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Two QE boys have won their age categories in the regional round of a national writing competition.  Year 8 boy Milun Nair (pictured on the right) was placed first in the London/M25, age 12-14 category of the Kip McGrath Education Centres’ Dream a Big Dream competition and Laurie Mathias (pictured left), of Year 7, won the age 9-11 category.

The aim of the competition was to encourage young people aged nine to 14 to write about what they hope to achieve in their own future, whether it be as an astronaut or an accountant. The pieces were primarily judged on originality and creativity. 

One of the organisers has written to QE English teacher Sarah Snowdon, saying: “Please pass on our congratulations to Milun and Laurie; the standard of entries was really high so they should be very proud of this achievement.” She went on to say “Thank you for sending all the entries to me. One of them moved me to tears! Very many congratulations to all the boys who took part, the winners in particular, and of course the staff in the English Department who are nurturing this talent!”

Laurie said: “It’s great news to win the regional competition for my big dream; it was a real surprise. Being selected is brilliant and my friends and family are really pleased for me,” while Milun added: “I’m thrilled I won the regionals. The competition gave me a chance to think about the future and work for a better tomorrow for everyone.”

Kip McGrath was inspired by the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to set up the competition.

Milun and Laurie and 14 other regional will now have their entries included in a specially bound commemorative book. They will also receive a certificate signed by one of three rising British athletes hoping for success at the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games who have supported Dream a Big Dream: sprinters Sam Ruddock and Rachel Johncock, and javelin thrower Kike Oniwinde.

QE boys and staff heard the first-hand account of a Jewish boy who escaped Nazi Germany, never to see his parents again.

Hermann Hirschberger, who was born in Germany, spoke movingly of the discrimination and bullying he suffered as a Jew in the Third Reich. He told the story of his leaving his parents to come to Britain: they were taken to Auschwitz shortly afterwards, where they both died.

“Mr Hirschberger explained the life he had to lead under Nazi rule in Germany in fascinating detail and he gave the boys a real idea of what it was to grow up under such a dictatorship,” said History teacher Helen MacGregor, who organised the visit with the Holocaust Educational Trust.

Born in 1927, he described in detail the effect of the introduction of the anti-semitic Nuremberg laws. He was regularly beaten by his classmates at primary school; when he and the only other Jewish boy in the school went to the Headmaster to complain about their treatment, they were told it was what they deserved as they were Jewish. He was later forced to leave and had to go to a special Jewish school.

“He saw at first hand the events of Kristallnacht (the night of broken glass), a pogrom led by SA stormtroopers, during which many synagogues and Jewish business were attacked,” said Miss MacGregor.

He also described how he and his brother were held against a wall with revolvers to their heads by two SA officers who had come to the family flat to look for his father.

It was after that traumatic event that his parents decided to send their children away through the Kindertransport rescue scheme, which brought 10,000 children to the UK. Mr Hirschberger praised the British Government and spoke with great warmth of the people who were responsible for the scheme, under which families and institutions in Britain paid £50 – a substantial sum at that time – in order for a child to be taken out of Nazi-occupied Europe and sent to stay with them in Britain.

When it was time to go, he had to say goodbye to his mother at the train station; the last time he saw her. His father journeyed with the two boys to Hamburg and Mr Hirschberger remembers the last journey with his father in minute detail. He travelled to Britain by boat with his brother and was sent to Margate. His parents were sent to Auschwitz soon after.

“The boys were very appreciative that Mr Hirschberger was willing to recount such harrowing events so vividly. Talks such as this very much bring history to life and help the boys to have a greater understanding that topics they study involved individual people,” concluded Miss MacGregor.

QE boys performed strongly in a national and international competition open only to the best mathematicians.

Thirteen pupils from Years 9 to 11 took part in the UK Mathematics Trust’s Intermediate Olympiad. The Olympiad is open only to the 500 best performers in each year group from the earlier Intermediate Challenge, which itself is targeted at the top third of pupils in Years 9 to 11.

Two Year 11 boys – Andrew Hui and Bhavik Mehta (pictured) – gained distinction certificates and a gold medal in the Olympiad: medals are awarded to the top 100 students in each year group. Eight other QE boys achieved merit certificates.

Participants in the Olympiad take different papers according to their year group; Maclaurin for Year 11, Hamilton for Year 10 and Cayley for Year 9 and below.

The QE Olympiad competitors were also among 5,500 successful Intermediate Challenge contestants nationwide who were invited to take part in the Intermediate European Kangaroo. This is an hour-long multiple-choice papers (pink for Years 10 & 11, grey for Year 9 and below) inspired by the Australian Mathematics Trust, hence the name.

Actor Rupert Mason gave boys a taste of Gothic horror when he performed to the whole of Year 9 in the School Hall.

In a visit arranged by the English department, the actor presented Tales of Gothic Horror: a dramatic performance of The Red Room by HG Wells and The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe.

Head of English Susannah Sweetman, who organised the visit, said: “The performance was arranged to complement Year 9’s study of Gothic short stories in preparation for their GCSE unit in Year 10, where they will study another Gothic story: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

“The boys found the performance both entertaining and a beneficial addition to their class study of Gothic tales. I was impressed by the thought-provoking questions that the boys asked Rupert Mason after the performance, demonstrating that they were captivated by the atmospheric production and the intriguing nature of the Gothic genre.”

Sixth-Formers Alex Davis and Scott Grossman have won a prestigious award recognising young leadership.

Alex and Scott secured the award from the United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA) for their work in leading QE’s Jewish Society.

UJIA is an organisation which works to foster stronger links between Israel and the UK and to strengthen Jewish identity. Each year it presents an award to the most inspiring person or persons delivering Jewish education in an informal setting.

“I am delighted to present Alex and Scott with the UJIA Young Leaders Award,” said Robin Moss, a UJIA Fieldworker. “They have shown outstanding leadership of the Jewish Society at QE over the last two years and are a credit to the School.”

In a letter to David Ryan, QE’s Head of Sixth Form, Mr Moss added that the society also greatly appreciates the School’s supportive attitude to the Jewish Society. “We work with the boys to provide them with speakers, food and other support, but it is only because of the positive, progressive ethos of the School towards cultural diversity that the society is as successful as it is.”

The boys received their prize at a special ceremony at the School.

A guest lecturer from Kings College London had QE Sixth-Formers literally tearing out their own hair – as part of her presentation on DNA technology. Dr Elizabeth Glennon, from the Department of Neuroscience in Kings College’s Institute of Psychiatry, offered all 50 of the School’s Year 13 Biology students the opportunity to try out three processes used in current DNA research.

The day started with boys removing their own hair to provide root tips for a DNA extraction test. They then used the School’s own Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) machine to amplify the samples by a billion. The third and final process was gel electrophoresis, for which the DNA was loaded into a gel through which an electric current was run. This enabled the boys to observe banding patterns, as typically seen in genetic fingerprinting.

“The boys found this an interesting and enriching day,” said Biology teacher Martin Bassett-Jones. “It provided a rare opportunity for them to use modern-day genetic technology in their own classroom.”

The boys used the techniques they had been shown to amplify copies of DNA taken from tails of transgenic mice (mice with mutant copies of a human gene cloned into them) to compare with normal mice DNA. Dr Glennon explained how the research with mice may help to provide a cure for Alzheimer’s disease.