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This month’s edition of the Econobethan, entitled Halfway to Tomorrow, looks both backwards and forwards.

QE’s student-run Economics journal reflects in its first section on the profound changes of the past five years, looking especially at the lasting impact of the pandemic.

In its later pages, the focus shifts to the future – although not without exploring the current moment in global affairs: there is extensive coverage of the impact of US President Donald Trump’s economic actions since he took office.

Economics teacher Celia Wallace said: “The students have outdone themselves with this 22nd edition, which is a thought-provoking exploration of the economic, social, and political transformations shaping our world in 2025 and beyond.”

The 36-page publication features 20 articles from boys in the senior years. The contributors, all drawn from Year 10 and above, include the editorial team, which comprises four Year 12 A-level economists: Zain Ahmed; Shourya Garg; Adithya Raghuraman; and Shuban Singh.

In their introduction, the team draw attention to how the global economy has changed since the pandemic – “a world reshaped by necessity”.

As to the future, it is “exciting yet unnerving”. They highlight the challenges presented by a “global duality”, with “the promise of growth-driving technological advancement through global cooperation standing in stark contrast to rising nationalist protectionism.

“As you delve into these pages, the editorial team encourages you – the readers – to ponder on the ideas you’re introduced to. Beyond merely predicting our collective future, some of these voices may help shape it,” the four editors conclude.

The first section of the Econobethan examines shifts in consumer behaviour, supply chain disruptions, and evolving labour markets. It offers a nuanced analysis of how different industries have adapted – some thriving, while others continue to navigate post-pandemic uncertainty.

The articles include:

• The COVID-19 Recovery: A Flop? by Adam Liang, Year 12
• The Israel-Hamas Conflict by Jasmaan Sahota, Year 11
• The Rise of Remote Working by Advay Bhat, Year 11.

The second section assesses the economic implications of current geopolitical events and covers topics such as nuclear risks, potential trade wars, technological growth, and sustainability challenges.

Here is a sample of the titles of the 12 articles in this section:

• Slowbalisation: The Advent of a New Trade War by Vu-Lam Le-Nguyen, Year 11
• The Political and Economic Impact of Refugees by Muhamad Mohamed, Year 12
• The Future of Growth: Tech by 2030 by Daksh Vinnakota, Year 12.

Those with access to the School’s eQE portal can read the Econobethan here.

Following his success in an international artificial intelligence competition, Year 11’s Paarth Aggarwal has now spoken at a globally acclaimed education technology exhibition and show.

Technology giant Intel asked Paarth to speak at the 2025 BETT UK after he took the national title in his age category in last year’s Intel AI Global Impact Festival. He won after impressing judges with his multi-lingual Navigate Ninja app, which uses storytelling and animated video to offer personalised learning to children with autism.

Paarth spoke in a session in the arena at the Docklands ExCel convention centre entitled Getting real about AI. “Intel requested me to talk about my project, passion, challenges encountered, value delivered, and the next steps I am taking in scaling up this solution on to the global stage,” he said.

After preparing heavily for his talk, he began by introducing himself as a QE student and then said: “I am extremely passionate about technology as I strongly believe that it has the potential to solve almost any problem that humanity ever faces.”

Reflecting afterwards, he said it had been “an overwhelming and once-in-a-lifetime experience. Speaking in front of such a large audience was an incredible opportunity to share my passion for leveraging the new-age technology, such as AI, GenAI [Generative AI], NLP [Natural Language Processing], cloud computing etc. to transform education. I talked about how my GenAI-powered app could empower millions of people around the world through personalised learning.”

It was, he added, a “golden opportunity to exchange thoughts, ideas and suggestions with my fellow Intel presenters, technocrats, industry leaders, and renowned organisations”.

Paarth explained that people with autism and with similar disabilities often struggle with the processing of information, making correct inferences, developing reading skills, and understanding information. He realised that existing methods of learning offer insufficiently peronalised learning. “Therefore, I developed an app which allows autistic individuals to have 24/7 access to personalised learning, multilingual learning in the language of choice, wider subject choices, and animations for enhanced comprehension and retention.”

