Broughton take it back! The red House comes top after grinding it out in a gruelling points battle

Broughton ousted last year’s winners, Harrisons’, to reclaim the Eric Shearly Cup following an exciting year of inter-House competition.

The trophy for the winning House overall returned to Broughton, the 2024 winners (and the winners of this year’s Sports Day). It was presented as the climax at the end-of-year House assembly.

Broughton Captain Paarth Aggarwal, of Year 12, said theirs was no easy victory: “At one point, we were in fourth position. However, we persevered and made the ultimate comeback to take the trophy. It means a lot, as it shows our hard work and resilience have paid off.”

The House competition involves points being awarded for competitions across academic, sporting and co-curricular events.

The assembly celebrated these events and others that form part of QE Flourish, the School’s co-curricular programme, which this year featured 186 educational visits and events, encompassing 6,844 pupil participation slots.

There were innovations – including the first Latin translation competition – along with continuing initiatives, such as QE Together, a joint community service project involving senior pupils from QE and Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School. QE Together this year raised money for Home-Start Barnet, Brent and Harrow, which offers emotional and practical support to families.

Pupil-run activities are increasingly prominent at the School. QE Flourish Clubs & Societies Awards went to: Hiyaan Maru, of Year 7 (Marvel Club); Vivaan Gupta, of Year 9 (Coding Club); and Rishan Virmani, Year 11 (Law Society).

Earlier this year, pupils travelled to Canada for skiing, Iceland (Geography), France and Germany (including language exchanges but also trips related to subjects such as History and Latin), and The Netherlands (rugby).  There are also summer visits to Czechia (Music), Tobago (cricket), and Borneo (a World Challenge expedition).

The assembly celebrated the remarkable feats of the School’s chess players. QE made history as the first school ever to have two teams in the 30-team national final of the English Schools Chess Championship, where the A team went on to be crowned national champions.

This year’s film-related House Music competition, House Music to the Movies, raised more than £1,000 towards new equipment.

The House Cup is named after Eric Shearly (1920–2005), a former pupil and teacher who spent a total of 76 years at the School. The Shearly Hall, opened in 2009, is also named after him.