Academic

NEWS AROUND THE HILL

The Covid pandemic continued to have an impact on the work carried out by the Estates Department due to loss of staff and contractors to furlough, shielding and periods of self-isolation. However, the department has worked well on a number of projects across the estate, including the start of some huge projects that will take place over the course of the next few years. – Ralph Arundell, Director of Operations

The Harrow Development Trust has supported many of the renovations and improvements Dacross the estate. A O R

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Completion of extension works to provide new accommodation for boys and extra common space.

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The construction of an access road to enable the refurbishment of the Shepherd Churchill Dining Hall and the construction of the new science and sports buildings. The road will take construction traffic away from the main roads to help mitigate any risks during the large-scale projects.

2 THE GROVE

Completion of phase one of the extension to provide new accommodation for the Assistant House Master and Matron, and new common space for the House. The next phase will take place over 2021–22 and will involve the refurbishment of the vacated staff accommodation to become new rooms and common space for boys. Improvements were also made to the multi-use games area. 4 3 HIGH STREET

Conversion of 3 High Street to become the Senior Management Team offices, creating office and meeting space at the centre of the Hill.

6 BRADBYS

Improvements to the multi-use games area.

5 MATHS & PHYSICS DEPARTMENTS

Phase 2 of repairs to the roof and redecoration of form rooms, including the installation of solar panels to contribute to the School’s environmental sustainability programme.

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8 THE HEAD MASTER’S

Refurbishment of Bill Hall. 10 THE PARK

Upgrade to the boiler and heating system.

12 TENNIS COURTS

Installation of floodlights.

13 27A HIGH STREET

Conversion of one of the School’s commercial units for use by the School’s Shaftesbury Enterprise partner, Young Harrow Foundation.

ACADEMIC OPPORTUNITY: WHAT DOES IT MEAN IN PRACTICE?

Every school aspires to deliver academic opportunity, although there are inevitably different definitions of what the term means. Opportunity is defined as a time or set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something; articulating and specifying exactly what we want to achieve, and for whom, is of paramount importance.

As Harrow began to look forward to its 450th year, I reflected a great deal on the aims and aspirations of its founder John Lyon, and wondered what he would have thought if he were able to visit the School today. I am sure he would be baffled by the Microsoft Surface Books and the technological platforms, bewildered by virtual learning environments and the forthcoming artificial intelligence centre. I suspect, though, he would be more likely to muse upon broader philosophical questions. Godliness and good learning were his principal aims and he bequeathed half of his estate for the founding of what became known as the Free Grammar School of John Lyon. In other words, the very foundational purpose of the School was to provide opportunity, especially to those who could not otherwise afford it.

Over recent years, increased emphasis has been placed on widening access to the School and seeking to create the circumstances that make it possible for boys to attend who might not otherwise be able to do so. The pandemic exacerbated a number of the structural, societal and familial challenges that many adolescents face; for countless students, there was no access to technology, support for learning was minimal, and domestic circumstances made it almost impossible for educational progress to be achieved. For such pupils, their circumstances prevent them from achieving their full potential. Recognising the full extent of the challenges and disadvantage and ensuring that we all increase our awareness of these issues is the first step, but it is not sufficient by itself. Through the work of Shaftesbury Enterprise at Harrow School, we sought to support young people in a concrete way: to provide internet facilities, structured lessons and supporting resources. The growth and rapid development of these programmes was testament to the scope of the challenge and the size of the demand.

Opportunity ought to be life-changing and there could be few more transformative experiences than an immersive five years of life on the Hill as a member of a leading all-boys, full-boarding school. Considerable financial investment has been made in opening up a large number of fully funded places for boys whose circumstances prevent them from achieving their full

potential. For many individuals, even those in the neighbouring boroughs, it might feel as if Harrow School is from another world with its quirky uniform, eccentric nomenclature and freshly mown lawns. The first time that I set foot in an independent school was at the age of 21 as part of my PGCE, having only ever heard of two independent schools (one of them was Harrow, for the record!) and could not believe that they had a Steinway grand piano. Had I been there ten years earlier at the age of 11 as part of an admissions process, I suspect that I would have been even more wowed, quite possibly to the point of being prohibitively intimidated.

