Going places

Aarav Rathore was among the Year 8s on this year’s tenth-anniversary French exchange, his fluency boosted by prior participation in the languages board game club at QE. The trip to Bourg-en-Bresse was “certainly a fun experience that helped me with my confidence and language skills”, he reports.

It wasn’t his only recent overseas trip, either: he captained the Technogear team at the “incredible” VEX IQ World Robotics Championships in Dallas, Texas. “My teammates looked to me if things went wrong, with the casting vote on group decisions. Challenging, but I felt I thrived, and… we won the Create Award in our division. I gained invaluable teamwork and leadership skills, and I enjoy the creativity that robotics requires.”

Aarav regularly participates in LAMDA public-speaking activities and in Élite Maths, and is now eyeing instrumental lessons – perhaps learning the piano. So how does he fit it all in? “I do lots of clubs at lunchtimes, so these are within the School day. You have to be organised, fitting in LAMDA homework and test preparation alongside academic work, which is equally important.”