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The School’s younger pupils amassed a remarkable tally of 16 medals in this year’s Junior Maths Olympiad – 8% of all the prizes issued throughout the whole of the UK.

The five gold, seven silver and four bronze medals went to boys from Years 7 and 8 (entering Years 8 and 9 respectively in September) who were among the 62 QE pupils to sit the Olympiad. They qualified for it by achieving a strong score in the earlier Junior Maths Challenge (JMC) round.

Kirtan Shah, Assistant Head of Mathematics, said: “To have 16 of our students achieve medals in the Olympiad is an exceptional milestone so early in their mathematical journeys. Given that the UK Maths Trust only awards medals to the top 200 scorers across the entire country – the top 40 gold, the next 60 silver and the next 100 bronze –this is a phenomenal, élite achievement.”

He added: “We are incredibly proud of our entire Year 7 and 8 cohorts, who recently sat the Junior Maths Challenge. This competition is a wonderful opportunity to stretch our pupils and encourage them to embrace complex problem-solving.

“Whether securing a national medal or tackling the very first round, every single pupil demonstrated tremendous perseverance, enthusiasm, and a willingness to embrace a challenge. Congratulations to everyone involved!”

QE pupils qualified in some numbers for both follow-on rounds of the JMC – the Junior Mathematical Olympiad and the Junior Kangaroo. QE’s 62 Olympiad qualifiers had to fight off competition from around 1,140 pupils qualifying nationally from the JMC each year.

The Olympiad consisted of a two-hour challenge comprising six questions.

The medal-winners also received a certificate and a book, A Problem Solver’s Handbook by Andrew Jobbings, which provides guidance for those entering the UKMT’s competitions for slightly older pupils, including the Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad.

The medal-winners were:

• Gold (pictured top): Year 7 – Giritrah Ghosh, Sasha Karunaratne and Adhruth Parlattaya; Year 8 – Noah Bai and Huy Bui
• Silver (middle image): Year 7 – Siddhant Sharma; Year 8 – Ehan Islam, Anirvinn Lakshmipuram Sudarshan, Arjun Mulamalla, Duc Ta, Arthur Wang and Xuen Wu
• Bronze; Year 7 – Hercules Li, Ekansh Ponnaganti and Harry Xuan; Year 8’s Dhruv Srinath.

The junior boys’ successes follows strong QE performances in both the Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad and in the British Mathematical Olympiad itself, which is considered the UK’s hardest youth Maths competition. Two of this summer’s leavers, Hisham Khan and Joshua Wilkinson, reached the second round of the BMO, with Hisham named among the top 25% of the élite competitors in that final round. In the Intermediate Maths Olympiad, Year 10’s Liam Chen won a gold medal, which placed him in the top 20 nationally.

Queen Elizabeth’s School has been named an Accredited Archimedes Mathematical Thinking School.

Bestowed by the organisation behind the Archimedes Awards Maths competition, the title recognises the School’s “outstanding commitment to mathematical thinking, intellectual curiosity, problem-solving and educational excellence”.

QE is one of only ten schools nationwide, across both the state and independent sectors, named among the latest recipients of this title. Its new status recognises not only the achievements of individual pupils, but also the environment created by the School’s leadership, teaching staff, and others.

Head of Mathematics Jessica Steer said: “I celebrate all the hard work of students and staff in our Maths community that has led to us gaining this accreditation.”

QE boys have enjoyed considerable success in the competition. They were overseen by Maths teacher Sammy Zhu, who liaised with the Archimedes Awards teams,

“I would like to thank Ms Zhu for all the work she has done to allow us to become so well recognised,” said Ms Steer.

The accreditation follows the completion of this year’s competition cycle and a review by the organisation’s academic council.

In its citation sent to QE, the Archimedes Awards organisation wrote: “The impact made by your students has been truly exceptional. Throughout the competition cycle, we have been consistently impressed by their enthusiasm for challenge, willingness to embrace complex problems and evident enjoyment of mathematics. These qualities speak highly of the culture within the school and played an important role in the academic council’s decision to offer this recognition.”

The Archimedes Awards are inspired by Archimedes of Syracuse – the most famous mathematician and inventor in ancient Greece.

He rigorously proved many geometrical theorems, including the area of a circle, the surface area and volume of a sphere, the area of an ellipse, the area under a parabola, the volume of a segment of a paraboloid of revolution, the volume of a segment of a hyperboloid of revolution, and the area of a spiral.

