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Nine pupils won achievement awards for accomplishments in areas ranging from sport to robotics, while teacher Xiangming Xu took a Leader Award both for his dedication in the classroom and for his support of co-curricular activities.

The awards, which were given by the Jack Petchey Foundation, were given following a selection process open to all QE pupils.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “My congratulations go to the boys and to Xiangming – ten very worthy winners. The award citations reveal strong leadership and great dedication. Furthermore, they reflect the true breadth of the QE experience, which encompasses both academic excellence and our extensive QE Flourish programme.”

The Jack Petchey Achievement Awards recognise outstanding young people aged 11–25 across London and Essex; Leader Awards are given for adults who show exemplary dedication at schools and youth organisations.

The selection process gave QE pupils the opportunity to cast votes: all boys could vote for one pupil and one staff member on two occasions in successive terms.

An awards ceremony took place at the Arts Depot in Barnet.

Enrichment tutor and Geography teacher Staycie Domzalski said: “It was a lovely opportunity to recognise and celebrate the nine students’ and Mr Xu’s achievements.”

Each pupil award winner received a certificate, pin badge and a book written by Sir Jack Petchey – a businessman and philanthropist who died last year at the age of 98. They also received a £300 grant for the School, to spend at their own discretion. Similarly, Mr Xu received a £1,000 grant for the School.

The boys chose to spend their grants on equipment including: rugby training tops; VEX robotics hardware; Eton Fives gloves; medical book and DVDs; and badminton shuttlecocks.

Science teacher and form tutor Mr Xu, pictured top, showed “exceptional dedication to both academic and extracurricular life at QE” according to his citation. “…He consistently goes above and beyond –making lessons engaging, helping pupils grasp challenging concepts, and inspiring confidence. He has given up numerous weekends to support students in competitions such as the UKSDC [UK Space Design Competition] and has played a vital role in organising and mentoring teams. His kindness, empathy, and unwavering support make him a true role model, respected not just for his teaching, but for the care and encouragement he shows to every pupil.”

The pupils’ citations were as follows:

Year 10
Soham Bhatnagar: Soham is an exceptional student who consistently leads by example through his dedication, kindness, and strong work ethic. As A team rugby captain and form leader, he inspires others with his resilience, commitment to academics, and support for younger students—both in class and on the coach. Whether mentoring in the gym, attending extra clinics, or simply being a positive presence, Soham embodies the values of leadership, encouragement, and self-improvement, making him a truly deserving candidate for the Jack Petchey Award.

Arhan Panjwani: Arhan is a dedicated and inspiring student whose long-standing commitment to VEX robotics has empowered numerous younger teams through mentorship and support. His selfless guidance, leadership, and contributions across robotics, music, and school clubs make him a true role model in the QE community.

Ayaan Bhat: Ayaan is an exceptional role model whose maturity, kindness, and dedication to helping others shine through in every aspect of school life. As a peer mentor, rugby leader, and active contributor in class and form time, he consistently supports younger students, demonstrates resilience, and inspires those around him with his determination and humility.

Year 11
Jack Tan: Jack is an outstanding role model whose dedication to Eton Fives and support for younger students has made a lasting impact. As a committed captain and mentor, he consistently gives up his time to coach, inspire, and guide others – both on and off the court. His kindness, leadership, and willingness to help with both sport and academics make him a truly deserving recipient of the Jack Petchey Award.

Year 12
Viyath Wanninayaka: Viyath has shown exceptional leadership and generosity by running a challenging and engaging maths club that inspires younger students and stretches their thinking. He is not only highly knowledgeable and hardworking, but also kind, supportive, and always willing to help others – whether it’s giving academic advice or helping classmates with subjects like Latin, Maths, and Science.

Suhaas Sabbella: For being an outstanding leader of the medical ethics club, dedicating significant effort to expanding students’ knowledge beyond the curriculum and enhancing their understanding of medical dilemmas.

Aadam Aslam: For his support during rugby training sessions, both at lunchtime and after school, and for guiding younger students with their GCSE options. Many students find him to be a reliable confidant when it comes to school-related matters.

Year 13
Rayat Ferdous: This student has shown outstanding dedication to the Islamic Society through his consistent leadership in organising daily and Friday prayers, ensuring a respectful and well-maintained space for all students. He gives up his own time every day to set up and restore prayer rooms, supports charitable efforts, and acts as a role model and mentor for younger students. His commitment, humility, and reliability make him a highly deserving recipient of the Jack Petchey Award.

