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Year 13’s Muhammad Shah has won The Big Bang UK Young Technologist of the Year title for 2025.

His winning project, Icarus, is a decentralised telecommunication system designed for low-cost and effective emergency communications in remote areas: it was inspired by his love of the outdoors and of trekking.

Muhammad was one of 11 QE pupils to reach the finals of The Big Bang Competition.

Mark Wood, Social Sustainability Lead at sponsor Siemens GB&I, said: “Muhammad stood out with his decentralised communication system, which avoids reliance on cellular or satellite networks and has great opportunities for search and rescue, leisure and other business uses.

“Muhammad demonstrated independent learning and great communication and presentation skills and is a worthy winner of the prize!”

The Big Bang Competition, run by the EngineeringUK charity,  is open to young people in the UK aged 11-18 who are in state-funded education, are home-educated or who enter as part of a community group.

The Big Bang UK Young Technologist of the Year award recognises innovation in digital and sustainable technology. It highlights the importance of technology in various sectors, including search and rescue, leisure, and business.

Muhammad describes himself as an aspiring engineer who enjoys 3D printing, CAD modelling, printed circuit board (PCB) design and other electronics.

His project was inspired by the communication difficulties people experience in remote areas, and particularly by the need for better communication when people out trekking get into difficulty. Its decentralised approach avoids reliance on cellular or satellite networks.

With Muhammad unable to attend the Big Bang Fair at Birmingham’s NEC because of an A-level examination, the prize was instead presented at the School’s Technology Design Showcase by EngineeringUK’s Director of Communications, Beth Elgood, and Siemens’ General Manager and UK Country Lead, Hannah Winstanley. The two also agreed to serve on the judging panel at the QE event.

Tech spec: how Muhammad solved the problem

Icarus uses a custom Meshtastic PCB based on ESP32-S3 N8R8, L76K GPS and LoRa RA-01SH, designed to be fully assembled by the online PCB service provider, JLCPCB.

Meshtastic is a decentralised, off-grid network that lets users send and receive messages using affordable, low-power devices. Icarus also makes use of LoRa, a long-range radio protocol, which is widely accessible in most regions without the need for additional licences or certifications (unlike HAM radio). These radios are designed to rebroadcast messages they receive, forming a network. This setup ensures that every group member, including those at the furthest distance, can receive messages.

Three Year 12 pupils successfully hosted what is believed to have been QE’s first-ever Medicine conference.

The one-day event gave pupils the chance to hear from leading doctors across a range of specialisms – several of whom are involved in medical research – and to talk to current medical students.

In 2024, a total of 38 QE leavers secured university places to read Medicine.

Featuring talks and networking opportunities, the conference, called MedConnect 2025, was organised by Soham Kale, Surya Senthilkumar and Sharvesh Sudhagar, with support from Head of Year 12 Akhil Gohil and other staff.

“We designed this networking event to give our future medics a deeper and wider understanding of what medicine and its specialties truly involve – beyond the textbook,” said Soham.

“This was achieved through a series of insightful talks delivered by some of the most inspiring doctors and medical students we could have asked for, followed by a vibrant networking session in our atrium.”

Among the guests was Old Elizabethan Dr Akash Gandhi (2005–2012), a GP and founder of TheUKCATPeople, which coaches young people to help them gain places at UK medical, dental and veterinary schools.

The other guests and speakers at the conference, which was based in the Friends’ Recital Hall, were:

• Dr Mark Kristiansen – Head of Genomics (UCL)
• Dr Giulio Anichini – Neurosurgeon (Imperial College London)
• Dr Thendral Murugesan – Consultant gastroenterologist (Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust)
• Dr Jayanta Banerjee – Neonatal consultant (St Mary’s Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust)
• Dr Arangan Kirubakaran – Neonatal registrar (St Mary’s Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust)
• Gayathri Giritharan – Third-year medical student (Imperial College London)
• Vanathi Pugalendhi – Third-year medical student (Imperial College London).

Soham added: “Organising and hosting this event was a huge learning experience. From coordinating speakers and logistics to dealing with last-moment changes under pressure, it has pushed me to grow as both a team-player and a communicator. It also reaffirmed my passion for Medicine – not just as a career, but as a field built on human connection and constant learning.”

He thanked the speakers and the QE staff who supported the trio behind the conference, especially Mr Gohil: “His unwavering support and guidance made this entire event possible. Throughout this process, you constantly challenged us to reflect, question and develop – helping us grow not only in our leadership but also as people.”

Sixth-former Harik Sodhi took a silver medal and was the highest-ranked performer from western Europe at the 55th International Physics Olympiad in Paris.

Harik is not only the first-ever QE pupil to receive a silver medal at the IPhO, but is also thought to be the best-performing UK student in the competition since 2010. He came 49th out of 420 competitors from 89 countries.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “We are all extremely proud of Harik: simply to reach the IPhO is a tremendous achievement, so to go on and make QE history by taking silver in Paris is really quite remarkable!”

