Queen enjoys hi-tech school visit

The Queen was “fascinated” when she viewed award-winning self-propelling vehicles built by students at a school’s technology and engineering site.

She is the patron of Reed’s School in Cobham, Surrey, which she visited today with the Duke of Edinburgh to celebrate its 200th anniversary.

The royal couple were greeted by cheering crowds of pupils waving Union flags.

The Queen last visited the school in 1997 to celebrate Reed’s being on its current site for 50 years.

Today, she visited FutureTech, the school’s specialised science, technology, and engineering site, which aims to harness creative and independent thinking.

Ewan Atkinson, 14, who was part of the team which won the McLaren Manufacturing Challenge last year, said: “The Queen said she was fascinated and you could see she was. I knew she was going to be interested.”

The Year 10 pupil and team-mate Cam Webster, also 14, described how the challenge was to build self-propelling vehicles to travel over a distance of 10m (33ft).

The school’s team of five, which changes every year, won the McLaren challenge in 2012 as well as in 2013.

Cam said of the Queen: “She was very kind and open to our questions. My hands were shaking but she put me at ease.”

The Queen was also treated to a display of the school team’s robot by Sam Hepburn, 16.

A team of four have been working for the past six months on the robot, which Sam said put “a big smile on the Queen’s face”.

The monarch unveiled a new stained glass window in the school’s chapel to celebrate the bicentenary.

The Duke unveiled a memorial stone in the chapel for Andrew Reed, the founder of the London Orphan Asylum, which later became Reed’s School.

Reed’s is an independent day and boarding school for boys aged 11 to 18, but the sixth form is co-educational. Alumni include former tennis star Tim Henman.

The Queen met sixth-form pupils including Baile Beyai, 17, who hopes to go to Durham University to study geography and said the Queen “asked about my university plans and said Durham is a lovely place”.

The Queen and Philip attended a performance by the school choir of the anthem Peace Of God, and also met A-Level art students.

Lenya Rogers, 17, said the Queen told her that her portrait of her sister was “interesting and she liked it”.

Philip spoke to pupils doing the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme including two he met yesterday at St James Palace when they received their gold awards.

Jack Leslie, 18, and Jessica Chandler, 19, said it was nice to see him again.

“It was surreal to be in St James Palace, though it felt quite intimate,” Jessica said.

Jack added: “The Duke took the time to ask a few questions and asked about where we did (our gold expedition). We did it in Wales and we were joking about how rainy it was.”

Philip also joked with some students who told him they had created a cupcake enterprise and had made some especially for today’s visit.

Queen enjoys hi-tech school visit