Shaurya Madan: For being an excellent role model and prefect, consistently exhibiting exemplary behaviour and attitude. Many students look up to him and aspire to learn how to improve themselves by following his example.

Year 13 pupils have maintained a formidable record of consistent A-level excellence, with the proportion of grades at A*–B hitting 98% – the 20th consecutive year this benchmark figure has been above 95%.

As in other recent years, leavers shone at the very highest levels: once again, over half of all grades (51%) were A*– up 4% on even the best pre-pandemic year. Among the 174-strong Year 13 cohort, which is QE’s biggest-ever, 51 boys – or 29% – achieved straight A*s. Eighty-five per cent of grades awarded were A* or A.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “Huge congratulations go to our students on these brilliant results. At QE we see consistent excellence every year, with our boys turning in superb examination performances and duly securing places on highly sought-after courses at world-leading universities.”

Over the past three years, QE pupils have received 157 offers from Oxford and Cambridge, including 49 (28% of the year group) this year. More widely, 62% hold offers from QS World Top 10 universities (which include Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College and UCL); 22 of the 24 Russell Group universities offered places to QE boys.

The most popular choices of degree courses among QE leavers were for Mathematics, Medicine & Dentistry, Engineering, and Economics. In addition, 14 boys secured offers for computing courses: they include leavers who will be taking up confirmed places at Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial and Warwick.

In a growing trend, QE students are winning places on prestigious degree apprenticeships: this year, offers have come from companies including Goldman Sachs, Amazon, Deloitte, Jaguar Land Rover, and PWC.

And there is striking breadth in individual achievements, with one place secured at a music conservatoire (the Royal Northern College of Music’s joint course with Manchester University) and another at the highly competitive Foundation Art course at Central St Martins (University of the Arts London).

“Such widespread success among our boys is made possible by the whole QE experience,” said Mr Enright. “All our leavers have benefitted from our emphasis on free-thinking scholarship; and from the support in finding their future career and university path offered through our QE Futures programme, which benefits from the backing provided by our alumni network. Through a detailed programme of bespoke pastoral support, and through the broad co-curricular opportunities offered by our exciting QE Flourish programme, boys grow into confident, able and responsible young men. It is the combination of all these elements that is enabling our students to realise their boundless potential.”

“All our leavers take with them our very best wishes for the future. Today, and in the coming weeks, support will, of course, be available from the School for any who need it.

“Looking further ahead, we look forward to seeing the cohort become active members of our alumni community, QE Connect, joining the ranks of thousands of other alumni who are Elizabethans for life.”

Junior Awards formed a happy highlight of the final days of the School year at QE, with some 80 prizes presented to boys in Years 7, 8 and 9.

Prizewinners, their parents, staff and VIPs gathered in the School Hall for the afternoon ceremony, which was punctuated by musical interludes performed by recipients of the Music prizes in the three year groups.

And the Guest of Honour, Old Elizabethan Ramesh Pari, had some stirring advice for the boys after presenting them with their prizes: they should both “fail brilliantly” (by aspiring to wildly ambitious goals) and “celebrate loudly” their successes.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “This was a very enjoyable celebration of those who have most excelled in their academic and co-curricular pursuits, and those who have shown a substantial commitment to the School over the past year.”

After a six-strong ensemble of young musicians began proceedings by playing as a processional Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, Mr Enright welcomed everyone.

The musical interludes were performed after each year group’s prizewinners had been presented with their awards. Pianist Youer Chen, of Year 7, played Columbine by John Ireland; vocalist Krish Bhatia, of Year 8, performed Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Bois Épais; and violinist Jeremy Shi, of Year 9, played Dimitry Kabalevsky’s Violin Concerto, Movement 1.

The recessional, played after Youer gave the vote of thanks, was Mozart’s A Musical Joke.

Guest of Honour Ramesh (OE 1997–2004), who is Head of Delivery Services for Ocado, advised them both to “fail brilliantly” (by aspiring to wildly ambitious goals) and to “celebrate loudly” their successes.

After leaving QE, Ramesh spent a year at Central St Martins art school before reading Architecture at Nottingham. He then worked as an architect for some years, before joining Ocado in 2018. In his current role, he applies “strategic design thinking” and is dedicated to “driving automation, value and efficiency within the complex world of fulfilment.