Academic success comes in many forms and guises. It is often reduced to the percentages of grade 9 at GCSE and A* at A level. These are indubitably important and a valuable metric; qualifications are passports to the next phase of education or employment and should not be undermined. Yet invariably, these headlines reflect admissions processes as well as the quality of teaching and learning. A good admissions process must judge potential – it must gauge what qualities and abilities a candidate has that can be developed and can lead to future success and prospective usefulness to society. At Harrow, we have always sought to go beyond simple metrics and to be holistic in our approach, emphasising qualitative data as well as quantitative. A process that seeks to maximise opportunity is not blind to context but rather views each applicant within their unique context to measure their potential.

Intellectual curiosity and resilience can come in many forms; for some it might be overcoming algorithmic challenges in the designing of a new app, while for others it might be working out how to travel to school each day in a way that minimises interactions with drug dealers or criminal gangs.

In Harrow’s 450th year, I am sure that John Lyon would approve of the changes that are taking place – the widening of access and the opening up of academic opportunities. It chimes with the vision that he had and the investment that he left behind to turn this vision into a reality.

– Michael Gray, Director of Studies,

2019-21

HARROW RECORD | 2021 Speech Day Prizes

NEWS FROM THE DEPARTMENTS

Astronomy

Many boys used the Rayleigh Observatory and other robotic telescopes around the world to collect data for their observing projects, which involves picking celestial objects, imaging them with a variety of telescopes, filters and camera setups, and processing their images into a final portfolio ready for submission.

All GCSE Astronomy students took the Astronomy Challenge run by the British Physics Olympiad. Harrovians achieved some of the highest marks in the country, with Aum Amin (Elmfield), Max Morgan (Moretons), Henry Procter (Bradbys), Will Howitt (Lyon’s) and Aiden Hargraves (The Head Master’s) all achieving a gold medal.

Will Howitt, Neil Kumar (West Acre), Alex Yi (Druries), Aum Amin, Monty Behar-Sheehan (Bradbys), Henry Webster (Druries), Brandon Chang (Druries) and Julian Herschel (The Grove) started an exciting project linked with UCL astrophysicists involving modelling the interior of neutron stars. Aum Amin and Julian Herschel took part in the International Asteroid Search Campaign survey and processed eight data sets hunting for undiscovered asteroids.

Penn Behagg (Elmfield), Atticus Malley (The Head Master’s), Rohan Ragoowansi (Elmfield) and Aaron Patel (The Knoll) began an exciting project using the Rayleigh Observatory imaging equipment to chart asteroids. Harrovians also imaged the Sun using the dedicated Lunt Solar Telescope, which allows daytime imaging for astronomers.

Many boys and School staff visited the Observatory to view the partial solar eclipse in June 2021 safely through the dedicated solar telescope, and we held many open evenings for the whole School community. – Chris Crowe, Head of Astronomy

Boys used the Rayleigh Observatory

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Biology

One of the biggest challenges of lockdown was trying to teach the practical aspects of Biology remotely. We could video ourselves conducting experiments, but this was no substitute for boys grappling with the apparatus and handling the specimens themselves. It is very important in Biology that students have a feel for the organisms they are studying and appreciate from first-hand experience the difficulties in collecting good data. It was therefore a great relief to be able to do practical work again at the start of the academic year even if what we could do was constrained by COVID-19 protocols.

Fortunately, the pandemic did not stop the competitions run by the Royal Society of Biology from going ahead. Many boys were keen to engage with these and were rewarded with some excellent results. In the Remove, 18 boys achieved gold awards in the Biology Challenge, beating the record of 14 golds in 2017. In the Biology Olympiad, three boys secured gold, including Lower Sixth Form boys James Pang (Druries) and Nicklas Host-Verbraak (The Head Master’s). To prove this was no fluke, both boys went on to achieve gold in the Intermediate Biology Olympiad, a competition designed specifically for Year 12 students. – Nick Keylock, Head of Biology

