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Sports Day 2019 saw boys competing and having fun together, while producing impressive performances in disciplines ranging from hurdles and javelin to rowing and Eton fives.

More than 730 boys from Years 7–10 took part during the day and, with athletics alone accounting for 53 separate events, some 70 staff were drafted in from all departments to help meet one of the most complex organisational challenges of the School year.

At the conclusion of a day of intense but friendly inter-House competition in good weather, Headmaster Neil Enright presented the much-coveted Sports Day cup to Broughton, narrow winners on 600 points ahead of Underne on 590.

QE’s Head of Rugby James Clarke (OE 1999–2004), who organised the day, said: “It was great to have so many pupils competing and I am grateful to my colleagues for making it all possible. My congratulations go both to Broughton House on their overall victory and to the very many boys from all Houses who performed strongly and, in many cases, achieved personal bests.”

The day’s events began at 10.30am sharp, with: Year 7 & 8 triathlon; Year 7 tug of war; Year 9 table tennis; Year 7 tennis, and with discus, long jump, shot put and high jump for the first three years.

Competitions continued through the morning, with the action varying from the short intensity of 80m hurdles and 100m sprints to the endurance required for the rowing, in which the Houses were allocated two-hour sessions comprising 10-minute stints for each boy.

The afternoon brought the Eton fives and volleyball competitions, as well as the conclusion of the rowing, while the track events continued, culminating in the four 4 x 100m relays for Years 7–10, the all-years 4 x 400m relay and, last of all, the traditional QE Mile.
This event, a 16 x 100m relay pitting boys against staff, was won this year by the staff: “A great win!” added Mr Clarke.

Throughout the day, staff fulfilled roles including timekeeping, race-starting, judging, commentary and photography, as well as general supervision.

The final presentations revealed the six Houses’ overall points tally for the day, as follows:

• Broughton: 600
• Underne: 590
• Harrisons’: 576
• Pearce: 552
• Leicester: 549
• Stapylton: 514.

Year 8’s cricketers topped a highly successful season with a strong run in the Schools’ National Cup – and lost out on a semi-final place by only the narrowest of margins.

Having won the County Cup last year as Year 7s, they qualified to participate in the National Cup this year. Captained by Prayag Gandhi, the team comprehensively beat Bede’s in Sussex, needing only 13 overs to chase down their opponents’ 20-over total of 87. In the next round, having restricted Dartford Grammar School to just 38, the boys, playing at home, scored 42 runs in just 14 overs, securing their place in the quarter-finals.

Their opponents and hosts for that match – which was also the South East regional final – were the Royal Hospital School in Ipswich.

The spectators watching in the East Anglian boarding school’s historic grounds found themselves with a match to savour. The QE U13 team coach, PE and Games teacher Oliver O’Gorman, said: “It was the best and closest game of schoolboy cricket I, and many others who were present, have ever seen.”

“It went down to the last ball, with Royal Hospital needing one run off it. Unfortunately for us, they were successful,” said Mr O’Gorman. “Our boys were understandably gutted about losing in such a fashion, but they should be proud of what they have achieved in reaching the last eight in the country and coming so close to reaching the top four.” The final scores in the 30-over match were: QE 178-6; Royal Hospital 179-6.

Mr O’Gorman said the QE boys had also won praise from their hosts, Royal Hospital’s Director of Sport, Paul Hardman, and Head of Cricket, Paul Cohen: “They were very complimentary of both the standard of our boys’ cricket, but also the way in which they represented the School throughout the day.”

The boys have enjoyed a 100 per cent success rate in their regular, competitive fixture list. They beat:

• Berkhamsted School, by 9 wickets
• St Albans School, by 10 wickets
• The John Lyon School, by 10 wickets
• Watford Grammar School, by 7 wickets
• Highgate School, by 118 runs
• St Benedict’s School, by 129 runs.

They also had a strong run in this year’s County Cup, beating Greenford High School and Mill Hill & Belmont Schools, before losing to Avanti House in the semi-final.

