Viewing archives for

QE’s long-running outreach programme to local primary schools this year included a special Humanities Challenge where activities included, planning a party, designing a castle for William the Conqueror, and devising a sustainable business.

Year 6 girls and boys came to QE for the event run by the History, Economics and Geography departments.

The 2026 primary outreach work has also involved a morning of literacy and numeracy challenges for Year 5 pupils, as well as Art and forensic science sessions.

Separately, QE’s partnership with technology specialists Atom Learning offers children aged 7–11 from disadvantaged backgrounds – those eligible for Pupil Premium – free access to online learning resources, including preparation for grammar-school entrance tests.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “QE is proud to be part of our local community, so it is always a joy to see children from Barnet primary schools participate in our outreach programme.

“My thanks go to the teachers and QE pupils who welcomed our young visitors here with successful and exciting activities that gave them the chance to sample life at secondary school. As the new academic year begins, I am sure my colleagues will already be thinking ahead to activities for 2027!”

Led by Head of Economics Krishna Shah, the Economics activity gave the Year 6 children just 30 minutes to plan the perfect party. Teams from Whitings Hill, Underhill and Foulds primary schools worked together to create a plan before presenting their ideas to the audience from the stage using colourful posters.

Following the presentations, pupils reflected on the economic decisions they had made, considering the concept of scarcity and looking at what they could have done differently. They quickly identified that their greatest scarce resources were time and budget, prompting thoughtful discussions about prioritising spending and exploring alternative options.

The competition was judged by three Sixth Form Economics students – Aahan Shah, Vyom Srivastava, and Hygreev Vangari – who afterwards declared themselves impressed by the creativity, teamwork and reasoning demonstrated by all of the groups.

After a closely contested competition, Team A from Underhill School was crowned the winner by the narrowest of margins.

History teachers Helen Edmunds and John Haswell told the Year 6s that they had 1,000 gold pieces to design and build a castle on behalf of William I.

They had to decide whether to build the castle for noblemen Richard of Durham or Roger de Montgomery, carefully managing their budget while researching which features to include. Using a ‘castle catalogue’ as a guide, pupils selected different buildings and defences, earning points for each item.

In a second activity, the children explored the succession crisis following William’s death. They considered the claims of his two sons, debated the evidence, and decided which side they would support. Both activities were won by teams from Foulds School.

For the Geography activity, led by Geography teacher Nathan Lawson, the focus was on sustainability. The session began with a recycling quiz, where the girls and boys identified the purpose of different coloured bins, before discussing the social and environmental impacts of landfill in their teams. They impressed QE teachers with their knowledge of issues such as: the effects of waste on marine life; toxic emissions from burning rubbish; the impact of bioaccumulation within the food chain; greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change; visual pollution affecting wellbeing; and the dangers faced by children in some countries who search through landfill for recyclable materials to sell.

The primary pupils then worked together to develop their own definition of sustainability. Their ideas included repurposing materials, designing products for longevity, and using renewable energy sources. such as solar panels and wind turbines. They also learned about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, discussing how sustainability is closely linked to fairness, equality, and protecting our planet for future generations.

To conclude the session, pupils worked in teams to design their own sustainable business and create an innovative product – an activity designed to encourage creativity, teamwork, and entrepreneurial thinking, while reinforcing the importance of sustainable design. They pitched their ideas to their teachers in a Dragons’ Den-style presentation, considering key factors such as reducing carbon emissions, minimising environmental impact, affordability, the intended target audience, and ensuring their product could be reused.

The School’s younger pupils amassed a remarkable tally of 16 medals in this year’s Junior Maths Olympiad – 8% of all the prizes issued throughout the whole of the UK.

The five gold, seven silver and four bronze medals went to boys from Years 7 and 8 (entering Years 8 and 9 respectively in September) who were among the 62 QE pupils to sit the Olympiad. They qualified for it by achieving a strong score in the earlier Junior Maths Challenge (JMC) round.

Kirtan Shah, Assistant Head of Mathematics, said: “To have 16 of our students achieve medals in the Olympiad is an exceptional milestone so early in their mathematical journeys. Given that the UK Maths Trust only awards medals to the top 200 scorers across the entire country – the top 40 gold, the next 60 silver and the next 100 bronze –this is a phenomenal, élite achievement.”

