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Year 9 pupil Ibrohim Saidahror won a silver medal after reaching the final in his category at the British Taekwondo National Kyorugi Championships. 

Ibrohim competed in two bouts to secure his silver in Sheffield, winning his semi-final 2-0, before losing by the same margin in the gold medal match against opponent Finley Lamour.

QE’s Director of Sport, Jonathan Hart, said: “Our congratulations go to Ibrohim on this achievement: behind it lies a great deal of dedication and hard work to develop his skills and strength.” 

Ibrohim sparred in the –37kg category novice cadet category with competitors aged 12–15 (he is 13).  

Each fight comprised up to three 90-second rounds, with the winner being the first to win two of the rounds. Points could be scored to the body or the head, with ‘knock-out’ also a possible outcome.  

Jubilant on his return from the championships, held at the English Institute of Sport (EIS) in Sheffield, he said: “”I started taekwondo to learn self-defence, but I really enjoy it. It is great for my flexibility and core strength.”   

Ibrohim trains in West London at the Superior Taekwondo Academy and competes regularly at regional and national competitions. He plans to keep up with the sport.  

Last term’s Sports Bulletin reported on him winning a gold medal in a sparring competition at the Sport Wales National Centre in Cardiff. “I am very proud of this achievement as it shows my determination and discipline in training,” he said at the time. 

Eleven QE pupils performed in front of more than 30,000 people for London’s Diwali celebrations in Trafalgar Square.

The 11 boys, drawn from Years 8–12, each portrayed various characters in Ramayana Musical Act as part of the programme for Diwali on the Square, one of the capital’s largest cultural events, organised by the Mayor of London’s office.

Diwali, the Festival of Lights, is an important celebration for Hindu, Sikh, and Jain communities. It symbolises the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil. Ramayana is an ancient Indian epic relating the life of Lord Rama.

The QE contingent made up more than half of the 20-strong cast for the performance produced by MAD House Production – a creative initiative by four QE parents, Abhinav Sahai, Deepika Banerjee Sahai, Mayuri Harish, and Priya Shivkumar, which was supported by the parents of all the other performers.

Speaking on behalf of the production team, Mr Sahai said: “The QE boys represented the School with remarkable poise, confidence, and creativity on one of the biggest stages in the city.”

“These young performers have done more than master choreography – they have embraced the timeless lessons of the Ramayana: courage, righteousness, loyalty, and compassion – and turned them into purposeful action.

“In the true spirit of giving that Diwali embodies, the children have also raised over £1,400 for Save the Children UK, spreading the light of hope not just here, but across the world.”

The performance was the culmination of months of dedicated practice and countless hours of rehearsals, where the boys balanced their academic commitments with artistic preparation.

“They thus demonstrated discipline, teamwork, and passion,” Mr Sahai added. “They not only brought the timeless story of the Ramayana to life but also created memories that will last a lifetime.”

“This remarkable feat stands as a testament to QE’s holistic approach to education — nurturing confidence, creativity, and leadership alongside academic excellence. The boys truly embodied the QE spirit.”

The QE performers were:

• Year 8: Atharv Shivakumar
• Year 9: Adhrit Dey
• Year 10: Rishabh Datta, Eeswar Manchikanti, Aaryan Prabhaker, Adyansh Sahai, Ryan Uppal, Pranav Yoganand
• Year 11: Aarnav Mahajan, Pranav Nayak
• Year 12: Shashank Pothuganti.

Click on the thumbnails below to view the images. 

QE alumnus Dr Mustafa Sarkar has been named among the world’s leading sports and exercise scientists in an annual survey.

For the second consecutive year, Mustafa (OE 1997–2004) has been ranked in the top 2% worldwide in his field. Mustafa was also seventh in the UK and 32nd globally in his field for researchers with their first publication from 2012 onwards,

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “My congratulations go to Mustafa: as this ranking demonstrates, he is forging a very distinguished career at Nottingham Trent University.”

Stanford University’s World’s Top 2% Scientists ranking evaluates researchers based on how often their work is cited by others, their role in research, and their productivity.

Mustafa is an Associate Professor of Sport and Performance Psychology at Nottingham Trent. His research addresses the psychology of performance excellence, with a particular focus on resilience, psychological safety, and mental health.

He leads the High Performing Individuals, Teams and Organisations (HPITO) theme at Nottingham Trent’s Sport, Health and Performance Enhancement Research Centre. He also sits on the University Shadow Executive Team (USET).

