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Year 13 Politics students made the most of the opportunity to question two US Members of Congress at a special event at the British Library. The Eccles Centre for American Studies organises conferences to enable British Sixth-Formers to hear at first-hand from those involved in the front-line of US politics.

“The boys certainly took the chance to quiz national political leaders in order to assess how well they perform their work,” said QE’s Head of Politics Liam Hargadon.

Mary Bono (pictured) was a Republican member of Congress representing California’s 45th District. She held this post from 1998, the time of death of her husband, the former pop singer Sonny Bono of 'Sonny and Cher' fame, until 2013. Brian Baird was a Democrat and represented the 3rd District of Washington from 1999 to 2011.

The day-long conference, sponsored by the US Embassy, also attracted academics who specialise in American Studies from some of the UK’s top universities, including Dr Ross English from King’s College, London, and Professor Iwan Morgan of University College, London. Dr English explained how the US Congress works, whilst Professor Morgan delivered a short lecture on the 21st-Century Presidency.

“The conference was a terrific opportunity for our A-level boys to link together their academic knowledge of politics with the experience of those who practice in the field,” added Mr Hargadon. “It became clear that politicians are concerned about the dangers of ‘disconnect’ with younger voters and are keen to understand the issues and concerns of the next generation of voters.”

Studying Music at university is not just a way to follow your passion – it’s a route to a good job, too. That was the heartening message which 16 QE musicians heard on a visit to Goldsmiths, University of London. 

The Head of Goldsmiths’ Music Faculty, Dr. Berta Joncus, gave a presentation outlining the benefits of studying music and the breadth of opportunity it could lead to, whether in performance, education, the arts sector or the creative industries.

“Many of the boys were pleased to learn how employable music graduates are,” said Rebecca Lancelot, of QE’s Music department. “They took on board the message that they can follow their passion when choosing a university course, with the prospect of a career at the end.”

The boys, from Years 11-13, were shown around several areas of the university, including the performing areas, live recording and control rooms. One highlight was a demonstration of the state-of-the-art, eight-channel, sound system – one of the most advanced forms of surround sound. They also saw other facilities, such as the lecture theatres and library.

“I think the boys were quite surprised at how different the study of Music is at university, compared with school,” said Miss Lancelot.

The party was joined by old boy Greg White (OE 2004-11), who is currently studying for his Master’s degree at Goldsmiths, having completed his undergraduate degree in Music Technology at the University of East Anglia.

QE was the top-placed state school in the local round of a national Geographical Association quiz.

The school, which has hosted the competition for a number of years, was placed fourth out of 11 competitor schools drawn from Barnet and parts of London.

“The boys performed very well in a high-calibre field,” said QE Geography teacher Dr Sarah Jones. “The event helps to engage boys with the subject as well as offering them the opportunity to meet students from other local schools.”

Rahul Kanwar, Abbeykeith Kugasenan Chettiar and Karnan Sembian, all from Year 10, made up the QE team of three, with Dhruv Kanabar as reserve.

The competition was won by Westminster School, which retained the trophy for a second year and is now eligible to go through to the national final. City of London School finished in second place, with The Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School in third.

The local round of the competition is run by the schools themselves, with guidance and question sets supplied by the Geographical Association. “It was great fun to organise and we had a really enthusiastic team,” added Dr Jones, who was the organiser of the round in which QE took part.

The face-to-face quiz comprised eight rounds, ranging from map-reading to identifying the Commonwealth; some rounds were team rounds, and some were individual challenges. This year an innovation was a Google Earth round. Below is a sample of some of the questions.

1. Which African country was the last to leave the Commonwealth? (Answer: Gambia)
2. What U is the native name for the rock named after Ayer by explorers? (Answer: Uluru)
3. What is the natural vegetation of Savannah? (Answer: Tropical grassland)
4. What is the main type of rock on Dartmoor? (Answer: Granite)

The Geography department organises a number of other competitions each year, including the monthly Where in the world? – a photo-based quiz – as well as Anagrams and Dingbats. There are also the annual Young Geographer of the Year for all year groups and Through the Window for Year 7.

Sixth-Formers explored how Mathematics solves everyday challenges at a number of special lectures this term.

One of the days, attended by 56 Year 12 boys, included a session with a Senior Examiner on common pitfalls in examinations and how to develop good exam strategies.

The lectures at the Institute of Education encompassed a broad range of topics including:

• How to make energy plans that add up, David Mackay (Regius Professor of Engineering, Cambridge) (pictured)
• Bad Stats – what they don’t tell you on the news, Michael Blastland (writer and broadcaster)
• Ancient Puzzles and Modern Solutions – what the Greeks did for us, Jason Lotay (UCL)
• Fighting disease with Mathematics, Sara Jabbari (Birmingham)
• Invisible in the Storm – mathematics and forecasting wild weather, Ian Roulstone (Surrey).

