On Monday 11 November 2013, four Queenswood girls took part – for the first time –
in the Schools Challenge: a younger version of the popular University
Challenge.  

Alongside such schools as Eton, Wycombe Abbey and the City of London School, we were competing in the South East regional final.  

Our
team of Aoife Morgan Jones, Bella Massam, Gina Liggins and Ellen
Gaukroger had their first practice session in the taxi on the way to the
venue – which demonstrated
that as long as the questions focused on: the Simpson, Tennis and
Llamas, we were going to be fine.  

Our
first round match against Wycombe Abbey started extremely well and we
stretched to an 80 point lead with just a few minutes to go –
unfortunately, we suddenly
suffered a collective inability to press the button before our opponents
and fell to a disappointing defeat. Key highlights of this round
included, despite professing Tennis expertise, captain Gina confidently
stating Tim Henman was Andy Murray’s coach and Aoife
knowing EVERYTHING asked about Belgium.  

Our
second round against Habs Boys was thus crucial – a win and we would go
through, lose and we would go home. Once again, we stretched to a huge
early lead, making
the reigning champions extremely nervous. Unfortunately, we again
fell away in the key final moments. Bella’s insistence that the question
master, much against his will, spelt “Sirimavo Bandaranaike” did little
to help us know of which country she was PM; likewise
the common name of the ‘ursus horribilis’ was unknown to Ellen, despite
lengthy discussion.  

So,
we were, unfortunately, knocked out – but had the pleasure of seeing
how well we had performed, when Habs Boys racked up a colossal 400 point
victory over Wycombe
Abbey in the deciding match.  

A good learning experience – but much practice required to be the fastest fingers on the buzzer!