Mr Enright said: “I am so proud of the person Ramesh has become, having taught him in the QE Sixth Form from 2002 to 2004, when I first joined the School.”

Ramesh was accompanied by his wife, Millie. Reflecting on the day afterwards, Ramesh said: “To stand on that stage, as Guest of Honour, was not just a personal milestone – it was a moment of full-circle gratitude. It affirmed that the School that made me is proud to be associated with me, that the values and ethos nurtured in those classrooms still live in my actions today. QE gave me more than I could ever repay.”

Mr Enright also celebrated the presence of another special guest. It was, he said, also “lovely to have former colleague, Deborah Rivlin Bardou, a pastoral leader and history teacher at QE during Ramesh’s time as a pupil, with us to see him present the Rivlin Award for Outstanding Commitment in Year 8”. The award went to Emile Uju.

After the ceremony, all present enjoyed afternoon tea on Stapylton Field.

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Queen Elizabeth’s School Headmaster Neil Enright met the King when he attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace.

Mr Enright was representing QE at the afternoon event, hosted by the King, accompanied by Queen Camilla. It was organised to ‘celebrate and recognise those working in Education and Skills’. Mr Enright was nominated to attend by Martin Russell, Representative Deputy Lieutenant of the London Borough of Barnet, and a former QE parent.

Mr Enright said: “It was an honour to represent my exceptional colleagues – present and past – at the garden party. It was particularly special to share a moment with His Majesty on the lawn when he made a slight detour from his route to the Royal Tea Tent.

“I had the opportunity to shake hands and tell him something about Queen Elizabeth’s School. He seemed delighted to know that The Duke of Gloucester had visited us in High Barnet during our year celebrating 450 years since our foundation. As we parted, the King generously wished the School a (belated) Happy Birthday!

“It was really good fun and I was very lucky to speak to the King. The weather was perfect, too!”

Every summer, the Sovereign holds three garden parties at Buckingham Palace, and one at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Scotland. Having originally begun as a replacement for presentation parties attended by debutantes, the garden parties have evolved into a way of recognising and rewarding public service. They provide an opportunity for members of the Royal Family to meet people from all walks of life who have made a positive impact in their community.

The Headmaster thanked Mr Russell both for the nomination and for all that he and his family have contributed to support the School’s work in the past 23 years.

Mr Enright joined the Geography department at QE in September 2002. In September 2011, he was appointed the 40th Headmaster of the School. Before that appointment, he held positions as Deputy Headmaster, Assistant Headmaster, Head of Year and Head of Geography.

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The results of a survey of pupils conducted by the School reveal that nearly four-fifths are ‘very happy’ or ‘quite happy’ at QE.

Conducted as QE undertakes the process of drawing up a new School Plan to cover the next five years, the survey showed that boys enjoy learning at the School and feel safe.

Almost 80% of QE’s 1,300-plus pupils responded to the voluntary survey, which featured 30 questions on subjects ranging from online safety to School trips.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “With wellbeing and mental health such an area of concern in society at large, it was hugely encouraging to read that the vast majority of our pupils are happy and get on well with each other. Friendliness between pupils is hugely important and I am delighted to see our boys reflecting so positively on this measure.

“We will now use this survey, as well as the results of a parental survey revealed last term, to inform our thinking as we prepare QE’s development plan for 2025–2030.”

Pastorally, 94% of respondents said they felt safe at School ‘all the time’ or ‘most of the time’, while 81% enjoyed learning at School most or all of the time.

Some of the questions mirrored those set in a similar survey in 2019. In most cases, the new pupil survey results showed a small, but appreciable, uplift over of the earlier survey.

The questionnaire responses were especially emphatic in answer to the question: Please tell us how you feel the School is helping you to develop the following qualities and skills. Listed were: honesty & integrity; mutual respect & kindness; personal moral code; resilience; responsibility; self-confidence; self-discipline; self-reliance & independence. All generated overwhelmingly positive responses, from 88% to 96%.

Asked which skills they felt they were actively developing at School, pupils gave as their top answers ‘critical thinking’, ‘communication’ and ‘resilience’.

One of the greatest changes since 2019 has been the development of QE’s digital strategy and 1:1 programme. In a new question, the statement QE encourages me to make effective and safe use of internet-enabled devices generated an 84% positive response rate.