Members of the Biology Department

Chemistry

Ayoung team of four Harrow chemists won the national finals of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Top of the Bench competition. Shells Rishaad Bhushan (The Grove) and Penn Behagg (Elmfield) joined Remove Henry Webster (Druries) and Fifth Former Aum Amin (Elmfield) to score full marks and beat 30 teams from across the country. The team had won their regional final in November 2019 after several rounds of questions to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Periodic Table, but the final, which had been due to take place in March 2020, was postponed because of the Covid pandemic. Special mention should be made of Vincent Song (The Head Master’s) and Edos Herwegh Vonk (Newlands) who were part of the team to win the regional heat but were then too old to continue in the postponed final.

Inspired by the challenge of lockdown learning, Dr Dean Holt introduced the Chemistry Race. Modelled on the C3L6 monthly challenges, participants could gain points each month for both the quality and speed of answers to a range of tricky questions.

Re-emerging from lockdown, beaks and technician teams worked hard to ensure laboratory work could continue, swiftly adapting to film and recording experimental work for those studying remotely.

Moving the RSC Analyst competition into schools to overcome restrictions opened the competition to a much wider audience and 30 enthusiastic Lower Sixth chemists grappled with the identity of unknown samples around a fictional scenario.

In the C3L6 competition, Brandon Chang (Druries) ranked amongst the top 0.74% of over 7,000 candidates and received the elite Roentgenium certificate and an invitation to a residential camp at St Catherine’s College, Cambridge. Forty-seven Lower Sixth Harrovians engaged with this challenging paper, winning 11 copper, 11 silver and eight gold awards. Henry Webster deserves particular mention for his gold, as he entered two years early as a Remove.

There was a strong set of results in the Chemistry Olympiad, with four of the nine gold awards won by boys below the Upper Sixth. Fourteen boys were awarded silver awards and 11 bronze.

The Senior Science Lecture was won by George Williams (Moretons) for his talk on pharmaceutical drugs. – Christian Penhale, Head of Chemistry

ClAssiCs

Despite the difficulties of an Autumn term much restrained by Covid, the tradition of the Contio remained unbroken. Head of School Adam Ait El Caid (Druries) delivered the Contio to a Speech Room attended by the Head Master, members of Druries and a few other invited guests. The event was streamed live to all the Houses and recorded for posterity. It should also be noted, unusually, that the Governors were not present because of Covid restrictions, and so the Head Master stepped in to deliver the responsio.

The Classics Department was able to proceed with the first Coutts Lecture in September 2020. We welcomed Professor Michael Scott of the University of Warwick, who delivered masterclasses on Herodotus and Delphi to the Shell boys, guided the Sixth Form through parts of Arrian’s Periplus, and discussed trade networks between the Greeks, Romans and Indians. Speech Room, with social distancing, was full for his evening lecture on ‘A Global Ancient World’, in which he discussed the vast social and economic networks of the Greeks and Romans.

The annual Oxenham Latin and Greek Reading Competition ran in April this year, rather than in the Spring term. Winners in the Shell year were Robert Young (The Grove) and Jamie Jevons (Lyon’s); June Hyun (West Acre) won both the Latin and Greek categories in the Remove. Adam Ait El Caid won the Sixth Form prize for Latin recitation and Paddy Breeze (Elmfield) the Sixth Form Greek category.

The Plumptre Classics Prizes for Sixth Form were adjudicated by Dr Andrew Sillett from Oxford University. Toby de la Billiere (Elmfield) won best essay in Latin Literature, William Wauchope (The Knoll) won best essay in Greek Literature, Joseph Wragg (The Grove) won best essay in Ancient History, and Paddy Breeze won all the rest. Arthur Pilkington (Rendalls) won the Lower Sixth Pember Prize for the best entries in both the Latin and Greek translation categories.

During the summer, the department ran the fifth annual Harrow Classics for All Teachers Conference, which on this occasion was online. More than 90 maintained-school teachers signed up for the various courses. – Steven Kennedy, Head of Classics

Professor Michael Scott gave the 2020 Coutts Lecture in Classics

Computer sCienCe

The appetite for Computer Science increased again, with a doubling in the number of undergraduate applications among our Sixth Form.

