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QE is the first UK school ever to win a world title in the Vex IQ Challenge international robotics finals.

The QE pupils emerged to take the Excellence Award at the finals in Louisville, Kentucky, which holds a Guinness World Record as the world’s largest robotics competition. The Excellence award is the highest presented in the VEX IQ programme, going to the team that exemplifies overall excellence in building a high-quality robotics programme.

They saw off no fewer than 400 teams from 40 countries – including leading schools from the US and China which have usually provided the winners throughout the competition’s 11-year history. It was only the second year that boys at QE had participated in VEX Robotics, having become UK national champions during their first season in 2017.

The QE boys were judged on their robot design, programming skills, driving skills and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) research project, with all of the judges in their division agreeing they were the overall ‘best of the best’.

QE’s Head of Technology, Michael Noonan, said: “This is a truly phenomenal achievement and far surpasses all our expectations. It is a hugely competitive event, which attracts some of the most intelligent young minds in the world. The Year 9 Gear Squad team were especially commended and, together with our Year 8 Technogear team, demonstrated a voracious hunger for success whilst retaining their humility.

“Gear Squad and Technogear greatly impressed the judges with their confident and student-led presentations and explanations. In fact, the most notable aspect of the VEX IQ programme at Queen Elizabeth’s is that it is entirely student-led.

“I am absolutely delighted and infinitely proud of the students involved, and this marks the ultimate testament to their hard work, dedication and countless hours refining their robotic solutions and programmes.”

It is estimated that there are 8,500 VEX IQ teams around the world. The VEX IQ challenge is aimed at pupils from Years 5-9.

Year 9 pupil Dillan Shah, of Gear Squad, said: “It was an honour to represent the UK as well as our School and meet all the fabulous people from around the world. It was a truly amazing experience.”

Despite nationwide challenges in getting young people to pursue STEM careers, QE and other teams taking part from the UK showed that British pupils can not only compete but be leaders in this field, supported in their preparations by both curricular and extra-curricular programmes, said the organisers. In fact, QE is ranked in the top ten UK schools for take-up and performance in the STEM subjects, and no fewer than 22 of last year’s leavers went on to read Engineering at university.

Bridie Gaynor, VEX Robotics Competition Manager (UK & Europe), said: “We are extremely proud of the work VEX Robotics does in the UK to encourage not only a passion for robotics but also much sought-after skills. To see Queen Elizabeth’s School, a UK team, on stage accepting the Excellence Award was a truly landmark moment for VEX Robotics in the UK. We are so proud that UK teams are now a force to be reckoned with.”

The 400 teams taking part were split into five divisions of 80. The VEX IQ competition is multi-faceted: in addition to the overall Excellence Award, within each division there were prizes for categories such as the STEM research project, design booklet competition, teamwork challenge and robot skills competition.

Mr Noonan added that the criteria for winning the Excellence Award included being “a shining example of dedication, devotion, hard work and teamwork”. The award took into account the performance and subsequent rankings of the winners in all competitions within the overall event, but was ultimately decided by interviews from the chief judges. He added that it was clear that both QE teams benefited from being pupil-led “as they demonstrated an outstanding amount of independence at the world stage in solving problems and performing to their optimum”.

Gear Squad consists of Year 9 boys Vihaan Jain, Varun Vijay Kumar, Shilacshan Lingakumar, Dillan Shah and Alex Woodcock. Technogear comprises five Year 8 boys: Arjun Arunkumar, Dylan Domb, Aditya Khanna, Anish Rana and Yash Shah. The boys were accompanied to the US by Mr Shane Ryan (Technology) and Mr Jonathan Leigh (Physics).

QE pupils beat off competition from 30 other schools to win the regional round of the Team Maths Challenge.