As well as building a planetarium, he is said to have designed innovative machines including a screw pump, compound pulleys, and war defence machines to protect Syracuse from invasion.

This week saw QE mark National Writing Day as girls and boys from five Barnet primary schools got to grips with literacy and numeracy challenges during an exciting morning at Queen’s Road.

The Year 5 children worked in teams in competitive taster sessions designed by QE teachers, with support and encouragement along the way from Year 8 boys.

The morning helped give the young visitors the tools they need to wax creative in their writing through a vocabulary challenge and a poetry exercise.

Headmaster Neil Enright, who presented certificates to the winning teams, said: “It was great to see the enthusiasm of all our young visitors, and I warmly congratulate the winners. My thanks go to the visiting primary school teachers and teaching assistants for helping to make the day a resounding success, not forgetting, of course, the contribution of QE teachers and of our Year 8 helpers.

“This was part of our long-running outreach programme with local partner primary schools. We are always delighted to welcome their children here and thus strengthen our community connections. The programme is very much in line with our historic identity as a Barnet school – which goes right back to our 1573 royal charter. Through involving our own Year 8, we also ensure it’s aligned with one of the priorities of our new Boundless School plan, namely to nurture our pupils in becoming ‘community-orientated’.”

The outreach programme is coordinated by Sarah Westcott, Assistant Head (Inclusion and Wellbeing). This year, visiting youngsters have already taken part in Art and forensic science sessions. Still to be run are taster sessions in History, Geography and Economics.

On this occasion, the Year 5 pupils from Foulds, Whitings Hill, St Catherine’s RC, Underhill and Northside primary schools worked in teams to tackle four rounds of English and Mathematics activities:

• Round 1 was a word definitions challenge, designed to broaden vocabulary, recognising that this is one of the building blocks of effective writing. It was led by English teacher Panayiota Menelaou. Winners: Foulds team 1;
• Round 2 involved number puzzles and was delivered by Maths teacher Nadeem Kydd. Winners: Whitings Hill team 1;
• Round 3 focused on poetry-writing and helped the children express themselves in this specific genre. Head of English Robert Hyland presided. Winners: St Catherine’s team 1;
• Round 4 was entitled Shuttling Maths and was led by Maths teacher Phillip Brady. Winners: Foulds team 2.

The overall winners of the day were team 2 from Foulds School.

The day was organised by the English and Mathematics Heads of Department.

It was, said Mr Hyland, a pleasure to host the young visitors: “Holding taster sessions like these is a great way for QE teachers to share the love of their subject with pupils in the local community.”

His Maths counterpart, Jessica Steer, said: “We were delighted to welcome such resilient, enthusiastic children to our School. The challenges they faced were demanding, but they approached each one with determination, teamwork, and positivity. Their schools should be incredibly proud of the way they supported one another, worked collaboratively, and represented their communities throughout the event.”

Mrs Menelaou added: “These taster sessions are a fun opportunity for Year 5 pupils to experience Maths and English in a secondary school setting, helping them become familiar with the next step in their educational journey while interacting with our Year 8 students.”

Alongside developing their problem-solving skills, pupils enjoyed making new friendships and experiencing life in a secondary school environment. Their day included a well-earned break in the playground.

The Year 8 helpers were: Aditya Bhandari, Aarush Mehta, Vidyut Naryan, Aman Morjaria, Kushal Pasupuleti, Yajat Vyas, Eashaan Saha, Maanush Shah, Kiyansh Gupta, Patheen Patel and Duc Ta.

• National Writing Day is an annual celebration of writing run by an independent charity, the National Literacy Trust.

Year 10’s Aaryan Prabhaker has won the 2026 World Math Hackathon – a global competition where contestants focus on using mathematics to solve some of the planet’s most pressing issues.

QE is announcing his success today on National Numeracy Day 2026.*

Aaryan won the gold medal and first prize, beating a young Canadian mathematician into second place, reversing the order last year, when he was runner-up to Canadian pupil Havish Bhavasar.

He secured first place with his essay on the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on poverty reduction. Pupils from Canada took both second and third places this year.

Head of Mathematics Jessica Steer said: “Our congratulations go to Aaryan, who showed perseverance, creativity, and, of course, great mathematical ability to produce an outstanding essay.”

Open to pupils aged 11-17 worldwide, the World Math Hackathon is run by Explorer Hop, a Toronto-based educational organisation that focuses on financial literacy, money management, and entrepreneurship.