The Shells learnt Python fundamentals and applied algorithm design and programming principles to program Edison robots equipped with sensors to perform complex tasks. Extra computing courses were offered in both the Lower School and the Sixth Form. Several boys entered the international Informatics Olympiad, with commendations awarded across the board.

Boys in the Remove enjoyed creating their own unique projects in addition to their IGCSE studies, with projects as diverse as automatic motorised speedboats built using Arduino boards, 2D RPG games simulating life on the Hill, and VR environments uploaded to the Steam gaming platform. Two boys also entered the Government-run CyberFirst recruitment programme – a student scheme inspired and led by the National Cyber Security Centre that aims to support and prepare people for a career in cybersecurity.

The Art of Programming Elective was again among the most popular choices for boys in the Lower Sixth. From gaming consoles and smartphones to tablets and PCs, boys learnt to develop their own games and software. By the end of the course, they programmed graphics-driven games that sometimes even included their own artificial intelligence. The supplemental course in scientific computing for Lower Sixth physicists proved useful preparation for university interviews and personal statements. – Chris Crowe, Head of Computer Science

Design, teChnology & engineering

It was a particularly challenging year for the department as it engaged in hybrid and online teaching, while adjusting practical elements of the subject in a Covid-friendly way. Aside from this, many boys continued to enjoy the academic nature of the subject while fostering independent projects to nurture their abilities.

Fifth Form boys took on projects such as motorbike café racers: stripping, repairing and rebuilding custom motorbikes to a high-end finish. A number of year groups, including boys in different parts of the world, created Rube Goldberg machines using everyday objects that formed basic machines to complete amusing tasks. When boys were on the Hill, their creations ranged from high-end furniture with decorative inserts to fantastic 3D-printed Art Deco cities.

The department used the lockdown period to renovate and make improvements to the workshop and studios. These included improving workspaces, the introduction of more modern technology, and new machinery. The improvements, which have been praised by the Design & Technology Association’s health and safety consultant, helped produce a safe and more enjoyable environment for boys to learn in.

Two teams of Harrovians entered the F1 in Schools competition this year, one in the professional class and another in the development class. This competition promotes teamwork, business strategy and design of a Formula 1 car that can travel 30m in under one second. Harrovians were impressive in raising over £2,500 in sponsorship endorsements.

The Inter-House D&T competition saw teams of boys making model sports cars to see which could successfully navigate a track in the fastest time.

In anticipation of the national heats of the Greenpower Racing competition in September, the team spent the year refining and fine tuning their electric race car to make it more efficient and faster than its predecessor. – Tom Knight, Head of Design, Technology & Engineering

HDT sponsored the DTE entry to the Greenpower Racing competition.

eConomiCs AnD Business

Of the 800 submissions to the Durham University Economics Essay Competition, Issah Merchant (The Knoll) came second with an outstanding response to the question ‘Discuss the current environmental policy challenges with regards to the renewables sector’, which focused on the regulatory, technological and market challenges. This is something of an area of expertise for Issah, who joined Leon Kinaro (Moretons), Edward Blunt (Elmfield) and Edos Herwegh Vonk (Newlands) in making an excellent submission to the IEA Budget Challenge. Their entry was well balanced and included measured but ambitious spending financed by a small wealth tax and more green taxes. Anton Shashenkov (The Knoll) wrote an essay for the Immerse competition on ‘Which Business leader has had the biggest impact on society in the last 50 years?’. He was awarded a partial scholarship for his compelling essay on Mark Zuckerberg. Adiran Inpan (Bradbys) was also commended in the John Locke Institute essay competition with his response to the question ‘Should we abolish the minimum wage?’, arguing that we should keep but amend it and make it more nuanced. Henry Oelhafen (Lyon’s) was highly commended in the New College of the Humanities essay competition.