The four boys from Years 8 and 9 secured victory over Merchant Taylors’, in second place, and Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’, who came third. They now go through to the national finals in London’s Royal Horticultural Halls in June – the third time that a QE team has reached this stage in the prestigious UK Mathematics Trust contest.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “I congratulate our boys on a resounding success, which demonstrated not only their mathematical prowess and their ability to think clearly under pressure, but also skills in communication and teamwork.”

The team was led by Year 9 pupil Dan Suciu and comprised Shimaq-Ahamed Sakeel Mohamed, also of Year 9, together with Year 8 boys Bhunit Santhiramoulesan and Agrim Sharma. They scored a winning total of 223 points out of 236 in the event, which was hosted by Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls in Elstree.

The competition aims to offer pupils a means of expressing and developing their enjoyment of Mathematics, with problems that are mostly accessible, yet still challenge those with more experience. The event involves four rounds:

• Crossnumber – one pair of contestants is given the ‘across’ clues and the other pair the ‘down’ clues
• Shuttle – pairs solve problems where the answer to the previous question feeds into the next question
• Relay – again working in pairs to solve problems, but also involves movement around the room in a race against the clock
• Group round – working as a team of four to solve ten problems.

Captain Dan said after the event: “We were delighted to win and really pleased that our hard work paid off, especially in the Shuttle Round. We’re all really looking forward to the next round.”

Four QE teams are gearing up for the challenge of the world finals of a robotics competition at the end of April, following their successful qualification.

Two senior teams, Hybrid Alpha and Beta, won places in the VEX EDR Robotics World Championships in the USA at the School’s very first attempt. And at the VEX IQ junior level, a further two teams, Gear Squad and Technogear, are also heading for the finals in Louisville, Kentucky, having matched the feat of the double qualification by QE teams in 2017, the first year the School had entered the junior competition.

The boys’ efforts have been boosted by the support of the Foundation Trustees and of one particular OE, Sachin Dev Duggal (1994–2001), who is an AI entrepreneur.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “Having no fewer than four teams in the world finals of this extremely popular competition represents an achievement of the very highest order. I know that the boys will be enjoying their Easter holidays in eager anticipation of their trip to the States, where we all wish them even greater success.”

Hybrid Alpha qualified after taking the Excellence Award in the regional EDR event at Stowe School during the winter. Then, at the national finals held at Telford International Centre, the other senior team, Beta, picked up the highly sought-after Design Award for the design process itself and their excellent logging and tracking of it, which secured them a berth at the World Championship.

Mr Noonan commended Alpha’s “extremely accomplished performance”, adding: “Beta proved they have what it takes when the chips are really down on a national stage. Both teams have done superbly in their senior competition debut.”

Gear Squad qualified at the IQ national finals, also at Telford, by retaining the Teamwork Champions title won by QE last year, whilst Technogear won the Design Award in the junior category. “In the biggest national finals yet, the boys held their nerve and performed valiantly,” Mr Noonan said.

The Alpha team is made up of: Year 12’s Aadi Desai, together with Deshraam Ganeshamoorthy, Bhargab Ghoshal, James Tan and Ukendar Vadivel, all of Year 10. The Beta team comprises: Dilan Sheth, of Year 12, along with Daniel Radzik-Rahman, Yai Sagolsem, Devin Karia and Sunay Challa, from Year 10. Gear Squad consists of Year 9 boys Vihaan Jain, Varun Vijay Kumar, Shilacshan Lingakumar, Dillan Shah and Alex Woodcock. Technogear comprises five Year 8 boys: Arjun Arunkumar, Dylan Domb, Aditya Khanna, Anish Rana and Yash Shah.

Thirty-six QE sixth-formers qualified for the next stages of a national Mathematics competition – twice as many as in 2016 – while the School comfortably out-performed the national average.

Eleven pupils taking part in the Senior Mathematical Challenge qualified for the élite British Mathematical Olympiad – up from eight last year – and 25 reached the other follow-on round, the Senior Kangaroo, representing a 150% increase on 2016’s total of ten.

