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Thirty professionals who have enjoyed success across diverse fields came to a QE Careers Fair designed to help Year 9 boys plan their future.

The whole of Year 9 was involved in the event, which extended over a full morning and lunchtime and included a number of workshops led by the visiting experts.

Dr Sarah Westcott, Head of Pupil Progression, said: “The aim of the day was to make students consider new and different careers. We especially wanted to underline to the boys that there are various routes into the same career and that over a lifetime they may have many different types of jobs.”

The year group was split into groups of eight boys, who took part in the series of workshops in rotation. Organised by Dr Westcott and Elaine White, Extra-Curricular Enrichment Tutor, the fair was held in the Main Hall and Conference Centre.

The 30 visitors were representatives from professions including the RAF, engineering, advertising & media, research science, forensic science, business, property management and design.

The workshops included case studies, business problems and practical scientific challenges, such as the detection of contamination and analysis of a crime scene.

QE provides extensive careers support for its pupils, including an annual Careers Convention in the autumn for Year 11 boys.

An insight into life in the year 2050 was among the highlights of the Geoexplorers Club trip to The Crystal – a building in London’s docklands housing a permanent exhibition about sustainable development. The boys also enjoyed taking part in a number of interactive challenges during the visit.

Owned and operated by Siemens and based in the Royal Victoria Dock, The Crystal focuses on urban sustainability and aims to offers the opportunity for discovery and learning. The site includes ten zones, which each explore a different aspect of life in cities.
During a tour, the boys watched a video on population growth and demographic change in the futuristic cinema, known as The Pumpkin.

This was followed by a tour of the attraction’s museum, which had designated displays on topics such as Forces of Change, Smart Buildings and Healthy Life. The boys also learned about the eco-friendly design of the building itself, which uses 100% renewable energy, including solar power.

Geography teacher Helena Yovichich, who organised the day, commented that the experience complemented and expanded upon classroom discussions. “The trip was excellent,” said Year 8 Geoexplorer, Druv Kadam. “I really enjoyed it, it made me think even more about a geographical view of the future of our lives and how sustainable the world will be with ever-growing pollution and population. I’d recommend a visit to The Crystal any day!”

The boys took part in a number of activities, which included creating their own electricity and building sustainable houses, as well as managing cities whilst trying not run out of money.

The Crystal also offered real-life experiences of everyday items that could be adapted in the future. “This showed us how our future technological lives will be forever evolving and changing to become more helpful and safe; it was really interesting,” added Druv.

To round the trip off, the group enjoyed seeing a different view of the capital as they travelled on the London Cable Car, which crosses the River Thames between the Royal Docks near Canning Town and the Greenwich Peninsula.

The First XI have enjoyed considerable success this season with victories over a number of schools with strong cricketing pedigrees, while two boys also achieved senior Middlesex selection.

“Sebastian Feszczur-Hatchett and Kushal Patel both appeared for the Middlesex Second XI men’s team – a huge achievement,” said PE Teacher Richard Scally. “Kushal has also captained the Middlesex U17 team.”

The team have had a string of successes during the Summer Term, including wins against Berkhamsted School, The John Lyon School and Highgate School.

They also beat Liverpool College by 130 runs in the semi-final of the annual Reid Trophy, with Jaimin Patel and Nikhil Patel scoring 80 and 60 runs respectively.

Mr Scally added: “We were hoping for the victory in the final that would have seen the trophy return to QE once again, but unfortunately it was not to be: Aldenham, who were the hosts, played exceptionally well on the day and were deserved winners, while we were without one or two of our better players for the final.”

Arjun Paliwal (OE 2006-2013) has just completed his first year studying Fine Art at New College, Oxford, where his focus has been on combining film and painting. One of his films – Human – was chosen as one of only ten being shown at the Ruskin Shorts show.

The annual event showcases the diversity of moving image work undertaken by students, alumni and staff of ‘the Ruskin’, Oxford University’s Fine Art department. The show took place at Modern Art Oxford, one of the UK’s leading venues for the presentation of modern and contemporary visual art.

