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Five QE boys got to grips with cutting-edge aerospace technologies at a summer residential after triumphing in a spring competition.

The group headed to Shropshire for the Summer Time Advanced Aerospace Residency (STAAR), at RAF Cosford, near Shifnal, and the nearby RAF Museum, learning from industry experts in a packed five-day programme.

Head of Digital Teaching and Learning Michael Noonan said: “It was fantastic to see students take the initiative and independently apply for the STAAR programme. The five were amongst a wide cohort who applied for a place on this highly prestigious residential, and from speaking with them on their return from the holidays, I know it has only further ignited a passion in them for careers and study in STEM-related subjects.”

The organisers of the event included education technology consultancy Tablet Academy (TA) Education. After the camp, its Head of Training, Samantha O’Leary, wrote to Mr Noonan full of praise for the QE boys: “They are a funny, confident, thoughtful, and intelligent bunch who integrated incredibly well with the students from the other schools. So much so, you wouldn’t have known they were from different schools at all. They were fantastic representatives for the school, and it was a pleasure to work with them.”

The QE five were among only 40 winners of the competition, which was open to those in Year 9 in 2022–2023. They were Keeyan Shah, Kyle Goldband, Neil Kulkarni, Keshav Aggarwal and Ishaan Mishra.

Keeyan said: “The STAAR residential was greatly enjoyable. We had an action-packed week filled with fun activities from coding a drone to flying a plane simulator. It was an amazing experience.”

Neil said: “We did quite a few activities at the residential, most of which included extremely high-tech tools. These included some things such as flight ‘sims’ and wind tunnels. We also had a chance to see roughly what living in an RAF base was like, with the mess hall and gym and things like that. Overall, it was an extremely fun, informative and unique opportunity and a highlight of our holidays.”

Keshav described the camp as a “a hands-on experience showing aerospace engineering and aeronautical design”. It was, he said, an “an eye-opening experience which will stay with me forever”.

Neil added that it was not just the academic aspects of the trip that he enjoyed: “Meeting people from other schools who had won the competition was very cool, talking about their school and just meeting new people in general. And then the residency itself – living with our friends – was very fun and the responsibilities of living without parents to help was a big realisation.”

The competition to secure their places involved completing four STEM tasks relating to: decryption/encryption; reconnaissance; creating a CAD model, and creating a team presentation.

Organised in partnership with TA Education, the camp was sponsored by Northrop Grumman – a huge American defence and aerospace company formed by Northrop Aircraft’s 1994 acquisition of Grumman Aerospace, which built the Apollo programme’s lunar module.

The boys stayed with chaperones and followed a course delivered at both the RAF Museum and RAF Cosford by: the museum’s STEM Ambassadors; industry experts from Northrop Grumman; TA professionals and RAF STEM personnel.

QE pupil Hisham Khan has been named the UK winner of an international space competition and reached the top 5% of competitors from around 100 nations across the world.

In addition to taking first place in the UK, Hisham, who goes into Year 11 this week, won a Gold Honour in the International Astronomy and Astrophysics Competition for his performance internationally.

Other awards in the competition went to Shreyas Mone, who is entering Year 12, and to Queen Elizabeth’s School itself.

Assistant Head (Pupil Involvement) Crispin Bonham-Carter said: “Competitions are an excellent way of challenging pupils to give of their best and learn more about a field in which they are interested. My congratulations go to Hisham on his success – a reward for all the hard work he put in.”

The International Astronomy and Astrophysics Competition (IAAC) is a science competition that attracts thousands of competitors annually.

To achieve his success, Hisham had to negotiate the qualification round (five astronomy problems) and pre-final round (six problems, two of which involve engaging with recent scientific research). These, he says, mostly involved Physics calculations relating to space.

The final round, a multiple-choice online examination with 20 questions, was more about astrophysics knowledge. To prepare, he looked at previous years’ questions and also read around the subject. The round was sat online at home, but recorded to prove there had been no cheating.

Hisham, who hopes to take Mathematics and Physics at A-level after his GCSEs next year, plans to maintain his interest in astrophysics.

In announcing the results, a representative of the IAAC team said Hisham had “achieved outstanding results throughout the tournament despite very fierce competition”.

Hisham himself was modest in victory: “This was a new topic, but one I find interesting. I was surprised to be the top performer in the UK, which went beyond what I was hoping for.”

The IAAC organisers also reward those who support the competition. Shreyas Mone, who is an IAAC ambassador, was the sole winner internationally of the Award for Most Finalists, while QE similarly took the sole School Award for Most Finalists.

Robotics at QE went international as never before this summer, with no fewer than nine teams heading to the VEX World Championships in Texas and then, in the last week of term, a visit from the reigning senior Australian champions.

The six IQ (Year 8 and 9) and three VRC (Year 10) teams picked up a string of trophies in Dallas, while also taking time to sample the sights of the city.

