Broughton House beat arch-rivals Stapylton to win the cup at Sports Day by a narrow margin.
With its 507 points, Broughton wrested the title from last year’s winners, Stapylton, on 500, as the red and blue Houses’ duel of recent years continued.
Notable changes to the day this year included the introduction of timing to the rowing competition, adding an extra level of excitement as all Houses had to change rowers at the same time. Just like a Formula 1 pit stop, good teamwork became essential to get the next rower into his seat as quickly as possible.
Director of Sport Jonathan Hart said: “Sports Day 2026 was a very good day of competition in the sunshine, involving hundreds of pupils from across the year groups. The day is always a real highlight of the year, giving everyone the chance to get involved, no matter what their ability, yet also providing opportunities for our best young athletes to shine.”
The day featured dozens of sporting disciplines, from table-tennis to tug-of-war, and included a full programme of track and field events.
Highlights this year included:
- Andy Hasanaj, of Year 9 jumping 1.45m in the high jump – 10cm higher than anyone else in any year;
- Year 7’s Kai Hau throwing the javelin 28.35m, further than anyone from Year 7, 8, 9 or 10;
- Doubles pair Habeeb Tharoo and Daiwik Budhwar, both Year 10, winning five out of five table tennis matches;
- Year 10 pupil Arinze Ezeuko’s sub-12s 100m;
- The 13.40m throw in the shot put by Raphael Gbadebo, of Year 9.
Dozens of staff from all departments were drafted in to assist with the logistics, taking on tasks such as timekeeping, race-starting, judging, commentary and photography, as well as general supervision.
“My sincere thanks go to my colleagues for helping make the day go smoothly,” said Mr Hart.
The final scores were:
Broughton: 507
Harrisons’: 465
Leicester: 495
Pearce: 460
Stapylton: 500
Underne: 428
- Click on the thumbnails below to view the images.
After the QE boys first saw off Woking High School, their strong bowling attack then propelled them to victory against Shenfield High School from Essex, with both matches hosted by Eton College.
After that, in the regional stage hosted by Caterham School in Surrey, they first comfortably saw off Midhurst Rother College, West Sussex, and then delivered a six-wicket win against Tiffin School, Kingston upon Thames, to go through to the last 16.
Ibrohim took the top prize in the -37kg Class A Cadet category in an event which attracted more than 500 athletes.
His previous achievements include winning a silver medal last autumn in the -37kg novice category at the British Taekwondo National Kyorugi Championships in Sheffield and, before that, taking gold in a sparring competition, also at Sophia Gardens.
Here, although there was no repeat of the triumphs of QE’s last visit, in 2024 – when the U15s recorded the School’s first-ever overall victory in the festival and the U14s won the bowl competition – the Year 9s’ wins did include beating host team Hilversum.
“These activities strengthened team bonding and made for memorable experiences,” said Mr Di-Lieto.
The boys, representing Years 7, 8, 9 & 10, made the five-mile journey for an away fixture at Ashmole Academy – and returned with their first victory under their belts. Although Ashmole won two of the year-group battles to QE’s one (with one draw), QE had the higher points tally overall, with 17 games won to Ashmole’s 15.
The approach of the fixture and the squad’s preparations for it created a “genuine buzz around the PE department”, said Mr Scally.
Each match won contributed one point to the overall team tally for that year group, creating an exciting and fast‑paced scoring system.