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Two QE teams acquitted themselves with merit in highly regarded debating competitions. One team of two Year 12 boys participated in the final of the Cambridge University Schools Debating Competition finals day, whilst eight Year 12 students took part in a European Youth Parliament debate at Westminster.

“Ethan Axelrod and Gabriel Gendler competed alongside the 40 best teams in the country in the Cambridge debate, having won local and regional rounds in a competition with more than 500 teams. Thus, although they weren’t placed, they did tremendously well to get that far,” said Nisha Mayer, teacher in charge of debating.

Four debates were held during the day, with motions such as ‘This House believes that the West should provide financial and military support to opposition groups in oppressive regimes’.

Ethan Axelrod was joined by Ben Howell, Ben Collins, Kiran Modi, Surya Bowyer, Niam Radia, Ram Popat and Madhi Elango for the European Youth Parliament debate, competing with around a dozen leading schools from across the south east of England.

“The day involved five debates. Our boys successfully opposed a resolution on stem cell research and were very persuasive,” said Mrs Mayer. “Unfortunately only one team out of the ten taking part was selected for the national round and we narrowly missed out.”
 

Three Sixth-Formers have won places at summer schools at top-flight American universities. Michael Zhao and Kieran Eatough will spend a week at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), whilst Jack Page has been invited to attend Yale.

The boys were among only 150 Year 12 students from an original application pool of over 1,200 to be chosen to continue within the Sutton Trust US Programme 2013. The selection panel wrote: “We were highly impressed by their suitability and commitment to the programme as demonstrated in their original application,” as well as praising their performance in a recent residential event.

The three boys (pictured with Jack front left, Michael front right and Kieran at the back) will now take part in a webinar (web seminar) during which they will receive information and advice from experts on US admissions. A representative of staff from QE has also been invited to take part in an Advisor Training Event.

MIT was established in the 1860s as an independent educational institution relevant to an increasingly industrialised America. In each of the last three years, it has been placed in the top ten of The Times’ World University rankings, and has nine current Nobel prize-winners on its staff. Yale is one of the eight Ivy League universities and offers over 2,000 undergraduate courses in the Liberal Arts and Sciences every year.

“I am delighted that the boys have made it through the rigorous selection programme and secured places at such prestigious educational institutions,” said Headmaster Neil Enright. “This continues a recent trend for our boys to look towards a more internationally diverse set of university destinations. Given the introduction of tuition fees in the UK, we have encouraged our pupils at least to look at opportunities abroad – including any financial support that may be available.”

The Sutton Trust is an educational foundation committed to improving social mobility. One of its roles involves working with the Fulbright Commission to provide young people with information and advice that will enable them to successfully apply for placements in US universities.

QE’s Evening of Murder, Mystery and Mayhem was well received by an enthusiastic audience. This term the School’s main drama production comprised three plays, all featuring well-known characters from the genre of crime fiction.

The Headmaster, Neil Enright, said: “This exciting production went very well, with the boys’ commitment and enthusiasm showcased in the high standards of acting, production and musicianship on display. Drama has been an increasingly popular subject at QE and the weekly club is well attended.”

The production ran over two nights in the Main School Hall under the title of And Then There Were None, sub-titled An Evening of Murder, Mystery and Mayhem.

The three plays were: the full-length stage adaptation of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None; a short Sherlock Holmes mystery entitled The Boscombe Valley Mystery and a play written by Sixth-Former Gopikrishna Selvaseelan called Mayhem for Hercule Poirot.

And Then There Were None provided murders aplenty to start the evening and required sustained acting skills from the boys to lift the characters from the page. The mystery element of the evening came especially from the short Sherlock Holmes adaptation, The Mystery of Boscombe Valley. The evening was rounded off by the light-hearted Mayhem for Hercule Poirot, in which the boys invested considerable effort in putting their own slant on famous literary characters.

“All the boys and staff are to be congratulated and I must thank our Co-ordinator of Drama, Elaine White, for all her efforts in drawing such a professional standard from the QE cast and crew,” added the Headmaster.

QE Year 7 geographers have received accolades for their entry in a prestigious Government competition – competing against pupils up to seven years older than them!

The boys were Highly Commended in the national Shape the Future competition organised by the Department for International Development (DfID).