The squad for the South-East Final was:

1. Prayag Gandhi (captain)
2. Ranvir Sinha
3. Bilal Hassan
4. Rishab Banerjee
5. Karan Chauhan (Year 7)
6. Kush Tailor (wicketkeeper)
7. Ugan Pretheshan
8. Krish Agarwal
9. Rohan Belavadi
10. Girish Radhakrishnan (Year 7)
11. Vishnu Anil
12. Aaryan Patel
13. Madhav Menon

Year 9 boys enjoyed a successful trip to Amsterdam for one of Europe’s largest youth rugby tournaments, where they took on club sides from the UK and the Netherlands alike.

The 24-strong QE squad won three of their four matches in the U14 category of the 20th annual Hilversum International Youth Rugby Festival.

QE’s Director of Sport Jonathan Hart said: “It is great to support this ever-growing tournament; the boys played extremely well and should be proud of what they achieved in Amsterdam.”

Some 85 teams, with players aged from 7 to 18, played approximately 175 matches during the festival. Hosted by RC Hilversum, it attracts entries from England, South Africa, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Belgium, as well as the Netherlands. Ten teams competed in the U14 competition in which the QE boys were involved.

The QE contingent’s annual tour began this year with a warm-up game against Amstelveense RC, a club from the town of Amstelveen, near Amsterdam, which they won by one try.

“The squad were feeling extremely positive going into the tournament the next day,” said Mr Hart. They played group matches again RC’t Gooi (a club from the Dutch town of Naarden), Beaconsfield RFC, Basingstoke RFC and RC The Dukes (from the town of ‘s-Hertogenbosch).

“On a glorious day with blazing sunshine (a stark contrast to the previous year), the boys played extremely well and worked hard to secure their three wins out of four,” said Mr Hart.

He praised “notable performances” from Danny Adey, Victor Angelov, Muhammad Nayel Huda and Akhil Walia, but added: “The whole squad should be congratulating themselves for the way they conducted themselves on and off the field; it was a pleasure to take them, as they all created a great tour atmosphere.”

QE boys won three Plate competitions at the National Schools’ Eton Fives Championships, as the sport flourishes at Queen Elizabeth’s School.

More than 40 boys have represented QE competitively this year, with 28 pupils travelling to Shrewsbury School for the national finals, where more than 650 players from schools across the country gathered.

Oliver O’Gorman, Master in charge of Eton Fives, said: “We have more boys playing than ever before and this is starting to show when we play fixtures against other schools, with more competition for places driving up standards.”

Organisers from the Eton Fives Association commented that the Plate competitions at the national finals are becoming increasingly competitive.

QE Year 9 pair Abhijay Singh and Jamie Hoang “enjoyed a really good day in the sunshine” at Shrewsbury, winning the Plate B competition for their age group, said Mr O’Gorman.

The senior boys “also had a fantastic day”, with Razvan Rusu and Jay Nafade, both of Year 13, taking Plate A, while Year 12 partners Abilash Sivathasan and Thushan Mohan won Plate B.

“In our regular season we’ve had really competitive fixtures against Aldenham, Mill Hill, St Olave’s and Berkhamsted, which have all benefited our boys greatly,” said Mr O’Gorman.

He added that this year’s introduction of a new coach – Mr Jamie Shamash – had helped raise the QE players’ skill levels.

• Eton Fives is a hand-ball game played in a three-sided court by teams of two. The National Schools’ Eton Fives Championships are held in rotation at Shrewsbury, Highgate School and Eton College, where the game was invented.

Medal-winning Paralaympian Amy Marren inspired Year 7 boys when she visited to give a guest assembly – but also stressed the hard work, planning and discipline needed to combine her swimming with a legal career.

Amy, who is 20, was invited to the School because she is close friends with QE Technology Assistant Stephanie Tomlinson.

At London 2012 she made her Paralympics debut as one of the youngest GB athletes. The following year she won four titles at the IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal, as well as four gold and two silver medals. She won bronze in the Individual Medley at Rio in 2016.

Alongside her swimming training, Amy is a paralegal apprentice. Combining the two activities requires a 5.30am start five days a week in order to squeeze in 24 hours a week in the pool and gym and 40 hours of work and studying.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “This was a very positive and inspiring assembly, promoting pride in difference and emphasising what can be achieved with character, dedication and ambition.”