During Expeditions Week, 35 boys visited Chelsea Football Club and completed some in-depth work on the ‘Business of football’. Deepan Sakthivel (Bradbys) was part of a group of students who set up their own trading competition across schools. Thirty teams entered from Harrow, with four teams making the top 20. Alvaro Talayero Osio (Newlands) led the winning team of Michael Chiimba, Joe Brankin-Frisby and Henry Pearce (all Newlands). Their total returns were $549,683. Rufus Williams and Adam Chambers (both Rendalls) were joint winners with Daniel Chang (Lyon’s) of the inaugural Lower Sixth Sustainability Competition with their work on sustainable uniform. Daniel’s project on vertical farming engaged multiple stakeholders and had a clear view of the costs and benefits. – David Morgan, Head of Economics

Boys visited Chelsea Football Club

english

Boys enthusiastically took part in our many competitions. Dr Spencer Bentley adjudicated the Learnt Poetry Competition, with the winning performances going to Rory Grant (Moretons), Jasper Smallwood (The Knoll) and Indi Abrams (The Grove). The Lady Bourchier Reading Competition took place online, with the novelist Ashley Hickson-Lovence joining. He gave the junior prize to Adiran Inpan (Bradbys) and the senior prize to William Wauchope (The Knoll). Mr Hickson-Lovence then returned to us in the Summer term to give a talk about his journey to becoming a novelist, beginning with an impressive performance poem about his experiences.

The Winston Churchill Essay Prize asked boys to consider whether statues deny the realities of the past. Boys approached the task in a wide range of ways, with the winning essays going to Matthew Chin (Bradbys), Ilyas Qureshi (The Park), June Hyun (West Acre) and Hans Patel (Newlands). The Jonathan Head Barrow Short Story prize was on the topic of food, which led to some real literary treats. The winning short stories were from Matthew Chin, Charlie Ni (Elmfield), Otto Marre (The Grove) and Aarav Tribhuvan (Moretons).

There was much poetry writing during the year, starting with an exciting 12-word poem competition on National Poetry Day, on the theme of vision. Joe McLean’s (Druries) winning poem captured a poignant nostalgia. The Augustus Fleet poetry writing competition was won by Chris Liu, Oscar Wickham (both The Head Master’s) and Otto Marre.

Joe McLean

Grandpa Colossal giant, Filled with tales, Pouring wisdom, Suddenly, not the same

Dylan Winward (Lyon’s) led an exciting new project with the Harrow Family of schools. Meeting regularly online, student editors from the Harrow International Schools, Harrow School Online and John Lyon put together an excellent anthology of creative writing, set around the theme of connections, illustrated with beautiful artwork from the different schools.

This year’s Jeremy Lemmon Prize for an essay on Shakespeare asked candidates to write essays on a friendship in one of Shakespeare’s plays, considering it in light of the line in Amiens’ song, ‘Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly’ (As You Like It). The prize was awarded to John Richardson (Elmfield) for an enjoyable and wide-ranging investigation of Hamlet and Horatio. The Lower School prize was awarded to Alexander Newman (Druries), who wrote on Marc Antony’s fireworks show (‘I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him’) in Julius Caesar. – Lucy Ashe, Head of English

The Jonathan Head Barrow Prize was on the topic of food

geogrAphy

The department welcomed boys from across the Sixth Form to Elective courses on the Geography of Disease and Cultural Geography and Anthropology, which saw boys able to conduct wideranging research extending beyond the confines of the curriculum. Boys delivered and attended a suite of lectures on their particular areas of research, welcomed speakers from Newcastle University and Wetherby Prep School, and attended a large number of public events with the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) and Geographical Association (GA).

Despite the evolving national restrictions, the department undertook multiple off-site fieldwork days with Lower Sixth and Remove geographers to prepare them for their public examinations. Remove boys conducted research into fluvial dynamics on the River Chess and engaged with an innovative online fieldwork project to consider urban change in Notting Dale. Sixth Form boys travelled to Kings Cross, Queen Elizabeth Park, Canary Wharf and Great Missenden to prepare for their non-examined assessment (NEA) and produced projects of outstanding quality as a result. Harry Swanson (Druries) was awarded second place and a Special Mention in the RGS’ Ron Cooke Award for his outstanding NEA project considering the