The Best-in-School title went to Year 12 boy Robert Sarkar (right in photograph), who scored 121 out of a possible 125 marks. Andrew Shamis (left in photograph), top scorer in Year 13, was just behind, on 120.

Of the 123 pupils who entered the competition, 33 were awarded gold certificates (22 in 2016), 53 received silver (39) and 30 (42) won bronze. The certificates are given only to the top 60% of entrants nationally, but at QE the proportion gaining them was 94%. They are awarded gold, silver and bronze in the ratio of 1:2 :3.

Congratulating the successful entrants, Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung said: “Many of the boys who have qualified through to the follow-on rounds have been members of our Élite Maths mentoring scheme for a number of years and are now passing on their experience and wisdom through mentoring students in Years 9 to 11.”

The competition, run by the UK Mathematics Trust, involves answering 25 multiple-choice questions in 90 minutes. To qualify for the Olympiad, candidates must score at least 104 points and for the Kangaroo, they must score at least 85.

Three sixth-formers have won places in the second round of the élite British Mathematical Olympiad.

They were among a total of 11 QE boys from Years 12 and 13 who had qualified to sit the first round of the Olympiad, which is one of the follow-on rounds of the UK Mathematics Trust’s Senior Maths Challenge. This compares with eight boys reaching round 1 of the Olympiad last year and three in 2015.

The round 2 qualifiers – Aneesh Chopada, of Year 13; Niam Vaishnav, of Year 12, and Kiran Aberdeen, of Year 12 – were all awarded certificates of distinction and bronze medals, having scored 49 marks out of a possible 60, 48/60 and 47/60 respectively.

Kiran said: “I really enjoyed the question about triangle numbers as it made me think ‘outside the box’,” while Niam added: “I enjoy the challenge of these problem-solving questions because they’re different from what we learn in class.”

Yuri Evdokimov, of Year 13, and Nico Puthu Parackat Biosca, of Year 12, also received certificates of distinction, scoring 37/60 each. The remaining six pupils all received a certificate of qualification.

A further 25 sixth-formers took part in the Senior Maths Challenge’s other follow-on round, the Senior Kangaroo (up from ten in 2016). The high scorers were: Karnan Sembian, of Year 13, (50 marks out of a possible 100); Aschwin Jegatheeswaran, of Year 13, (45); Ibrahim Al-Hariri, of Year 12, (40); Akshat Sharma, of Year 12, (40), and Oliver Robinson, of Year 13 (40). They were each awarded a merit certificate for achieving scores of 40 or more, placing them in the top 25% nationally. The remaining 20 boys received certificates of qualification.

Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung said: “Warmest congratulations to all our students and best wishes to Aneesh, Kiran and Niam for the next round.”

Round 1 of the Olympiad consisted of six long, extended questions to be completed in three-and-a-half hours.  Round 2, due to take place on Thursday 25th January, will involve four long, extended questions to be completed within the same timeframe. Success in this round will result in an invitation to participate in training for the International Mathematical Olympiad.

The Senior Kangaroo is a one-hour paper. All the questions require three-digit answers (using leading zeros where necessary) entered on to a machine-readable sheet similar to those used for the Senior Challenge. It is the first competition of its kind to be organised by the UKMT – that is, a challenge that is marked by machine but is not multiple-choice.

The three sixth-formers entered by QE in this year’s British Physics Olympiad all won awards – and one has been invited to take part in a related competition.

Aneesh Chopada took gold in the BPhO – and has been asked to sit the Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad this week – while Abhishek Balkrishna won silver and Milan Hirji received the bronze I award. All are in Year 13.

Physics teacher Georgina Garfield said: “Our three competitors are to be congratulated: these are excellent results achieved in a prestigious competition marked at a very high level.”

More than 1,740 pupils from across the country entered the Olympiad this year. Gold awards went to the top 9.2% of entrants (who will also receive book prizes), with silver to the next 12.1%, bronze I to the next 13.2% and bronze II to the next 13.5%. The remaining entrants received commendations.