Amy, who was born with disability (a missing hand), not only competed at Rio but has won a World Championships and met the Queen. She feels “lucky and privileged to compete” and undertakes work to support others, such as being patron of a charity that teaches disabled children to swim.

Speaking about the challenges of coping and adapting with one hand, she said: “I used to be shy, but am proud of who I am… You should always be you, that’s very important.

“People do treat you a bit differently, and in some ways you are different – I was 13 before I could tie my own shoe laces – but I am proud to be different now. There are no limits to what you can achieve.”

In the past, she used to “hide” her arm within a prosthetic limb to look “normal”.

Amy stressed the value of turning to family and friends to help – “you are not alone” – and she urged the boys to be kind to one another, treating those who are different in some way just the same as anybody else.

In a question-and-answer session, she spoke further about her sporting and personal achievements, her experience of disability and of any discrimination she had encountered.

Sixty teams from leading schools across the country journeyed to Barnet for the 43rd annual Queen Elizabeth’s School Rugby Sevens Tournament.

Wimbledon College took the U16 Cup and Whitgift School won the U14 Cup, while Eton College achieved a tournament first, winning the Plate at both U14 and U16 level, after seeing off the challenge of Warwick School in both Plate finals.

Players had to contend with a full range of weather conditions, including blustery, gale-force winds, heavy rain, a little sunshine and even some sleet or snow towards the end of the day.

QE’s Head of Rugby, James Clarke, who was the main organiser, thanked all the visitors for a good day’s rugby, adding: “It is a real QE community day, with staff, student helpers from Years 12 and Year 7, Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s and former staff all out in force to ensure that it runs smoothly.

“So far as QE’s players are concerned, we had a tough draw. Our U16A team found themselves in what could in retrospect be considered the ‘group of death’, pitted against both the eventual Cup winners, Wimbledon, and the Plate winners, Eton. They nevertheless managed a 12-5 victory against the other member of the group, Woodbridge School, in their opening game. The U14s also had a tough day, but battled well throughout,” Mr Clarke (OE 1999–2004) said.

The tournament was established in 1976 by Dave Maughan, who was QE’s Head of PE/Games from 1974–2003. He returned to the School once again this year to support the running of competition.

The first tournaments, from 1977–1981, were played at the Old Elizabethans RFC at Gypsy Corner and were mainly for schools from Hertfordshire, featuring A & B teams from both age groups. In 1982, the tournament relocated to the School pitches, and the Byng Road pitches of Barnet RFC (now the Barnet Elizabethans RFC, following a merger between the two clubs in 1997). By then, the event was becoming popular with schools across a wider area. 1983 saw it reach its present size of 32 teams in each age group, with participants from across England and Wales, including QE’s A & B sides at U14 and U16 level.

Eight of the nine pitches used are on clay soils, so conditions can frequently get muddy. The finals are played on pitches 1 and 2 at the front of the School.

In the tournament’s history, notable achievements have included:

• Two occasions on which schools ‘did the double’, winning both the U14 and U16 events – Eltham College in 1986 and Wellington College in 2017
• Consecutive wins – a feat achieved only once, when St Paul’s School took the U14 trophy in both 2003 and 2004
• Victories by schools to take the U14 title and then later the U16 Cup. QE achieved this in 1977 and 1979. Others who have followed suit include Wellington College, who did in twice (2000 & 2002; 2015 & 2017); London Oratory School (1998 & 2000); Wimbledon College (2005 & 2007), and Gowerton School, Wales (2012 & 2014).

Many of QE’s senior players visited Canada on the School’s first-ever rugby tour to the Americas.

During the ten-day visit, the touring party took on several leading youth rugby sides, while also finding the time for some sightseeing.

Head of Rugby James Clarke said: “Canada is a rapidly developing rugby nation and, having twice visited Sri Lanka in recent years, we were keen to see another culture.”

Led by four members of staff, the 19 tourists spent seven days in Toronto and three days in Niagara.

They took on Ontario Provincial A, currently the second-best regional team in Canada, and were defeated 47-7. Against the Ontario Provincial B side, the QE boys came much closer, losing 17-15, while they scored a convincing 46-7 victory over Niagara Rugby Club.