He added: “We are incredibly proud of our entire Year 7 and 8 cohorts, who recently sat the Junior Maths Challenge. This competition is a wonderful opportunity to stretch our pupils and encourage them to embrace complex problem-solving.

“Whether securing a national medal or tackling the very first round, every single pupil demonstrated tremendous perseverance, enthusiasm, and a willingness to embrace a challenge. Congratulations to everyone involved!”

QE pupils qualified in some numbers for both follow-on rounds of the JMC – the Junior Mathematical Olympiad and the Junior Kangaroo. QE’s 62 Olympiad qualifiers had to fight off competition from around 1,140 pupils qualifying nationally from the JMC each year.

The Olympiad consisted of a two-hour challenge comprising six questions.

The medal-winners also received a certificate and a book, A Problem Solver’s Handbook by Andrew Jobbings, which provides guidance for those entering the UKMT’s competitions for slightly older pupils, including the Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad.

The medal-winners were:

• Gold (pictured top): Year 7 – Giritrah Ghosh, Sasha Karunaratne and Adhruth Parlattaya; Year 8 – Noah Bai and Huy Bui
• Silver (middle image): Year 7 – Siddhant Sharma; Year 8 – Ehan Islam, Anirvinn Lakshmipuram Sudarshan, Arjun Mulamalla, Duc Ta, Arthur Wang and Xuen Wu
• Bronze; Year 7 – Hercules Li, Ekansh Ponnaganti and Harry Xuan; Year 8’s Dhruv Srinath.

The junior boys’ successes follows strong QE performances in both the Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad and in the British Mathematical Olympiad itself, which is considered the UK’s hardest youth Maths competition. Two of this summer’s leavers, Hisham Khan and Joshua Wilkinson, reached the second round of the BMO, with Hisham named among the top 25% of the élite competitors in that final round. In the Intermediate Maths Olympiad, Year 10’s Liam Chen won a gold medal, which placed him in the top 20 nationally.

Five QE musicians who together raised money for underprivileged children were winners at the Wings of Hope children’s charity annual awards, with two further QE teams among the runners-up.

Team Ember, who all entered Year 10 this month, took the top prize in the Excellence in Arts category in the awards’ grand final at London Business School.

Teams Saroya and Helios, who also progressed beyond the semi-final, were runners-up in the Community Action and Excellence in Sports awards respectively.

Assistant Head (Co-curricular and Partnerships) Crispin Bonham-Carter said: “Charitable fund-raising has long been important for pupils at QE, and it is therefore heartening to see these boys showing such initiative and creativity in helping those less fortunate than themselves. I congratulate Team Ember on their award and commend all our participants on their efforts.”

Ember’s Dilan Amin, Arnav Ghoshal, Vihaan Jain, Rushil Matta and Aadhithya Muthukumar used a YouTube channel to raise £1,424 for the education of underprivileged children in India and Sierra Leone. They uploaded guitar and piano pieces, including a number of guess-the-song challenges.

The awards were presented by: fashion designer Zandra Rhodes; Barbara Campos, CEO of the Joseph fashion house, and Kapila Ireland, Editor at DFNI Frontier travel magazine.

Previously, the three QE teams were among just 20 teams to be selected from among 200 entrants to present their entries at the Wings of Hope semi-final, which was held at Westminster Central Hall.

Team Saroya showcased their creative fundraising, which included a poetry competition that earned them recognition in local newspapers. The members of Helios demonstrated remarkable dedication and physical commitment, raising more than £500 by completing triathlons between them — including a three-quarters marathon.

The members of Helios, who are now in Year 11, are: Pranav Bonagiri; Nicholas Grobler; Joel Jeon; Anirudh Premkumar; and Aadhav Ranga. Team Saroya, who are from the year below, are: Arjun Ladva; Sai Rushil Manchiraju; Ojas Mendse; Yaksh Patel; Rishabh Satsangi; and Akshaj Vasdev.

Founded more than 20 years ago, Wings of Hope helps UK pupils develop transferable skills through its annual achievement awards programme.

Three sixth-formers won first place in an international economics competition with their exploration of why some life-saving medicines in the US can cost more than a car – and what should be done about that.