River Chess

impact of LGBTQ+ populations on the place profile of Kemptown in Brighton, and Shubh Malde (Elmfield) was awarded the Macnamara Prize for the NEA for his top-scoring submission considering the impacts of immigration on social inequality in the Borough of Harrow. Two teams of Harrovians participated in the GA’s online WorldWise Quiz. The event is modelled on University Challenge and involves a face-to-face quiz for teams of three students. Twenty-six teams from nine schools entered, so the Harrovians faced a formidable competitive field, but ultimately secured a superb result with one team finishing in third place among the seniors. – Piers Lemoine, Head of Geography

history

The academic year started in unusual circumstances with boys and beaks having to wait patiently outside Old Schools before entering the building for their lessons.

A new Shell curriculum entitled ‘Equality, justice and liberation through time’ was taught for the first time and allowed boys and beaks to reflect on important periods of history that have not conventionally been studied in the past.

The Seal, the History Department magazine, published some superb articles and included an edition which showcased the essays produced as entries for the Speech Day prizes.

The highlight of the academic year saw a team of Harrovians, captained by Dylan Winward (Lyon’s), enter the International History Bee and Bowl competition, which took place online. The Harrow historians performed superbly and won the competition convincingly, ensuring that the team was crowned European Champions of the International History Quiz Bowl 2020. Joseph Wragg (The Grove) finished fifth in the European History Bee (the individual competition), which was a remarkable achievement. Another notable individual achievement saw Jun Wha Shin (Elmfield) placed third in the Foundation for the History of Totalitarianism essay competition. This resulted in Jun Wha being invited to the Polish Embassy for the awards ceremony. – Rob Potter, Head of History

history of Art

The Upper Sixth continued to study the rigorous Pre-U syllabus but, inevitably, having produced some excellent Personal Investigations including on the use of pigments in the work of Vermeer, a feminist approach to Velazquez and an investigation of Hockney’s iPad drawings, the boys were unable to sit the examinations. However, we used the opportunity to think about ‘institutions’ through an investigation of museology and the wider art world, including a trip to the British Museum as well as a tour of the commercial gallery David Zwirner.

Nighthawks by Edward Hopper

Lower Sixth art historians in Trafalgar Square outside the National Gallery

Art historians at the David Zwirner gallery

Meanwhile, the Lower Sixth welcomed a return to the A level syllabus, studying Renaissance Italy and early 20th-century Paris, as well as the themes of identity and war. While we were unable to organise the usual trips overseas, we were able to squeeze in a visit to the National Gallery when it reopened in the summer.

The national ARTiculation competition was once again a huge success with a number of very professional presentations by boys. However, it was Gareth Tan (Moretons) who prevailed, offering new insight into a much-loved painting, Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks. Gareth explored this painting about isolation through the prism of his own passions and experiences before bringing it up to date with its resonances with the pandemic. We were thrilled that Gareth sailed through the School heats all the way to the regional final.

Following the success of the competition in the Sixth Form, the History of Art Department also held its inaugural Junior ARTiculation. We were overwhelmed by both the interest and calibre of all the talks, and the adjudicator of the final, Kate Gordon, struggled to find a single winner, awarding the prize to two Shells: Charlie McDowell (The Knoll) and Otto Marre (The Grove). – Juliet Bailey, Head of History of Art

mAthemAtiCs

Although many mathematics competitions were not able to run, the UK Maths Trust’s individual competitions took place as usual, and we saw some excellent performances in the Senior Maths Challenge with 25 gold, 38 silver and 16 bronze certificates awarded. Arvind Asokan (Bradbys), Leo Jiang and Daniel Zhang (both The Knoll) all scored 120/125. Sixteen boys went on to sit the first round of the British Mathematical Olympiad and a very impressive nine of these secured certificates of distinction, with James Yuen (Lyon’s) earning a medal for placing in the top 100 nationally.

The second round – the BMO2 – is an even harder paper aimed at the top couple of hundred candidates in the country. Six Harrovians entered and all performed well, with Krish Nigam (Moretons) top-scoring.