The competition tackles a different SDG every year and is aligned with the United Nations Sustainability Plan.

Previous examples of the challenges set include: the problem of vaccine deliveries in underprivileged countries; creating sustainable living communities by designing a walkable city, and finding solutions for sustainability and inequality.

Aaryan rose to the challenge by producing an essay on how education and training could help reduce poverty in Ethiopia – the case study provided by the competition organisers.

He applied mathematical modelling to evaluate three spending options to provide basic education, but also suggested other, low-cost measures, including the use of social media and community story-telling sessions.

His essay concluded with these words: “A holistic and well-rounded approach can help solve the crisis that Ethiopia faces today and help provide education to millions of children. Education is like the water, sun and soil, all combined together that can help nurture and grow these children out of poverty.”

* National Numeracy Day is a UK campaign dedicated to improving everyday maths. Each May, individuals, schools and organisations across the country come together to help children and adults feel more confident with numbers at work, at home and at school. This year’s theme is Count on Your Community.

• You can read Aaryan’s essay here.

Sixth-former Hisham Khan was named in the top 25% of the 100 élite young mathematicians competing in the final round of the British Mathematical Olympiad – considered the UK’s hardest national Maths competition.

Hisham and fellow Year 13 pupil Joshua Wilkinson reached the BMO’s second round after both won bronze medals in round 1, where they were ranked among the top 100 of the 1,300 who took part.

Assistant Head of Mathematics Kirtan Shah said: “Due to the sheer volume of students who enter, it is not easy to be a top scorer in round 1 and progress to the final round. But Hisham and Joshua did even better than that, mustering clear focus, endurance and resilience in round 2.

“Overall, theirs was a fantastic performance that will serve as an inspiration to others.”

The BMO is a UK-wide competition for Year 10 to 13 run by the UK Maths Trust (UKMT). Even to enter, students have to rank in the top 1,000 of the separate UK Senior Mathematical Challenge (UKSMC), or be entered by their Maths teacher.

The first round of the BMO lasts three-and-a-half hours and has six questions.

Both Hisham and Joshua qualified for it by coming in the UKSMC top 1,000.

Like round 1, round 2 lasts three-and-a-half hours, but it has four, not six, questions.

Hisham is no stranger to success in the BMO: in the previous academic year, he secured a silver medal in round 1, while 2025 leaver Saim Khan won bronze, missing out on a silver by just one mark.

In addition to their bronze medals, Hisham and Joshua, both from Year 13, won a book, Introduction to Number Theory, by C J Bradley, who was a lecturer at Oxford.

Hisham also won a certificate of distinction for coming in the top 25% in round 2.

Head of Year 13 Akhil Gohil presented Hisham and Joshua with their medals and books in Year 13 assembly.

QE has achieved its highest-ever position in the national final of the Senior Team Maths Challenge.

The Sixth Form team came fourth out of 50 élite teams at the national final in Manchester, only narrowly missing out on the top three places. It is the first time QE has achieved a top-ten finish in the challenge.

Their achievement follows an earlier triumph at the regional final in Cambridge, where the four QE boys had a perfect score and took joint first place.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “This was a tremendous achievement in this long-running and highly regarded UK Maths Trust competition, reflecting not only our team’s talent,  resilience and collaborative abilities, but also the great strength of Mathematics generally at QE. My congratulations go to the team and to their teachers.”

The team comprised the 2026 School Captain, Tunishq Mitra, and his fellow Year 12 pupil, Mohith Sigirisetti, together with Year 13’s Hisham Khan and William Joanes.

In the national final, they achieved 100 per cent correct answers in the group round, crossnumber round, and shuttle round. In the round which required teams to create a poster on a given topic, the QE contingent lost out by a very small margin to the joint first-place schools, Winchester College and Tonbridge School, which had also had perfect scores in the main three rounds.

Mathematics teacher Sammi Zhu said: “For the actual maths, therefore, our team scored 100 per cent and were joint-first! That is an extraordinary mathematical accomplishment which reflects both their depth of understanding and excellent teamwork.

“I would like to add my congratulations to these four students for their hard work and outstanding achievement.”

At the regional final held at The Leys School, Cambridge, in November, the QE team competed in a field of 20 teams.  In a highly competitive battle for first place, QE’s perfect score left it in a three-way tie with longstanding challenge rivals Haberdashers’ Boys’ School and The Perse School.

• Click on the thumbnails to view the images.