user of Twitter, he criticised it and many of the young people on it, stating that it too often functions as an ‘echo chamber’ where people only ‘follow’ people they agree with in order to shut down opposing ideas, thus avoiding having to deal with them.

To counteract such tendencies, he encouraged QE pupils actively to seek out ideas they disagree with in order to challenge themselves and understand why people think like that. “If you hate the Daily Mail, read it – understand why it speaks to so many people. If you think the Guardian is a load of left-wing tosh, read it – so you can understand why people think that way,” he said.

Mr Robinson also donated signed copies of his books and CDs to the School: they are currently on display in The Queen’s Library.

QE has achieved its highest-ever tally of gold medallists in this year’s British Biology Olympiad.

Fourteen boys from Years 12 and 13 won gold in the competition, with a further five winning silver medals, three boys gaining bronze and one being ‘highly commended’. The 14 gold medal-winners represent 58% of QE’s 24 entrants, yet nationally only 6.6% of entrants took gold.

Eight of the 14 had scores of 53 or more and have therefore qualified to take part in team selection for the International Biology Olympiad, placing them among the top 150, or 2%, of the 7,200 entrants from 610 schools. The international competition begins with a theory paper taken in March.

The highest-scoring Year 13 pupil was Haider Manzur, with 64, followed by Michael Yeung, on 62, while the top Year 12 scorer was Kavi Shah, who scored 61.

The British Biology Olympiad (BBO) consists of two multiple-choice papers taken online under staff-supervised examination conditions. It aims to challenge and stimulate pupils with an interest in Biology to expand and extend their talents. It is hoped that competing in the Olympiad will encourage students already interested in this subject to continue their study beyond A-level.

In addition to Haider, Michael and Kavi, those qualifiying for Round 2 of the Olympiad are: Omar Haidar, Rishi Umeria, Reece Patel and Saif Rehman, of Year 13, and Bushry Basheer, of Year 12.

Congratulating the QE pupils on their performance, Biology teacher Mev Armon, who organises the BBO at the School, explained the preparations ahead of the competition. “Our boys have had a weekly training session, which includes presentations, discussions and exam techniques,” he said. “The majority of the preparation was at home, with many using advanced additional resources provided by the School. The boys have also been using exam material from around the world to help improve the breadth and depth of understanding.”

Parents, staff and VIP guests gathered to celebrate the achievements of QE’s older pupils at the Senior Awards Ceremony – one of the most important events in the School’s calendar.

More than 120 prizes were presented to boys from Year 10 to Year 13 for achievements ranging from a wide sweep of academic accomplishment across all subjects to awards for sport, debating, leadership and service.

This year’s main speaker was Professor Alice Gast, President of Imperial College London – the first female Guest of Honour at the annual event.

Welcoming Professor Gast, in his address, Headmaster Neil Enright expatiated on the nature of learning. He quoted the American social philosopher, Eric Hoffer, who said: “In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”

Even if, he said, boys never again use Pythagoras’ theorem or a Bunsen burner once their School days are past, the very act of learning about these things – the process of understanding, analysing and remembering – brings a benefit in itself and is a skill to be carried forward that will always be useful.

In her address, Professor Gast commented on what  ‘good fit’ QE and Imperial are: both are meritocracies that wish to nurture excellence; both take very good ‘material’ – that is, young people with great potential –  and improve them through a careful programme of learning and challenge, and both are hard to get into!

A quietly spoken but charismatic American,  who has attended and taught at a variety of leading academic institutions, including Princeton, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Lehigh University, Professor Gast told the audience that you can never know which parts of your learning and life experiences will prove useful. Therefore, she advised, the boys should take all the opportunities that life throws at them and try out as many things as they could. Professor Gast said that when she was young, she was a keen college athlete. Years later, when due to deliver important addresses to large audiences, she would remember the slight feeling of nerves she had had in the starting block, but knew that she had a job to do and the nerves would subside.

The Professor outlined just a few elements of the extensive research being carried out at Imperial, including investigations into the causes and treatment of sight loss, and the development of robotic devices that could clean a house or drive a car.

Professor Gast sits on a number of international advisory committees, including the Board of Trustees for the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia,  the Academic Research Council for the Singapore Ministry of Education and the Global Science and Innovation Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of Malaysia. She said that employers are often looking for varied experiences in young graduates. They are especially interested in those with international experience who are willing to work abroad and can think globally.

The ceremony in the Main Hall was punctuated with a number of musical interludes performed by the boys. The pieces included excerpts from Beethoven’s Sonata no. 1 in F minor and Ravel’s Piano Trio in A minor.

