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Queen Elizabeth’s School has the best A-level results in the country, according to new-style Government league tables.

This year, the tables show how many students achieved the new benchmark of two A grades and a B in core academic subjects. Publication of the new league tables follows research by the Russell Group of leading universities, which showed that students taking what it calls ‘facilitating subjects’ were much more likely to win places. These subjects are: Mathematics and Further Mathematics, English Literature, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Geography, History and modern and classical languages.

By this measure, QE was the best-performing state school in England, with 65 per cent of pupils reaching the benchmark.

The other state schools in the top ten were Colchester Royal Grammar School in Essex and The Henrietta Barnett School in London, with 63% and 61% respectively. QE was in fourth place overall, behind three independent schools – Magdalen College School, Oxford, and St Paul’s Girls’ School, London, both with 70%, and Concord College in Shrewsbury with 66%. Three-quarters of the 200 leading schools nationally were from the independent sector.

Last summer, QE recorded its best-ever A-level results. For the first time, the proportion of A*, A and B grades achieved at the School rose above 98%, reaching 98.5% – up from 97.7 % in 2011. A large majority of boys gained places at Russell Group universities, including 25 with places at Oxford or Cambridge.

Welcoming the new league tables’ findings, QE Headmaster Neil Enright said: “Our boys’ very considerable achievements in public examinations are the result of their combining academic ability with sustained hard work. In this, they are supported by our very able and dedicated staff.

“I am pleased that the league tables have been strengthened by the new emphasis on core academic subjects and, of course, gratified that they have confirmed the excellent performance of QE pupils in 2012.”

More widely, the data published by the Government on the 2012 A-level results show an overall drop in the pass rate. The percentage of students who achieved passes equivalent to at least two A-levels decreased from 94.1% to 93.6% in 12 months. The proportion with three or more A*/A passes was down from 13.1% to 12.8%.

Stapylton won the 2012 House competition with 941 points, narrowly defeating Broughton, who were placed second with 937.

Headmaster Neil Enright presented the award to Stapylton’s House Captain, Ameya Godambe, of Year 13 (shown left, with Ameya accepting the cup and Deputy House Captain Savraj Kalsi also of Year 13 pictured centre).

The final scores in the competition are made up of points accumulated from a wide range of events, activities and achievements, including rewards for academic attainment, as well as for sport, chess, quizzes, merits, and raffle ticket sales.

Leicester came third with 897, just beating Underne, who had 885 points. Pearce was fifth, with 758, and Harrisons sixth, with 661.

Boys are already amassing points in the 2013 competition. A swimming event involved six boys from each house swimming in lanes for simultaneously for 20 minutes; Pearce led the way with a total of 99 lengths of the pool. Underne won a table tennis contest . The next event will be basketball in February.

A team of Year 13 investors has made an early qualification to the Regional Final of a highly regarded national investment competition.

The Sixth-Formers, who compete under the name of The Fun Guys, were already in a qualifying position, but have now progressed on a wild card system. The team, comprising Year 13 pupils Shivan Thakrar, Neil Gujar, Ronak Shah and Cheuk Hei Au (pictured left, left to right, starting with top row) became eligible for this by achieving one of the highest percentage increases in their investment portfolio in a single month (December).

The regional part of the ifs Student Investor Challenge competition runs until the end of February and the early progression of The Fun Guys opens the door for a second QE team also to get through to the Regional Final.

Over 2,500 teams have entered the competition in the South East Region, including 60 from QE. Each team of four 14-19 year olds has a “fantasy” £100,000 to invest over a three-month period. The top 20 teams from each region qualify for the Regional Final, with the top eight then progressing to the National Final.

 “The Fun Guys are currently third in the South East Region and sixth nationally, with a portfolio worth £137,000,” said Liane Ryan, Head of Economics. “We are very pleased that they have qualified early, as usually only one team from each school can progress to the Regional Final. With a QE team from Year 10 currently in eighth position in the region, we stand a very good chance of having two teams through.”