BPhO administrative secretary Lena Shams said: “The paper was designed to stretch and challenge the top young physicists in the country in a national competition.”

Five senior boys have won an early place in the global finals of a robotics event in the US, while other QE teams continue their onward march in competition by winning a string of accolades.

It is QE’s very first year of participation in the senior robotics competition, called VEX EDR. Last year, QE took part in the junior category, VEX IQ, for the first time and two teams from the School qualified for a place in the 2017 world championship, also held in the US.

The EDR team, HYBRID ALPHA, won their automatic place in the 2018 Vex Robotics World Championship in Louisville, Kentucky, in April, by scooping the Excellence Award in the regional EDR event at Stowe School in Buckinghamshire. QE’s ALPHA and BETA teams were pitted against teams from Coventry, Buckingham and Kent, as well as other London schools.

Alex Saika, judge for the award at Stowe and a member of the British university robotics team, praised ALPHA on the day: “This team has demonstrated excellence throughout the competition, and although they narrowly lost out in the teamwork final, we felt that they were the most consistent throughout, and have shown an overall excellent approach to solving engineering problems throughout their journey.”

The EDR competition featured a new game, The Zone, played on a 12ft x 12ft pitch, in which two alliances, comprising two teams each, competed in activities including stacking cones on goals and parking their robots.

Congratulating ALPHA, Head of Technology Michael Noonan said: “Many of the other schools competing have been a part of this particular competition for a number of years, which makes this feat all the more impressive. The award made for an especially “sweet finish to the day.”

The ALPHA team are: Year 12’s Aadi Desai, together with Deshraam Ganeshamoorthy, Bhargab Ghoshal, James Tan and Ukendar Vadivel, all of Year 10.

“Not to be outdone by ALPHA, BETA achieved an accolade of their own, winning the Design Award,” Mr Noonan said. “This award is usually given to the team which finishes second in the standings for the Excellence award, and, had it not been for some earlier malfunctions, they might have had seats on the plane to the US.”

The BETA boys still have the opportunity to progress further when they compete in the National Championships in Telford in March.

The awards won at Stowe are the fourth and fifth awards accrued by the EDR teams in regional rounds so far this year, with ALPHA also winning the Judges Award at the Welwyn regional event and the Teamwork Champion and Design awards at the event hosted by Greig City Academy in Hornsey.

At IQ junior level, the QE participants, who are drawn from Years 8 and 9, have also performed strongly as they aim to emulate the achievements of last year’s teams. Against a backdrop of stiff competition from a record number of teams – and with more qualifying events still to come – three Year 9 teams, Gear Squad, Snake Byte and ECHO, have now won places in their national finals, which take place in Telford the day before the EDR finals.

“Their most challenging competition to date was undoubtedly The Henrietta Barnett School regional event, where Gear Squad were named Teamwork Champions and narrowly missed out on the automatic World Championship-qualifying Excellence Award,” said Mr Noonan. “On the same day, Gear Squad also picked up the Design Award, Snake Byte won the STEM Research award, and – our surprise package of the day – Year 8 team Technogear won the Judges Award.” Mr Noonan is hopeful that Technogear and fellow Year 8 competitors, Supercharge, will yet qualify.

“Other awards won already this year by teams include the Teamwork Champion and Judges awards won by Gear Squad at the Fortismere regional and the Judges Award won by Snake Byte at the Essex regional.”

IQ’s new game this year is called Ringmaster. It involves two robots working collaboratively in 60-second matches on a 4ft x 8ft rectangular surface to complete tasks including scoring goals with coloured rings.

The VEX robotics competitions are run to promote the use of Mathematics and Physics and to teach the basic principles of robotics through team-based design-and-make challenges. There are almost 3,000 teams worldwide across the IQ and EDR formats, with China and the US particularly prominent.

A team of QE boys has achieved the School’s best-ever result in the national final of the Senior Team Maths Challenge.