“Each of the lectures was inspiring in its own way and encouraged the boys to delve deeper into the topics they found most engaging on the day,” said Wendy Fung, Assistant Head of Mathematics. “They’re a very good way of introducing branches of Maths which are not covered as part of the A-level syllabus.”

QE participant Paavan Sawjani said: “The application of calculus to Biology was really interesting because they’re topics that are not normally linked together.”

Akash Ruparelia was inspired by Professor Mackay’s energy lecture: “It has made me look into the energy industry more closely, because it showed me how the energy crisis could potentially be solved by Maths.” 

A further 50 boys from Year 11 had an instructive afternoon at the Maths Inspiration Show at the Palace Theatre in London. The show included three interactive talks from some of the UK’s most engaging Maths speakers:

• Hugh Hunt (Department of Engineering, Cambridge): Bouncing Bombs and Boomerangs
• Hannah Fry (Centre for Spatial Analysis, UCL): The Hidden Connections
• Colin Wright (Department of Maths, Keele): Patterns and Predictions.

Dr Hunt demonstrated the principles behind rotating objects using boomerangs and a wobble board. Dr Fry showed how to detect crime by using numerical patterns in apparently random events and Dr Wright juggled throughout his lecture whilst explaining the mathematics behind the skill.

“This event included a lively Q&A session,” said Miss Fung. “The boys were able to ask the panellists anything they wanted and clearly enjoyed finding out how Maths can be used in a variety of contexts.”

“I found out about areas of Maths that I didn’t even realise were Maths at all!” said Craig Robertson; “It’s amazing how Maths is everywhere,” added Aditya Ramachandran.

A QE Sixth Form team was narrowly beaten in the regional final of a public-speaking competition. Year 12 boys Miles Huglin, Akshat Joshi and Pranesh Varadarajan were runners-up in the English-Speaking Union Churchill National Public Speaking Competition for Schools held at Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Miles, who was last year named ‘best speaker’ at the regional final, this year took on the role of Speaker, whilst Pranesh and Akshat acted as Chair and Questioner respectively.

The boys were taking part in the invitation-only Sixth Form competition set up in recent years for previous winners and runners-up in the main competition, which is for Years 10 & 11.

Miles spoke on the subject Higher education is only as valuable as the job it brings in the end, whilst Pranesh and Akshat presented and supported a speaker discussing The abolition of juries in criminal trials.

Nisha Mayer, Head of Academic Enrichment, said: “They competed against five other teams representing various parts of the South East Region and missed out on an outright win only marginally, losing out to Colchester Royal Grammar School.”

The role of the Chairperson is: to introduce the Speaker and his or her topic; to call on the Questioner and the audience members to put questions to the Speaker, and to summarise the overall presentation as part of his or her conclusion. The role of the Questioner is to ask probing questions with a view to eliciting more information from the Speaker and expanding the discussion as a whole.

Established in 1960, the competition provides an opportunity for young people to develop both their confidence and their skills in effective spoken English. Specifically, it enhances their skills in speech-writing, speaking and presentation, as well as their ability to think analytically on their feet. The competition also broadens pupils’ knowledge of topical issues.

The School’s musicians rounded off a busy term with a number of public performances alongside QE’s traditional celebrations.

The Barbershop Group made the short journey to Abbey Ravenscroft Park Nursing Home to sing carols. “The residents thoroughly enjoyed it,” said Rebecca Lancelot of the Music Department. “Many of them joined in with the singing.” They had also been entertained the week before by the Staff Choir.

“Two large groups of boys, including The Chamber Choir, have played in The Spires Shopping Centre to raise money for Cherry Lodge Cancer Care, once with saxophones and then with the brass,” she added.

The Christmas Concert held in the Shearly Hall featured its characteristic mix of seasonal classics and modern songs, with the audience joining in wholeheartedly with the traditional carols.

“The Service of Nine Lessons & Carols at the Parish Church was also highly successful, the boys and staff reading and singing with great aplomb,” Miss Lancelot added. Alongside well-known carols such as Once in Royal David’s City and O Little Town of Bethlehem sung by the congregation, there was also music from the School Choir – And the Glory of the Lord, from Handel’s Messiah, and John Joubert’s Torches – and from the Chamber Choir – a German carol entitled Still, Still, Still and John Rutter’s Shepherd’s Pipe Carol.

The events mark the QE swansong for Miss Lancelot, who leaves the School at the end of term.