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Sixteen players fought it out in QE’s first competitive table tennis fixture for many years, as the School responds to strong pupil demand for more opportunities in the sport.

The boys, representing Years 7, 8, 9 & 10, made the five-mile journey for an away fixture at Ashmole Academy – and returned with their first victory under their belts. Although Ashmole won two of the year-group battles to QE’s one (with one draw), QE had the higher points tally overall, with 17 games won to Ashmole’s 15.

The resurgence of inter-school fixtures has been driven largely by Year 10 table tennis enthusiast Habeeb Tharoo, who was instrumental in selecting the 16-player squad. He was the team captain for the fixture.

Senior PE teacher Richard Scally said: “Habeeb’s leadership helped set a positive tone throughout the afternoon as players across all year groups demonstrated resilience, skill, and great sportsmanship.”

The approach of the fixture and the squad’s preparations for it created a “genuine buzz around the PE department”, said Mr Scally.

“The players are already eager for a rematch, and with the commitment shown, future fixtures promise to be even more exciting.

“Pupils from Years 9, 10 and 11 are regularly developing their skills during PE lessons and, beyond that curriculum time, there’s a thriving lunchtime culture and an enthusiastic after-school club held every Monday and Wednesday,” he added.

For this first major table tennis outing, a new competitive format inspired by the Ryder Cup was adopted. It involved each side fielding their top four players in every year group. Matches were split so that the top two QE seeds faced their counterparts from Ashmole, while the third and fourth seeds competed in their own pairings.

Each match won contributed one point to the overall team tally for that year group, creating an exciting and fast‑paced scoring system.

Here are the results by year group, with Mr Scally’s comments on each.

Year 7: Drawn 4–4.  “The youngest squad showed impressive maturity and calmness under pressure, securing a hard‑fought draw. With several close games, Year 7 proved they have strong potential for future fixtures.”

Year 8: Won 7–1. “A comprehensive scoreline, but another highly competitive contest. Year 8 excelled against more experienced opposition.”

Year 9: Lost 5–3. “Year 9 produced some excellent rallies and tactical play throughout their matches. Falling just short of parity, they can take great pride in a performance that showed both development and depth.”

Year 10: Lost 5–3. “Led by captain Habeeb, the senior team delivered powerful performances with several confident wins. Though Ashmole edged the overall score, the attitude and quality displayed by the QE side were clear highlights.”

Reflecting afterwards on the trip, Habeeb said: “This was a brilliant first fixture against a strong Ashmole side. The boys are keen to give it another go!”

Forty-four Queen Elizabeth’s School pupils have secured offers from Oxford and Cambridge this year, further consolidating QE’s record of success in sending leavers to the world’s best universities.

Twenty-nine senior boys have received offers from Cambridge, with a further 15 offered places at Oxford. The figures lift the School’s total number of Oxbridge offers over the past four years to a remarkable 202.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “My congratulations go to all these pupils: we are immensely proud of their success.

“At QE, we are committed to developing the Boundless potential of every student in a rapidly changing world. Through their ambition, application, resilience, and free-thinking scholarship, these 44 boys are well on the way to realising that potential: I wish them all the best in achieving the A-level grades they need to secure their offers this summer, and, further ahead, to hearing about their exciting careers and contributions to society.

“More broadly, I am also pleased to say that our pupils are continuing to enjoy very considerable success in winning places at other world-leading universities.”

The 44 Oxbridge offers have been made by a diverse range of colleges – from the ancient and imposing, such as Oxford’s Christ Church and Trinity at Cambridge (both founded by Henry VIII in 1546), to the relatively modern, such as Homerton at Cambridge, which, although founded in the 18th century, attained full college status only in 2010.

The offers are for degree subjects including English, Engineering, Modern & Medieval Languages, Music, Geography, Psychology and History, as well as famous courses such as Cambridge’s Natural Sciences and Oxford’s Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE).

James Kane, Assistant Head (Destinations and Progress), said: “These offers reflect academic excellence, intellectual curiosity and commitment of our pupils to going above and beyond. They also show the outstanding dedication and support afforded by our staff and families.”

The success of the QE Futures programme in guiding senior pupils appropriately through the university application process is shown in QE’s “impressive” application–offer rate of 40%, Mr Kane added.

In total, QE leavers have applied to 23 of the 24 Russell Group universities this year, with 90% applying to at least one QS World Top 10 university. (The ten include Imperial and University College London, as well as Oxford and Cambridge.) With the process by no means yet complete, more than four-fifths have already received at least one offer.

Last year, a record 15 degree apprenticeships were offered to Year 13 boys. Interest in these apprenticeships continues to be strong at QE: this year, leavers have applied to leading global organisations such as Freshfields, Airbus, BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, and Arup. The applications span disciplines including Law, Engineering, Finance, and Architecture.

Mr Kane highlighted the importance of the QE Essentials programme, which includes: QE Futures; the QE Flourish co-curricular activities; the School’s digital strategy; its emphasis on free-thinking scholarship; and the QE Connect alumni network. “It is through QE Essentials that our students build the academic strength, mindset and skills needed for future-ready success,” he said.

The Queen’s Library has long had a key role in the School’s outreach programme to Barnet primary schools – so who better to help it mark its 12th birthday than some local Year 5 boys and girls and a group of enthusiastic readers from QE?

A team of Year 7s were on hand to support the visitors from Barnet’s Underhill and Whitings Hill primary schools, backed by a trio of sixth-formers.

Head of Library Services Jenni Blackford, who organised the day, said: “We are lucky to have a well-stocked library as well as students who want to share their love of reading and the resources we have available. It was only fitting that on our 12th anniversary, we opened our doors to the community – especially young children who are reluctant readers – to help them learn about libraries, books and reading in a fun way.