The four boys from Year 12 scored 197 points out of a possible 230 and were placed seventh out of 86 teams. Kiran Aberdeen, Bashmy Basheer, Aadi Desai and Niam Vaishnav were invited to the national final after achieving one of the highest second-place scores in the regional rounds in November 2017.

The final of the UK Mathematics Trust competition, which was held at the Royal Horticultural Halls in St James’s Park, London, was won by Ruthin School, an independent school in Denbighshire, who scored 223.

Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung said “The boys performed very creditably against a very high-quality field of opponents.”

The challenge comprises four rounds, which test a wide range of mathematical skills. In the Group round, each team had 40 minutes in which to solve ten questions; they had to decide whether to work individually, in pairs or as a group. The Crossnumber round – crossnumbers are similar to a crossword but with numerical answers – the teams worked in pairs, with one pair taking the across clues and the other the down clues. The exercise required logic and deduction.

In the Shuttle round, the teams had to compete against the clock to answer a series of four questions, with questions 2, 3 and 4 all dependent on the answer from the previous question. In the final relay round, the teams were required to split into pairs, taking it in turns to solve problems – the round involved movement as well as Mathematics.

Kiran, the team captain, said: “It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. My favourite problem was about the number of possible routes between two vertices.”

Year 12 pupils Ibrahim Faruqi, Shaun Kapur, Ian Leung and Ankit Mehta were awarded maximum marks in their Engineering Education Scheme project.

The boys’ brief, set by Lovell Partnerships, was to design a solution to the problems of fire safety in the construction of timber frame housing. Colin Clifton, regional director for the EES praised the team on their project and acknowledged he had only seen a perfect score once before in the 10 years he has directed the scheme.

The panel was so impressed with the team’s proposals that their report is to be sent to the Health & Safety Executive for the findings to be assessed.

The boys also achieved the prestigious CREST gold award for engineering excellence.

QE has emerged strongly from the two follow-on rounds of the annual Intermediate Maths Challenge, with increased numbers of boys participating and many very strong performances.

Nineteen boys from Years 9 to 11 competed against some 1,700 students in the UK Mathematics Trust’s 2017 Intermediate Olympiad. All were invited to take part after performing very well in the first round of the challenge.

Year 9 boys James Tan and Tanishq Mehta, together with Kiran Aberdeen, of Year 11, were among the Olympiad front-runners, with scores of 56, 51 and 47 out of 60 respectively. They won distinction certificates, a medal and a book prize (awarded to the top 50). Year 11 pupils Bashmy Basheer and Nico Puthu also won distinction certificates and a medal (which is given to the top 100), while Edward Hu, of Year 10, was awarded a distinction certificate (awarded to the top 25%). Eleven more were awarded merit certificates.

A further 132 boys from Years 9–11 took part in the European Kangaroo – open to the next highest-performing entrants from round 1 across more than 30 countries. The QE contingent represented an increase of nearly 50% on last year (89) which was already double the number of qualifiers in 2015 (46).

Forty-two boys were among the top 25% internationally and thus received merit certificates – more than double last year’s QE total (20). The top scorers in each year group were: Niam Vaishnav, of Year 11, with 118; Jamie Watkin-Rees of Year 10, with 107, and Joshua Wong, of Year 9, with 124, all out of a potential maximum score of 135.

The competition is run by Kangourou sans Frontières (KSF), an independent association: its name reflects the fact that it was originated by the Australian Mathematics Trust.

Assistant Head of Mathematics, Wendy Fung, congratulated the boys on their performance in 2017 – the 15th year that the UKMT has run the Mathematical Olympiad and Kangaroo contests.  “To solve just one of the problems set is an achievement, so those who did more than that deserve corresponding praise.”

Afterwards, the boys reflected on their experiences. Tanishq found the questions “really interesting”, Kiran said that he simply had fun and Jamie added: “I really liked the questions – they use what we learn in class in a different way.”