Newington Victorious at House Quiz

Last Thursday, a few hours before the highly anticipated IRP Finals Night, our Houses showcased their general knowledge and deduction skills at the iconic House Quiz.

It was fantastic to see all the representatives from each House gathering in their circles of chairs and preparing to face the music. There were at least ten representatives in each circle, which ensured that the House spirit would be on full display throughout the event.

Each Head of House had written a round of questions on a particular subject. Dr Soltysiak and Mr Todd opened proceedings up with their questions on “sci-fi and fantasy” and “maths” respectively. Mr Parker’s Latin America round tested everyone’s geography and cultural knowledge. Mr Evans’ history round sent everyone back in time. Mr Comerford’s “modern culture and current affairs” round (read with panache by Ms Kerslake) gave us an opportunity to commemorate a certain Internet-famous lettuce and a 1987 pop classic called Never Gonna Give You Up, among other things. Mr Mugridge and Mrs Burtenshaw’s questions were presented on a PowerPoint, so their “sports” and “famous faces” rounds were beamed across the room for everyone to watch.

The Houses had to choose when to play their Jokers. These irreplaceable quiz delights would double a score for a particular round and could only be used once per House. Four Houses used their Jokers in the maths round; Lewisham used theirs in the “modern culture and current affairs” round; Aldercombe and Underwood waited until the final round (“famous faces”) to play theirs. This worked out particularly well for Underwood, who achieved their best score of the evening in that final round (in terms of how many correct answers they got). None of the other Houses used their Jokers in their strongest rounds, with the possible exception of Lewisham, whose Joker round was one of their joint-best rounds.

At the end of the evening, after Quizmaster (and former University Challenge contestant) Mr Evans’ very animated countdowns had run out of time, the contestants eagerly gathered round to hear the final results and the answers to all the questions. Many pupils sounded particularly pleased to hear that they had correctly worked out the name of the seventh Wonder of the Ancient World and that the largest prime number under 300 is 293. Ridgefield was even more pleased to hear that they had taken third place, but their delight was outweighed by Harestone’s joy at coming second, which was itself dwarfed by Newington’s (especially Mr Parker’s) celebrations for first place.

Congratulations to Newington and to everyone who took part in the quiz, including our House question writers, readers and markers. We look forward to our next few big House events with all year groups taking part.

Mr R. Evans

Teacher of Chemistry, Head of Ridgefield, House Quiz Chair