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Year 13’s Noah Morley has become the third QE pupil this century to be offered an organ scholarship from Oxford or Cambridge.

His scholarship counts as a major success for QE’s three-year-old musical partnership with Barnet’s St John the Baptist Church, in which Noah played a pioneering role.

He follows in the footsteps of Cambridge organ scholars Peter Yarde Martin (OE 2002–2007) and Drew Sellis (OE 2013–2020).

Noah’s scholarship offer from Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, comes after he played a leading part in two recent landmark musical events for QE – the Chamber Choir singing evensong at Christ Church, Oxford, and a Royal College of Organists (RCO) concert at St Lawrence Jewry Church in the City of London.

Assistant Director of Music Jas Hutchinson-Bazely, who helped Noah obtain the Cambridge scholarship, said: “This is a wonderful achievement and is richly deserved following his enthusiastic involvement in our organ scholarship at the parish church for the past three years.

“He has fulfilled his duties both there and in School with distinction, and is a brilliant role model to our increasing number of young organists. Hopefully, he will inspire many more to follow his lead, and we wish him every success.”

Noah began learning the organ at QE in Year 9. Under the partnership with St John’s, Noah, who was then in Year 10, was named as an inaugural QE organ scholar, together with sixth-former Joel Swedensky (now singing as a choral scholar with the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge).

Noah is currently the Senior Organ Scholar in the scheme, with Year 9’s Arthur Wang as Junior Scholar.

If he secures the A-level results he needs to secure his place at Cambridge, Noah will have the privilege of playing the organ three times a week in the college chapel. He said: “Being awarded the scholarship is very important to me. My organ teacher is very proud.”

Noah is taught at QE by organ and voice teacher Adam Hope, who rehearses the School’s Chamber Choir. In the Summer Term, Noah played voluntaries at Christ Church’s Rieger organ before and after evensong at Christ Church, as well as accompanying the choir during the service [pictured top].

This term, he was among the star performers in the concert in the City church beside the Guildhall – the second time that QE, which became an RCO-Accredited Institution in 2025, has been invited to take part in the RCO Young Performers concert series. Also performing were 11 other pupil organists and singers from Years 8–13.

The historic venue, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, is the official church of the Lord Mayor and the Corporation of London. The church is home to a Klais organ, built in 2001 as a Millennium Project

QE’s concert was introduced by Madeline Smith, Director of Relationships at the RCO. The organists performed works by composers including Elgar, Bach and Vivaldi, while the singers presented pieces by Purcell, Torelli and Ireland.

The performers were supported by Year 9 pupil Hoting Tan [pictured in the blue shirt], who acted as the organists’ console assistant for the day. Having recently started learning the organ himself, Hoting was able to observe and learn from more experienced musicians.

Year 8 organist Hercules Li said: “I enjoyed playing on a new organ and I liked the large variety of sounds. I also enjoyed being able to walk through the organ and see all the pipes inside it.”

Robin Peng, of Year 9, added: “I really liked the immersive sound and atmosphere the organ produced, and how I could feel the mechanisms working behind the keys and creating the sound almost magically.”

After securing $8 million in the summer to expand their education platform, Medly AI, OEs Paul Jung and Kavi Samra have now tested its value by commissioning an independent trial.

The randomised controlled trial run by research organisation WhatWorked Education looked at 644 GCSE Science candidates.

In their blog, the Medly AI team wrote: “Every revision app says it works. Very few let someone else check.”

The results provided evidence of the positive effects of using Medly AI. “Attainment rose consistently with use. The more students engaged with Medly, the greater the effect… The effect size did not differ by disadvantage status. Pupil Premium students gained in line with their peers, which is encouraging on equity, and the part of the result we’ll be watching most closely as the work continues.”

Kavi and Paul, who both attended QE from 2008 to 2015, secured the seed investment in a round led by Felix Capital, supported by existing investors Eka Ventures and Ada Ventures.

The pair, who have been friends since Year 7, grew up in low-income households where private tutoring was unaffordable. Paul and Kavi went on to study Medicine at UCL, from which Paul holds a PhD in Psychiatric Neuroscience, while Kavi has worked as a doctor in anaesthetics.

Their childhood experience, combined with their professional expertise acquired at UCL, inspired them to develop an alternative – an affordable, subscription-based AI-native platform offering exam-focused, personalised tutoring. Both left their careers in the NHS to build Medly.

Announcing the successful fundraising in August, Paul said: “Millions of students are using AI to skip thinking. We’re two doctors who left medicine to solve that. AI will reshape what it means to learn, to work, to matter. We’re here to make sure people come out of education stronger.

“With this round, we’ll be building our own education-specific models and scaling globally over the next year.”

In nine months through to this summer, more than 400,000 UK students signed up to Medly AI, with three-quarters of them still using the app three months after they started.

The pair have also been awarded a Department for Education grant for working on the AI Pioneer Programme, which aims to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils across England.

QE boys have been flexing their intellectual muscles in pupil-run publications tackling everything from the risks and opportunities presented by AI through to in-depth looks at the latest medical advances.