In the Spring term, it was the turn of the Lower School with the intermediate competitions, and they did not disappoint, earning an impressive 56 gold certificates in the Intermediate Maths Challenge, with 55 silver and 34 bronze. Liron Chan and Hansen Han (both The Grove) scored full marks. An astonishing 70 boys qualified to sit the follow-on Olympiad and Kangaroo papers. Top performers in each year in the Olympiad papers were Liron Chan in the Fifth Form (with Matthew Chin (Bradbys) also earning a distinction), Oscar Wickham (The Head Master’s) in the Remove (with Alex Huang and Henry Webster (Druries) also earning distinctions), and Rupert Lam (The Knoll) in the Shell, with distinctions also going to Wilfred Leung (Druries) and Larry Cao (Bradbys).

Oscar Wickham won the internal Siddons competition (for Lower School boys only). The Snell Prize (open to the whole School) was shared by Brandon Chang (Druries) and Chris Liu (The Head Master’s) for retaining their 100% record across the whole academic year. The Grove won both the Yearlings and Torpids House Maths competitions, with Lyon’s securing the Senior trophy.

Krish Nigam earned second prize for his solutions to the very tough Student Problems in Mathematical Gazette. The Editor of the Gazette commented on Krish’s talent and perseverance.

Several boys were involved in delivering maths masterclasses through Shaftesbury Enterprise, although they took place online rather than in person as in previous years.

– James Hall,

Acting Head of Mathematics

moDern lAnguAges

The super-curricular activities of the MFL Department were much affected by the pandemic: no overseas trips were possible, and a number of our usual inter-school debating and drama competitions did not take place. Nevertheless, boys got stuck into the opportunities that were available, with some notable successes.

Many boys took part in the UK Linguistics Olympiad, with prizes at all levels. Edos Herwegh Vonk (Newlands) was the first Harrovian in several years to score one of the highest marks nationally to qualify for the second round of the Advanced Stage, in which he narrowly missed out on selection for the UK team. Jan Kryca (Moretons) won the annual Research Prize in Modern Languages for his outstanding project entitled ‘The limitations of machine learning in natural language translation’. Richard Hayward (The Knoll) was runner-up with his project on translations of children’s literature. Jun Wha Shin (Elmfield) was runner-up in the Oxford German Olympiad, and Henry Webster (Druries) was runner-up in a national original writing competition for French.

A number of boys entered the national Stephen Spender Prize for poetry translation, and it was decided to run an additional internal competition. Boys could choose to translate any poem from a foreign language into English. Judges were looking for translations that read well in English, as well as showing an accurate understanding of the original. Poems were translated from languages including French, Latin, Dutch, Spanish, Mongolian and Old English. There were some excellent entries across the board. Third prize, for a translation from Russian, went to Thomas Hobbs (Newlands); second prize, for a translation from Dutch, went to Maxim van Aeken (Newlands); and first prize, for his translation from Latin of a passage from Virgil’s Georgics, went to June Hyun (West Acre).

The department teaches seven languages on-timetable – French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Russian and Spanish – from which all Shell boys take two. The main seven languages plus an additional eight languages are available as off-timetable options – Arabic, Cantonese, Dutch, Modern Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Portuguese and Turkish. Richard Hayward, who won a place at UCL to study Russian with Hungarian, is one pupil who made the most of our provision, combining French and Russian on-timetable with Hungarian, Polish and Japanese off-timetable.

Richard Hayward undertook a project on translations of children’s literature

HDT supports the Modern Languages programme.

– Henry Johnson,

Head of Modern Foreign Languages

physiCs

Anew feature of the year was a regular flow of challenge questions posed to boys and beaks alike. These included conundrums involving planet-sized capacitors, Van der Waals gases, the Sun’s corona, lunar mining, Newton’s law of cooling, and the hydrodynamics of a cone in water. Brandon Chang (Druries) and Edos Herwegh Vonk (Newlands) in the Lower Sixth, and Henry Webster (Druries) and Vincent Song (The Head Master’s) in the Remove should be commended for their efforts in tackling a number of these.