With a basic form of his app now available on the Google play store, Paarth is working on connecting with investors and technology partners. “My next step is to refine the app and release it to a wider audience to allow millions of people from all over the world to have access to personalised and improved learning for free.”

A record 90 old boys and other friends of the School this year conducted more than 150 individual university mock interviews for pupils as part of the QE Futures programme.

This tally does not include the many mock interviews held by QE teachers, both for their own students and for pupils at three other schools, nor does it include a range of other interview support measures for aspiring medics, Oxbridge candidates and others in Year 13.

The programme aims to build on last year’s record of university success, with 54 boys securing places at Oxford or Cambridge and with 55% of all QE leavers receiving offers from a university ranked in the QS World Top 5.

Assistant Head (Pupil Destinations) James Kane, who leads the QE Futures programme, said: “We seek to provide detailed preparation for all our students applying to university, maximising their chances of obtaining offers on the most sought-after courses at some of the world’s top educational institutions.

“Last year, a record 90% of QE applicants were called to interview at Oxford and Cambridge. Many exciting course offers have already been made this year, with a very strong number of Oxford offers. We await further news and will then support students with confirming their preferences. We are most grateful to all those OEs and other friends of the School who support the process so generously. ”

As an introduction to the interview season, in November Gwyneth Hamand, the London Outreach Officer for Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, delivered an in-School workshop for 50 of QE’s Oxford and Cambridge applicants, giving them insight into what to expect from the interview process.

That was followed by a visit from Old Elizabethan doctors and entrepreneurs Kavi Samra and Paul Jung (both 2008–2015). The pair held interviews in School over three days for all 33 medical applicants as part of the QE Futures Pathways to Medicine programme.

Separately, Mr Kane and Head of Biology Gillian Ridge together led a session with 20 aspiring medics, taking them through mock Multiple Mini Interviews. (MMIs are used by medical schools to test a wide range of skills and assess potential candidates.)

More generally, Year 13 students have been undertaking mock university practice in lessons, and developing their confidence and articulacy during a series of inter-class debates.

Among those who have benefitted are two pupils applying to read Mathematics at Cambridge. Shreyaas Sandeep said: “I found the mock interviews to be extremely helpful, as they provided a unique insight into the process and helped me understand which areas of the subject I should focus on.”

Classmate Saim Khan added: “The mock interview was an excellent opportunity to get firsthand experience in the university admissions process from someone who had been through the exact same steps only two years prior. The OE who interviewed me was very knowledgeable, more than willing to help, and extremely thorough!”

QE staff liaise with teachers at The Henrietta Barnett School and Highgate School to provide the respective schools’ pupils with mock interview practice. In addition, QE teachers give their time to provide online mock interviews for students from Ashmole Academy in Barnet.

• The next major event in the QE Futures calendar is the School’s Careers Convention on Wednesday 12th February. Like the mock interviews, the convention is always heavily supported by Old Elizabethans, who provide current pupils with the benefit of their individual experience and with sector-specific careers advice.

Queen Elizabeth’s School starts 2025 with this year’s School Captain, Simardeep Sahota, at the head of a new team of some 130 prefects.

Simardeep (pictured centre), who was appointed recently by Headmaster Neil Enright, will be supported by Senior Vice-Captains Adithya Raghuraman (right) and Keon Robert (left). The new team are all drawn from Year 12.

Mr Enright said: “My congratulations go to Simardeep, Adithya and Keon. Simardeep joins a long line of Captains of Queen Elizabeth’s School dating back to at least 1876. I am sure he will distinguish himself in the role and add lustre to our proud traditions.

“I also congratulate all the prefects: this year group as a whole are notable for being pleasant to deal with, kind and full of character.”

Head of Year 12 Akhil Gohil gave his own assessment of the top three. “Simardeep is a natural leader; he’s impressive, courteous, confident, and well-respected among his peers. Adithya is intelligent, empathetic and creative. Keon is thoughtful, hard-working and has a strong moral compass.”