New editions of Artificial Times, Bioquest and The Political Times – all of them both written and edited by pupils – have just been published.

The first of these contains a wide range of perspectives on AI, examining its impact on education, society, industry, sustainability, and ethics. Its publication comes as industry experts speak out about the risk that AI could pose. They include Microsoft AI’s chief executive, Old Elizabethan Mustafa Suleyman (1995–2002), who warns that unless AI is properly controlled, it could lead to the emergence of a “silicon species” that would compete with humans for resources.

Mustafa co-founded DeepMind with his fellow OE, Sir Demis Hassabis (1988–1990), who in 2024 won a Nobel prize for Chemistry after deploying AI to predict complex protein structures. Demis has also spoken of the risks posed by AI.

Assistant Head Crispin Bonham-Carter said: “With the public discourse on artificial intelligence reaching new levels of intensity, it is good to see current pupils engaging in the debate. Our current School Plan, Boundless, prioritises our pupils becoming ‘deep thinkers and compelling communicators’ who are ‘future-ready’.

“Artificial Times, Bioquest and Political Times – and other regular pupil-run magazines, such as the Economics journal, The Econobethan, and The Arabella, covering the arts – are great examples of free-thinking scholarship in action.

“The boys’ writing in these publications demonstrates not only that our students follow the big issues of our day, but that they are also ready to grapple with them on their own initiative.

“Furthermore, through writing their articles and taking part in the publications’ editorial teams, they not only develop their written communication skills, but also show that they are well on the way to becoming ‘leaders of influence and valued collaborators’ – another of our Boundless priorities.”

Artificial Times was founded last year by Olic Fan and Hussain Hashmi, who are now in Year 13. This term’s edition – the third – features an introduction from Trudi Barrow, a specialist in design education named as AI Specialist Edufuturist of the Year 2026. It includes pupils’ detailed examinations of various aspects of AI and its implications, from Year 13 pupil Dev Malde’s The Hidden Environmental Cost of Artificial Intelligence to Year 11’s Arihaant Venuraju take on Bias in AI: How it Occurs, How it’s Dangerous, and How it can be Avoided. Separately, the risks of AI inspired one Year 11 pupil, Aaryan Prabhaker, to spend part of his summer penning a work of fiction on the subject: he has now presented the book to Headmaster Neil Enright.

The theme and title of the new Bioquest QE pupil publication is Sports, Driven By Biology, a set of articles highlighting biological issues across a range of different sports.

The topics covered include: How are Injuries Caused and How Do They Heal? by Year 13’s Samir Cheema; ADHD: A Curse or a Blessing, by Savya Gupta, of Year 12; Fast and Slow: The Biology of Athletics, by Zoheb Haq, of Year 13; and The Biology and Biomechanics of Mouthguards in Sport, by Taha Sebbar, of Year 13. Sushan Naresh led its eight-strong editorial team, all drawn from Year 13

In its 19 pages, The Political Times reflects on this year’s change of Prime Minister, with Year 8’s Praanaj Rai tracking Andy Burnham’s Road to PM and Adam Ahmed, of Year 9, asking the question, King of the North, or Political Chameleon?

It tackles wider topics, too. In The Political Times‘ biggest section, entitled Westminster Watch, Ehan Rattani, of Year 9, writes about The Politics of Decline and Year 11’s Sri Koustubh Yallambhatla asks How Short-Termism is Plaguing Britain. 

And while most of the publication engages with domestic politics, Year 13’s Vu-Lam Le-Nguyen looks at How Washington Lost Iran, while Year 9’s Hridhaan Joshi explores political aspects of the FIFA World Cup.

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.

Year 13 pupils have produced a truly outstanding set of A-level results, with a remarkable 63% of their exams awarded A* grades and with rises achieved against all key benchmarks.

The A* figure is up 9.7% on 2025’s results and second only to the results recorded at QE in 2022, when outcomes were moderated nationally to avoid abrupt drops in grades following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Some 98% of grades were at A*–B, making 2026 the 21st consecutive year in which this important measure has exceeded 95%. The results thus further cement QE’s place as one of the country’s leading academic schools across both the state and independent sectors.

With 59 boys – a third of the year group – achieving straight A* grades, there are scores of individual success stories, as students secure the grades they need to confirm places at Oxford, Cambridge and other world-leading universities, including Harvard.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “This is a day of great celebration at Queen’s Road! My heartfelt congratulations go to my colleagues, our supportive parents and families, and, of course, most of all to the leavers, whose hard work and application have paid off in such spectacular fashion. They now leave us for places on hugely competitive degree courses at exciting university destinations.

“Year 13 are an impressive cohort – and not just in terms of their determination and academic talent. They are great company, full of humour and mutually supportive, while displaying commendable curiosity and maturity. I am certain that these young men are ready to sally forth into the next chapters of their lives and careers and make a telling contribution to society.

“Important though examination results are, the QE experience is much broader than that. All our leavers have played their part in the School’s accomplishments beyond the classroom, which this year have included winning the English Schools Chess Championships, reaching the last four of the new national Knight-Stokes Cup in cricket, placing third at the World Economics Cup and winning divisional awards at the VEX World Robotics Championships in the US.”