Two teams of boys entered the CERN Beamline for Schools International Competition, which tasked participants to propose a scientific experiment to perform at a particle accelerator. Team Positronly Beaming, consisting of Fifth Formers Aum Amin (Elmfield), Nurali Bibolat (Rendalls), Dante Doros (Elmfield), Christopher Liu, Jonathan Riddell-Webster (both The Grove) and Henry Webster, proposed an experiment ‘Detecting Lorentz Symmetry violations using synchrotron radiation’. Team Heinz Beamline, consisting of Lower Sixth boys Jonathan Barley (Newlands), Brandon Chang, Edward Cleeve (Lyon’s), Edos Herwegh Vonk, David Xu (The Grove) and Remove Vincent Song, proposed ‘Investigating the absorption of electrons and positrons by different metals’. Both teams reached the final stage of the evaluation process, placing them in the top 10% of the 289 teams from across the globe who submitted entries. Team Heinz Beamline were selected to be part of the ‘shortlist’, while Team Positronly Beaming were selected for a special mention.

The British Physics Olympiad (BPhO) Round 1 paper is designed to stretch and challenge the top young physicists in the country. The Upper Sixth boys who took part achieved a good set of results with a top gold award going to Jason Zeng (Elmfield), putting him in the top 6.4% of the country, and a silver award going to Krish Nigam. A further 12 boys achieved bronze awards. Jason Zeng and Krish Nigam were subsequently invited to participate in the British Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad, in which they achieved bronze awards.

All Upper Sixth physicists entered the BPhO Physics Challenge, with 24 of them achieving certificates of merit, the highest award in this competition. In the Senior Physics Challenge aimed at the Lower Sixth, there were ten gold, 13 silver and five bronze awards. The gold award winners were Aakash Aggarwal (Lyon’s), Jake Brockwell (Moretons), Brandon Chang, Edward Cleeve, Edos Herwegh Vonk, Jeran Jeyanthan (Bradbys), James Pang (Druries), Inigo Sanchez Asiain Domenech (The Grove), David Xu and Newton Zhu (The Head Master’s). A special mention goes to Vincent Song and Henry Webster who sat the Senior Physics Challenge and achieved silver awards despite only being in the Remove year.

In the Lower School, about 130 Fifth Form and Remove boys entered the Intermediate Physics Challenge, with 95% of them achieving a gold or silver award. Thirty-six boys achieved a gold award, 67 achieved silver and 20 achieved bronze. In the Fifth Form, the top scorers among the gold awards were Liron Chan (The Grove), Shrey Rawal (Rendalls), Andre Ma (Moretons), David Liu (Bradbys), Rowland Eveleigh (The Grove) and Jonathan Riddell-Webster, while in the Remove the top scorers were Vincent Song, Mark Zeng (Elmfield), Henry Webster, June Hyun (West Acre) and Alex Huang (Bradbys). All Remove physicists also entered the Junior Physics Challenge, where 34 boys achieved a gold award, 58 a silver and 52 a bronze.

Brandon Chang produced a winning entry in the 2020 Immerse Education Essay Competition for his essay entitled ‘Why is Physics Important?’. Immerse Education received thousands of entries, so to be named as one of the highest calibre entrants was an excellent achievement.

We were able to resurrect our annual Thorpe Park trip as part of Expeditions Week. Lower Sixth physicists used phone apps to measure the acceleration produced at different points on the rides and fed this information into circular motion, Newton’s laws and energy conservation scenarios in an online quiz. – James Bedford, Head of Physics

Lower Sixth physicists travelled to Thorpe Park during Expeditions Week

Photograph by Smith32 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

ENGINEERING SCHEME

Three teams, comprising 20 Lower Sixth boys, were tasked with devising novel engineering solutions in the study of the following projects: ■ Optimising the efficacy of face masks ■ The creation of a network of sensors to monitor and analyse air pollution ■ Investigating a system for sound source localisation The teams spent six months on research and development, followed by an intensive write-up weekend. The finished reports have been submitted to the British Science Association’s CREST Gold Awards for evaluation and we are already in receipt of our first Gold Award certificates for this year. – Robert Unwin, Head of Engineering