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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.

Broughton ousted last year’s winners, Harrisons’, to reclaim the Eric Shearly Cup following an exciting year of inter-House competition.

The trophy for the winning House overall returned to Broughton, the 2024 winners (and the winners of this year’s Sports Day). It was presented as the climax at the end-of-year House assembly.

Broughton Captain Paarth Aggarwal, of Year 12, said theirs was no easy victory: “At one point, we were in fourth position. However, we persevered and made the ultimate comeback to take the trophy. It means a lot, as it shows our hard work and resilience have paid off.”

The House competition involves points being awarded for competitions across academic, sporting and co-curricular events.

The assembly celebrated these events and others that form part of QE Flourish, the School’s co-curricular programme, which this year featured 186 educational visits and events, encompassing 6,844 pupil participation slots.

There were innovations – including the first Latin translation competition – along with continuing initiatives, such as QE Together, a joint community service project involving senior pupils from QE and Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School. QE Together this year raised money for Home-Start Barnet, Brent and Harrow, which offers emotional and practical support to families.

Pupil-run activities are increasingly prominent at the School. QE Flourish Clubs & Societies Awards went to: Hiyaan Maru, of Year 7 (Marvel Club); Vivaan Gupta, of Year 9 (Coding Club); and Rishan Virmani, Year 11 (Law Society).

Earlier this year, pupils travelled to Canada for skiing, Iceland (Geography), France and Germany (including language exchanges but also trips related to subjects such as History and Latin), and The Netherlands (rugby).  There are also summer visits to Czechia (Music), Tobago (cricket), and Borneo (a World Challenge expedition).

The assembly celebrated the remarkable feats of the School’s chess players. QE made history as the first school ever to have two teams in the 30-team national final of the English Schools Chess Championship, where the A team went on to be crowned national champions.

This year’s film-related House Music competition, House Music to the Movies, raised more than £1,000 towards new equipment.

The House Cup is named after Eric Shearly (1920–2005), a former pupil and teacher who spent a total of 76 years at the School. The Shearly Hall, opened in 2009, is also named after him.