Although entrants compete as individuals, they are placed in national teams. Harik was part of a five-strong UK team, all of whom won medals. Three took bronze, while one, Ojas Tiwari, a pupil at St Olave’s Grammar School in Kent, was another silver winner, albeit with a lower score and ranking than Harik’s. Medals were awarded to the top 208 competitors.

Harik, who has been offered a place to read Engineering Science at Christ Church, Oxford, said: “This achievement would not have been possible without the support, mentorship, and encouragement of many people along the way — I’m deeply grateful to everyone who helped me reach this point.

“I would also like to congratulate my fellow competitors on all getting medals, which is a tremendous achievement at such a prestigious competition!”

His points total of 29.3 comprised 21.0 points from the theory section of the competition and 8.3 from the experimental problems section.

During the seven days of the IPhO, visits to the Chateau de Versailles and the Orsay Museum and a cruise on the Seine were organised for competitors.

To reach the IPhO, Harik progressed through three rounds of the British Physics Olympiad. He was selected for the UK team from among 14 high-fliers after putting in a strong performance at a selection camp in Oxford. He subsequently was invited along to a final training camp with his UK teammates at Trinity College, Cambridge.

The BPhO was founded in 1979 and it is believed that QE first started giving boys the opportunity to take part in the competition in around 2005. Over the intervening years, a handful of QE boys have reached the national team.

In 2013, Mahdi Elango was a bronze medal-winner at the International Physics Olympiad in Copenhagen. The following year, Aniruddh Raghu took bronze at the IPhO in Astana, Kazakhstan. And in 2015, Robert Swan also won bronze, at the IPhO in Mumbai, India.

Every pupil and all members of staff enjoyed the opportunity to get out and about during this year’s Flourish Festival.

The summer festival, part of QE’s Flourish co-curricular programme, offers boys a range of enriching trips away from the Queen’s Road campus.

It is designed to make the most of QE’s position on the suburban fringe of London – close to surrounding rural counties, yet also within easy reach of the capital’s world-leading attractions.

Assistant Head (Pupil Involvement) Crispin Bonham-Carter said: “We want boys to take time out from the classroom and relax a little at the end of the academic year, while also enabling them to learn something new – whether that’s about the venue they visit, or about their own strengths and abilities.”

Flourish Festival days out this year included: Year 7 at Whipsnade Zoo; Verulamium Roman Museum in St Albans (Year 8); and the Science Museum (Year 9).

The Headmaster, Neil Enright, went with half of Year 8, as they visited the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. “Like all QE boys, they were terrific company and it was a joy to be with them,” he said.

Year 10 learned about the Cold War as they visited Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker, near Brentwood, Essex, which was built in 1952–1953 and decommissioned in 1992.

Physical exercise was to the fore as Year 7 enjoyed letting off steam on a charity sponsored walk in the local countryside and Year 12 went on a hike in the Chilterns.

Year 9 looked to the skies on a visit to RAF Hendon, while Shakespeare took centre-stage when Year 12 went to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Bridge Theatre and Year 10 to watch Romeo and Juliet at the Globe.

Head of English Robert Hyland: “Our now annual trips to the Globe make the Flourish festival one of my favourite weeks of the year. It may have all the trappings of a 17th-century playhouse, but plays are still being explored in very modern ways.”

• Click on the thumbnails to view the images.

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.

• To view the images, click on the thumbnails below.

Having stormed through their regional round earlier this year, four QE pupils went on to take overall second place in the national final of the prestigious UK Maths Trust’s Team Maths Challenge.

The four, who were competing against 71 other teams, took second place overall in the final, held at the Royal Horticultural Halls in central London.

They performed strongly throughout the five rounds and were even shortlisted for a special, separate prize awarded for the poster round.

Head of Mathematics Jessica Steer said: “We are thrilled and immensely proud at the achievement of our four talented mathematicians who represented the School with such distinction on the national stage.

“Their calm and focused approach under pressure paid off brilliantly, securing our School second place in the country — an incredible achievement that reflects their hard work and passion for Mathematics.”

Representing QE were: Year 8’s Arya Hombal and Noble Laturia, along with Liam Chen and Advik Gupta, both of Year 9. They are pictured, top, with UK Maths Trust Vice Chair Steve Mulligan.

The national final followed 47 Team Maths Challenge events throughout the UK earlier this year.

It was the first post-pandemic national final: the last was held in 2019. Teams travelled from as far as the Scottish Highlands, Channel Islands and Northern Ireland. There were also seven guest teams from China.

The event consisted of five demanding rounds: the Group Circus, Shuttle, Crossnumber, Relay, and Poster rounds. The rounds are designed to test mathematical thinking, teamwork and resilience.

Overall first place went to The Perse School, Cambridge, while behind QE in third place were another independent school, Haberdashers’ Boys’.

Although QE has achieved success in the main Team Maths Challenge competition before, according to Head of Academic Administration, Wendy Fung, who was involved with Mathematics competitions for many years, the shortlisting for the poster competition is a QE first.