“Many of our own pupils here develop a passion for English and for reading, and The Queen’s Library provides the perfect place for them to share that passion with pride.”

The Queen’s Library is a well-resourced facility in the heart of the School, which is widely used for academic scholarship, as well as reading for pleasure. It is staffed by a small team of proactive and engaged librarians.

The visiting Year 5 pupils came spent a day working alongside the Year 7 and Year 12 pupils to develop their literacy and oracy skills in an engaging environment.

“Encouraged by our friendly Year 7s, the visiting pupils took part in a quiz and designed their own book cover,” said Mrs Blackford. “Year 12 students then took over to deliver an engaging creative writing workshop that incorporated word games, sensory description and…a disappearing classroom!

“Community events like this provide fantastic opportunities for inter-generational collaboration, a safe space for children to learn, and allow our boys to share their passion to inspire younger learners.”

Among those who exhibit that passion is Year 7’s Sai Vinesh Sriskandarajah. He said: “I like helping with young children… and have enjoyed seeing lots of smiling faces. I think they have learned an abundance of skills, including teamwork, collaboration and resilience.”

Year 12’s Suren Fereydoni shared similar sentiments: “I think Literacy and being able to write creatively are some of the most important skills to have as both a child and an adult. So, in me being able to help children discover how to do both is exciting and feels nice to help out.”

Together with Sai Vinesh and Suren, the other QE pupils involved were:

• Year 7: Vihaan Sinha, Vihaan Chitaley, Giritrah Ghosh, Aryan Narsian, Hari Chikani, Bradley Leung and Geethik Satti.
• Year 12: Rian Doshi and Akira Norimura.

They may be several years away from applying to university, but boys from Years 7 & 8 were able to enjoy a taste of life as an undergraduate at the grandest of all the Oxford colleges.

Forty-five boys drew inspiration for the future and learned about what studying at a world-leading university involves during the trip to Christ Church – the Borough of Barnet’s partner college at Oxford.

The day included lunch in the college’s Dining Hall — the iconic 1520s structure upon which the Hogwarts Great Hall in the Harry Potter films is based. There was also a chance to meet an Old Elizabethan – Harik Sodhi (2018–2025) – currently studying at Christ Church.

Nathan Lawson, QE Futures Coordinator and Geography teacher said: “At QE, we believe it’s never too early to inspire students to aim high and be future-ready. Through our partnerships and alumni network, they can gain first-hand insights that shows them anything is possible with determination, hard work, and persistence.

“This experience helped the boys broaden their aspirations, better understand what studying at a top university involves, and build confidence by interacting directly with undergraduates who were once in their position.”

Christ Church’s alumni include 13 British prime ministers, King Edward VII, William Penn, Lewis Carroll (author of Alice in Wonderland), poet W. H. Auden, philosopher John Locke, and scientist Robert Hooke.

The day began with a warm welcome from Dr Ana Hastoy, the college’s Admissions and Access Manager, and her team, who delivered an ‘all you need to know’ session on applying to Oxford, alongside practical advice on UK universities, funding, and applications.

Lunch in the Dining Hall gave the boys the chance to admire the hammerbeam roof and stained-glass windows, as well as dozens of historic artworks, including an oil painting by an unknown artist of Queen Elizabeth I (who in 1573 gave QE its royal charter).

The QE boys then took part in a Q&A and college tour led by current undergraduates, gaining authentic insights into study at Oxford and life at The House, as Christ Church is sometimes known. As well as recounting his own journey from QE to Christ Church and offering some practical tips on his degree subject (Engineering Science), first-year student Harik encouraged the boys to believe in themselves and have the confidence to apply there when the time comes. Harik secured his place by gaining straight A* grades at A-level last August. The summer also saw him become the first-ever QE pupil to win a silver medal at the International Physics Olympiad: he was the highest-ranked performer from western Europe at the 55th IPhO in Paris.

The visit concluded with an academic session, Making Meaning: Objects, History and Power in Museums, to introduce the young visitors to university-level thinking about how museums shape narratives and public understanding.

QE has achieved its highest-ever position in the national final of the Senior Team Maths Challenge.

The Sixth Form team came fourth out of 50 élite teams at the national final in Manchester, only narrowly missing out on the top three places. It is the first time QE has achieved a top-ten finish in the challenge.

Their achievement follows an earlier triumph at the regional final in Cambridge, where the four QE boys had a perfect score and took joint first place.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “This was a tremendous achievement in this long-running and highly regarded UK Maths Trust competition, reflecting not only our team’s talent,  resilience and collaborative abilities, but also the great strength of Mathematics generally at QE. My congratulations go to the team and to their teachers.”

The team comprised the 2026 School Captain, Tunishq Mitra, and his fellow Year 12 pupil, Mohith Sigirisetti, together with Year 13’s Hisham Khan and William Joanes.

In the national final, they achieved 100 per cent correct answers in the group round, crossnumber round, and shuttle round. In the round which required teams to create a poster on a given topic, the QE contingent lost out by a very small margin to the joint first-place schools, Winchester College and Tonbridge School, which had also had perfect scores in the main three rounds.

Mathematics teacher Sammi Zhu said: “For the actual maths, therefore, our team scored 100 per cent and were joint-first! That is an extraordinary mathematical accomplishment which reflects both their depth of understanding and excellent teamwork.

“I would like to add my congratulations to these four students for their hard work and outstanding achievement.”

At the regional final held at The Leys School, Cambridge, in November, the QE team competed in a field of 20 teams.  In a highly competitive battle for first place, QE’s perfect score left it in a three-way tie with longstanding challenge rivals Haberdashers’ Boys’ School and The Perse School.

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