After Professor Gast’s address, School Captain Varun Vassanth delivered a vote of thanks and the assembled company then repaired to the Shearly Hall for a buffet, where the prize-winners and their families had the opportunity to mingle with the Guest of Honour, the Headmaster and other staff. In addition to Professor Gast, the VIP party included the Deputy Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Alison Cornelius, who delivered an address, and the Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London and Queen’s Representative in Barnet, Martin Russell.

There was also a mobile studio area in which boys and their families could have portraits taken by professional photographer Eleanor Bentall.

George Mpanga – aka George the Poet – returned to QE to speak to Sixth-Formers and Year 9 after enjoying a year of success and fame.

During the course of 2015, George (OE 2002–2009), whose work focuses on social and political issues, was described as “the hottest name in the spoken word” when he appeared at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. His first poetry collection, Search Party, was published early in the year and he performed before a truly global audience in the autumn when he appeared during the opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup.

Yet when he came to QE as the guest speaker at this term’s formal Year 12 luncheon, he resisted any temptation to bask in his own success. Instead, he impressed on his audience the importance of education and initiative, while also reflecting on the positive effect his alma mater had had in developing his critical awareness.

George gained A grades in English Literature, Sociology and Politics A-levels in 2009 and then took up a place at King’s College, Cambridge, to read Politics, Psychology and Sociology (PPS). He has since enjoyed considerable media interest and achieved critical acclaim, including a runner-up place in the Brits Critics’ Choice Award, fifth place in the prestigious BBC Sound of 2015 Award and tenth place in MTV’s Brand New for 2015 competition – in each case competing as a poet against a field that comprised largely musicians.

For the luncheon in the Main Hall, he treated the Year 12 boys to a rousing address on the universal benefits of creativity and enterprise.

Current Year 12 boy Christopher Deane reports: “When asked whether he had any regrets, George's astute response was 'a mistake is not a lesson, unless you learn from it'. In a sense, this sentiment was the abiding message of his speech.

“In a world replete with diversions and adversity, creativity is one's greatest asset, which as young people we should strive to cultivate in order that we might fulfil our potential and leave our own indelible fingerprint on society.”

During his visit, George also gave a poetry workshop to the whole of Year 9 in the Shearly Hall.

One of the UK’s leading cardiologists spoke to QE’s younger boys about the dramatic changes he has seen during his career – both in the treatment of heart diseases and in the recruitment of doctors.

Professor Adam Timmis, Professor of Cardiology at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and the London NHS Trust, spoke to Years 7–10 in assembly. It was the latest talk for younger boys in the new series of lectures introduced this school year as part of the QE academic enrichment programme.

Professor Timmis, who graduated from Cambridge and trained in cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital in the US and Guy’s Hospital in London, told boys that entry to medical school is difficult – tens of thousands apply, but only 9% succeed. When he entered the profession in the 1970s, it was very white and male, he said. Now, about 70% of those at medical school are white, 25% are of Asian origin and 3% are black, while some 55% are female.

The Professor explained what heart attacks are and what causes them – factors such as high cholesterol levels. Medical advances have dramatically improved survival rates, he told the boys. As recently as about 20 years ago, if you were having a heart attack, you were probably going to die: now, only 5% die from any given heart attack episode.

Professor Timmis, who is Deputy Director of the National Institute for Health Research’s Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit, explained how he uses the latest technology to overcome heart disease by inserting tiny tubes – stents – into clogged arteries to improve the blood supply to heart muscles.

A respected mathematician who, perhaps uniquely, has also starred in his own sold-out comedy show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe made a welcome return to Queen Elizabeth’s School.

In his sixth visit to the School, Matt Parker, the Public Engagement in Mathematics Fellow at Queen Mary University of London, brought his entertainment skills to bear as he explained aspects of both applied and theoretical Mathematics to the whole of Year 10.

His lively lecture on Adventures in the Fourth Dimension covered: what a four-dimensional object looks like (from a three-dimensional perspective); how to solve a Rubik’s cube and the “surprising properties” of Mobius bands and Klein bottles.

Mr Parker, a previous London Mathematical Society Popular Lecturer, is always keen to combine his twin passions of Mathematics and stand-up comedy.  He is a regular speaker for the Royal Institution and the BBC and won the People’s Choice Award in the 2009 national FameLab competition. He writes regularly for The Guardian and has performed stage shows for Johnny Ball.

He has previously toured with shows entitled Your Days are Numbered: The Maths of Death, The Number Ninja and Full Frontal Nerdity and is currently travelling the country on his new tour Festival of the Spoken Nerd, together with scientists Helen Arney and Steve Mould. 

“The boys really enjoyed the lecture as it gave them a wider understanding of how Maths can be applied as well as its purely theoretical side,” said Assistant Head of Mathematics, Wendy Fung.

Pupil Binu Perera said: “It gave me food for thought,” while Noma Kim added: “It helped me to understand four dimensions better.”