Arjun’s three-minute film has a minimalist sound track and features headings such as ‘Robot’ and ‘It isn’t funny’ interspersed with fast-moving images.

“My films are short as I want them to capture a viewer’s attention from start to finish,” said Arjun. “I find using film and paint allows me to explore human emotion and thought and hopefully engages the viewer in a unique, emotional experience.”

It is not the first time that Arjun’s work has been exhibited publicly. Whilst he was still at School, his A-level examination artwork, entitled Frames, was shortlisted in the Royal Academy’s A-level Summer Exhibition Online. Two of his paintings were also displayed at a New College Garden Exhibition this summer.

“This year, through my painting, I have sought to question the boundary between painting and sculpture in the contemporary art world,” he said.

In addition to his studies, Arjun is taking on the role of President of the Oxford SSSK (Students Supporting Street Kids) and will help to organise and oversee a number of fundraising events, as well as trying to raise awareness.

In the longer term, Arjun would like to work as a product designer. “I hope that my creative exploration at art school will help me develop innovative and engaging designs in the future.”

• Human can be watched here. Here are links to two other films by Arjun: Criminal and Run.

This year’s House Drama competition has been won by Harrisons’, who were presented by the Headmaster with a special shield to mark the victory. Broughton, Leicester and Stapylton also entered the competition, which was on the theme of ‘the power of fear’.

“I was very pleased with the ambition and scope of all the performances,” said QE’s Co-ordinator of Drama, Elaine White. “All four teams worked hard to produce thoughtful pieces of drama; Stapylton’s use of timpani and a keyboard was particularly effective. Harrisons’, however, managed to hold the audience with their chilling tale of evil – using only three performers!”

The competition was open to actors from Years 7 – 9, with Year 10 boys taking responsibility for the direction of each piece, offering guidance to the performers. The starting point for the play was a passage from H G Well’s gothic tale, The Red Room:

“A power of darkness … It lurks there always. You can feel it even in the daytime, even on a bright summer’s day, in the hangings, in the curtains, keeping behind you however you face about. In the dusk it creeps along the corridor and follows you, so that you dare not turn. There is fear in that room of hers – black fear….”

The productions all had to fulfil a number of criteria. Each was required to include a piece of music, a freeze frame and the following three lines: “a cup of tea”; “worse than I could have imagined” and “I am sure it moved”.

“All the performers worked well together and gave the audience an entertaining lunchtime,” said Mrs White. “The plays included chilling flashbacks and a number of imaginative sets such as empty schools and an abandoned fairground. All the directors and actors are to be congratulated and we must thank Year 11 pupils Sahil Handa and Miles Huglin, who returned to the School to help judge the performances.”

Fifteen Year 12 pupils heard lectures on very different topics from two eminent mathematicians renowned for their communication skills.

This year’s London Mathematical Society (LMS) Popular Lectures at the Institute of Education presented the audience with a brace of lively talks in the field of Applied Mathematics.

In his lecture, What’s in a number? Professor Kevin Buzzard, of Imperial College London, spoke about how much of our work and how many of our leisure interests are now stored in digital format.

Mp3 music files, digital photos, electronic calendars, the books we read and games we play: all of this has been reduced to numbers. This has strange consequences, with, for example, some numbers being copyrighted, he said. But well before this digital revolution, mathematicians realised that numbers could encode all of mathematics (even the parts of it that are not about numbers). And that, he said, had even stranger consequences.

Dr Julia Gog, a Fellow of Queen’s College, University of Cambridge, entitled her lecture Epidemics and viruses: the mathematics of disease. She looked at how Mathematics has been applied to help understand and control infectious diseases, from the scale of a single virus particle through to a global influenza pandemic.

The boys enjoyed the opportunity to listen to such eminent people in their field: “I was particularly excited to meet Professor Buzzard,” said Akash Amalean. “His lecture was very thought-provoking.” Bolun Sun was impressed with Dr Gog’s lecture: “It was interesting to see how mathematical theorems are behind biological principles,” he said.