Another key area of development for the School recently has been a focus on dialogic learning: 81% agreed that ‘classroom discussions support my learning’ in every lesson or most lessons. Out of lessons, 86% agreed that they ‘regularly take part in School activities…such as clubs, sports, music and art’ – another new question.

Other responses include the following, with the percentages indicating the proportion of pupils who ‘strongly agree’ or ‘agree’ with the statements (2019 percentage in brackets):                                               

• QE encourages me to look after my physical health: 71% (64%)
• QE encourages me to look after my emotional and mental health: 78% (74%)
• There is an adult at School I can talk to if something is worrying me: 76% (56%)
• There is a good range of trips/visits made available to me: 63% (53%)
• I regularly take part in school activities outside of lessons such as clubs, sports, music and art: 86% (n/a – new question)

The survey also helps to identify areas of demand for further provision, such as more interaction with alumni for those in the Lower School to balance with the great many opportunities for support and guidance from Old Elizabethans available to those older students more imminently making decisions about their futures.

Queen Elizabeth’s School welcomed Professor Irene Tracey, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, as Guest of Honour at this year’s Senior Awards Ceremony.

Professor Tracey handed out prizes in the School Hall to around 80 award-winners drawn from Years 10, 11 & 12. The prizes covered not only the full gamut of academic subjects, but also extra-curricular activities that ranged from music to debating & public speaking, and from drama to involvement in the Combined Cadet Force.

Later, Professor Tracey delivered an address in which she urged the boys: “Put more into the world than you take out,” adding: “That is the path to happiness in its truest sense.”

Many staff and guests later commented on how engaging her speech was, highlighting especially the importance she had placed on kindness and the strength that true kindness can require.

Senior Awards 2025 began with an introduction from Headmaster Neil Enright, who, in welcoming Professor Tracey, pointed out that this year, a record number of QE pupils applied to Oxford, with 15 receiving offers – just one below last year’s all-time record high figure.

In his address, he commended the example of Sir Magdi Yacoub, a retired professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Imperial College London and pioneer of surgery to repair heart valves. “Sir Magdi successfully operated on my grandfather in the 1970s, when coronary bypass surgery was in its relative infancy and when many procedures were at an experimental phase.

“He took academic and professional risks, working at the frontier of science. When asked for his advice to young and aspiring cardiothoracic surgeons, he simply replied: ‘PPH. Passion, persistence and humility.’

“Even in an increasingly technological age – in which algorithms and AI possess so much potential – human creativity, ingenuity and imagination will continue to be important,” Mr Enright said, also thanking The Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s for providing hospitality at the event and to the Foundation Trustees for their sponsorship of the awards.

For her part, Professor Tracey encouraged the boys to use their gifts and educational privileges responsibly, and to be confident without being arrogant.

Reflecting on the wide range of activities beyond the classroom being celebrated through the awards, alongside the academic subjects, she noted the importance of keeping hold of the human in an increasingly technological and artificial world. The world had changed greatly over the past 40 years from her own school days, when there were no mobile phones, and no World Wide Web. Like Mr Enright, she mentioned AI, recognising that although it is another technological tool, it is also qualitatively different from much of what has been seen before.

Just as it had not been possible for her to predict what would happen either in the world at large or in her own career, today’s students would not be able to either. But that is exciting, she said. “After you leave school, life becomes less linear, more complex and nuanced.” The boys might have two or three quite distinct different careers.

She would return to Oxford with hope, she said, having seen the evidence of the ability of the next generation at QE. In an uncertain world, she argued that pupils could take confidence from their place in the School’s long history, urging them to be proud of it, as she, the 273rd Vice-Chancellor, was proud of her university, with its near-1,000-year history.

The evening was punctuated by musical interludes delivered by violinist Parth Jain, vocalist Rishi Watsalya and saxophonist Leo Sellis, Music award-winners in Years 10, 11 & 12 respectively.

The VIP party included the Mayor of the Borough of Barnet, Councillor Tony Vourou and the Mayoress, Mrs Caroline Vourou.

The 2025 School Captain, Simardeep Sahota, concluded the proceedings with a vote of thanks in which he not only lauded Professor Tracey’s work as a neuroscientist, but also her passion for education, and commitment to making knowledge accessible to all.

Simardeep, of Year 12, expressed gratitude to all the parents present for their support. “Thanks are also due to all the School staff for setting us so firmly on the path to success,” he added.

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