Back in Barnet, the Australians’ visit was a meeting of champions, since the Australian VRC winners among the party from Barker College, Sydney, had the chance to rub shoulders with QE’s Team Nova, crowned at this year’s UK’s VRC national finals in Telford.

Head of Digital Teaching & Learning Michael Noonan said: “A last-minute opportunity arose to host the Australians, which gave talented robotics students from different sides of the world an opportunity to share ideas and best practice, and to plan for the season ahead in a symposium-style event.

“It was a great way to end a year which has seen large numbers of our boys take part in regional, national and international events, enjoying great experiences and achieving some notable triumphs, including Team Nova winning the UK tournament championship.

“2022–2023 was also a year of firsts: it included a visit in the spring to the inaugural VEX Robotics Signature Event in Las Vegas (attended by our Year 12 squads unable to attend the World Championships because of their Summer Term public examinations), and our teams being named winners or runners-up in nine separate VEX Robotics Online Challenges – which made QE the most successful organisation in the world in this format.”

The 60-strong group of 15–17 year-old Australians called in during their trip to London and Paris. Their school, Barker College, is a large, high-achieving independent school on the North Shore of Sydney.

In a message to the School before the visit, Barker College Design & Technology teacher Kevin Jones wrote: “Our teachers and students can’t get their heads around the fact you were founded in 1573!” This, he pointed out, was fully 200 years before Captain James Cook became the first European to sail along the Eastern coast of Australia.

At the World Championships in Dallas, the younger QE boys’ trophy haul included a trio of awards for Team Gearsquad and a Create Award for Year 8’s TechnoGear.

At the senior level, the 19 VRC competitors collectively came away with six awards, including an Inspire Award and the Promote Video Online Challenge Award.  Two of the three teams – Nova and Shattersquad – battled through tough early competition and successfully made it through to their divisional knockout stages.

During their time in Dallas, QE pupils: visited attractions including the Illusion Museum and Dallas Aquarium; paid their respects at the John F Kennedy memorial site (the US President was assassinated in Dallas in 1963), and enjoyed the spectacular views from the top of the iconic Reunion Tower.

3D printing entrepreneur Arian Aghababaie, co-founder of California-based Holo, shared insights into the latest developments in additive manufacturing and gave advice on engineering careers when he led two inspirational events at QE during a visit to the UK.

After working for global software firm Autodesk, based in San Francisco, Arian (OE 1998–2003) raised venture capital and successfully spun out its additive manufacturing team to form Holo, while also transitioning its technology from the 3D printing of polymers to metals. Six-and-a-half years later, Holo is at the forefront of innovation, using its proprietary digital platform to enable the manufacturing at scale of high-performance parts across a range of materials, including metals, ceramics and composites. Holo is supported by top-tier Silicon Valley investors and strategic partners.

Arian’s morning at QE began with a tour of the School, before he led a Sixth Form additive manufacturing workshop, with five of QE’s own 3D printers on hand. Later, he delivered a lunchtime talk, giving his take on careers in engineering and 3D printing.

Head of Technology Michael Noonan said: “Arian provided Year 12 with a workshop which firstly covered his professional journey to date, from his early days post PhD working on founding his own company (The Invention Works) through to his position as Senior Principal Engineer at Autodesk. Most of the workshop, however, focussed on his current company, Holo. He explained that he and the other co-founders could see the enormous potential to create a viable business in this area and so pursued it as an opportunity.”

Arian went on to explain the details around the scale of production, the materials used and the fidelity of the products which Holo’s machines can make through its own PureForm Technology.

“His technologies have a unique advantage over competitors, and he works with many major companies in the healthcare, consumer electronics, robotics, and automotive sectors, to name a few,” said Mr Noonan.

He even set the Year 12 boys a challenge to develop a product using QE’s own 3D printers. They should design (and perhaps build) a scaled-up, minimally invasive surgical instrument. His requirements were that:

• The instrument should have six degrees of freedom
• It should be able to be cable or gear-driven
• The boys’ work should include the design of at least two custom end-effectors (the devices at the end of a robotic arm, designed to interact with the environment)
• They should determine its size and features based on the capabilities of their own printers.

Bonus points were offered for the designs with the fewest components and if the end-effectors could be easily changed within the same clevis pin (part of a fastener system)!

Two examples of the boys’ work in response to the challenge are shown here.

In the lunchtime talk to Year 10, Arian took a more personal look at his story, beginning with his time at QE, when he was in Stapylton House and was a musician and prefect.

After first presenting a version of his life which had him gliding seamlessly from his first engineering degree at Bristol to gaining his doctorate, also at Bristol, moving to San Francisco in 2016 and then founding Holo the following year, he next spoke about “what it’s actually been like” – a narrative that includes leaving QE early, dropping out of university, the financial crash and the huge impact of Covid.

The lessons he learned included “stay true to your authentic self” and “don’t fear failure”.

The visit came about after Headmaster Neil Enright struck up a conversation with Arian on LinkedIn.

