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A trip to Cambridge offered a group of Year 12 boys an insight into both ends of the historical spectrum of biological research.

During a visit to the University of Cambridge Museum of Zoology, the group of 30 sixth-formers saw a range of historic exhibits including finches collected by Darwin on his research expeditions on The Beagle. And at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, close to Cambridge, they were initiated into the cutting edge of modern genetic research.

The collections at the Museum of Zoology are used for academic study by researchers both from Cambridge University and other top academic institutions from around the world. It is seen as a repository of information about the history of the fauna of the world and the history of science itself.

“We saw part of Charles Darwin’s beetle collection and examples of early carboniferous tetrapod fossils found in Scotland. It gives you a different perspective on Biology when you see things like this outside the classroom,” said pupil Alex Drozd.

At the Sanger Institute, a charitably funded genomic research centre which took a leading role in the human genome mapping project, scientists are currently focusing on understanding the role of genetics in health and disease.

The boys enjoyed a tour of the research laboratories and were given a talk on cholera epidemiology – tracing the evolution of the bacterium through its genome. “We took part in an activity which enabled us to identify faulty and healthy ‘BRAF’ genes. The faulty ones we identified can cause melanoma, that is skin cancer,” said Year 12 pupil, Vishal Popat. “It is amazing to think that therapies based on this research are already in clinical trials. It was a fascinating experience and the facilities were very impressive. I thought the new prototype DNA Sequencer was particularly cool!”

After successive defeats by girls from Henrietta Barnett School in the annual engineering competition between the two schools, QE boys struck back with a win this year.

The competition between 15 Year 9 QE boys and 15 Year 9 HBS girls required the construction of either a tower or a bridge. The buildings were judged on a combination of which was the strongest and tallest tower or the widest and lightest bridge, with aesthetics also taken into account. A mark was also awarded for the presentation of the team’s design.

There were six teams in all; three from QE and three from HBS. QE’s winning team comprised Keerthanen Ravichandran, Gaviththusan Jeyakumar, Rishi Umeria, Reece Patel, Omar Haider and Constantinos Economou.

Ashley Dyson, a Physics teacher at QE, said: “This was the third annual QE/HBS Engineering Competition and HBS had won both the previous events, so the boys were very keen to see honour restored.”

Year 7 boys literally got to grips with artefacts from the past on a trip to the British Museum.

The museum has a number of Hands On desks, where at certain times visitors are invited to hold historical objects and listen while experts describe and discuss their origin and significance.

The boys particularly enjoyed these elements of the visit, which was a great success, reported History teacher Stephen Edwards. “All the boys had a fantastic day and learnt a lot. The amazing range of historical objects and artefacts in the museum really brings History to life and gives the pupils a wonderful insight into how different civilisations lived in the past."

QE’s History Department uses the annual trip to enhance classroom topics on the Romans, Greeks and Egyptians.

During this year’s visit, the group of 45 pupils saw Egyptian mummies, the Rosetta Stone and the Hoa Hakananai’a, or Easter Island Head. The Hands On desks include: the Roman Britain Gallery; the Living & Dying Gallery and the Money Gallery.

QE’s Junior String Quartet have given a special performance at the opening ceremony of an extension to a local care home, by special invitation of its trustees.

Year 9 violinists Simon Purdy, Daniel Cheung and Jason Yau, together with Akhil Shah on cello, performed for residents and guests at the official opening of eight new cottages at The Thomas Watson Cottage Homes Care Home in High Barnet. The chairman of the charity, Mrs Jenny Harrold, said: “We wanted to invite the quartet from Queen Elizabeth’s School as quite a few of our residents attend their Christmas concert each year and thoroughly enjoy it. We thought it would add to the sense of occasion.”

Mrs Harrold and fellow trustees Mrs Sarah Campling and Mrs Sarah Housden are descendants of Thomas Watson and his daughters Annie and Florence, who set aside the land and paid for the building of the original 11 bungalows and hall in 1914. The new cottages are to be known as Jubilee Cottages in recognition of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

A plaque was unveiled by Mrs Harrold in the presence of 120 guests. Mrs Campling and Mrs Housden then officially pronounced the cottages open by untying the ribbons attached to the two brick plinths erected outside of the two sets of cottages.  The trustees were accompanied by Mrs Florence Jones and Mrs Linda McCarthy, the resident who has been there longest and the newest resident respectively.

Three QE chess teams have won their age groups at the National Schools’ Chess Team Championships, while pupil Ananth Balaji has been chosen to represent England in two international competitions. The successes mark an exceptionally successful end to the year for the School’s chess players.

QE’s U12, U14 and U16 teams all won their age groups at the championships held in Somerset. The U12 team finished with a score of 24, beating their nearest challenger, Magdalen College School, by three points in a highly competitive contest. The U14 team also won by three points – beating the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, and retaining their title. The U16 boys took part in a joint U16 and U18 competition, amassing the highest total for an U16 team and only narrowly losing out to Royal Grammar School, Guildford, whose U18 team scored three points more than QE.

Teacher in charge of chess at QE, Geoff Roberts, said: “The boys really enjoyed the two days of competitive chess representing the School. I am delighted that the teams secured three national titles to take back to the School. There were many outstanding individual performances; special mention to George Taylor (U12), Jake Breindel (U14) and Joseph Levene (U16). The boys deserve great credit for their excellent chess and for their role in creating the strong team environment which underpinned the School’s success.”

The U12 team, who are all from Year 7, comprised Rishul Karia, George Taylor (who scored maximum points), Rufus Carruthers, Yuri Evdokomov, Ilan Elango. The U14 team was captained by Jake Breindel who was supported by fellow Year 9 pupils James Bunyan, Ashwin Ravichandran and Paavan Sawjani,  and by Yousuf Chowdhury of Year 8. The U16 team was made up of Joseph Levene, Ananth Balaji, Adam Hilsenrath, Parus Shah and Harshil Joshi.

Talented Ananth plays for the U16 team, even though he is only in Year 8. The team successes came as he heard that he has been chosen to represent England at the European Youth Chess Championship in August in the Czech Republic and at the World Youth Chess Championship in November in Slovenia. “We are very proud of Ananth’s achievement and wish him every success in the forthcoming competitions,” said Mr Roberts.

Two Year 12 pupils have been awarded gold certificates in the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge Lower Sixth – or C3L6 for short. The result places Arran Patel and Nigethan Sathiyalingam in the top 7% of chemists in the country in their age group.

Mehul Jesani and Salman Khan have been awarded silver whilst Burhan Ashraf, Movin Abeywickrema, Vignesh Gopalan and Sharad Raval all achieved copper (not bronze, since copper is an element, whereas bronze is an alloy). More than 4,000 students entered the competition, with 40% of the entrants receiving no classification at all.

Head of Science at QE, Dr Malcolm Russell, said: “This is an amazing set of results – all of the boys who entered from QE received a certificate of merit. When I think about the examination, many of the questions were significantly beyond the syllabus traditionally studied at school up to this point. The test required a great deal of application and understanding.”

The competition, designed specifically for members of the Lower Sixth, took the form of a two-hour written examination and was organised by Dr Peter Wothers at the University of Cambridge Department of Chemistry.  Its stated aim is to stretch and challenge students interested in chemistry, and to encourage them to think about science in the way they would at university.