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OE Tom Aggar (1995-2002) is aiming for another gold medal at the World Championships in New Zealand at the end of October.

In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, Tom said: “I’m in a good position to defend my single sculls title. I’m in pretty good shape but you never know what to expect until the day…Training is six days a week, with two or three sessions a day, so it is very ‘full on’ at the moment.”

Tom has already been named in the GB Rowing Team for the London Paralympics in 2012, where he will be looking to repeat the adaptive rowing gold medal he won at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.

He added: “London 2012 is quite a way off but I am confident about my chances of winning a medal…I need to keep improving my times, because there will be some serious challengers in 2012. Countries start improving come Olympics time and the field becomes bunched closer together…

“The team environment helps. When you are around the group and everyone is striving for a gold-medal winning performance it is inspiring.”

QE’s 2010 Swiss Chess Tournament was won by Year 8 pupil Jake Breindel, who scored six points by winning all six of his games. The tournament was open to boys in the School from Years 8 to 11.

“It was a memorable day, both for the quality and competitiveness of the chess played, and the enthusiasm shown by the 40 boys who took part,” said Geoff Roberts, teacher in charge of chess. A Swiss-system tournament involves players being paired to face each other for several rounds of competition, rather than following a ‘round-robin’ arrangement.

Kieran Chan from Year 9 was runner-up with five points and three boys tied for third place scoring 4.5 points each. They were Madhi Elango of Year 10, Joseph Levene of Year 9 and Reyvanth Varathan of Year 11. All four boys, together with overall winner Jake Breindel, also won prizes for the best performances in their year groups.

“A feature of this event, which the boys enjoy, is that they have only 15 minutes to play all of their moves in each game – only a fraction of the time normally allocated in tournaments,” added Mr Roberts. “This leads to a much faster pace of game and on occasion some surprising results.”

Forty-two pupils from Year 8 took a two-night trip to Stratford-upon-Avon.

The boys attended a range of events that included a tour of all five Shakespearean houses, a ghost walk, and a visit to Warwick Castle and Dungeon, which saw Head of English Susannah Sweetman locked in a dungeon cage.

Britain’s Paralympic champion Tom Aggar (1995-2002) trounced the opposition to win gold in his event at the World Rowing Championships in New Zealand.

The former QE pupil’s dominant performance in the Paralympic-class single scull at Lake Karapiro demonstrated that the 2008 Beijing Paralympics gold medalist remains the best in the world.

"It feels fantastic", he told journalists after winning the event with a time of 5:19.36 – a 13-second margin over the second-placed rower, Ukrainian Andrii Kryvchun.

Tom, who has already been named in the GB Rowing Team for the London Paralympics in 2012, led for the entire event, except for the first 100m."All the hard work in training and in the gym has paid off. I’ve really enjoyed the competition. I love rowing; I’m passionate about the sport,” he said.

Since making his international debut in 2007, he has won two previous world championships, as well as his victory in Beijing.

QE’s new French exchange partner, College St Pierre de Bourg en Bresse, came to Barnet on the return leg of this year’s exchange.

The Headmistress, Mme Gas, accompanied the trip – her first with the College St Pierre.

Students visited Windsor, where they walked around the castle and the town, helping each other with a quiz. The French pupils experienced English school life, playing rugby and attending lessons. Miles Huglin from Year 8, said: “I have really enjoyed the French exchange. I get on well with my partner because we have the same interests.”

Two QE Sixth-Formers joined young musicians from across the UK for a special event at the close of year-long celebrations marking the 150th anniversary of the Cadet Force movement.

Clarinettists Alex Liangas and Richard Collins, of Year 12, assembled with more than 150 other cadets at St Martin’s Plain camp, Folkestone, for the cadets’ annual music ‘concentration’ before taking to the stage for A Musical Spectacular – a special event in Croydon’s Fairfield Halls to end the Cadet150 year. Earlier this year, Alex and Richard were among 40 cadets selected for a Cadet150 band assembled to perform at a Buckingham Palace Garden Party.

At the Croydon finale event, cadets from the Army Cadet Force, Combined Cadet Force, Sea Cadet Corps and the Air Training Corps played in front of the Lord Lieutenant of London, Sir David Brewer, the Mayor of Croydon, Councillor Avril Slipper, and an audience of more than 500. The 1812 Overture ended the concert, when the bands taking part were joined by the Moscow Militia re-enactment society. In their period dress, they fired their muskets and cannons over the band at the famous climax to Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece.

Concert organiser, Colour Sergeant Adrian Beckett of the Welsh Guards Band, said: “To end the year in such spectacular fashion was the aim of Cadet Force Music. We have worked hard all year at various events around the country and it was now the cadets’ time to shine on stage, with some great surprises.”

The Band & Bugles of The Rifles under the direction of WO1 Bandmaster Brydon performed alongside the cadets and made a triumphant return to Croydon following their homecoming march through the town last year, culminating in them being given the freedom of the Borough.

Another highlight was the return of Scott Ellaway, an ex-cadet from Powys ACF and now an accomplished organist and one of the top conductors in the Country. Like the other performers, he gave his time on the evening to raise money for the charity, Help for Heroes.

And Welsh tenor Wynne Evans, “Gio Compario” from the Go Compare television commercials, came along both to offer backstage support and to sing alongside the musicians from the Cadet Force.