Lord Cochrane, Vice Admiral Guise, General William Miller (all military figures in Peru's independence war) and Thomas Edward Rowcroft, the first British diplomat in Peru. Their colours are red, blue, green and yellow, respectively. Houses compete in a series of events to obtain the Founder's shield. The House competition has three major elements: the Swimming Gala, Markham on Stage, and Sports Day. While these are the three most important competitions, during the year students compete regularly in academic, art and sports disciplines including: football, basketball, rugby, cricket, hockey, volleyball, softball, and minisports. Minisports consists of many small disciplines such as archery, shooting, climbing, surfing, table tennis, tennis, badminton, chess, croquet, and others. Languages Classes are mostly taught in English, with a small number of courses taught in Spanish. The study of French is compulsory from P3 to S1, becoming optional from S2 onwards. Subjects offered At IGCSE level, for courses at secondary three and four, Markham offers classes in Additional Mathematics, Art & Design, Business Studies, Computer Studies, Co-ordinated (double) Science, Design and Technology (three options), Drama, First Language English, Food and Nutrition, French, Geography, History, Information Technology, Literature in both English and Spanish, Mathematics, Music, Physical Education and First and Foreign Language Spanish. At IB Diploma level, Further Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Design Technology, Economics, English A and B, Film Studies, French B, Geography, Global Politics, History, Mathematics, Music, Physics, Psychology, Spanish A and B, Theatre Arts and Visual Arts are currently all being taught at Higher Level. In addition to those, Environmental Systems and Sports, Exercise and Health Science are also available at Standard Level. No school in this continent and precious few outside it offers the range of subjects that Markham does. Apart from the academic curriculum, the school offers a variety of extra-curricular activities. These include several art courses, drama, music, sports such as football, hockey, cricket and rugby, and many other activities such as Model United Nations or debating. The full list runs to over 150 options. Examination results All students are entered for University of Cambridge ESOL (PET) Preliminary English Test in their final year of Primary education and for the (FCE) First Certificate of English examination at the age of 14. Secondary 5 students who choose to follow the National Programme are entered for the Certificate of Advanced English (CAE). Pass rates are close to 100%. In 2019, 148 S4 students sat