Highlights of the A-level results include:

• 89.6% of exams being awarded A* or A – a 3.1% increase on 2025
• 84 pupils gaining at least three A* grades (the 59 achieving straight A*s and a further 25 securing three A*s and an A)
• An additional 31 A*s in the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ), representing 69% of pupils taking one this year.

In line with QE’s emphasis on free-thinking scholarship, the EPQ candidates pursued their own academic interests, tackling topics such as How effective can different Artificial Intelligence models be in the discovery, prediction, prevention and management of disease? and To what extent has neoliberal economic policy contributed to divergent long-term economic growth and stability outcomes in Chile and Argentina?

Danyal Talha confirming his Harvard place is among a number of notable performances, which include at least 41 places secured at Oxbridge and seven confirmed places in Dentistry at King’s College London. Adithya Raghuraman achieved four A*s and secured his place to read Mathematics at Christ Church, Oxford. He is an Ellison Scholarship holder, which provides a full scholarship for study at Oxford and is given to only around 20 students worldwide each year. Two more Maths stars, Sasen Kankanamge Don and William Joanes, each earned a pair of the top (S) grades in the fearsome University of Cambridge Sixth Term Examination Paper (STEP) admissions test.  They will be going to Queens’ College and Trinity College respectively. And two other Cambridge-bound leavers have secured Choral Scholarships: Leo Sellis will be reading Music at Jesus College, while Adam Liang will study Economics at Gonville & Caius.

Over half of those who now have confirmed offers are going to universities ranked in the QS World Top 10, while 86% of all QE’s confirmed places are at Russell Group universities.

The Oxbridge candidates will be taking courses that range from Philosophy & German and Psychology & Behavioural Sciences to Maths & Philosophy. The most popular courses chosen by QE leavers overall include Economics, Medicine, Maths, Engineering and Dentistry.

The figures in this article were updated at the end of September 2026 to take account of grade changes resulting from re-marks and the completion of the UCAS process.

High-flying business consultant Daniel Garsin, Guest of Honour at Junior Awards, told prize-winners that they will enter a world very different from the one that existed when he left QE just 20 years ago.

The continuing rise of artificial intelligence is “not a reason to be afraid”, he said, “but it does mean the old rules about how you get on in life are being rewritten”.

With AI already doing much of the careful, detailed work that young people used to do in their first jobs, Daniel, the 2005 School Captain, spelt out what that means for the boys: “It is no longer what do you know’, but ‘what can you do that a machine cannot?’”

Award-winners from across Years 7–9 gathered with their families and teachers in the School Hall for the formal afternoon event, during which Daniel (OE 1999–2006) presented the prizes.

The event included prizes for the academic subjects, for commitment, and for service in QE’s six Houses. There were also awards for co-curricular activities such as sport, drama, debating & public-speaking and supporting The Queen’s Library.

The Music prize-winners – Hercules Li, of Year 7; Julius Collins, of Year 8; and Ryan Hsu, of Year 9 – played piano pieces by Mozart, Debussy and Chopin respectively, while they and other award-winners formed an ensemble to perform the processional and recessional music for the ceremony. The VIP party included the Deputy Mayor of Barnet, Cllr Humayune Khalick.

In his introduction, Headmaster Neil Enright told the boys in the audience: “You are in pole position to be the leaders of your generation in your chosen fields; to be leaders of influence and valued collaborators.”

After leaving QE, guest speaker Daniel read History at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. He has since forged a career in consulting, firstly with Deloitte and, for the past 15 years, with Elixirr, which has grown in that time from a 30-person firm to one that is now listed on the London Stock Exchange with more than 800 employees worldwide.

He arrived at Junior Awards still captivated by what he had observed on a recent business trip to San Francisco. “Some of what I saw there was breathtaking and exciting, and some of it was genuinely unsettling. The pace of change is faster than anything I have witnessed in my career. Things that were impossible only a year ago are ordinary today.”

Echoing the Headmaster’s optimistic tone, he said: “The territory is being redrawn as we speak, and you get to help draw it. And you’re at the very best place to do this.”

Daniel reflected on how he is likely to recruit in the future and offered clear advice: “Do not try to compete with the machine. I will be looking for the deeply human things, because those are getting more valuable, not less. Can you win someone’s trust? Can you carry a team through a hard week? Can you walk into a tense room and read what is actually going on? No machine can do that, and I do not believe one ever will. I will be looking for curious people who can learn fast, and then learn again. And above all, I will be looking for character and personality.”

Daniel urged the boys to focus on three values.

• Be collaborative
• Be entrepreneurial
• Go beyond expectations.

“If I could swap places with you today, here is what I would do. I would try to learn how to use these new tools, but never once let them do my thinking for me. I would read more widely than I do today. I would say ‘yes’ to the things that scare me a little (and that I said ‘no’ to). And I wouldn’t worry about having it all figured out, because nobody yet knows what the world will look like in 5-10 years,” he said.

After Daniel’s address, the Year 7 debating & public-speaking award-winner, Parth Gulati, gave a vote of thanks. Everyone then stepped outside on to Staplyton Field for refreshments.

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