Mr Noonan said: “It really was a tremendous day. One of the boys involved said to me afterwards: ‘Sir, are you aware that Arian is working in the job we all dream to have one day?’ I am immensely grateful to Arian for taking the time to give back to his School and for giving our students something amazing to aspire to.”

As many of QE’s Vex robotics teams pit themselves against the best on the planet this term at the world championships in Dallas, the senior boys in the VRC competition are celebrating strong performances at their national finals.

This year, QE sent six teams to the VRC National Championships at Telford International Centre for the first time. With six junior teams also making the journey, Queen Elizabeth’s School had more teams at the national finals than any other organisation.

Head of Technology Michael Noonan said the senior teams headed for Telford with the feeling that a national championship might be on the cards for the first time since 2020 – and so it proved! After the tough final stages, Year 10’s Team Nova duly took the crown.

“Our Nova team did tremendously well. They started very strongly out of the blocks, then slipped down the rankings on day two, before coming back strongly and mustering a great performance in the final to clinch the title,” said Mr Noonan. “My congratulations also go to our other senior performers, who include those in Year 12 who did well, but are unable to go to the world championships because of this term’s public examinations.”

The QE boys benefitted from the support of corporate sponsor, Kingston Technology, sporting QE hoodies bearing the Kingston logo.

Nova competed along with three other Year 10 teams – Typhoon, Oblivion and Shattersquad – and two Year 12 teams, Hybrid and Tempest.

The teams were split evenly between the Lovelace and Brunel divisions in the competition at Telford. While the older teams struggled a little, not least because of problems caused by some last-minute adjustments, Nova and Typhoon began well.

On day two, some high-scoring losses sent Nova and Hybrid down the rankings, but Nova, together with Team Tempest, managed to consolidate their positions in the Skills challenge, with the former finishing second and Team Tempest climbing to fifth.

At the conclusion of the divisional group stages, Team Nova were fourth in the Brunel division. QE’s best performance in the Lovelace division came from Typhoon, who were fifth.

As the final stages progressed, high-performing QE sides found themselves facing each other, with Typhoon defeating Shattersquad in a Lovelace quarter-final and Nova beating Hybrid in a Brunel semi-final.

“This paved the way for teams from QE to participate in both divisional finals, and the real possibility of an all-QE national final between the winners in each division,” said Mr Noonan.

It was not to be, however. After a complicated series of events started when illegal parts were spotted on another team’s robot, Typhoon had to battle against the disadvantage of having to disable part of their own robot. They fought bravely alongside their alliance partner, but in the end, lost their deciding game by a single point, 133-134. “Divisional runners up, their pride was still intact and they learned a great deal from this experience,” said Mr Noonan.

Nova and their alliance partner had a tough final, but having won their first match 153-143, they went on to a final score of 195-143 to secure the much-coveted national championship. Nova also took a Build award and Hybrid a Design award.

A group of sixth-formers enjoyed the privilege of a special day at the Shoreditch offices of Amazon Web Services, where leaders shared their insights into the fast-moving technological world they inhabit.

The boys were special guests at one of AWS’s monthly re:Purpose days, on which AWS staff are encouraged to get involved in projects and initiatives outside of their normal day-to-day work.

Ben Moss, from the Digital Native & Enterprise Software and Software as a Servicer (SaaS) Team at AWS, said: “The theme of this re:Purpose day was collaboration, so I teamed up with the Queen Elizabeth’s School to deliver an Amazon insight day for several of their students. We heard from our AWS leadership, solutions architect, graduates and apprentices, all who shared their insightful experiences within AWS.”

Praising the QE group for their preparation and commitment, Mr Moss said it had been a “brilliant day for all”.

AWS is a subsidiary of Amazon. It offers hundreds of paid-for web-based products and services to individuals and organisations.

Enterprise Business Development Representative, Ella Cooper, who organised the day, together with her colleague, Juste Mena, said the day had seen the QE visitors “diving deep into careers in the cloud”.

The boys were able to see for themselves the potential of AI. One undoubted highlight of the day was a machine-learning live demo, including Amazon Rekognition, its SaaS platform that developers can use to add image and video analysis to their applications. The QE group saw it used to identify the features of familiar neighbourhoods and of celebrities.

They also heard from Senior Manager Joe Welton and Solutions Architect, Jack Bark.

Stephanie Tomlinson, QE’s Assistant Head of Technology, said: “Interestingly, Joe and Jack had shared aspects to their career pathways. Both spoke about the series of fortuitous moments which have led to their impressive and meaningful roles within AWS, highlighting to our pupils the reason we should use and follow our gut instinct!”

Thanking the team at AWS and praising the “seamless delivery” of the day, she said the boys had benefitted from a memorable experience: “Particular themes and lessons included the importance of mindset, attitude and establishing common ground. AWS is meritocratic, rewarding dynamic individuals who show skill and a strong emotional intelligence.

“Our boys undoubtedly took away a great deal – particularly the importance of learning and being curious.”