It is only the second occasion on which a team from the School has progressed beyond the first round. If the Year 10 team is successful in progressing, it will be the first time that QE has been represented by two teams.

The eight teams that make it to the final will compete for an all-expenses-paid trip to New York, a £2,000 cash prize for their school or college and £200 for each team member.

Two Year 12 boys have been awarded gold in the British Physics Olympiad after achieving top-50 finishes. Nearly 2,000 students took part in the national competition; this is the first time that QE students have achieved gold.

“Aniruddh Raghu and Madhi Elango are to be particularly congratulated on their achievement,” said Physics teacher Ashley Dyson. “To be placed in the top 50 is exceptional as the test papers are targeted at Year 13 students and Madhi and Aniruddh are only in Year 12. We are delighted with their success.”

Year 13 student Mihir Deshpande was given a Bronze I award, which placed him in the top third of the competitors.

The examination-based competition’s stated aim is to challenge and reward the best physicists in British schools. Madhi and Aniruddh, who will receive a book prize for their achievements so far, now progress to the next round of the competition, which involves a three-hour examination. The top 15 will then be invited to a special camp where the best candidates will be selected to form a UK Physics Team for competition at international level.

Three boys were selected to run for Barnet at the Middlesex Cross Country Schools Championships, following outstanding QE performances at borough level.

In the Barnet Cross Country Championships, Patrick Owen, of Year 7, helped his team to overall victory, finishing the race himself in third place. The Year 8 team finished second – “an excellent result given that they were mainly competing against Year 9 teams from other schools,” said Head of Games Mark Peplow. In the individual placings, Year 8’s Rufus Kent came first (pictured above in blue vest) and is thus Barnet Champion, while Saamkyu Smart was second. Both put in “outstanding efforts”, according to Mr Peplow.

Patrick, Rufus and Saamkyu were all picked to compete for Barnet in the county championships. “Patrick came 11^th, Rufus 33rd and Sam 37th. Rufus and Sam were competing against boys a year older than themselves, so did well and hopefully next year will be placed much higher,” added Mr Peplow.

At QE, the House cross-country competition, run as part of the PE curriculum, went ahead despite the snow (pictured above and right). Stapylton won the Year 8 contest, with Broughton second and Underne third. In the individual race, the two county competitors excelled – Rufus came first and Saamkyu was second, while Joseph Runchman took third place.

QE engineering students so impressed industry leaders with their innovative plans for improving crane safety that they have been offered sponsorship to develop their ideas.

After their success at the Tower Crane Interest Group’s quarterly safety meeting, the Year 13 team could now go on to present their ideas to major crane manufacturers in Europe.

Burhan Ashraf, Karan Dewnani, Christopher Wong and Sachin Leelasena participated in the Engineering Education Scheme whilst in Year 12 and had to develop methods for rescuing incapacitated operators trapped in a crane seat. The challenge, over six months, was to create proposals for improving the safety of tower crane operators, using the best available technology, while also ensuring the ideas remained economically viable.

Their solution and engineering report greatly impressed the scheme’s assessors and, as a result, the team were invited to present their concepts to the crane industry leaders at their quarterly safety meeting (pictured below).

The team’s solution focused on a fundamental change to the method of removing the operator, greatly improving access and speed of the rescue. 

“It is different from anything implemented before and yet is elegant in its simplicity; they have created a system that dramatically reduces rescue times, which, ultimately, would save lives,” said QE’s Head of Technology, Simon Vincent. “The boys impressed the collected leaders of the UK tower crane industry and members of the Government’s Health and Safety Executive with their first-rate presentation and underlying concept.”

“The great advantage of this scheme to engineering companies is that the students are not held back by previous solutions and often solve problems in unexpected and innovative ways,” added Mr Vincent.

Syd Appleyard, Chairman of the Tower Crane Interest Group, has since received a number of offers of sponsorship from group members to help the pupils develop their idea further.