He teaches sport and performance psychology across the undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes and contributes to the second-year undergraduate module, Practical Applications in Sport Psychology, and is module leader for the postgraduate module Performance Psychology.

Mustafa graduated from Loughborough University in 2008 with a first-class degree in Sport and Exercise Science. Before arriving at Nottingham Trent in 2015 as a Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology, he spent two years as a Research Fellow at the University of Gloucestershire.

• Mustafa was the subject of the first-ever OE Spotlight feature, in Edition 7 of QE’s Sports Bulletin, published in the 2024 Spring Term.

Sixth-former Hardik Ingale won a visit to Downing Street and a tour of the Treasury after reaching the final of the Young Economist of the Year competition.

Hardik’s essay was one of only five entries to reach the final in the Discover Economics contest, which was backed by the Royal Economic Society.

He impressed the judges with his carefully researched exploration of How can economics explain the high price of a supercar?

Head of Economics Krishna Shah said: “Hardik entered the competition on his own initiative during the summer holidays and was meticulous in his approach. I congratulate him on this considerable success.”

Hardik’s choice of topic reflected his interest in Formula One.

His research included:

• Academic articles from the JSTOR digital library;
• Online articles offering diverse perspectives;
• YouTube videos explaining supercar production and market dynamics;
• Investigation into car companies, their products, and economic strategies.

His central argument was that the high price of supercars could be attributed to multiple economic factors – including high manufacturing costs, the costs involved in developing technological innovation and in maintaining the exclusivity of a brand, and the dominance of a small number of firms in this market. Most of all, though, he placed a strong emphasis on psychological factors – including the motivations consumers, who buy supercars for their value as status symbols.

The final of the competition was held at accountants’ KPMG’s offices. Hardik, who is in Year 12, gave a ten-minute presentation, which was followed by a five-minute question-and-answer session with the judges, who were drawn from Government policy bodies as well as the Financial Times, who sponsored the competition, together with KPMG UK.

Hardik, who hopes to read Economics or Finance at university, described his trip to Downing Street as “amazing”. As well as being photographed outside Number 10, he visited 11 Downing Street, the official residence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, meeting the head of the Government Economic Service, Sam Beckett. He also toured the Treasury and met officials there, enjoying some discussions about careers in public service and government. The day even included meeting Number 10’s famous feline resident, Larry the cat!

After his stellar achievement of being chosen to represent the UK in a space competition hosted by NASA, Year 13’s Vinujan Sivakumar is now helping younger Elizabethans hoping to follow in his footsteps.

QE’s entrants in the UK Space Development Competition were part of the mock ‘company’ crowned as national champions in the UK finals held at Imperial College in March.

Vinujan was then selected as one of just 12 young people making up the UK team at the International Space Settlement Design Competition (ISSDC), held at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida, where he was elected as his company’s vice president.

Fresh from this experience-of-a-lifetime stateside, Vinujan has now pledged to assist the boys putting themselves forward for places in the QE team due to take part in next month’s London regional heat at the start of this year’s competition.

Head of Physics Jonathan Brooke said: “It’s a testament to the breadth of Vinujan’s talents that he was picked out by the organisers of the UK Space Design Competition to represent the UK.

“Vinujan has shown himself to be a talented communicator who can collaborate effectively with others and who demonstrated the ability to create plausible solutions to challenging engineering problems. I’ve also been very impressed by his willingness to support this year’s competition entrants.”

Mr Brooke also saluted the achievement of Vinujan’s QE teammates who made it through three stages of selection in the 2024–2025 competition to reach the national finals – firstly, they were chosen as part of the School team, before progressing through both regional and national heats.

They had, he said, showcased “the vision, creativity, and resilience needed to tackle some of the biggest challenges humanity will face in the future”.

The NASA-hosted ISSDC is the world’s largest STEM competition of its kind, bringing together hundreds of students from across the globe. Competitors were tasked with producing innovative yet realistic solutions to the immense challenges of human space colonisation, and were challenged to think like professional scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs,

Four international companies, each comprising 60 competitors, were given 48 hours to produce a 50-page proposal for a space settlement that met strict technical criteria set by industry experts.

Vinujan was one of eight team members who presented their company’s 35-minute proposal to a panel of judges. Following his election as vice president (engineering) – the second-most senior role in the company – Vinujan was responsible for focusing on and managing the technical aspects of the settlement design.

He said: “Leading a team of such talented individuals from across the world through the rigorous process of engineering and space design was truly an incredible experience. Although placed as runners-up, our proposal was highly commended by the judges.”