The aim of the competition was to set new Millennium Development Goals with a focus on reducing poverty across the globe. Three groups of boys entered; two produced their recommendations in PowerPoint presentations, whilst the third submitted a video entry.

Geography teacher Dr Sarah Jones said: “The boys did exceptionally well to achieve a Highly Commended in such a widely respected competition, especially given that they are yet to complete their first year of secondary education and were competing against pupils who will be moving on to university next year.”

The topics the three QE teams covered included: eradicating the development of nuclear weapons and striving towards universal peace; combating terrorism; increasing resources for the development of medical research; supporting less economically developed countries; eradicating corruption; developing protection for countries with the risk of natural disasters; ensuring environmental sustainability and improving maternal health & empowering women.

The boys who entered were Niam Patel, Aashish Khimasia, John Tan, Joel George, Samuel Wong, Nikhil Nema, Sachin Patel, Kiran Aberdeen, Aadi Desai, Jordi Fray, Nayshil Patel, Sahil Shah, Manojj Mohanaranjan.

A QE team has qualified for the national final of the respected Team Maths Challenge after beating several other leading schools in the regional round.

The team, comprising four boys from Years 8 and 9, won the regional Team Maths Challenge at Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls, seeing off opposition from 33 other teams with a score of 239 points out of 240. Team captain Nitharsan Sathiyalingam, Christopher Suen, Aneesh Chopada and Oliver Robinson fought off the challenge from Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School and Highgate School, who tied for second place with 235 points.

The competition combines mathematical, communication and teamwork skills. It aims to offer pupils alternative ways in which to express their enjoyment of Mathematics.

The boys now go on to the national final, which will be held at the Royal Horticultural Halls in London in June. “We really enjoyed the day and are very excited about reaching the national final,” said Nitharsan.

The Anniversaries Concert marked not only a number of notable celebrations in the world of music, but also one of the final performances by the Year 13 students who approach the end of their time at the School.

“When we were deciding on the themes for this year’s concerts we spotted that there were a number of notable anniversaries of composers’ births or deaths, so we thought it would be an interesting challenge to see if we could create a programme built around anniversaries,” said QE’s Director of Music, Kieron Howe.

The Concert Band opened the evening with the rousing march from the film The Dam Busters, with this year marking the 70^th anniversary of Operation Chastise, although the film came later, in 1954. The date of the concert also coincided with the birth of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the International Olympic Committee and with the 40^th anniversary of the first album of the Swedish supergroup Abba. The band played three Olympic themes – John Williams’ from 1984 and 1996, and Leo Arnaud’s from 1988 – together with a medley of Abba hits.

The Senior Indian Music Ensemble then performed a piece to mark the centenary of Indian cinema. This was followed by Top Brass, who remembered the birth, in 1913, of the animator, producer and director Bob Clampett. He worked on many of the Looney Tunes cartoons and died in 1984, coincidentally on the same date as the concert was held.

The interval was straddled by a celebration of five decades of Beatles’ recording. The Senior String Orchestra combined with the trebles and altos of the Choir in Eleanor Rigby and with the tenors and basses in a Beatles medley.

The Camerata’s performance on the evening encompassed anniversaries from across the centuries and from a range of musical genres. “Although 225 years old, this year Mozart’s 40^th Symphony still sounded vibrant and exciting in the hands of the Camerata!” said Mr Howe. The ensemble paid tribute to Edith Piaf, with the title piece from the biopic, La Vie En Rose. “The Camerata’s final piece was a very special piece as its composer is still a pupil at QE: Christopher Georgiou wrote this piece last year to enter the Spring Grove Festival in Hampstead, which he won, receiving his plaque from Simon Callow. At the festival the piece was played by the String Quartet in a fuller arrangement,” added Mr Howe.

The Camerata handed over to The Symphony Orchestra who performed the overture from Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera, The Mikado. The concert coincided with the birth date of the impresario, Richard D’Oyly Carte, who commissioned the opera for the Savoy Theatre in 1884. The final piece was another medley, but from a more modern work – Wicked by Stephen Schwartz, which opened on Broadway ten years ago and still fills the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London eight times a week.

The concert was one of the final performances for the current Year 13 students, who were each invited to pay a tribute to the music staff.  “The boys each made brief speeches about their seven years at QE, which were thoughtful, interesting and, at times, witty,” said Mr Howe.

Mr Howe thanked them for their hard work and dedication over the years and wished them well in their musical and non-musical futures.