Among the attractions they visited were Canada’s Wonderland in Vaughan, Ontario – the country’s first major theme park, which, at 134 acres, remains its biggest – and Toronto’s 553.3m CN Tower. They enjoyed watching the local professional baseball team, at the Rogers Centre, the club’s home ground. And they made the most of their visit to Niagara, not only visiting Niagara Falls but also jetboating on Niagara River.

Mr Clarke said: “The boys were able to experience a different culture, as well as enjoying the hospitality of the hosting sides and the international camaraderie after each game with opposition players.

“Furthermore, our boys really ‘gelled’ as a squad, which is already having a positive effect on senior rugby here at QE this year.”

The ‘stand-out’ players were Fozy Ahmed, Samuel Burgess and James Loebell, all of Year 12, and Samuel Wong of Year 13, Mr Clarke added.

Stapylton House are the winners of the 2017/18 House Cup – reclaiming the coveted trophy from last year’s champions, Underne.

Stapylton’s victory means this House has now won the trophy – formally the Eric Shearly Memorial Cup – for three of the last four years.

The triumph was announced at the end-of-year House assembly, where the cup was presented to House Captain Oliver Than-Lu and his Deputy, Omar Taymani, both from Year 12 (pictured above).

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “My congratulations go to all Stapylton boys: this victory reflects their consistency of achievement in extra-curricular enrichment activities across the academic year, with the older boys’ efforts being boosted by a particularly strong Year 7 cohort. I trust that boys in other Houses will be inspired to redouble their efforts next year to challenge Stapylton for the crown.”

The assembly celebrated outstanding performances over a wide range of fields, including the performing arts, sport and charity work.

For this year’s House Drama competition, participants were challenged to produce original plays on the theme of a dystopian future: Leicester won the competition for the third consecutive year.

The House Music competition was won by Pearce.

In chess, the winners of various competitions were honoured, as were the boys chosen to receive junior, intermediate and senior colours.

Similarly, the assembly highlighted the names of boys who had won colours for music and sports.

There was a review of performances in sport throughout the year, including cricket, rugby, water polo, swimming and athletics. One innovation was the announcement of ‘teams of the year’ for cricket and rugby, which included leading performers from all year groups.

House charity fund-raising events during the year were celebrated, together with the work done to support the Sri Sathya Sai English Medium School in Kerala, India, with which QE has enjoyed a longstanding partnership.

Participation in The Duke of Edinburgh Award at QE remains strong: 100 boys from Year 10 enrolled for the bronze award in October and are due to complete their Qualifying Expedition in August, it was announced, while 34 Year 11 pupils signed up for the silver award and 18 Year 12 boys for the gold.

The assembly also recounted details of:

• The various challenges run on a specially arranged House Afternoon
• The QIQE quiz, which was by Stapylton
• A number of House competitions run by the academic departments: these included, for example, a Languages competition to design a poster about a famous and influential linguist, which was won by Year 8 Stapylton pupil Jashwanth Parimi, and a photography competition for Years 7–9 run by the Geography department.

With nearly 100 separate events across disciplines ranging from tug-of-war and Eton Fives to table-tennis and volleyball, QE’s 2018 Sports Day once again saw hundreds of pupils competing for their Houses.

Harrisons’ emerged as the winning House, retaining its 2017 title, with Second Master Colin Price duly presenting the coveted trophy. The 668 points amassed by Harrisons’ placed it ahead of Leicester, on 622: the other four Houses were quite closely matched, led by Stapylton, which scored 576.

The whole day was supported by large numbers of staff, led this year by PE & Games teacher James Clarke (Head of Rugby).

The day concluded, as is traditional, with the staff participating in the QE Mile – a 16 x 100m relay. The staff team comfortably beat the Sixth-Form team into second place, with notable contributions including a swansong appearance from Mathematics teacher Gregory Lee (he is leaving this summer), who this year once again performed his leg in a suit.

Headmaster Neil Enright: “I congratulate all the boys who achieved success for themselves and their Houses and I thank Mr Clarke and all colleagues involved for their hard work throughout the day.”

One notable quirk of this year’s Sports Day was the unusual attire of some competitors – not only Mr Lee, but also competitors running in their socks: one boy lost a shoe early in his 1500m race and even ran back to retrieve it, before eventually discarding it and then working his way up through the field to achieve a creditable finish!