Keshav Aggarwal, Yash Mehta and Jasmaan Sahota, who entered Year 13 this month, took the top spot in the Youth Economics Initiative’s (YEI) EconOlympiad.

As a result, they received YEI’s backing to enter the International Economics Olympiad – an élite competition which requires an organisational endorsement for each team taking part.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “My congratulations go to Keshav, Yash and Jasmaan on this impressive achievement. Their entry not only represents a great deal of hard work, but is also an excellent example of the free-thinking scholarship we seek to nurture here at QE.”

Yash said: “US drug pricing is one of the clearest examples of economics directly affecting people’s lives. Behind every graph, market failure, patent, and policy debate are patients who may be forced to choose between financial stability and essential medication. That made this challenge especially meaningful for me.”

The QE team, Veblen Goods*, and 52 other teams entering from around the world spent ten weeks researching a complex real-world economic issue and delivering a ten-minute policy presentation. Entrants were challenged to act as policy advisers to the US Department of Health and Human Services, developing innovative solutions to address the growing crisis of soaring prescription drug prices.

The QE boys’ ten-minute presentation video proposed a balanced policy package. They examined structural challenges within the American pharmaceutical market, including patent monopolies, information asymmetry and the influence of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs). The team argued that while drug price caps may improve affordability in the short term, they risk significant adverse long-term consequences, including medicine shortages and substantial reductions in investment in early-stage medical research and development.

Instead, they proposed a sophisticated three-stage policy framework designed to reduce costs while preserving incentives for pharmaceutical innovation:

• Short term: expand Medicare price negotiations using existing legislation;
• Medium term: increase competition through reforms that encourage the production and uptake of generic medicines;
• Long term: introduce government patent buyouts with immediate generic licensing, based on the economic framework developed by Nobel Prize-winning economist Michael Kremer. This approach, they said, would eliminate monopoly power while fairly compensating pharmaceutical companies, ensuring continued investment in the development of new medicines.

You can see the team’s winning pitch here. 

 * Named after American economist Thorstein Veblen, Veblen goods are types of luxury items for which demand increases as the price rises, which contradicts the typical relationship between price and demand.

As Old Elizabethans Rahil Shah and Bhiramah Rammanohar told QE pupils going into Year 12, much about the future is unclear – but at least they can be sure that for the next two years they will have all the help they need to prepare for it.

The alumni pair returned to the School to deliver a new induction workshop for those joining the Sixth Form next week.

Entitled Preparing for an Uncertain Future, the QE Futures workshop encouraged the pupils to reflect on their strengths, embrace new experiences, and develop confidence in making decisions without clear-cut answers.

Assistant Head (Destinations and Progress) Robert Hyland, the new head of QE Futures, said: “QE Futures seeks to equip our pupils not only for higher education, but also to prepare them for the rapidly changing world of work that they will enter after graduating. Workshops such as this help them develop the QE Employability Skills – a set of transferable skills that are exactly what they will need to thrive in that uncertain future.”

The Employability Skills are: communication, critical thinking, digital proficiency, leadership, resilience and teamwork.

“Rahil and Bhiramah’s advice to do what you enjoy and follow your curiosity wherever it takes you was a key takeaway – and one that is of benefit to all our pupils,” Dr Hyland added.

Rahil related his journey from QE to completing a Master’s in Computer Science at Imperial and into a successful career as a software engineer with Bloomberg, while Bhiramah Rammanohar, who recently completed his sixth year at Cambridge, shared insights that included his experience of studying Medicine.

One highlight of the workshop was a collaborative problem-solving challenge, where participants tackled a complex graduate recruitment task, discovering that there is no ‘right’ pathway forward in the ever-changing world of work.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “It is tremendously encouraging to see current pupils benefitting from our growing OE network, seeing what alumni are doing in their careers and learning from them.”

The Sixth Form induction workshop followed a recent visit by entrepreneur Leon Zadeh (OE 1996–2003), who drew on his experience of building Saint Espresso into a successful London artisan coffee business over 15 years.

His interactive workshop, with a central message of action builds confidence, engaged pupils from the outset with quick-fire questions and a discussion of their own ambitions. Leon explored what entrepreneurship really involves – spotting opportunities, solving problems and taking consistent action over time.