The appointments reflect the positive contribution the pupils have made to QE and the regard in which they are held by classmates and the School staff.

The prefects not only play an essential role in the smooth running of the School, but they are also inspiring role models for younger boys.

The top three are supported by five pairs of Vice-Captains as the most senior prefects. They are pictured here, together with Simardeep, Adithya and Keon. The 2025 Vice-Captains, with their areas of responsibility, are:

• Samrath Sareen and Sasen Kankanamge Don – charity & community engagement
• Felix Calder and Suhaas Sabbella – equality, diversion & inclusion
• Aadam Aslam and Oscar Ayodele – enrichment & involvement
• Akhilesh Karthikeyan and Ved Nair – environment
• Krutarth Behera and Simi Bloom – student voice.

Reacting to his appointment, Simardeep wrote: “I am deeply honoured and grateful to Mr Enright for entrusting me with this incredible opportunity. Knowing that both my peers and the staff see me as worthy of this role is truly humbling—and it inspires me to give it my absolute best. With such a talented and committed team by my side, I am confident that we’ll accomplish great things together in the year ahead. A big congratulations to everyone who’s part of the prefect team!”

Drama features for the first time in the 12th edition of The Arabella – QE’s pupil-run creative magazine.

Drama joins art, music, poetry & other creative writing, politics, science and foreign languages & linguistics as areas covered, with the latest edition focusing on an overall theme of Expression.

The theme has been widely interpreted by the boys. Their hugely diverse contributihassanons range from a poetic exploration by one of the School’s younger pupils, Huy Bui, of the famous opening line of Hamlet’s soliloquy, ‘To be or not to be’, through to a coruscating take on the Democrats’ performance in the recent US election written by another Year 7 pupil, Hassan Omer.

The boys were assisted by a staff team including Library Services Assistant Corinna Illingworth. She said: “The student editorial team have once again produced a high-quality publication. There is surely something to interest everyone in its 54 pages: in exploring the theme of Expression, the boys have expressed themselves creatively and in very diverse ways!”

The magazine is named after Arabella Stuart, fourth in line to the throne, who in 1610 secretly married William Seymore, a descendant of Henry VII and himself sixth-in-line to the throne. To prevent any chance of a Tudor attempt to seize the crown from the Stuarts, James I sent Seymore to the Tower of London and committed Arabella to the care of the Bishop of Durham. Her connection to the School is that she stayed for some months in Barnet in the house of Thomas Conyers, a QE Governor, after falling ill en route to Durham, while Rev. Matthias Milward, a Governor and subsequently Master of the School, attended to her spiritual needs.

Anyone with access to the eQE portal may read The Arabella here.

Head Editor Timi Banjo, of Year 12, leads a 12-strong team of editors and advertising managers drawn from the senior year groups. He said: “This edition of The Arabella captures the spirit of creativity, exploration, and expression that defines our school community.”

Year 11’s Soham Sapra got the drama content off to a good start with an essay on the ‘spell-binding performance’ of comedian Robin Williams’ in his voice-acting for Disney’s 1992 animated film, Aladdin.

Here is a small selection of the many other contributions:

• The above artwork produced by Year 11’s Kyaan Syed
• A poem by Danyal Rahim, of Year 10, extolling the praises of sweets and chocolate
• Year 10 boy Nikhil Francine’s analysis of Sibelius’ Violin Concerto
• A piece of creative writing by Elijah Bedion, of Year 7, entitled The Window
• Year 11 pupil Vu-Lam Le-Nguyen’s exploration of The Intertwined
• Lexicons of France and its Former Colonies
• Sixth-former Harshith Sharavana’s account of the work of 19^th-century doctor Ignaz Semmelweis in introducing antiseptic procedures in hospitals and thus reducing fatal infections
• A short Classics essay by Felix Calder, of Year 12, on Is Roman Satire a genuine expression of feelings? A defence of Juvenal’s Satire 6.