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The number of QE boys who have secured offers of places at Oxford and Cambridge has risen to a near-record 37 – a 28 per cent rise on last year’s figure of 29 offers.

“This is an outstanding total and one that we can all, collectively, be very proud of, especially in the context of an increasingly competitive climate,” said the Headmaster, Neil Enright.

The offers cover an eclectic range of subjects, from Architecture to Philosophy, including Medicine, Law, Mathematics, PPE and Engineering. Thirty boys have been offered places by Cambridge, with seven offers coming from Oxford. The offers were made by a broad range of colleges, with the biggest groups – four boys in each case – going to Downing, Fitzwilliam and King’s, all at Cambridge.

Research by the Sutton Trust has previously found that QE sends more pupils to Oxbridge than any other state school in England.

Assistant Head David Ryan said: “I know that the successful candidates and their parents are very grateful for the attention to detail that we put in at QE from the time the boys arrive in Year 7 and then throughout their time at the School.

“I must also thank those who have given a great deal of time in the run-up to the submission of applications and subsequent interviews. This includes those involved in the setting-up of extra classes and mock interviews. These, together with attendance at external events, are vital when it comes to the final decisions that colleges make in selecting the very best candidates.”

One of last summer's QE leavers has secured a prestigious £10,000 scholarship from the Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE).

Karan Dewnani (OE 2006-2013) will receive £2,500 annually during his four-year Civil and Structural Engineering MEng course at Sheffield University and undertake paid work placements with a sponsor company during the summer vacation.

The ICE’s QUEST Undergraduate Scholarships are awarded to high-calibre students who have the potential to excel as civil engineers.

Under the terms of the scholarship, Karan has to promote civil engineering in schools. In a letter to QE, he wrote: “I will be more than happy to come to School and talk more about my course and scholarship to any prospective students who choose a career in civil and structural engineering.”

He also thanked the Headmaster and the Sixth Form team “without whose help and guidance I would not have succeeded in achieving this honour from ICE”.

Since Karan received a direct scholarship from ICE and not from a partner company, he has the flexibility to choose which company he will target for his summer placements.

Further information about the scholarships is available at www.ice.org.uk/questundergrad

Three Sixth-Formers have won medals in a national competition that is only open to the country's elite young mathematicians.

Gabriel Gendler (pictured left) and Madhi Elango, of Year 13, together with Bhavik Mehta, of Year 12, were among eight QE boys who qualified for the British Senior Mathematical Olympiad Round 1.

Gabriel won a gold medal for his score of 52 points out of 60 in Round 1 of the British Mathematical Olympiad, while Madhi and Bhavik gained silver, having both scored 44. All three won a book prize – A Mathematician’s Apology by G H Hardy – and have been invited to take part in Round 2.

The eight qualified by scoring at least 100 points in the Senior UK Maths Challenge during the autumn. In total, 27 QE boys qualified for the follow-on rounds of the Challenge – either for the Olympiad, or for the Senior Kangaroo, which is open to those who scored 64 points or more.

Round 1 of the British Mathematical Olympiad consisted of six extended questions to be completed in three-and-a-half hours, while for Round 2 there are four extended questions, which must be tackled within the same time limit. The highest scorers in Round 2 are invited to participate in training for the International Mathematical Olympiad.

Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung said: “This is proving to be a vintage year for the School in these competitions. My warmest congratulations – and best wishes for the next round – go to Gabriel, Madhi and Bhavik.”

Queen Elizabeth’s School is the first in London to achieve a 100% pass rate in the English Baccaulaureate, the Government’s new league tables reveal.

All 179 GCSE pupils at QE attained the performance measure, which was introduced in 2010. Devised by Education Secretary Michael Gove, the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) requires pupils to achieve A*-C grades in English, Mathematics, at least two sciences, a foreign language and History or Geography. The only other school in the country to achieve a 100% EBacc pass rate this year is Chelmsford County High School for Girls.

The Headmaster, Neil Enright, said: “I think the EBacc results reflect our strength as a school in core academic subjects – as well, of course, as underlining a tremendous amount of hard work by our pupils, supported by very dedicated teachers.”

The league tables also confirm that 100% of last summer’s candidates at QE gained the benchmark five A*-C passes, including English and Mathematics, at GCSE.

And they reveal that the School has a high ‘value-added’ figure of 1046.5 at Key Stage 4 – indicating that pupils at 16 are achieving considerably more than might have been predicted based on their educational level at age 11. Overall, 49% of pupils at QE do not have English as their first language.

The School’s performance today attracted regional and national media interest. Speaking to the Evening Standard, Mr Enright rejected suggestions that the EBacc devalued subjects not included in the measure: “I don’t think it has to be like that. Whilst we have a traditional curriculum here, last year 40 boys took GCSE Music, 35 took Art and more than 50 took Design Technology.”

London grammar school celebrates perfect English Baccalaureate score – Evening Standard, Thursday 23 January 2014

Gove's revolution: pupils return to traditional subjects in huge numbers – The Independent, Friday 24 January 2014

The percentage of A* grades at GCSE in 2013 set a new QE record for the second consecutive year. Among the Year 11 pupils, 66% of examinations taken were awarded A*. This represents a further improvement on the 2012 figure of 63.9%, which was itself a substantial jump over the 55.3% recorded in 2011.

A-level results were also impressive, matching the record-breaking figures of the previous year. In 2013, 98.3% of A-levels taken at QE were awarded A*-B grades, while almost four in every ten examinations (39%) were given the A* grade.

The current Sixth-Formers also look set to continue the record of high achievement. The School is on track to equal its record for the number of boys sent to Oxford and Cambridge, with 37 pupils having received Oxbridge offers this year.

Seven Sixth-Formers achieved a certificate of merit at the Senior UK Maths Kangaroo after finishing in the top 25%.

A further 10 boys received a certificate of participation in the competition, which is an invitation-only, follow-on event from the Senior UK Mathematics Challenge.

The highest-scoring participants in the challenge last term qualified for Round 1 of the Senior British Olympiad – in which eight QE boys have subsequently taken part, with three winning medals. The Kangaroo is for strong challenge competitors who just missed out on places in the Olympiad; it aims to set a formidable test of mathematical ability.

It takes the form of a one-hour paper with 20 questions. All the questions require three-digit answers (using leading zeros where necessary) entered on to a machine-readable sheet similar to those used for the Senior Challenge.

“My warmest congratulations go to all involved,” said Wendy Fung, Assistant Head of Mathematics. “Both the Kangaroo and the Olympiad require first-class skills in Mathematics.”

QE’s highest Kangaroo scorer from Year 12 was Vaheshan Ramaneswaran, with 80 out of 100; the highest scorer from Year 13 was Abhishek Mukherjee, with 65 out of 100.  The other boys who achieved merit certificates were all from Year 12: Andrew Hui (65), Tianlin Zhang (65), Alex Zanre (60), Aronya Roy (60) and Kieran Chan (60).

Certificates of merit are awarded to the top 25% and certificates of participation to the other competitors.