The day included 53 track events of varying length, from the 75m hurdles for Year 8 through to the 1500m individual races and the 4 x 400m relay open to all year groups.

Also continuing through the day were the field events, which included discus, shot put, javelin, long jump, high jump and triple jump.

Years 7–10 each had their own tournaments for tug-of-war, tennis, Eton Fives and table-tennis (the latter taking place in the gym).

There were competitions for Years 9 & 10 in volleyball. The rowers battled it out in ten-minute sessions, with one machine allocated to each of QE’s six Houses.

The Year 7 team got their QE cricketing careers off to a great start by winning the Middlesex Schools Final – while Year 8 were also finalists in their county cup and Years 9 and 10 reached their respective semi-finals.

Assistant Head of PE & Games Rhys Davies-Horne, who coached the U12s, charted the Year 7s’ “road to glory”, which began with a “memorable first win” against New Hall School just three days after the Easter holiday. “An excellent performance from Bilal Hassan with both bat and ball saw him claim the captaincy for the season, with Ranvir Sinha helping out with duties as vice-captain.”

Wins then came thick and fast, most notably against St Albans School, Mr Davies-Horne reported. “Prayag Gandhi started his formidable batting stats with 104 off 70 balls, whilst Sinha and Hassan continued to build on their strong partnership.

“Further records were broken as the side notched up a score of 207 for 1 against The John Lyon School, this time Rishab Banerjee demonstrating his skill with a bat, reaching 83 not out, whilst Ugan Pretheshan and Vishnu Anil looked dangerous bowling.

“The Middlesex cup run started with a narrowly contested game against Whitmore High School. With a change to the batting order, new faces such as Thivyan Arunendran and Kush Tailor held off the opposition, with the final runs coming in the last over from Haran Sritharan. The next round saw the U12 team show true character in the performance of the season, as they saw off a strong Swaminarayan School. Significant contributions with the bat came from Gandhi and Sinha, with a partnership of 152, whilst Sritharan and Arunendran looked promising with the ball.”

“A destructive bowling spell from Rohan Belavadi in the semi-final against Highgate put QE in a strong position.” Then, reprising their performances in previous games, Sinha, Gandhi and Hassan reached the total with ease.

The final, held at the neutral ground of Harrow St Mary, saw QE take on Newlands House. “Opting to bowl first on a hard wicket, Aaryan Patel and Krish Agarwal set to work on the batting order,” said Mr Davies-Horne. “Excellent spin-bowling and fielding” restricted Newlands to a score of 108. “An aggressive run chase led by the impressive Sinha, Gandhi and Hassan saw QE over the line with 5 overs to spare.

“This victory brought to an end a season that has not only been a fantastic one for the U12s, but has also shown strength across the board at QE, with four teams reaching their county cup finals or semi-finals – a well-deserved achievement of which all boys should be proud.”

Year 8 player Dilan Patel penned his own report on the U13s’ cup run, which began with “good batting from Bavan Gunaseelan and Karvith Ramesh” against Pinner High. Against The Swaminarayan School, Dilan himself played a key role in the “excellent bowling attack”, emerging with figures of 14/4, allowing QE’s batsmen to “knock off the total with ease.

“We then moved through to the semi-final, where we faced Belmont School, a side that had beaten us comfortably just weeks earlier in our regular season. This time, though, our batsmen knew how to face their fantastic opening bowlers and posted a total of 108-7, with Karvith Ramesh hitting a classy 45. We were put into pressurised situations, and that made us perform and focus even more intensely than we had ever done before. Our bowlers managed to get them all out for 95: we were in the final!”

Their opposition in the final was a “very talented” Merchant Taylors’ side, Dilan wrote, against whom they “came so close. Having batted the whole 25 overs in the searing heat – with Bavan Gunaseelan anchoring the innings from start to finish – we were just unable to put enough runs on the board and the opposition won the game with 3 overs to spare.”

He and his teammates had “put everything on the line” to reach the final and were “proud of their achievements”, Dilan concluded. “Coming so close to winning the trophy has only left us more determined to go one step further next year.”